What do you think?
Rate this book
STAR CHILD
Accepting without question her indoor life with metal companion Kort, twelve-year-old Taya begins to wonder about the world for the first time when her world undergoes a dramatic change. Original."
- GenresScience FictionFiction
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1998
97 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 2, 2024
Star Child is a fix-up novel of four parts about a human girl who's been machine-created in an interstellar ship by machine intelligence; it's the story of her life set roughly at twenty-year intervals, and Hogan shows the development of the AI in as much detail as Taya, the human. The first story (Silver Shoes for a Princess, which stands quite well on its own) appeared in 1979, but overall, I believe it's aged quite well. It doesn't have the hard-science (or heavily political) underpinnings of most of Hogan's work, but it's an engaging and worthwhile read.
October 2, 2014
‘Must the Creator be greater than the Creation?
Taya had always lived in the World. her companion Kort had always been with her. She accepted these things, and why not? They were her world. But Taya wondered why everything she could see beyond the window was so different from all the things inside. She also wondered why the stars never changed if her world was really moving the way her metal friend Kort said it was… Could Kort be wrong? That would be very strange, because Kort knew everything, and he was sure they were moving – just as she was sure the stars were not.
Then, one day, the World was born anew.’
Blurb from the 1998 Baen paperback edition
Beginning with a novella from 1979, this volume continues with three more sequential chapters from 1997.
It’s a romantic post-Simak novel which, although it breaks new ground, is an enjoyable and compulsive read.
With regard to the plot:-
A young girl, Toya, lives aboard an interstellar ship, Merkon. Her only friend is Kort, a humanoid robot who patiently explains to her that the ship is in interstellar space and that they are en-route to a star, but that it will take a long time to get there. It appears that Toya is the only human on board. The machines apparently became self-aware during the journey and evolved several independent minds; a Mystic, a Thinker, a Scientist and a Sceptic, who together managed to deduce that someone had built them and from that discovered the record of DNA codes from which they built Toya.
However, Toya is not strictly speaking, alone. Not only does she have Kort, but a humanoid robot who is a an amalgam of the four original minds, but also another fifty children, babies in stasis, whom Kort awakes for Toya to mother and train.
Ten years later, the ship arrives at its destination, a planet with a human population at a medieval feudal level of society. The people have a prophecy that silver gods will arrive to bring peace to the planet as indeed, eventually they do. There are still mysteries however, since the origin of the ship Merkon is unclear, and there is archaeological evidence to suggest that an advanced technological society once covered the planet.
The truth is gradually discovered and the story of Toya, which started when she was nine years old, ends with her death as a very old woman, but a woman who has transformed a world.
It’s a shame that Hogan isn’t better known, since although his work is not cutting edge, it’s very readable. Hogan keeps the spirit of traditional SF alive, when perhaps too many are clamouring for the next new sub-genre or evolutionary development in the field.
Having said there, there was inevitably going to be a retro feel to the novel given that the first quarter was written in 1979. The rest of the book takes up where that left off and was no doubt constrained by the style.
Taya had always lived in the World. her companion Kort had always been with her. She accepted these things, and why not? They were her world. But Taya wondered why everything she could see beyond the window was so different from all the things inside. She also wondered why the stars never changed if her world was really moving the way her metal friend Kort said it was… Could Kort be wrong? That would be very strange, because Kort knew everything, and he was sure they were moving – just as she was sure the stars were not.
Then, one day, the World was born anew.’
Blurb from the 1998 Baen paperback edition
Beginning with a novella from 1979, this volume continues with three more sequential chapters from 1997.
It’s a romantic post-Simak novel which, although it breaks new ground, is an enjoyable and compulsive read.
With regard to the plot:-
A young girl, Toya, lives aboard an interstellar ship, Merkon. Her only friend is Kort, a humanoid robot who patiently explains to her that the ship is in interstellar space and that they are en-route to a star, but that it will take a long time to get there. It appears that Toya is the only human on board. The machines apparently became self-aware during the journey and evolved several independent minds; a Mystic, a Thinker, a Scientist and a Sceptic, who together managed to deduce that someone had built them and from that discovered the record of DNA codes from which they built Toya.
However, Toya is not strictly speaking, alone. Not only does she have Kort, but a humanoid robot who is a an amalgam of the four original minds, but also another fifty children, babies in stasis, whom Kort awakes for Toya to mother and train.
Ten years later, the ship arrives at its destination, a planet with a human population at a medieval feudal level of society. The people have a prophecy that silver gods will arrive to bring peace to the planet as indeed, eventually they do. There are still mysteries however, since the origin of the ship Merkon is unclear, and there is archaeological evidence to suggest that an advanced technological society once covered the planet.
The truth is gradually discovered and the story of Toya, which started when she was nine years old, ends with her death as a very old woman, but a woman who has transformed a world.
It’s a shame that Hogan isn’t better known, since although his work is not cutting edge, it’s very readable. Hogan keeps the spirit of traditional SF alive, when perhaps too many are clamouring for the next new sub-genre or evolutionary development in the field.
Having said there, there was inevitably going to be a retro feel to the novel given that the first quarter was written in 1979. The rest of the book takes up where that left off and was no doubt constrained by the style.
July 31, 2011
Interesting effort from one of my least favorite SF writers. Turns out the first fourth of this volume was from a short story by Hogan I read in 1979. This book has the potential to touch the heart of the reader but Hogan has once again left me lukewarm.
January 18, 2024
Written as four connected novellas. In the first Merkon is traveling through space with machines and Taya, an eight year old girl they created from data copied from previous iterations of Machines. The machines knew nothing of biological life, they just conjectured it. Leading to the second novella where they make first contact with the Azureans. More years later the Star Children are doing archaeological studies to see what happened on Azure. Finally Taya is at the end of her life and we get some answers to the original purpose of Merkon. 4.9 stars.
