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Technic Civilization Saga #2
David Falkayn: Star Trader
The Polesotechnic League of star traders was prospering, and Nicholas Van Rijn, its most flamboyant member, was prospering most of all as commerce flowed between the stars. But not all League members played fair when trading, nor did some of the non-human races of the galaxy object to dirty tricks. Van Rijn could not be everywhere, and relied on his representatives, foremost among them his young protégé, David Falkayn, and the members of David’s trader team: Adzel, a large dragon-like being who practiced Buddhism, and Chee-Lan, a brilliant but hot-tempered felinesque extraterrestrial.
This is the second volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization saga. And, after the three volumes chronicling the Polesotechnic League’s rise and fall will come more volumes, telling of the rise of the Terran Empire and the adventures of Poul Anderson’s other legendary character, Captain Sir Dominic Flandry.
This is the second volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization saga. And, after the three volumes chronicling the Polesotechnic League’s rise and fall will come more volumes, telling of the rise of the Terran Empire and the adventures of Poul Anderson’s other legendary character, Captain Sir Dominic Flandry.
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First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Poul Anderson
1,625 books1,109 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 27, 2011
Like the previous volume, I've read many of these stories before, but not in chronological order.
Overall, I find the stories in this volume more interesting than those in the previous one, largely because I find the character of Falkayn more interesting than that of Van Rijn. Van Rijn is nearly an embodiment of the capitalist ideal. He often does the right thing, but because it's also the most profitable thing, not the most moral one, and while he gets older, he does not really change.
A son of aristocracy, Falkayn begins his career as a follower of Van Rijn's philosophies. As time goes on though, he sees that capitalism does not succeed at bettering everyone. Entire species of intelligent beings are falling through the cracks due to not having anything worth trading to the merchant princes. Eventually he deviates from Van Rijn's form of capitalism to follow his own moral compass.
While none but the last story deal with these issues in any but a passing way, it's interesting none the less. It's also interesting to note that Van Rijn's adventures were largely written before those of Falkayn's, and it makes me wonder how much the author's political and economic views may have changed between the stories.
This growth of the Falkayn character only really comes out when reading the collected stories. It's not really present in the individual stories themselves, so it's understandable why Van Rijn has been at least as popular a character for many (including myself in the past), as his idiosyncrasies are generally quite entertaining, and his lack of development as a character is not apparent when reading individual stories.
Overall, I find the stories in this volume more interesting than those in the previous one, largely because I find the character of Falkayn more interesting than that of Van Rijn. Van Rijn is nearly an embodiment of the capitalist ideal. He often does the right thing, but because it's also the most profitable thing, not the most moral one, and while he gets older, he does not really change.
A son of aristocracy, Falkayn begins his career as a follower of Van Rijn's philosophies. As time goes on though, he sees that capitalism does not succeed at bettering everyone. Entire species of intelligent beings are falling through the cracks due to not having anything worth trading to the merchant princes. Eventually he deviates from Van Rijn's form of capitalism to follow his own moral compass.
While none but the last story deal with these issues in any but a passing way, it's interesting none the less. It's also interesting to note that Van Rijn's adventures were largely written before those of Falkayn's, and it makes me wonder how much the author's political and economic views may have changed between the stories.
This growth of the Falkayn character only really comes out when reading the collected stories. It's not really present in the individual stories themselves, so it's understandable why Van Rijn has been at least as popular a character for many (including myself in the past), as his idiosyncrasies are generally quite entertaining, and his lack of development as a character is not apparent when reading individual stories.
May 14, 2009
This is the second book in the new compilation of Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization stories, and it's going to be hard to top. Apart from the titular Falkayn and his alien trader-pioneer partners, Chee Lan and Adzel the dragon, it features Nicholas Van Rijn himself again in most of the stories, and he is at his best. This volume includes the novels Satan's World and The Trouble Twisters, classics in their own right but here set in chronological order amidst shorter tales that give them their rightful context. The book takes the reader from the pinnacle of the Polesotechnic League's exploration and exploitation of known space, to the beginning of the League's dissolution into a tyranny of robber barons who care little for the trillions of sophonts who must suffer so that the barons can maintain their cashflow. By the end of the volume, civilization is still in full flower (and still dominated by humans), but you can just make out the clouds gathering on the far horizon.
As a nice bonus, there's a complete timeline of Anderson's Technic Civilization in the back, with each of his books and stories set in proper chronological order.
As a nice bonus, there's a complete timeline of Anderson's Technic Civilization in the back, with each of his books and stories set in proper chronological order.
March 6, 2010
...The next volume, Rise of the Terran Empire, will introduce the next phase in Technic History. Dominic Flandry, the main character in most of the stories from the Terran Empire period will not show up until part four however. I think this change of scene will be good for the readers not familiar with Anderson's work. The stories in this volume are starting to feel like repetitions and at times van Rijn's East India Company mentality annoys me tremendously. Anderson has shown he is not blind for the risks of an organisation like the Polesotechnic League however, it will be interesting to see what it's fate will be and what follows this era of uncut capitalism. This books has its ups and downs but Anderson's future history intrigues me none the less....
Full Random Comments review
Full Random Comments review
September 25, 2009
I fell onto this while reading about the inspirations for the space RPG "Traveller." I'd not read any of these stories, but I think I've read some of Anderson earlier.
Quite good, and they certainly didn't seem aged to me: it was shocking to find that the central novella in this collection is as old as I am!
I'll have to go look for some more.
Quite good, and they certainly didn't seem aged to me: it was shocking to find that the central novella in this collection is as old as I am!
I'll have to go look for some more.
September 12, 2020
I'm torn on this one, much as I was torn on the first volume. The Technic Civilization stories straddle the line between Space Opera and Hard Science Fiction, and that is sometimes to its benefit and other times to its detriment. There are thrilling heroics and moments of bland explorations of theoretical physics. And of course, there's the all-encompassing proselytizing of Libertarian magical thinking. Even Anderson seems to become self-aware a few times, hinting that even he knows unchecked, unregulated capitalism isn't in fact a 'free market' and that yes, it only functions when built on the backs of slave labor...but only on occasion. Mostly, he uses the Colombo of Libertarianism, Nicholas Van Rijn as a mouthpiece to explain how everyone is wrong but him and if everyone would fall in line and do what he says, then he'd be happy and isn't that what it's really all about?
I hear people complain about contemporary Science Fiction all the time, getting upset that it's 'too political' or that they don't want 'politics mixed in their Science Fiction.' Science Fiction is inherently political. Always has been. This is a prime example.
I hear people complain about contemporary Science Fiction all the time, getting upset that it's 'too political' or that they don't want 'politics mixed in their Science Fiction.' Science Fiction is inherently political. Always has been. This is a prime example.
January 11, 2023
Evergreen
The first SF I read (at 8) was by Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton. As soon as I moved beyond juveniles, they were joined by Poul Anderson. I will never tire of (re)reading the first two, but the titles of theirs on my shelves are far outnumbered by those of the third. Anderson does not just tell you what his characters are doing, but what they are experiencing as well: life and breath and pain and joy, and and an awareness, even in failure, that they have left things better than they otherwise would have been. So sad that there will be no more…but at least there will never be less.
The first SF I read (at 8) was by Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton. As soon as I moved beyond juveniles, they were joined by Poul Anderson. I will never tire of (re)reading the first two, but the titles of theirs on my shelves are far outnumbered by those of the third. Anderson does not just tell you what his characters are doing, but what they are experiencing as well: life and breath and pain and joy, and and an awareness, even in failure, that they have left things better than they otherwise would have been. So sad that there will be no more…but at least there will never be less.
February 14, 2022
I didn’t hate this but I didn’t love it - to be honest it felt quite dated, not in its technology but in its attitude. There are plenty of books that I can read and understand the context (ie 1950s sci-fi) however this just felt a bit jarring.
Some good little stories along the way and I may try it again another time.
Some good little stories along the way and I may try it again another time.
March 17, 2018
Some good. Some not so good.
January 5, 2022
4 out of 5
August 10, 2022
Really an amazing collection of Anderson stories. I still like the van Rijn tales the best, but the other characters are fun, too.
October 25, 2016
TLDR: Each story follows the same general pattern: female characters act as accessories as clever white male capitalists puzzle through the key to out-maneuvering alien species or adversaries either figuratively or literally for financial gain, through psychological/anthropological analysis of motivations or physical science and tactics. This pattern is executed by Anderson with a great level of skill and intelligence, especially scientifically. If this sounds appealing to you, then read this book because it is really good at doing this one thing, but it's not as deep as it tries to be.
This collection of stories was definitely entertaining, and I would generally recommend it to people interested in hard sci-fi. Poul Anderson is impressive in his scientific detail and the way in which the plot of the stories is generally very closely tied with a concrete scientific phenomenon and its impacts on the evolution of a species, economics, or other logistical consequences. I haven't read much hard sci-fi, and I found myself appreciating--if not fully understanding--a lot of the scientific detail.
The role of women in the stories is terribly disappointing as the primary purpose of all the female human characters is very clearly only to be objects of male goals, actions and sexual desire. Unless I'm forgetting a scene, all 7 of the stories fail the Bechdel test, even including female aliens, which is a sad, sad statement. And on that note, even though Chee Lan, one of the main supporting characters is a female cat-like being, her role is simple and constrained and her characterization is quite one-note and superficial, as are those of Adzel, a male Buddhist dragon-like being who is also meant to act as a supporting foil but whose perspective and motivations are disappointingly closely aligned with the rest of the main characters.
Along similar lines, I was also disappointed by the way that Anderson's gestures at complex anthropological and psychological studies all boil down to relatively simplistic and repetitive perspectives. He makes a great show of many of the stories hinging on his characters needing to suss out the underlying evolutionary and anthropological causes of the motivations and social structures of various alien species. These explorations are often interesting, but ultimately they all fall into the same pattern that these complex interactions can be understood, summarized, and exploited for financial gain with relative ease by his white, male laissez-faire capitalist lead characters. This eventually makes for pretty repetitive fare as we get no real diversity of perspective, and all alien species end up being equally predictable and understandable from a single lens after some token chin-scratching by Falkayn and/or van Rijn.
I was pleasantly surprised, though, that my initial assessment was wrong that the whole work was a rather transparent parable in favor of the power and rightness of laissez faire capitalism. The protagonists are part of a merchant guild working behind the back of a government shown to be bureaucratic, foolish and petty, and the heroes are generally characterized as promoting social good for alien species by opening up new markets via the soft power of economic exploitation and often also the hard power of technological might and threats of retribution. This was starting to get tiresome for me, but further into the collection, Anderson introduces more nuance into his treatment of the Polesotechnic League and galactic government and more explicitly describes the drawbacks and damage caused by the League's single-minded focus on profits, with a capstone story that for better or worse favors altruism over profit. So while I was initially put off by this aspect of the stories, I felt Anderson redeemed himself and showed a fair amount of complexity in the end.
In all, if you're looking for some pretty straightforward sci-fi entertainment, I think this is a solid offering by a talented author. If however, you're looking for something challenging and complex, I think you'll find this collection lacking. In the progression and resolution of each story, Anderson seems to imply that the work is clever and complex and revelatory of deep truths, but ultimately I think it falls short of the standard Anderson seems to be trying to set for himself.
This collection of stories was definitely entertaining, and I would generally recommend it to people interested in hard sci-fi. Poul Anderson is impressive in his scientific detail and the way in which the plot of the stories is generally very closely tied with a concrete scientific phenomenon and its impacts on the evolution of a species, economics, or other logistical consequences. I haven't read much hard sci-fi, and I found myself appreciating--if not fully understanding--a lot of the scientific detail.
The role of women in the stories is terribly disappointing as the primary purpose of all the female human characters is very clearly only to be objects of male goals, actions and sexual desire. Unless I'm forgetting a scene, all 7 of the stories fail the Bechdel test, even including female aliens, which is a sad, sad statement. And on that note, even though Chee Lan, one of the main supporting characters is a female cat-like being, her role is simple and constrained and her characterization is quite one-note and superficial, as are those of Adzel, a male Buddhist dragon-like being who is also meant to act as a supporting foil but whose perspective and motivations are disappointingly closely aligned with the rest of the main characters.
Along similar lines, I was also disappointed by the way that Anderson's gestures at complex anthropological and psychological studies all boil down to relatively simplistic and repetitive perspectives. He makes a great show of many of the stories hinging on his characters needing to suss out the underlying evolutionary and anthropological causes of the motivations and social structures of various alien species. These explorations are often interesting, but ultimately they all fall into the same pattern that these complex interactions can be understood, summarized, and exploited for financial gain with relative ease by his white, male laissez-faire capitalist lead characters. This eventually makes for pretty repetitive fare as we get no real diversity of perspective, and all alien species end up being equally predictable and understandable from a single lens after some token chin-scratching by Falkayn and/or van Rijn.
I was pleasantly surprised, though, that my initial assessment was wrong that the whole work was a rather transparent parable in favor of the power and rightness of laissez faire capitalism. The protagonists are part of a merchant guild working behind the back of a government shown to be bureaucratic, foolish and petty, and the heroes are generally characterized as promoting social good for alien species by opening up new markets via the soft power of economic exploitation and often also the hard power of technological might and threats of retribution. This was starting to get tiresome for me, but further into the collection, Anderson introduces more nuance into his treatment of the Polesotechnic League and galactic government and more explicitly describes the drawbacks and damage caused by the League's single-minded focus on profits, with a capstone story that for better or worse favors altruism over profit. So while I was initially put off by this aspect of the stories, I felt Anderson redeemed himself and showed a fair amount of complexity in the end.
In all, if you're looking for some pretty straightforward sci-fi entertainment, I think this is a solid offering by a talented author. If however, you're looking for something challenging and complex, I think you'll find this collection lacking. In the progression and resolution of each story, Anderson seems to imply that the work is clever and complex and revelatory of deep truths, but ultimately I think it falls short of the standard Anderson seems to be trying to set for himself.
October 25, 2022
Great Stories
This is an anthology combining short stories, novellas and full length novels covering the career of Muddlin Through and her crew of humans and aliens working together for mutual benefit. I read all of these stories many years ago as a teen from the public library and my mothers personal copies and loved them for the rich diverse future history they paint.
This is an anthology combining short stories, novellas and full length novels covering the career of Muddlin Through and her crew of humans and aliens working together for mutual benefit. I read all of these stories many years ago as a teen from the public library and my mothers personal copies and loved them for the rich diverse future history they paint.
June 30, 2019
Another one skimmed, should have researched better before spending money on a compilation of books I have had on my shelves for 40 years. The covers looked so interesting and I thought I was buying new material. Against, went through to make sure there was no new material.
October 2, 2016
More stories and another novel from the Van Rijn/David Falkayn Polseotechnic League universe, happening after those in "The Van Rijn Method". Typical Anderson, but I find Van Rijn (who's still around in some of these stories) particularly annoying.
October 16, 2021
A collection of short stories and novellas will always be a mixed bag but this one has a strong throughline, you could see Anderson had an arc in mind as he was writing these stories.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews