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The Dark Beyond the Stars
For two thousand years, the starship Astron has searched the galaxy for alien life--without success. Now, just as the ship is falling apart, the only direction left to explore is across the Dark, a one-hundred-generation journey through empty space.
The ship's captain--immortal, obessed--refuses to abandon the quest. He will cross the Dark, or destroy the ship trying.
Only Sparrow, a young crewman uncertain of his own past, can stand against the captain, and against the lure and challenge of the dark beyond the stars....
408 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
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2303 people want to read
About the author
Frank M. Robinson
122 books59 followersFrank M. Robinson was an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer. he got his start writing for the old pulp fiction magazines. He wrote several novels with Thomas N. Scortia until Scortia's death in 1986.
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
June 5, 2012
My favorite science fiction books are usually "idea" driven. By this, I mean that characters are introduced only to move the story along. Authors that come to mind are Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds, Greg Egan etc.
At the other end of the spectrum are authors like Robert Charles Wilson, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. LeGuin who start with a "what if?" scenario and study how it effects the lives of the people in the book. While I don't dislike these kinds of books, I generally tend to forget them rather quickly. I find bizarre aliens and physics much more interesting in their own right than case studies in how people come to terms with "The Big Questions".
So, what does this have to with "The Dark Beyond the Stars"? Well, I would place this novel almost entirely in the second category above, with the big difference being that 5 months after I finished it, I still vividly recall many scenes from the book.
A lot of the book revolved around the day to day lives of the crew of a generational ship, which I found extremely well written. None of motivations or actions of any of the characters felt forced.
I also really liked that the question of whether or not the crew actually encountered alien life was left open (mostly!). A lot of times, an author runs the risk of over explaining things, but not here!
In summary, this book really is the best of its kind. You would be doing yourself a great disservice to pass this up!
At the other end of the spectrum are authors like Robert Charles Wilson, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. LeGuin who start with a "what if?" scenario and study how it effects the lives of the people in the book. While I don't dislike these kinds of books, I generally tend to forget them rather quickly. I find bizarre aliens and physics much more interesting in their own right than case studies in how people come to terms with "The Big Questions".
So, what does this have to with "The Dark Beyond the Stars"? Well, I would place this novel almost entirely in the second category above, with the big difference being that 5 months after I finished it, I still vividly recall many scenes from the book.
A lot of the book revolved around the day to day lives of the crew of a generational ship, which I found extremely well written. None of motivations or actions of any of the characters felt forced.
I also really liked that the question of whether or not the crew actually encountered alien life was left open (mostly!). A lot of times, an author runs the risk of over explaining things, but not here!
In summary, this book really is the best of its kind. You would be doing yourself a great disservice to pass this up!
July 12, 2024
The concept of generation ships in Science Fiction is not a new one, but remains a fascinating (hypothetical) backdrop for all kinds of drama. The Dark Beyond The Stars is not a new book, having been released in 1991, but it doesn’t appear to have aged at all. This is partly thanks to story that the author is telling, and partly thanks to some really good writing.
I really didn’t know much about the ship or its crew but I was learning that there were informers and plots and deep differences among the crew members. I suspected in that atmosphere it might have been easy for a man to die.
It really is a fantastic intrigue with quite a number of impeccably timed revelations and twists that keep the pages turning. The first-person point-of-view of an amnesiac character navigating the complexities of on-board relationships and society draws the reader into the book quite seamlessly. Bonus: there are some nice exploration sequences as well.
The only possible issue here I can quickly think of, off the top of my head, is the large cast of secondary characters; there are loads of names to keep track of.
”Where do we go when we die?”
There is a thoughtful edge to the book, and it does address abstractions like obsession, power and corruption, but at the heart of The Dark Beyond The Stars is a mystery that is just begging to be revealed. As far as intrigue-based Science Fiction novels go, this one is really, really good.
What I looked at now was stark and forbidding, a universe of harsh light, glowing dust, and filaments of flaming gases. No part of it reminded me of diamonds or emeralds or rubies.
So if you like books dealing with half-truths, deceits, big reveals and a gut punch ending, you may want to give this one a try. I came for the cool cover design (with artwork by John Harris), as well as the generation ship premise. I was not disappointed.
4.5 stars
I really didn’t know much about the ship or its crew but I was learning that there were informers and plots and deep differences among the crew members. I suspected in that atmosphere it might have been easy for a man to die.
It really is a fantastic intrigue with quite a number of impeccably timed revelations and twists that keep the pages turning. The first-person point-of-view of an amnesiac character navigating the complexities of on-board relationships and society draws the reader into the book quite seamlessly. Bonus: there are some nice exploration sequences as well.
The only possible issue here I can quickly think of, off the top of my head, is the large cast of secondary characters; there are loads of names to keep track of.
”Where do we go when we die?”
There is a thoughtful edge to the book, and it does address abstractions like obsession, power and corruption, but at the heart of The Dark Beyond The Stars is a mystery that is just begging to be revealed. As far as intrigue-based Science Fiction novels go, this one is really, really good.
What I looked at now was stark and forbidding, a universe of harsh light, glowing dust, and filaments of flaming gases. No part of it reminded me of diamonds or emeralds or rubies.
So if you like books dealing with half-truths, deceits, big reveals and a gut punch ending, you may want to give this one a try. I came for the cool cover design (with artwork by John Harris), as well as the generation ship premise. I was not disappointed.
4.5 stars
August 20, 2007
SF. Sab told me she was reading a book where this guy wakes up with amnesia and starts having lots of gay sex in space. Doesn't that sound like a great story? I thought so. Sadly, it's only a small part of this one. There's a lot of casual, same sex fooling around, but it's in a culture where "gay" doesn't have any meaning and sex has no taboos attached, so there's no sense of tension. It's barely even gay. I wanted more of an exploration of the sexual politics of the spaceship's closed society, a society where the occupants must occasionally breed or die out, but this wasn't that book. It was the book where you're on a giant spaceship commissioned to seek out new worlds and your narrator's suffering from a wicked case of deja vu and being kind of annoying because you know there's something important he needs to remember, but he's too busy deluding himself and avoiding the subject to remember it. Overall, I give this a meh, but I liked it enough that I'm interested in trying something else by Robinson.
Three stars for atmosphere -- a working, vaguely doomed spaceship and its crew, with a nice mix of sociology and science.
Three stars for atmosphere -- a working, vaguely doomed spaceship and its crew, with a nice mix of sociology and science.
May 30, 2021
I love multi-generational spaceship stories, from Robert Heinlein’s “Orphans of the Sky” to A.E. Van Vogt’s “Rogue Ship” or Tau Zero by Paul Anderson... I even loved the ‘70’s T.V. Series “Starlost” (first conceived by Harlan Ellison and Edward Bryant). For those who don’t know who Frank M. Robinson was, other than a fine author of fiction, you have but to watch the movie “Milk” starring Sean Penn. Frank, who had a cameo part in the film, was Harvey Milk’s real life speech writer. Like the writing of Walter Tevis, this is more an introspective type of story rather than the “hard” sci-fi that was dominant during the time it was published back in 1981, being more about character, self discovery and growth. How the story concludes, reminds us that F. M. Robinson’s sci-fi root stem from the peak of the golden age, as with his famed 1956 publication of “The Power” - and I have also read one of his even earlier works from a Sept 1951 copy of Astounding (of which is part of my treasured collections of such items).
March 28, 2023
I read it a while ago but I'm not in the mood to review.
Four well deserved stars, recommended!
Four well deserved stars, recommended!
June 10, 2011
First Read:
Wow! This is an AWESOME book! I could not put it down, and ended up reading its 408 pages in a day and a bit. This novel has everything going for it! Great writing, great story, believable characters, the right amounts of tension, action, drama, thought-provoking ideas and revelations... I definitely recommend this!
Second Read:
I knew where the book was going, so I didn't get many of the benefits this time around, but I still enjoyed it a lot :)
Wow! This is an AWESOME book! I could not put it down, and ended up reading its 408 pages in a day and a bit. This novel has everything going for it! Great writing, great story, believable characters, the right amounts of tension, action, drama, thought-provoking ideas and revelations... I definitely recommend this!
Second Read:
I knew where the book was going, so I didn't get many of the benefits this time around, but I still enjoyed it a lot :)
January 30, 2024
The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson is a "long voyage" science fiction novel. By "long voyage" I mean it is about a long-haul multi-generation starship. I have read many such novels over the years by everyone from Robert A. Heinlein to Adrian Tchaikovsky to Michael Mammay. Some of the books were great and others not so much. This is one of the great ones. If you like this type of science fiction then I would encourage you to read this one.
February 8, 2013
Generation ship stories are a fairly well-known sub-genre of SF, starting as a logical explanation for how humanity would be able to cross the great distances between the stars without violating the laws of physics, tucking in for a journey that might conceivably take thousands of years. A lot of the times those stories can be subdivided into a few other distinct types. There's the ones where the people on the ship don't realize they've been on a ship for years and years and have evolved new cultures and modes (Brian Aldiss' famous "Nonstop") and the ones dealing with the rigors of being stuck on a voyage that you probably won't be around to see the end of (Gene Wolfe's "Book of the Long Sun", although its a bit oblique). Frank Robinson attempts to have a blend of both ways and surprisingly, he pulls it off.
Young Sparrow sustains an accident while the crew is out exploring a planet as part of their generational mission to discover life somewhere in the universe, and wakes up having very little memory of what happened before the accident. The crew is nice but treats him kind of odd, the Captain is really intense, two thousand years old and is really friendly to him and he constantly feels like he's missing something. Turns out, he is. Lots of somethings. And not all of them involve him.
By this point the ship has been on a voyage of two thousand years and has not been successful at finding any sort of life, leading the crew (who unlike the Captain, aren't immortal) to wonder if there is any life in the universe at all besides themselves. The Captain insists on heading outward even further, into what they call "The Dark" the vast field of space between the stars that will probably take another thousand years to cross, a journey they're not even sure the ship will survive. This, needless to say, leads to a bit of tension. Sparrow begins to think he was involved in it somehow but the depths of the "how" of it are where the book finds its strength.
Giving Sparrow a variation of amnesia right off the bat manages to make the book work on several levels, as we're forced to experience the ship with his new eyes, learning the culture that has come about during the voyage, the little understandings and quirks that start to develop when people are free of influences they used to have and start to make up their own. Watching the ship go through their own sustained rituals over the course of the novel, the clockwork routines and the variations of our old understandings gives the book a feel not unlike that of Peake's fantasy classic "Gormenghast", as all the main characters and side characters flit their way through a crumbling ship (Thrush makes a good analogue for Steerpike, albeit not as lethal), locked into a closed system that depends on everyone doing their jobs exactly as they always have been, right at the point where things are starting to go off the rails. There's a moment when it seems like Robinson is going to start having the characters subconsciously act out their character names (everyone is named after either birds or people from Shakespeare) and the story is going to move into one of those Samuel Delany discussions on Jungian archetypes and the collective unconscious but fortunately for its page turning aspects, it doesn't complicate itself.
I don't mean to suggest that this novel is just the sum of other influences. It works very well on its own and that's because Robinson has crafted a page turner, sprinkling enough mysteries to keep the ground shifting from beneath Sparrow's feet and ours as well as he constantly has to revise what he knows as he figures out new information that upends what he previously thought. It's a risk, because the book has several "everything you know is wrong!" moments that could strain credulity but Robinson manages to keep the suspense going by a gradual unpeeling of mysteries leading to the discoveries of mysteries that weren't necessarily even apparent from the get-go. Divvying out morsels of information gives the novel a constantly shifting feel, even as the location never really changes, making it feel more wide open than it should be. As the stakes become higher and the novel begins to pivot on the tension between Sparrow and the Captain, with the rest of the characters falling into their two poles, its only when you're mostly through the novel that you've realized there's hardly any action.
It feels realistic in a way that a novel about a generation ship shouldn't. Even the quibbles (a dispatch from Earth showing how the language has drifted only highlights how the crew doesn't sound all that much different and raises questions how the Captain can still understand them . . . not that I want everyone to talk like "A Clockwork Orange") only prove how much detail Robinson has put into the novel, not only giving us a fairly functioning if constantly running down starcraft, but also a logical view of how people might feel that their two thousand year mission into futility might be a waste of their time. Its a nice change from the usual SF trope that insists life must be out there somewhere and easily found, and as much as the Captain insists hey guys, its out there, all the crew knows is that they're staring at a dark expanse of space that sure doesn't seem like it might have company.
I'm not sure the climax has the impact it should but given all the clues we were dangled in the pages prior it all holds together and manages to wrap up on a satisfying note, giving us the rare actual saga that doesn't need to be five thousand pages long. Its the closest thing I've seen to a SF novel how they used to do it, taking a concept and wrapping an interesting story around it without dragging it out forever or trying to dazzle us with a zillion avant-garde techniques. It did win the Lambda Literary Award for that year, which are given to works that explore homosexual themes, and while sex is a concern in the book its not the ultimate focus, being treated seriously where it needs to be without overcoming the plot. It deals with the topic honestly and feels even realer for it, and isn't something that should turn off any potential readers. It would even work for people who like well plotted thrillers if they can get over the fact that it takes place on a spaceship. A good "meat and potatoes" SF novel that proves with a bit of intelligence and dexterity you can ensure that "science-fiction" and "story" aren't two mutually exclusive concepts.
Young Sparrow sustains an accident while the crew is out exploring a planet as part of their generational mission to discover life somewhere in the universe, and wakes up having very little memory of what happened before the accident. The crew is nice but treats him kind of odd, the Captain is really intense, two thousand years old and is really friendly to him and he constantly feels like he's missing something. Turns out, he is. Lots of somethings. And not all of them involve him.
By this point the ship has been on a voyage of two thousand years and has not been successful at finding any sort of life, leading the crew (who unlike the Captain, aren't immortal) to wonder if there is any life in the universe at all besides themselves. The Captain insists on heading outward even further, into what they call "The Dark" the vast field of space between the stars that will probably take another thousand years to cross, a journey they're not even sure the ship will survive. This, needless to say, leads to a bit of tension. Sparrow begins to think he was involved in it somehow but the depths of the "how" of it are where the book finds its strength.
Giving Sparrow a variation of amnesia right off the bat manages to make the book work on several levels, as we're forced to experience the ship with his new eyes, learning the culture that has come about during the voyage, the little understandings and quirks that start to develop when people are free of influences they used to have and start to make up their own. Watching the ship go through their own sustained rituals over the course of the novel, the clockwork routines and the variations of our old understandings gives the book a feel not unlike that of Peake's fantasy classic "Gormenghast", as all the main characters and side characters flit their way through a crumbling ship (Thrush makes a good analogue for Steerpike, albeit not as lethal), locked into a closed system that depends on everyone doing their jobs exactly as they always have been, right at the point where things are starting to go off the rails. There's a moment when it seems like Robinson is going to start having the characters subconsciously act out their character names (everyone is named after either birds or people from Shakespeare) and the story is going to move into one of those Samuel Delany discussions on Jungian archetypes and the collective unconscious but fortunately for its page turning aspects, it doesn't complicate itself.
I don't mean to suggest that this novel is just the sum of other influences. It works very well on its own and that's because Robinson has crafted a page turner, sprinkling enough mysteries to keep the ground shifting from beneath Sparrow's feet and ours as well as he constantly has to revise what he knows as he figures out new information that upends what he previously thought. It's a risk, because the book has several "everything you know is wrong!" moments that could strain credulity but Robinson manages to keep the suspense going by a gradual unpeeling of mysteries leading to the discoveries of mysteries that weren't necessarily even apparent from the get-go. Divvying out morsels of information gives the novel a constantly shifting feel, even as the location never really changes, making it feel more wide open than it should be. As the stakes become higher and the novel begins to pivot on the tension between Sparrow and the Captain, with the rest of the characters falling into their two poles, its only when you're mostly through the novel that you've realized there's hardly any action.
It feels realistic in a way that a novel about a generation ship shouldn't. Even the quibbles (a dispatch from Earth showing how the language has drifted only highlights how the crew doesn't sound all that much different and raises questions how the Captain can still understand them . . . not that I want everyone to talk like "A Clockwork Orange") only prove how much detail Robinson has put into the novel, not only giving us a fairly functioning if constantly running down starcraft, but also a logical view of how people might feel that their two thousand year mission into futility might be a waste of their time. Its a nice change from the usual SF trope that insists life must be out there somewhere and easily found, and as much as the Captain insists hey guys, its out there, all the crew knows is that they're staring at a dark expanse of space that sure doesn't seem like it might have company.
I'm not sure the climax has the impact it should but given all the clues we were dangled in the pages prior it all holds together and manages to wrap up on a satisfying note, giving us the rare actual saga that doesn't need to be five thousand pages long. Its the closest thing I've seen to a SF novel how they used to do it, taking a concept and wrapping an interesting story around it without dragging it out forever or trying to dazzle us with a zillion avant-garde techniques. It did win the Lambda Literary Award for that year, which are given to works that explore homosexual themes, and while sex is a concern in the book its not the ultimate focus, being treated seriously where it needs to be without overcoming the plot. It deals with the topic honestly and feels even realer for it, and isn't something that should turn off any potential readers. It would even work for people who like well plotted thrillers if they can get over the fact that it takes place on a spaceship. A good "meat and potatoes" SF novel that proves with a bit of intelligence and dexterity you can ensure that "science-fiction" and "story" aren't two mutually exclusive concepts.
November 29, 2017
I loved this book. My hang-ups included two rape scenes (one aftermath and one short yet overt scene) and a weird reproduction ritual. Nevertheless the author investigated/viewed these in a way I did not expect from 1990s sci fi. The book was also incredibly inclusive, especially for being written in 1991.
Also I'm now thinking about belief in a whole new way, and the overall adventure and mystery of this book was superb. Still not sure how I feel about the ending, but hey, I'm definitely thinking about it.
Also I'm now thinking about belief in a whole new way, and the overall adventure and mystery of this book was superb. Still not sure how I feel about the ending, but hey, I'm definitely thinking about it.
April 23, 2025
It’s a rare thing after 35+ years of reading sci-fi that a classic author comes out of left field and surprises me with a brilliant book in one of my favourite subgenres, but here we are, Frank M. Robinson and I. Despite being in my favourite generation-ship subgenre it also has one of my least favourite gimmicks – an amnesiac POV character. Yet, after a bit of grumbling and a few chapters in, I reluctantly had to give it a pass as it is, in fact, integral to the storyline and not just a crutch for the writer as it so often tends to be. Giving away anything more, beyond the fact that the ship is out on a generational SETI mission, would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say that there is (some) hard-ish science (with some inevitable holes, but alas), lots of drama and character development, a bit of adventuring and quite a lot of surprises and intrigue as the ship readies for a plunge into “the dark” of the galaxy.
April 27, 2021
Many like this book a lot, but I'm only giving it 2 stars because of the weird sexual themes the author injected into what was otherwise a very good story. The book is an account of a multi-generational starship voyage launched from earth to search for life elsewhere in the galaxy. Two of the characters (somewhat inexplicably) do not age, while the other generations come and go. The story develops numerous interesting characters as each generation tries to decide between continuing to follow the obsessed ship captain, or mutiny. However, the book contains multiple scenes which can only be described as rape, and which are treated somewhat flippantly by the author. These scenes often arise from several twisted sexual plot themes: (1) every member of the crew must submit to the first sexual advance by any other member of the crew (male or female, and whether they want the encounter or not), (2) virtually every crew member is bisexual (or forced to attempt to be), and (3) females chosen for childbearing must submit to potential impregnation by multiple random male partners within the span of a few hours. They are typically drugged to make the ordeal more bearable. These weird plot elements were implausible and unpleasant, and interfered with my enjoyment of the book.
August 27, 2010
Good hard SF. Moby Dick meets Star Trek with a dash of Wandering Jew.
The basis premise is flawed, though. The "Dark" is pictured as the starless void between two arms of the Milky Way which the multi-generational explorers must cross to find a richer area to search. But that's exactly where the earth is. The less crowded neighborhood between the arms may be the best place to look. Like Star Trek, Robinson commits the error of picturing it as having an "edge" with lots of starts on one side and a black void beyond.
Oh, and they recycle bodies to recapture "trace elements" and "mass", yet they land on barren planets with sulfur and iron. All the trace elements and mass are there for the taking.
The basis premise is flawed, though. The "Dark" is pictured as the starless void between two arms of the Milky Way which the multi-generational explorers must cross to find a richer area to search. But that's exactly where the earth is. The less crowded neighborhood between the arms may be the best place to look. Like Star Trek, Robinson commits the error of picturing it as having an "edge" with lots of starts on one side and a black void beyond.
Oh, and they recycle bodies to recapture "trace elements" and "mass", yet they land on barren planets with sulfur and iron. All the trace elements and mass are there for the taking.
June 16, 2025
I decided to explore some more of the work of Frank M Robinson - after all he have written two of my favourite guides to science fiction and fantasy as well as the mind twisting book the Power.
I later found out that he had helped create the film the Towering Inferno - after writing a book called the Glass Inferno - so when I discovered he have co-written a science fiction space opera I had to take a look
And so starts the story of the Dark Beyond the stars - I will admit that looking back there are a lot of tropes and, cliches but at the time of writing I suspect it had it fair share of surprises and twists and turns. The question is though did I enjoy it and to be honest I did although for me it was a bit of a slow burn but catch it certainly did.
Now the question which of his other books shall I read as each seems to take on a different topic and dare I say genre - so what next I wonder
I later found out that he had helped create the film the Towering Inferno - after writing a book called the Glass Inferno - so when I discovered he have co-written a science fiction space opera I had to take a look
And so starts the story of the Dark Beyond the stars - I will admit that looking back there are a lot of tropes and, cliches but at the time of writing I suspect it had it fair share of surprises and twists and turns. The question is though did I enjoy it and to be honest I did although for me it was a bit of a slow burn but catch it certainly did.
Now the question which of his other books shall I read as each seems to take on a different topic and dare I say genre - so what next I wonder
April 25, 2013
I was in my pre-teens when I read this BUT I thought it was so great that I still remember it now. There's so much food-for-thought about the existance of other life in the universe and just how small the human race really is.
And there's a whole lot of gay/bi-sexuality going on and none of the characters thought it was anything unusual. This storyline was also the first time that I realized that all these societal norms we all understand as "normal" don't actually mean anything. Lock a handful of us in a house for many, many years and soon, "normal" will take on a whole different tone.
And there's a whole lot of gay/bi-sexuality going on and none of the characters thought it was anything unusual. This storyline was also the first time that I realized that all these societal norms we all understand as "normal" don't actually mean anything. Lock a handful of us in a house for many, many years and soon, "normal" will take on a whole different tone.
October 21, 2019
The reviews here remind me of the negativity of Yelp, as in everybody here is focusing on one MINOR detail and docking stars because of something so trivial. No, this isn't some gay sex odyssey where everyone has bisexual orgies every other chapter. If that is what you took away from this then a piece of great fiction was lost upon you.
I haven't read a generational ship story this good since Children of Time (which you need to read too). This book had a lot of morally gray areas and philosophical dilemmas and insights that really made me think.
Highly recommend!
I haven't read a generational ship story this good since Children of Time (which you need to read too). This book had a lot of morally gray areas and philosophical dilemmas and insights that really made me think.
Highly recommend!
September 25, 2021
An overly long and tedious generation ship story which gets too bogged down in the ship's internal politics between cardboard cut-out characters, and then ends precisely at the point when it might have become interesting.
July 13, 2020
I hate using star ratings, especially when one is limited to five - it's such a crude calibration.
Nevertheless, Frank M. Robinson's The Dark Beyond the Stars is a pretty damned good 3-star novel.
It is set aboard a starship that has been seeking alien life for centuries - and coming up empty. The crew is tired and dwindling, the ship itself is ageing, but the captain intends on leading her into an empty space that will take 100 generations to cross.
I read this maybe five or more years ago, and enjoyed it quite a lot. But as is so often the case with 3-star books, I don't remember much about it now that I am actually writing about it. I'm down-sizing (hence the spate of brief reviews today) so probably won't read it again, but if you're into space opera that doesn't necessarily involve big battles, you'll likely enjoy this one.
Nevertheless, Frank M. Robinson's The Dark Beyond the Stars is a pretty damned good 3-star novel.
It is set aboard a starship that has been seeking alien life for centuries - and coming up empty. The crew is tired and dwindling, the ship itself is ageing, but the captain intends on leading her into an empty space that will take 100 generations to cross.
I read this maybe five or more years ago, and enjoyed it quite a lot. But as is so often the case with 3-star books, I don't remember much about it now that I am actually writing about it. I'm down-sizing (hence the spate of brief reviews today) so probably won't read it again, but if you're into space opera that doesn't necessarily involve big battles, you'll likely enjoy this one.
January 23, 2011
One of my favorite SciFi books ever! I've been waiting for it to come to the kindle for years so I could re-read but finally gave up and got the dead tree version.
Plot wise it's not epic. It's strength is character development and one of the best plot turns I've ever read.
The author telegraphed it loud, you knew it was coming, and it was still amazing.
Plot wise it's not epic. It's strength is character development and one of the best plot turns I've ever read.
The author telegraphed it loud, you knew it was coming, and it was still amazing.
August 1, 2019
Robinson manages to employ a rather tired trope (ye olde generation ship) to great effect here. Well written and quite an ending!
April 22, 2023
Lots of intrigue, mystery, which made it a little challenging for me. Def. thought-provoking. And fun hard sf, too. Well-done, and recommended.