"Silver Shoes for a Princess"
Excellent/VG. The machines on Merkon evolved and eventually created Taya from genetic code stored and copied from previous iterations of the machines. At eight years old Taya had never seen another human, only Kort a robot built in human form in order to care for her. Fantastic hook, How did Taya get there? Where are her parents? And other humans? Is this some sort of generation ship?
"Silver Gods from the Sky"
Very Good/Excellent. Merkon has arrived at Vaxis and found the planet that Taya dubbed Azure. The machines, Taya (now 19) and a contingent of the Star Children land on Azure and make first contact.
"Three Domes and a Tower"
Very Good. Twenty more years have passed. Taya goes to an archaeological site where they are uncovering a city of the Ancients. She starts to have insights.
"The Stillness Among the Stars"
Excellent. Taya is now an old woman and has the urge to leave the planet to go back to Merkon. She and Kort do and have some great nostalgic scenes which is why I loved this, not because it's some striving for the machine intelligence(s) to gain the insight that has only been demonstrated by biologic life forms.
"Silver Shoes for a Princess"
Excellent/VG. The machines on Merkon evolved and eventually created Taya from genetic code stored and copied from previous iterations of the machines. At eight years old Taya had never seen another human, only Kort a robot built in human form in order to care for her. Fantastic hook, How did Taya get there? Where are her parents? And other humans? Is this some sort of generation ship?
"Silver Gods from the Sky"
Very Good/Excellent. Merkon has arrived at Vaxis and found the planet that Taya dubbed Azure. The machines, Taya (now 19) and a contingent of the Star Children land on Azure and make first contact.
"Three Domes and a Tower"
Very Good. Twenty more years have passed. Taya goes to an archaeological site where they are uncovering a city of the Ancients. She starts to have insights.
"The Stillness Among the Stars"
Excellent. Taya is now an old woman and has the urge to leave the planet to go back to Merkon. She and Kort do and have some great nostalgic scenes which is why I loved this, not because it's some striving for the machine intelligence(s) to gain the insight that has only been demonstrated by biologic life forms.
February 14, 2016
This is the third book I've read by James P. Hogan. I discovered him by noticing a blurb on the back of a book at the library, words of praise from no less than Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. How could I ignore such a recommendation? And after the books I've read so far, I must agree that the praise is well deserved.
This book had four parts, which I think were originally published separately in short story form. Each part takes place in a different stage of the life of Taya (the main character), and has many touching, clever, and sometimes funny interactions between the Taya and her mechanical guardian Kort. In each part I found myself wishing that there were more stories in that era, because they were so good.
In both this book and Code of the Lifemaker, the author has a very interesting and unique take on machines that become self-aware. He shows how the concept of evolution is a perfect fit for machines that can build better machines, and yet the author does not preach or even insinuate that evolution and science are the final and only answers, like many other science fiction authors now days tend to do. Instead, he compares and contrasts the 'meclife' with 'biolife', each with their own strengths and faults, and even the machines realize that they don't and can't understand everything.
This book had four parts, which I think were originally published separately in short story form. Each part takes place in a different stage of the life of Taya (the main character), and has many touching, clever, and sometimes funny interactions between the Taya and her mechanical guardian Kort. In each part I found myself wishing that there were more stories in that era, because they were so good.
In both this book and Code of the Lifemaker, the author has a very interesting and unique take on machines that become self-aware. He shows how the concept of evolution is a perfect fit for machines that can build better machines, and yet the author does not preach or even insinuate that evolution and science are the final and only answers, like many other science fiction authors now days tend to do. Instead, he compares and contrasts the 'meclife' with 'biolife', each with their own strengths and faults, and even the machines realize that they don't and can't understand everything.
April 21, 2010
I thought "Silver Shoes for a Princess" originally published as a short story in 1979, was a brilliant piece. In a way about Creationism versus Evolution but not heavy-handed at all. Hogan handled the theme with charm and humor, with machine minds on a star ship splitting off into Thinker, Skeptic, Scientist and Mystic encapsulating the debate, with them having used a code in their databanks to recreate--us. That short story heads the first section of Star Child, which expands and continues the story. I found the novel disappointing, partly I suppose, because when it comes to these kinds of debates, I'm with Scientist who seemed to win the first round, while in the expanded novel Mystic takes over too much ground for my tastes. I recently read on the Wiki that in "his later years, Hogan's views tended towards those widely considered "fringe" or pseudoscientific. He was a proponent of Immanuel Velikovsky's version of catastrophism... He criticised the theory of evolution, though he didn't propose theistic creationism as an alternative." I think I see both such concepts in this 1997 novel, and I found that disappointing, and the rest of the novel didn't for me have the freshness and imagination of that first section.
November 21, 2010
Explores some of our deepest questions as they are posed by an emergent artificial intelligence and a singular girl with no roots. I love robot stories and I love most of James P. Hogan's work I've read so far. I'm sorry that he will not be able to bless us with more, but continue to be inspired by his work.
November 11, 2010
Given to me by the man himself at a convention in Ireland. While not the most technical scifi novel it's still quite touching and well written. So thanks Mr. Hogan I wish I could have met you again before you passed to say it face to face.
January 30, 2018
The beginning was slow, but I enjoyed reading about Taya as she grew and aged, and Kort's reaction to her death. A thought-provoking ending, for sure.
November 1, 2013
A bit predictable.
January 7, 2015
A spaceship forgets its purpose... so it evolves and reinvents itself.
Not a bad story. Not the hardest science but not too soft.
Not a bad story. Not the hardest science but not too soft.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews