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Berserker #2
Brother Assassin
When the planet Sirgol is targeted for destruction by the Berserker war machines, who plan to travel through time to kill a pivotal scientist in history, Time Operative Derron Odegard becomes the world's only hope. Reprint.
219 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
28 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
Fred Saberhagen
335 books494 followersFred Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Beserker'' and Dracula stories.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 19, 2023
I really wanted to make it 4 stars 🌟 ... but the last third of the book dragged a bit for me...the book consists of 3 novella-sized stories that are connected by people, places, and time...
November 11, 2024
This was a very unique science fiction story.
January 31, 2023
ENGLISH: In a world where time travel is possible, human beings confront the berserkers in a time war where they must help their own ancestors to survive the attack of the monster machines. This book makes use of the idea that the past can be changed, as in Poul Anderson's time patrol stories.
The second story (The Winged Helmet) reminds me of the second story in Poul Anderson's time patrol series (Brave to be a King): A replacement must be found for an important historic king who has been killed by a berserker, so that history does not change, who must occupy his place until the time patrol can undo the berserker's operation.
In this second part, the protagonist asks Lisa to go live with him and dissuades her from getting married because "these are difficult times and we don't know what will happen". In other words, times are as they have always been. Saying that we shouldn't commit because we don't know what can happen has been done at all times and under every circumstance.
The third part is the best. Its recreation of the history of St. Francis and Galileo in a sci-fi frame reminds me of my own book The Earth-9 Colony Revisited, which does something similar in a more complete way.
I think the description of the berserkers has changed in this book, compared to the first novel in the series. They are no longer soulless machines programmed to exterminate every form of organic life. Now they are able to delay their strategic objective for tactical reasons. I think I liked the berserkers in the first book better.
ESPAÑOL: En un mundo donde se puede viajar en el tiempo, los seres humanos se enfrentan a los berserkers en una guerra a través del tiempo, en la que deben ayudar a sus antepasados a sobrevivir al ataque de las máquinas monstruosas. Este libro utiliza la idea de que el pasado se puede cambiar, como en las historias de la patrulla del tiempo de Poul Anderson.
La segunda historia (El Yelmo Alado) me recuerda la segunda historia de la serie de Poul Anderson sobre la patrulla del tiempo (El Valor de ser un Rey). Para que la historia no cambie, es preciso buscar un sustituto para un rey histórico importante que ha sido asesinado por un berserker, que deberá ocupar su lugar hasta que la patrulla del tiempo pueda deshacer la obra del berserker.
En esta segunda parte, el protagonista le pide a Lisa que se vaya a vivir con él y la disuade de casarse porque “son tiempos muy complicados y no sabemos lo que puede pasar”. O sea, esos tiempos son como han sido siempre. El argumento de que no debemos comprometernos porque no sabemos qué puede pasar se ha utilizado en todo tiempo y circunstancia.
La tercera parte es la mejor. Su recreación de la historia de San Francisco y Galileo en un marco de ciencia ficción me recuerda mi propio libro, Retorno a la Colonia Tierra-9, que hace algo parecido, de manera más completa.
Creo que la descripción de los berserkers ha cambiado en este libro, en comparación con el primero de la serie. Ya no son esas máquinas sin alma, programadas para exterminar toda forma de vida orgánica. Ahora son capaces de retrasar su objetivo estratégico por razones tácticas. Creo que me gustan más los berserkers del primer libro.
The second story (The Winged Helmet) reminds me of the second story in Poul Anderson's time patrol series (Brave to be a King): A replacement must be found for an important historic king who has been killed by a berserker, so that history does not change, who must occupy his place until the time patrol can undo the berserker's operation.
In this second part, the protagonist asks Lisa to go live with him and dissuades her from getting married because "these are difficult times and we don't know what will happen". In other words, times are as they have always been. Saying that we shouldn't commit because we don't know what can happen has been done at all times and under every circumstance.
The third part is the best. Its recreation of the history of St. Francis and Galileo in a sci-fi frame reminds me of my own book The Earth-9 Colony Revisited, which does something similar in a more complete way.
I think the description of the berserkers has changed in this book, compared to the first novel in the series. They are no longer soulless machines programmed to exterminate every form of organic life. Now they are able to delay their strategic objective for tactical reasons. I think I liked the berserkers in the first book better.
ESPAÑOL: En un mundo donde se puede viajar en el tiempo, los seres humanos se enfrentan a los berserkers en una guerra a través del tiempo, en la que deben ayudar a sus antepasados a sobrevivir al ataque de las máquinas monstruosas. Este libro utiliza la idea de que el pasado se puede cambiar, como en las historias de la patrulla del tiempo de Poul Anderson.
La segunda historia (El Yelmo Alado) me recuerda la segunda historia de la serie de Poul Anderson sobre la patrulla del tiempo (El Valor de ser un Rey). Para que la historia no cambie, es preciso buscar un sustituto para un rey histórico importante que ha sido asesinado por un berserker, que deberá ocupar su lugar hasta que la patrulla del tiempo pueda deshacer la obra del berserker.
En esta segunda parte, el protagonista le pide a Lisa que se vaya a vivir con él y la disuade de casarse porque “son tiempos muy complicados y no sabemos lo que puede pasar”. O sea, esos tiempos son como han sido siempre. El argumento de que no debemos comprometernos porque no sabemos qué puede pasar se ha utilizado en todo tiempo y circunstancia.
La tercera parte es la mejor. Su recreación de la historia de San Francisco y Galileo en un marco de ciencia ficción me recuerda mi propio libro, Retorno a la Colonia Tierra-9, que hace algo parecido, de manera más completa.
Creo que la descripción de los berserkers ha cambiado en este libro, en comparación con el primero de la serie. Ya no son esas máquinas sin alma, programadas para exterminar toda forma de vida orgánica. Ahora son capaces de retrasar su objetivo estratégico por razones tácticas. Creo que me gustan más los berserkers del primer libro.
June 5, 2019
I wanted to give this three stars. Then I wanted to give it four stars. I argued with myself that it deserves three, but then I gave it four.
This novel is broken into three sections. The whole novel describes the Berserker attack (infiltration of the past) on the already war-weary planet Sirgol. Each section of the novel describes a particular insertion of Berserker forces into the timeline.
Continuity is held by the main character, Derron, who twice is sent back in time to deal with the Berserker "assassins." Derron Odegard is an unhappy, but dutiful time operative.
It's not really ideal to think of this as a strict time travel novel. It's almost more ontological than it has any right to be. And there's a delicious amount of heartstring-plucking ethics thrown in each section to make the novel more than just an action sequence.
The last section is going to more interesting, I guess, for those readers who, like me, know all of their Church history and saints.
Yep, I'm looking forward to Berserker book #3.
This novel is broken into three sections. The whole novel describes the Berserker attack (infiltration of the past) on the already war-weary planet Sirgol. Each section of the novel describes a particular insertion of Berserker forces into the timeline.
Continuity is held by the main character, Derron, who twice is sent back in time to deal with the Berserker "assassins." Derron Odegard is an unhappy, but dutiful time operative.
It's not really ideal to think of this as a strict time travel novel. It's almost more ontological than it has any right to be. And there's a delicious amount of heartstring-plucking ethics thrown in each section to make the novel more than just an action sequence.
The last section is going to more interesting, I guess, for those readers who, like me, know all of their Church history and saints.
Yep, I'm looking forward to Berserker book #3.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/187709.html[return][return]You have these killer alien robots, right, called berserkers, and they're attacking this human-colonised planet, right, which is, like, unique because it's the only place in the universe where time travel is possible. Apparently. Oh yeah, and because of a bizarre accident with the first spaceship that ever landed there, the locals have recapitulated the whole of the history of European civilisation with uncanny accuracy.[return][return]Having set up this slightly pulpish - OK, totally pulpish - background, it turns into rather a good book - actually a collection of three short stories originally published in 1967, the first set in the Stone Age, the second in an equivalent of the Viking era, and the third retelling the story of Galileo. I think I picked it up second-hand for less than a pound, and I've certainly paid more for books I enjoyed less.
August 1, 2022
В дитинстві ця книга була набагато цікавішою)) а зараз - звичайна, доволі посередня фантастика, у якій трапляються дуже хороші моменти та ідеї.
July 7, 2014
I enjoyed Saberhagen's take on time travel and how it could be used in warfare. He deserves real credit for positing some interesting consequences to time travel well before films--such as Terminator--stepped into the zeitgeist and established their rules for the genre.
The book is broken up into three parts, a structure that is actually dictated by the conflict of the story, which involves triangulating berserker activity throughout history. The middle part was slow for many stretches, and my interested waned; fortunately, subsequent events built on this material, making the part, as a whole, worthwhile. The resolution involved surprising notes of hope and compassion. Altogether, this was a fun read.
The book is broken up into three parts, a structure that is actually dictated by the conflict of the story, which involves triangulating berserker activity throughout history. The middle part was slow for many stretches, and my interested waned; fortunately, subsequent events built on this material, making the part, as a whole, worthwhile. The resolution involved surprising notes of hope and compassion. Altogether, this was a fun read.
July 17, 2012
Mildly diverting, with honest pulpy pleasure, but very weakly concluded. Also very much of its time, an era of science fiction when real men wore jumpsuits and lived behind computer consoles, and women were furniture. Note to aspiring authors-- when you set out to write a book about a time-travel battle of wits with unstoppable murder machines, you can end it by having the human heroes do something suitably clever, or you can end it with a sad deus ex machina. Don't choose the sad deus ex machina.
April 14, 2022
Brother Assassin just didn’t sound like a novel set in Fred Saberhagen’s universe of the deadly “berserker” machines, chronicles of a seeming futile war against intelligent machines created and evolving simply to destroy ecosystems which support humanity (or any semblance). Then, picking up the novel in curiosity, I discovered Brother Assassin contained a brilliant conceit. Yes, the battle was against these far-future, galaxy-disrupting killer machines but the battlefields were to be three “keyholes” of historical incursions on a planet called Sirgol known for its time anomalies. These diabolical, if one can ascribe emotion to machines, machines have calculated that it would be most effective to destroy or mitigate historical personages who had a significant impact on human socio-technological evolution. Indeed, it is when one reaches the last “operation” in the book that the title, Brother Assassin makes sense.
It’s a great plan that turns Brother Assassin into a three-act play, each act a mission set in a different historical (for the planet Sirgol, that is, though somewhat parallel to Earth history) era with different operational goals and, as one would expect with AI entities, evolving enemies and strategies/tactics. All of this makes for a fascinating premise, a premise which would have been perfect for me if I could only have cared about the protagonist. Fast-tracked TimeOps officer Derron Odegard is pretty much a narcissist when he is not immediately involved in an operation. The empathy that he shows at various times in the book is callously lacking at others. Saberhagen sketches his potential emotional hurt but it isn’t really convincing. There was a lot of unexplored potential in his failed relationship(s) and potential dealing with guilt, but they are either sacrificed on the altar of word/page count or Saberhagen was uninterested in exploring human nature beyond the threat to all humanity/civilization. This may explain why my personal rating doesn’t match my description of the brilliance of the literary conceit.
The strength of Brother Assassin lies in the tautly woven and expertly paced missions. These may be the best pages I’ve read from Saberhagen since one of his “Book of Swords” novels. If it hadn’t been a week crammed with deadlines, Brother Assassin would have been devoured in a day. As it was, I was able to set the book down at the end of each part (each part of the novel contains an operational mission) in order to get some work done. And the conclusion fits the Lester and Judy Lynn Del Rey formula where the protagonist’s conflict has mattered, but it doesn’t really untangle the emotional issues that needed to have been explored earlier in the book. Brother Assassin is a fascinating book in so many ways, but there are places where what could have been sweet was somewhat artificially sweetened and there are places where what should have been challenging grief work was joltingly attenuated. In short, I liked the overall approach to Brother Assassin; I just didn’t love it.
It’s a great plan that turns Brother Assassin into a three-act play, each act a mission set in a different historical (for the planet Sirgol, that is, though somewhat parallel to Earth history) era with different operational goals and, as one would expect with AI entities, evolving enemies and strategies/tactics. All of this makes for a fascinating premise, a premise which would have been perfect for me if I could only have cared about the protagonist. Fast-tracked TimeOps officer Derron Odegard is pretty much a narcissist when he is not immediately involved in an operation. The empathy that he shows at various times in the book is callously lacking at others. Saberhagen sketches his potential emotional hurt but it isn’t really convincing. There was a lot of unexplored potential in his failed relationship(s) and potential dealing with guilt, but they are either sacrificed on the altar of word/page count or Saberhagen was uninterested in exploring human nature beyond the threat to all humanity/civilization. This may explain why my personal rating doesn’t match my description of the brilliance of the literary conceit.
The strength of Brother Assassin lies in the tautly woven and expertly paced missions. These may be the best pages I’ve read from Saberhagen since one of his “Book of Swords” novels. If it hadn’t been a week crammed with deadlines, Brother Assassin would have been devoured in a day. As it was, I was able to set the book down at the end of each part (each part of the novel contains an operational mission) in order to get some work done. And the conclusion fits the Lester and Judy Lynn Del Rey formula where the protagonist’s conflict has mattered, but it doesn’t really untangle the emotional issues that needed to have been explored earlier in the book. Brother Assassin is a fascinating book in so many ways, but there are places where what could have been sweet was somewhat artificially sweetened and there are places where what should have been challenging grief work was joltingly attenuated. In short, I liked the overall approach to Brother Assassin; I just didn’t love it.
July 16, 2020
A fun, light, and pulpy adventure that serves as a good distraction, nothing more.
Brother Assassin is a fun little sci-fi war novel that has a very interesting use of time travel. It's worth noting that this book isn't connected to a larger story thread and can be read without reading any of the other books in the series, which is exactly what I did.
The book is broken into three time travel segments which allows for quite a lot of variety in scenery and story type within a shorter book like this. Fred Saberhagen deftly uses this to his advantage and creates a surprisingly good narrative to weave them all together. While none are particularly groundbreaking they're still a lot of fun.
And then there's the ending. It just kind of... happens. I remember seeing I only had 5 or 6 pages to go thinking "how is there that little book left? How is he going to wrap everything up?" The answer, he cheats. After creating two very tense and entertaining endings, part three builds up well and then ends up with some quick handwaving. The "present day" storyline also feels like it's going to play a bigger part and is getting ready to weave into some kind of twist ending, and then it also goes nowhere.
This is really the books biggest problem. It does a lot of groundwork for a fun and twisty ending, and then gives up on it all. Like the author was writing along and ran out of paper so he just stopped. Doesn't ruin the book, but it severely maims it.
Fun read if you want something light, but not essential.
Brother Assassin is a fun little sci-fi war novel that has a very interesting use of time travel. It's worth noting that this book isn't connected to a larger story thread and can be read without reading any of the other books in the series, which is exactly what I did.
The book is broken into three time travel segments which allows for quite a lot of variety in scenery and story type within a shorter book like this. Fred Saberhagen deftly uses this to his advantage and creates a surprisingly good narrative to weave them all together. While none are particularly groundbreaking they're still a lot of fun.
And then there's the ending. It just kind of... happens. I remember seeing I only had 5 or 6 pages to go thinking "how is there that little book left? How is he going to wrap everything up?" The answer, he cheats. After creating two very tense and entertaining endings, part three builds up well and then ends up with some quick handwaving. The "present day" storyline also feels like it's going to play a bigger part and is getting ready to weave into some kind of twist ending, and then it also goes nowhere.
This is really the books biggest problem. It does a lot of groundwork for a fun and twisty ending, and then gives up on it all. Like the author was writing along and ran out of paper so he just stopped. Doesn't ruin the book, but it severely maims it.
Fun read if you want something light, but not essential.
December 19, 2023
The first Berserker book gave us plenty of very different takes on humanity's galactic war against the nearly cartoonishly villainous machines, but Saberhagen doesn't rest on those laurels: prepare for something complete different. Brother Assassin takes place on a planet where the cosmic... energy... science... basically there's time travel. We're treated to a whole host of sci-fi time travel concepts that are recognizable from later media.
I mean, first and foremost: Terminator. This is just directly the entire premise of the Terminator franchise well over a decade before. It's not Earth, though it might as well be. They go back in time to the equivalent of the middle ages and the renaissance instead of the present as of the publication. Otherwise, this is Terminator. And it's not like it just comes up with the concept and doesn't do much with it: Saberhagen is cooking. The pacing is a little slower than the last volume in part because this one is divided up into just three stories instead of the shorter but more populous stories from the first book, but each of these makes good use of its extra space to deliver a concrete idea.
Top notch stuff, and I look forward to seeing what other wild directions the series goes next.
I mean, first and foremost: Terminator. This is just directly the entire premise of the Terminator franchise well over a decade before. It's not Earth, though it might as well be. They go back in time to the equivalent of the middle ages and the renaissance instead of the present as of the publication. Otherwise, this is Terminator. And it's not like it just comes up with the concept and doesn't do much with it: Saberhagen is cooking. The pacing is a little slower than the last volume in part because this one is divided up into just three stories instead of the shorter but more populous stories from the first book, but each of these makes good use of its extra space to deliver a concrete idea.
Top notch stuff, and I look forward to seeing what other wild directions the series goes next.
May 8, 2023
Time travel considerations and dichotomies ...
A planet previously destroyed by the Berserkers* has a time anomaly allowing Earth decendant humans to successfully defend the planet, but also allows the Berserkers to travel back into key times in history of the planet, to change history sufficiently enough to destroy the lives of those defending the planet in current time... and the humans must monitor historic timeliness to detect possible changes and themselves return to that period to defend the timeline... and their current existence, as well as to close the Berserkers' portal to that time to triangulate where in current time the Berserkers are accessing the time anolomy and destroy them in current time.
Yes, it makes my head hurt ...
But it is very well presented and a riveting story. Not perfect, but excellent all the same.
* Think Borg from Star Trek: artificial intelligence programmed to seek out and destroy all forms of organic life in the universe.
A planet previously destroyed by the Berserkers* has a time anomaly allowing Earth decendant humans to successfully defend the planet, but also allows the Berserkers to travel back into key times in history of the planet, to change history sufficiently enough to destroy the lives of those defending the planet in current time... and the humans must monitor historic timeliness to detect possible changes and themselves return to that period to defend the timeline... and their current existence, as well as to close the Berserkers' portal to that time to triangulate where in current time the Berserkers are accessing the time anolomy and destroy them in current time.
Yes, it makes my head hurt ...
But it is very well presented and a riveting story. Not perfect, but excellent all the same.
* Think Borg from Star Trek: artificial intelligence programmed to seek out and destroy all forms of organic life in the universe.
January 4, 2020
Had some intriguing ideas about military uses of time travel, and the "medieval" and "Renaissance" episodes had some pretty entertaining aspects, but I was badly disappointed in the last-minute turn to saccharine nonsense trying to stand in for character development, and that the amnesiac chick (used early on as a vehicle for info-dumping, and along the way a subject of jealousy and then possible "salvation" for the protagonist) ended up being nothing but... just that. I kept really hoping she was really a murderous android mole planted in the present in the same attack (in the opening sequence) that sent such moles back to several other time periods. A really hugely missed opportunity.
October 19, 2019
8/10 en 2006.
Hay varias novelas de esto de Berseker, que son guerras donde la Humanidad lucha contra máquinas inteligentes robóticas, auto-replicantes y mas malas que Terminator.
Space Opera en la que el Sr Saberhagen se hartó de producir novelas incluso con paralelismos y similitudes con batallas y países reales.
Hay varias novelas de esto de Berseker, que son guerras donde la Humanidad lucha contra máquinas inteligentes robóticas, auto-replicantes y mas malas que Terminator.
Space Opera en la que el Sr Saberhagen se hartó de producir novelas incluso con paralelismos y similitudes con batallas y países reales.
February 3, 2018
I read this book decades ago, and it is still a good read. Hard to write a review without spoilers, but it involves time travel to save various time-line important figures from the berserkers. 3.5 stars.
June 2, 2021
A very nice, easy to read and consume novel. Time travel without the usual time travel twists. 3.5 stars, and I rounded up because it was an enjoyable and quick read. Yet I still struggle with the displayed rating, neither 3 nor 4 stars seems to fit.
March 16, 2022
Wow. This started out so well, and I’m no where near the fan of the let’s head back into time and fight a enemy that wants to destroy humanity. But somewhere around 50 percent it lost its edge. The third story had me completely bored and not caring anymore.
July 6, 2019
Does anyone happen to know why my copy is called brother berserker???
January 24, 2021
A novel or collection of tightly linked novellas, about a conflict with the Berserkers on a distant colony. The Berserkers have nearly destroyed the human civilization on this planet. The surface is scorched, and the survivors are forced to live deep beneath the surface. The twist on this conflict is that time travel is possible on this planet, and humans and Berserkers continue the battle through time. The novel recounts three episodes in this time war at three different points in history. Cleanly written, and the central concept is well handled. A possible influence on The Terminator?
November 6, 2023
Re read of a book from my teens. Still really like it. Time travel and berserkers combined.
November 21, 2023
Plagued with spelling and punctuation errors, a novella hastily expanded into a full length novel, and clumsily written. But still entertaining.
August 24, 2024
Interesting story told in three parts. I really enjoyed it and I loved the end.
May 22, 2014
Berserkers. In Time!
Although not built out of short stories, the second entry in the Berserker saga (!) is still essentially constructed as such: three distinct sections of linear chronology - beginning with Neolithic, followed by Medieval, and ending with Renaissance - that could very well each constitute their own short story. Recurring characters (such as Derron our protagonist, a "Time Operative") appear throughout all three sections although Saberhagen's attempt at an emotional arc with the "love-interest" character Lisa is laughable at best (sexist at worst?).
Like the first book, Saberhagen's nerdy influences are very easy to spot (Beowulf, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Galileo, St. Francis and the Wolf, etc) but aren't as explicit (those slightly awkward moments when characters in the first book would quote Shakespeare and Chaucer right before laser guns came out and killing machines began ripping people in twain [heh] were certainly fun but still disjointed) and most of the cheesiness in this Berserker entry originates from these Earth-references (forgot to tell you, the setting isn't Earth, it's another planet, Sirgol, which might confuse readers when Earth-unique concepts like dragons, friars, and Viking imagery show up - is it charming or not that Saberhagen doesn't even really attempt to explain this?).
That being said, a ton of sci-fi ideas people probably assume as contemporary seem to originate here. The Terminator? Yeah, definitely grabbed a bunch from this book. The ending of the Battlestar Galactica reboot? Essentially outlined in the beginning of the first section. And The Matrix, etc., yadda-yadda....
Saberhagen also plays with the conventions he's established; now we have a role-reversal scenario in which a berserker is attempting to save human lives that other humans desparately want to end as well as an "Inception" scenario about implanting ideas into a human's head that will sow the seeds of human extinction centuries later. Very cool shit.
Not as good as the first entry, especially since it's missing some of that terrifying, cold brutality that I enjoy so much, but still very entertaining as well as greatly enlarging of the possibilities of the Berserkerverse.
"The thing is […] I don't really much care what happens to the world. Only about a person here and there."
Although not built out of short stories, the second entry in the Berserker saga (!) is still essentially constructed as such: three distinct sections of linear chronology - beginning with Neolithic, followed by Medieval, and ending with Renaissance - that could very well each constitute their own short story. Recurring characters (such as Derron our protagonist, a "Time Operative") appear throughout all three sections although Saberhagen's attempt at an emotional arc with the "love-interest" character Lisa is laughable at best (sexist at worst?).
Like the first book, Saberhagen's nerdy influences are very easy to spot (Beowulf, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Galileo, St. Francis and the Wolf, etc) but aren't as explicit (those slightly awkward moments when characters in the first book would quote Shakespeare and Chaucer right before laser guns came out and killing machines began ripping people in twain [heh] were certainly fun but still disjointed) and most of the cheesiness in this Berserker entry originates from these Earth-references (forgot to tell you, the setting isn't Earth, it's another planet, Sirgol, which might confuse readers when Earth-unique concepts like dragons, friars, and Viking imagery show up - is it charming or not that Saberhagen doesn't even really attempt to explain this?).
That being said, a ton of sci-fi ideas people probably assume as contemporary seem to originate here. The Terminator? Yeah, definitely grabbed a bunch from this book. The ending of the Battlestar Galactica reboot? Essentially outlined in the beginning of the first section. And The Matrix, etc., yadda-yadda....
Saberhagen also plays with the conventions he's established; now we have a role-reversal scenario in which a berserker is attempting to save human lives that other humans desparately want to end as well as an "Inception" scenario about implanting ideas into a human's head that will sow the seeds of human extinction centuries later. Very cool shit.
Not as good as the first entry, especially since it's missing some of that terrifying, cold brutality that I enjoy so much, but still very entertaining as well as greatly enlarging of the possibilities of the Berserkerverse.
"The thing is […] I don't really much care what happens to the world. Only about a person here and there."
September 3, 2012
Fred Saberhagen wrote or co-wrote a series of seventeen books, some of them anthologies of short stories, about the Berserkers. These robotic killings machines arrive on the doorstep of human occupied space with the sole mission of destroying all intelligent life. Brother Assassin is the second of the novels and encompasses three linked novellas originally published 1967
Thanks to the unique properties of the planet Sirgol the Berserkers have mastered time travel and send back assassins to kill an important figure in early Sirgol history in the hopes this will delay their technological advancements long enough that present day Berserkers will be able to successfully prosecute their pogrom against humanity.
The protagonist of the novellas, Derron Odegard is a member of the Time Operatives and is charged with saving Vincent Vincento. The plotting of this book left something to be desired and time travel is always particularly difficult to deal with in a realistic fashion. I enjoyed the book as a teen and it is moderately entertaining as an adult. It’s parallel to the Terminator movies is interesting in itself and I’d recommend this book to any fan of robotic death machine science fiction.
Saberhagen wrote several other series including the well-known Books of Swords and Books of Lost Swords. He died in 2007.
December 12, 2013
Saberhagen set this story on the world Sirgol, stripped bare by Berserkers -- a race of intelligent machines with a singular purpose: destroy all life everywhere. The machines outlived their creators and now prosecute the war against life all across the galaxy. The planet Sirgol has unique qualities that are conducive to time travel. Lieutenant Derron Odegard knows this. The scientists on his world know this. Now so do the Berserkers. Derron fights to defend what is left of his world in the present and past.
Saberhagen wrote a lot of his Berserker novels as short stories. This book, too, is a collection of stories, but Darren plays a role in each and it is all carefully woven together in a pleasing way. One of Saberhaben's greatest strengths was his ability to build up to a big twist devised to deliver big emotional impact. Perhaps, with Brother Assassin, he devoted some of energies instead into the careful construction of a large book and I feel it falls short compared to Berserker.
Saberhagen wrote a lot of his Berserker novels as short stories. This book, too, is a collection of stories, but Darren plays a role in each and it is all carefully woven together in a pleasing way. One of Saberhaben's greatest strengths was his ability to build up to a big twist devised to deliver big emotional impact. Perhaps, with Brother Assassin, he devoted some of energies instead into the careful construction of a large book and I feel it falls short compared to Berserker.
October 16, 2008
I am quite fond of time travel novels and throughly enjoyed this one. The author obviously adapts actual historical events to tell the tale of a very "Terminator"-like tale in which Berserker's are sent back in time in order to prevent asignificant events from occuring which lead to the development of civilization on this plan to the point where it can resist a Berserker onslaught. A very good book.
July 10, 2012
This story is a well-conceived and plotted piece of SF involving Berserker "Killing Machines" and time travel. Saberhagen keeps the suspense going while playing out the story in various interesting locales times. Heroic and special individuals targeted by the Berserkers are stymied by the resourcefulness of Derron Odegard, of the elite corps of Time Operatives.
April 12, 2013
This book is badly named, really only describing one section of the book in the last third of the story. I like the interplay of machines bent on destruction, a society taking refuge beneath the earth, and saving the present through time travel into the past. However, the plight of the lead characters don't grab me, so by the end of the story, I enjoyed the ride but I'm happy to get off.
August 26, 2011
Actually, a book about totalitarism, about good when it could be found even in the most unusual places and creatures, even machines... If you lived in an ex-communist country, you'll see it's about the horror of such systems...
May 9, 2014
One of the better books in the Berserker series that I've read to date. It had the feel of Terminator, machines traveling back in time to disrupt the flow of history and kill humans. We'll written and interesting, a worthy Sci-Fi read.
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