Starbound

by Joe Haldeman

Book Overview

Carmen Dula and her husband spent six years travelling to the distant home of the powerful race known as The Others, in the hopes of forging a truce. But by the time Carmen returns to Earth, fifty years have passed-and the Earthlings have built a flotilla of warships to defend Earth against The Others.

But The Others have more power than anyone could imagine-and they will brook no insolence from the upstart human race.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0073N7YBU
• ISBN13: 9780441019793
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

I enjoyed this book ...

It's an easy read and has a possibly salutary ending considering the human race's inclination for self destruction. In other words, I enjoyed the ending most of all. It made my day ...

Starbound

If you enjoy the writing of Joe Haldeman, I promise you will love this new book of his. This is the continuation of "Marsbound", and details the furter adventures of Carmen (Mars Girl), Paul, the Martians, and a new cast of characters in their quest to save Humankind and planet Earth, from the vastly powerful and superior "Others". That's all I'll say for now...buy and read "Starbound"...you'll be glad that you did.

Tells of the aftermath of the first encounter between humans and aliens on Mars

STARBOUND tells of the aftermath of the first encounter between humans and aliens on Mars and tells of Carmen and her husband, who have volunteered to spend six years traveling through deep space aboard a tiny craft with five other humans and two Martians to a distant solar system to visit a possibly immortal race of beings who have humanity's future in their hands. Their surprising discoveries of the similar evolutionary patterns between the Others and their own world make for eye-opening revelations.

Earthbound

Well, that is what I expect the title of a third book to be. This is a pretty good science fiction book, maybe even a great one, but I was crushed by the ending. Not that the ending is illogical or something that would be totally unexpected. But prospects look bleak. As for everything else in the story, it is pretty darn good. There is a new character who is quite interesting, plus there are a couple of "Martians". There is high tension (Is this mission doomed? Are we going to screw up and get humanity blown away, or have they done it already?) Spaceships, new worlds, aliens, Oh My! Seriously good science fiction. There may be some technical faults, such as the acceleration of the starship always being one g. It seems that if you get up close enough to the speed of light, there is not really much to be bought by continuing to accelerate at one g. Switch to 1/3 g and make the martians (both species) happy. That's a minor quibble. Something not mentioned in the book is the sudden lack of tides and its effect. The gravitation effect of a circumscribing sphere of dust is definitely not the same as a large moon. That's a major quibble. I feel that technical things like that Haldeman could have sorted out by talking with folks at MIT where he teaches. BTW the effect of the onset of 1g flight on the Martians was slightly amusing, but seemed plausible, given what we already knew of their method of um, waste disposal. Unlike another reviewer, I had little troublee figuring out who was narrating each chapter. The voices were sufficiently different to figure out within a paragraph. I wonder if Haldeman deliberately makes the Others act like Moonboy's foster father -- extreme punishments are us. Perhaps someone will come to help us, too. It is a great story, I had the feeling early on that this could be another Hugo winner. I just hope a third volume will relieve the situation.

Brilliant "sensawunder" science fiction -- this is what SF is all about

Joe Haldeman's Starbound is the second volume of a trilogy. It follows on from last year's Marsbound, and the trilogy will be completed with Earthbound which will probably be published early in 2011. Despite the fact that it is the middle book of a trilogy, Starbound works very well as a stand alone novel. The salient points from the first novel are introduced painlessly, and there is never any feeling that vital data is being withheld. Even the ending (which some have complained is a cliff hanger) is very satisfactory. The situation set up in Starbound is adequately explained and, at the same time, is left sufficiently open ended to make it clear in what directions Earthbound will carry the story. At the end of the first novel, the Earth had successfully avoided annihilation from the attack launched by the mysterious alien Others. The Other who had been living in the liquid nitrogen seas of Triton, Neptune's largest moon, had set the destruction in progress and then left the solar system to return, presumably, to its home world. Having avoided destruction, the authorities on Earth decide to send a ship to the Other's home world, though they are uncertain whether a diplomat or a killer will be required. The ship is crewed by Carmen Dula (the major viewpoint character of Marsbound), her husband Paul, two of the pseudo-Martians that Carmen met in the first novel and three commandos from the Earth's military forces. Starbound is narrated in the first person, chapter by chapter, by representatives of each of these three groups and this gives the novel a quirkily interesting structure. The multiple insights into the events and purposes of the mission adds a depth and richness to the story that would otherwise be lacking. The crew find many surprises when they reach the star system from which the Others came. In some ways these are traditional science fictional tropes that will not take the experienced SF reader by surprise; but nevertheless, Haldeman manages to make even this material fresh and interesting and he has some genuinely insightful and original things to say about alien politics, religion and evolution. The laws of relativity are such that, when the crew return to Earth, fifty years have passed on the home planet. The rulers of Earth have not been idle during this time. They have built a massive flotilla of space ships to guard themselves against the imagined aggression of the Others. And therein lie the seeds of their downfall and the emergence of a truly desperate problem that will have to be faced up to in the next novel. I loved the book. Starbound is Joe Haldeman's best novel in years. I am eagerly awaiting Earthbound; I absolutely must find out how the story ends.