March 16, 2024
Pour un récit se basant sur le modèle du Space Opera, « Destination Ténèbres » est un cas vraiment à part. L’amnésie est au cœur de l’intrigue et plutôt que de gamberger sur les aspects de Hard SF de son univers, le récit se concentre davantage sur les relations entre les personnages dans un huis-clos spatial. J'avoue que j'ai un peu peur au début quand j’ai vu que l’auteur était parti sur le trope de l’amnésique, mais il a su me rassurer en exploitant ce concept de manière brillante. Le rythme haletant de l'histoire, ponctué de rebondissements, est tout simplement délicieux.
Cependant, j'aurais aimé que l'auteur prenne un peu plus de temps pour décrire les décors et l’atmosphère. Parfois, on a l'impression de passer trop rapidement d'une scène à l'autre, sans vraiment avoir le temps de s'immerger complètement dans l'univers du livre. De plus, bien que les personnages soient sympas à suivre dans leur quotidien à bord du vaisseau, ils manquent parfois d'une certaine profondeur qui les aurait rendus encore plus attachants.
Pour ce qui est de la représentation LGBT, elle est tout simplement anecdotique. Si vous cherchez un livre principalement axé sur cette thématique, vous risquez d'être un peu déçu. Cependant, cela n'empêche pas « Destination Ténèbres » d'être une lecture passionnante que je conseille aux fans de science-fiction comme aux néophytes du genre qui souhaiteraient un bon point d’entrée dans le genre.
Univers : 5/10
Personnage : 6/10
Ecriture : 7/10
Rythme : 10/10
Emotion : 6/10
Style : 7/10
Action : 7/10
Cependant, j'aurais aimé que l'auteur prenne un peu plus de temps pour décrire les décors et l’atmosphère. Parfois, on a l'impression de passer trop rapidement d'une scène à l'autre, sans vraiment avoir le temps de s'immerger complètement dans l'univers du livre. De plus, bien que les personnages soient sympas à suivre dans leur quotidien à bord du vaisseau, ils manquent parfois d'une certaine profondeur qui les aurait rendus encore plus attachants.
Pour ce qui est de la représentation LGBT, elle est tout simplement anecdotique. Si vous cherchez un livre principalement axé sur cette thématique, vous risquez d'être un peu déçu. Cependant, cela n'empêche pas « Destination Ténèbres » d'être une lecture passionnante que je conseille aux fans de science-fiction comme aux néophytes du genre qui souhaiteraient un bon point d’entrée dans le genre.
Univers : 5/10
Personnage : 6/10
Ecriture : 7/10
Rythme : 10/10
Emotion : 6/10
Style : 7/10
Action : 7/10
August 16, 2024
I picked this book up because it won the Lambda Award back in the day. I was looking for a good sci-fi book with queer characters but that was not just a romance in space. This is a surprisingly difficult sort of book to find, and, alas, I failed to find it here: it was a good sci-fi book, but the only "queerness" was a single instance of sex used to establish dominance, in contrast to myriad loving straight relationships (and sex scenes).
The premise itself is interesting: the main character wakes up on a generation ship unable to recall anything except a nearly fatal incident. He learns that the purpose of the ship is to explore the galaxy and find alien life, which it has been doing for over 2000 years--yet it has yet to find any. The lack of success has bred tension between those who believe they might yet find alien life (despite the time spent on their mission, they have explored only a minute percentage of the galaxy) and those who believe the galaxy is lifeless except for Earth (mathematically life is likely to be extraordinarily rare). Each believes the other's view is more a matter of faith than science, and ultimately both seem to be right on that count.
Robinson does an admirable job of giving depth to these worldviews (galaxyviews?). Those who believe alien life is out there are intent on continuing their mission despite the deteriorating state of the ship. They are also more willing to use violence, because if life exists beyond the ship then it is less precious. Those who believe the galaxy is dead abhor violence and seem incapable of even imagining it.
Unfortunately, Robinson inserts some dubious genetic science to partly explain the groups' respective feelings about violence, which undercuts the power of Robbinson's work building out these philosophies: some parts of the crew are able to intuitively sense the feelings of others within their group (a trope that rhymes a bit with the main character in Dan Simmons' Endymion).
The pacing and plot development is also competent. We follow the main character as he slowly unravels the mystery of who he really is, what is happening on the ship, and what his relationships are with other characters. This happens very gradually, with different pieces of the puzzle slowly slotting into place. It is not until nearly the end of the book that we really understand everything that is happening and each characters' real motivation.
However, I still found myself deeply frustrated: Despite winning a queer science fiction book award, the book's treatment of queerness is shockingly retrograde, even for its time (1991), particularly given that its author was not only gay but Harvey Milk's speechwriter. There are no real queer characters in the book at all, or even mentioned, despite description of innumerable couples .
As far as I could discern, there are only two references to queerness--quite remarkable in a book about a generation ship, in which reproduction would, of necessity, be strictly controlled. In one, the main character makes friends with another man who then gets him high and has sex with him. The main character then becomes enraged about the experience and, later, . It is first implied extensively and then stated explicitly that their encounter was about the other character establishing dominance rather than either of them feeling sexual pleasure or experiencing romantic attraction.
This is the sort of "queer representation" one might expect to find in Dune rather than in a book that has won a queer science fiction award. I would have even preferred the total invisibility of queerness (as is commonplace in 99% of fiction) to this because rather than erasing the existence of queer people it suggests that (male) queer sexuality is about domination, not about attraction or love.
This message was not offset by the only other reference to queerness, which was in passing: a flashback as the main character recovers his memories of another male character checking him out and the main character feeling bi-curious about it. The other character is never mentioned again, and neither is the main character's potential attraction to men.
These sorry excuses for "queer representation" are especially stark against the deluge of straight attraction, sexuality, and love throughout the book. The main character and his best friend go on a "rut" (the author's phrasing) wherein they have sex with virtually all of the women on board; there is a romanticized orgy wherein up to a dozen men have sex with a drugged-up girl as part of an "impregnation ceremony" (I nearly DNF'd at this point), on the pretense that this would keep the identity of the father a secret; the main character (and every other character) settles down into a long-term relationship with someone of the opposite sex.
These dynamics left me deeply unsettled and, at times, a little nauseous.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, on the whole. The writing was competent; the plot was compelling. Equally important was that the book took on interesting ideas and treated them (for the most part) seriously: what would it mean if we really are alone in the galaxy? In the universe? And how should that affect how we treat each other? I only wish that it had actually warranted the queer sci-fi award it won, perhaps by treating queerness just as seriously.
The premise itself is interesting: the main character wakes up on a generation ship unable to recall anything except a nearly fatal incident. He learns that the purpose of the ship is to explore the galaxy and find alien life, which it has been doing for over 2000 years--yet it has yet to find any. The lack of success has bred tension between those who believe they might yet find alien life (despite the time spent on their mission, they have explored only a minute percentage of the galaxy) and those who believe the galaxy is lifeless except for Earth (mathematically life is likely to be extraordinarily rare). Each believes the other's view is more a matter of faith than science, and ultimately both seem to be right on that count.
Robinson does an admirable job of giving depth to these worldviews (galaxyviews?). Those who believe alien life is out there are intent on continuing their mission despite the deteriorating state of the ship. They are also more willing to use violence, because if life exists beyond the ship then it is less precious. Those who believe the galaxy is dead abhor violence and seem incapable of even imagining it.
Unfortunately, Robinson inserts some dubious genetic science to partly explain the groups' respective feelings about violence, which undercuts the power of Robbinson's work building out these philosophies: some parts of the crew are able to intuitively sense the feelings of others within their group (a trope that rhymes a bit with the main character in Dan Simmons' Endymion).
The pacing and plot development is also competent. We follow the main character as he slowly unravels the mystery of who he really is, what is happening on the ship, and what his relationships are with other characters. This happens very gradually, with different pieces of the puzzle slowly slotting into place. It is not until nearly the end of the book that we really understand everything that is happening and each characters' real motivation.
However, I still found myself deeply frustrated: Despite winning a queer science fiction book award, the book's treatment of queerness is shockingly retrograde, even for its time (1991), particularly given that its author was not only gay but Harvey Milk's speechwriter. There are no real queer characters in the book at all, or even mentioned, despite description of innumerable couples .
As far as I could discern, there are only two references to queerness--quite remarkable in a book about a generation ship, in which reproduction would, of necessity, be strictly controlled. In one, the main character makes friends with another man who then gets him high and has sex with him. The main character then becomes enraged about the experience and, later, . It is first implied extensively and then stated explicitly that their encounter was about the other character establishing dominance rather than either of them feeling sexual pleasure or experiencing romantic attraction.
This is the sort of "queer representation" one might expect to find in Dune rather than in a book that has won a queer science fiction award. I would have even preferred the total invisibility of queerness (as is commonplace in 99% of fiction) to this because rather than erasing the existence of queer people it suggests that (male) queer sexuality is about domination, not about attraction or love.
This message was not offset by the only other reference to queerness, which was in passing: a flashback as the main character recovers his memories of another male character checking him out and the main character feeling bi-curious about it. The other character is never mentioned again, and neither is the main character's potential attraction to men.
These sorry excuses for "queer representation" are especially stark against the deluge of straight attraction, sexuality, and love throughout the book. The main character and his best friend go on a "rut" (the author's phrasing) wherein they have sex with virtually all of the women on board; there is a romanticized orgy wherein up to a dozen men have sex with a drugged-up girl as part of an "impregnation ceremony" (I nearly DNF'd at this point), on the pretense that this would keep the identity of the father a secret; the main character (and every other character) settles down into a long-term relationship with someone of the opposite sex.
These dynamics left me deeply unsettled and, at times, a little nauseous.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, on the whole. The writing was competent; the plot was compelling. Equally important was that the book took on interesting ideas and treated them (for the most part) seriously: what would it mean if we really are alone in the galaxy? In the universe? And how should that affect how we treat each other? I only wish that it had actually warranted the queer sci-fi award it won, perhaps by treating queerness just as seriously.
July 18, 2023
I went into this book really raw, only reading the blurb and nothing else. I'm glad I did because I enjoyed this book immensely. The Dark Beyond the Stars is interesting the entire time, with twists and turns coming frequently and cool ideas being used more creatively as the pages turn. I had never read Frank M. Robinson before, but this book may have me picking up another soon!
Trigger warning:
The way this book handles rape and consent can be a little offputting to some readers. The nature of a generation ship feeding off itself can be uncomfortable and sometimes horrible. It's handled well enough, but it can sometimes be a little dicey, especially when it sort of hand-waves it away. As a product of 1991, this isn't uncommon in older books, sadly, but I figured I would mention it for potential new readers.
On the plus side, contrary to most books written in 1991, it's very inclusive!
Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I loved pretty much every character in it, and I felt like the action scenes and the visual atmosphere were stunning. The ending is also amazing, and I will be thinking about the Dark Beyond the Stars for a long, long time.
Trigger warning:
The way this book handles rape and consent can be a little offputting to some readers. The nature of a generation ship feeding off itself can be uncomfortable and sometimes horrible. It's handled well enough, but it can sometimes be a little dicey, especially when it sort of hand-waves it away. As a product of 1991, this isn't uncommon in older books, sadly, but I figured I would mention it for potential new readers.
On the plus side, contrary to most books written in 1991, it's very inclusive!
Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I loved pretty much every character in it, and I felt like the action scenes and the visual atmosphere were stunning. The ending is also amazing, and I will be thinking about the Dark Beyond the Stars for a long, long time.
January 7, 2021
Tres estrellitas, aunque he estado a punto de dejarlo en varias ocasiones. Y es que apenas pasa nada. Me he cortado de hacerlo por ver qué narices pasaba al final. Y, bueno, afortunadamente no decepciona demasiado. Modesta primera lectura del año.
December 9, 2025
3.6
The premise was great - clever and original.
Overall plot: ok
Writing: ok - bogged down here and there
Characters: ok
FR got the science wrong a few times, which always annoys me more than it should.
The premise was great - clever and original.
Overall plot: ok
Writing: ok - bogged down here and there
Characters: ok
FR got the science wrong a few times, which always annoys me more than it should.
October 21, 2020
Well written and entered but at times was staggering along when it could have picked up the pace. I liked Sparrow and though this was a random pick it was still a good one. A solid three ✨.
March 11, 2021
The beginning was great, the middle was painfully depressing, borderline dull, and then the ending was ok. Like the concept, not sure about the book.
July 19, 2021
A slow beginning, but the story and momentum builds. Several reveals in the last 1/3rd of the book answer a lot of questions and bring the story to a satisfactory end.
July 17, 2025
Melodrama of a few teenage type characters on a generation ship. Didn't really go into many of the questions of a generation ship.
Probably influential on YA like Red Rising and Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora. The resurrection thing probably Mickey 7 (Mickey 17).
Although I finished it, not my jam.
Probably influential on YA like Red Rising and Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora. The resurrection thing probably Mickey 7 (Mickey 17).
Although I finished it, not my jam.
August 2, 2012
I was recommended this book off a list of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror novels that have gay characters in them. Pretty much every character in the novel was bisexual, which is fine, but I was expecting the main character to be gay, so that was mildly disappointing. This has nothing to do with my review, it's just an FYI in case you're hoping the novel is about the experiences of a gay character in space.
As for the book itself, I felt annoyed with the way it was written most of the time because it's written as the story of a character looking back on things he's done; it almost feels like a memoir, but not quite. It seems like after he's done something, sparrow says "I later realized I shouldn't have done that" and the commentary on his own actions became quickly irritating for me. The reason why is because, as a reader reading the novel for the first time, I have no idea of figuring out why he's momentarily regretting the way he handled some situation; if feels like the author is constantly rubbing in your face the obvious idea that something is terribly terribly amiss with the way the other characters treat sparrow without telling you any more about the situation than sparrow knows. If I were ever planning on reading this again, I'm sure I'd have lots of "a-ha!" moments at those points in the story, but a skilled reader would be able to have those same moments without the author pointing them out anyway. In spite of how annoying this was, it does make the narrative move along pretty quickly, and did keep me more interested in the story than I probably would have otherwise been.
I did enjoy the portrayal of the characters (and especially their relationships) and the setting of the novel, and it was an interesting story (although it would have been better if the author hadn't seemed to assume his readers would suffer from just as much amnesia as the main character and stop reminding us about it), but I'm only giving it 3 stars because I didn't really care too much for the writing style - the lack of authorial generosity and the annoying way that it's constantly shoved in your face.
As for the book itself, I felt annoyed with the way it was written most of the time because it's written as the story of a character looking back on things he's done; it almost feels like a memoir, but not quite. It seems like after he's done something, sparrow says "I later realized I shouldn't have done that" and the commentary on his own actions became quickly irritating for me. The reason why is because, as a reader reading the novel for the first time, I have no idea of figuring out why he's momentarily regretting the way he handled some situation; if feels like the author is constantly rubbing in your face the obvious idea that something is terribly terribly amiss with the way the other characters treat sparrow without telling you any more about the situation than sparrow knows. If I were ever planning on reading this again, I'm sure I'd have lots of "a-ha!" moments at those points in the story, but a skilled reader would be able to have those same moments without the author pointing them out anyway. In spite of how annoying this was, it does make the narrative move along pretty quickly, and did keep me more interested in the story than I probably would have otherwise been.
I did enjoy the portrayal of the characters (and especially their relationships) and the setting of the novel, and it was an interesting story (although it would have been better if the author hadn't seemed to assume his readers would suffer from just as much amnesia as the main character and stop reminding us about it), but I'm only giving it 3 stars because I didn't really care too much for the writing style - the lack of authorial generosity and the annoying way that it's constantly shoved in your face.
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