Children of the Star
by Sylvia Louise Engdahl 
Children of the Star (Collections and Selections — Omnibus 1,2,3)
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Description
When he rebels against the tyranny of the ruling Scholars, Noren, a village boy, is labeled a heretic and sent to them for punishment.Tags
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sandstone78 Both of these stories deal with a seemingly fantasy setting that turns out to be something else, and the tension between a small group that knows the secrets, a majority that doesn't, and a person from that majority that questions the order.
In The Steerswoman, the protagonist is a traveling scholar/scientist whose investigations draw the interest of the wizards who rule the known world; in Children of the Star, the protagonist questions the traditional religion and the priveleged class of scholars and technicians in society. Rowan's investigations are for her own curiosity and to record the truth for her Order, while Noren's story ends up on the other side of the divide, exploring the rationale, justifications, and rightness of the many keeping things from the few.
The Steerswoman series is ongoing, with the overall story unresolved and individual volumes reaching their own conclusions, but Children of the Star is a completed trilogy.
Member Reviews
This trilogy should be required reading. So much more than science fiction (though great as that) it goes so much deeper, to the very essence of what it is to be...human, intelligent life in the process of evolution, a species that could be us - is us - when we've reached the stars only to lose our world and have to build a new one. It is a thoughtful, intelligent and successful attempt to explore the role of religion in human evolution, how faith in science and the mysteries of the universe ascend the primitive notion of God, Intelligent Design and other notions still prevalent in our world.
Read this trilogy!
Read this trilogy!
Surprisingly nuanced and surprisingly surprising, I read this after R had borrowed it. Like him, I'd read the first book in this trilogy - originally that was the only one published in the UK, and in fact I hadn't ever known there were more.
The first book (published in the UK as [b:Heritage of the Star|715920|This Star Shall Abide|Sylvia Engdahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1198115292s/715920.jpg|2357897]) was very definitely a YA book: a good basic SF story about individual differences and strength of belief, in a quasi-mediaeval yet futuristic setting. The other two are much stronger fare - the second one is an extended disquisition about faith, theism, and atheism and the third is a story of real struggle that staggers the reader show more in its intensity and lack of compromise.
I kept on being surprised by the fact that [a:Sylvia Engdahl|3145|Sylvia Engdahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198025800p2/3145.jpg] didn't take the easy way out - at various points it looked like she was either destroying an established relationship just in order to supply exciting new love interest, or bringing in a deus ex machina. In fact she works very hard to avoid the ending of the trilogy from being such, which I admired.
Overall, a very strong and engaging read, reaching levels I never expected and repaying close attention.
(borrowed from Ian and Ruth) show less
The first book (published in the UK as [b:Heritage of the Star|715920|This Star Shall Abide|Sylvia Engdahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1198115292s/715920.jpg|2357897]) was very definitely a YA book: a good basic SF story about individual differences and strength of belief, in a quasi-mediaeval yet futuristic setting. The other two are much stronger fare - the second one is an extended disquisition about faith, theism, and atheism and the third is a story of real struggle that staggers the reader show more in its intensity and lack of compromise.
I kept on being surprised by the fact that [a:Sylvia Engdahl|3145|Sylvia Engdahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198025800p2/3145.jpg] didn't take the easy way out - at various points it looked like she was either destroying an established relationship just in order to supply exciting new love interest, or bringing in a deus ex machina. In fact she works very hard to avoid the ending of the trilogy from being such, which I admired.
Overall, a very strong and engaging read, reaching levels I never expected and repaying close attention.
(borrowed from Ian and Ruth) show less
I picked up this book months ago at a free library. I didn't think much of it at first, it seemed kind of predictable.
However as I read more I was interested to know what was going to happen and how the characters would develop.
It became less predictable, too, as the story progressed. And interesting look into religion and it's uses alongside science.
However as I read more I was interested to know what was going to happen and how the characters would develop.
It became less predictable, too, as the story progressed. And interesting look into religion and it's uses alongside science.
Contains: This star shall abide -- Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains -- The doors of the universe.
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"[The novels were first] marketed as young adult books, but there is nothing juvenile about them.... Engdahl tells an important and pertinent story, a parable about the ethical uses of mythology. The book, in style as in substance, is a kind of Old Testament of another time and place.... Under what conditions is it justifiable to keep people in ignorance? Should knowledge ever be sequestered? show more Who can decide what is good for other people? Is it legitimate to use religion to control a population at risk? Engdahl opens all these questions and more in these novels, which read quickly; the writing is plain and direct, the only lyricism in the stunning liturgical language she invents." show less
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737 works; 202 members
Author Information
85 Works 2,774 Members
Sylvia Louise Engdahl is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
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- Members
- 127
- Popularity
- 256,210
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.18)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
