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Gestrandet
Mit der sicheren Landung fängt der Alptraum erst an
Als Wissenschaftler Karl Allman mit seinem Raumschiff auf einem unbekannten Planeten strandet, ahnt er nicht, dass er direkt in der Hölle gelandet ist. Schon bald wird er von blutrünstigen Wilden gejagt, die es nicht nur auf seine Ausrüstung abgesehen haben. Doch aus diesem Alptraum gibt es kein Entrinnen ...
Als Wissenschaftler Karl Allman mit seinem Raumschiff auf einem unbekannten Planeten strandet, ahnt er nicht, dass er direkt in der Hölle gelandet ist. Schon bald wird er von blutrünstigen Wilden gejagt, die es nicht nur auf seine Ausrüstung abgesehen haben. Doch aus diesem Alptraum gibt es kein Entrinnen ...
- GenresScience FictionFiction
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Colin Harvey
67 books10 followersBritish SF writer Colin Harvey, 50, died August 15, 2011 of a stroke.
First published in 2001, Colin was the author of six novels, the last of which is Damage Time which was published in October 2010.
He was also the editor of the Black Quill and British Fantasy Award nominated anthology Killers, and the SF anthology Future Bristol, which has had glowing reviews from Albedo One and The Fix. His most recent anthology, Dark Spires: Speculative Fiction From Hardy Country is available from Wizards Tower Press.
His short fiction has appeared in Interzone, Albedo One and Apex Magazine, and is collected in Displacement.
Obituaries:
Locus
Angry Robot Books
First published in 2001, Colin was the author of six novels, the last of which is Damage Time which was published in October 2010.
He was also the editor of the Black Quill and British Fantasy Award nominated anthology Killers, and the SF anthology Future Bristol, which has had glowing reviews from Albedo One and The Fix. His most recent anthology, Dark Spires: Speculative Fiction From Hardy Country is available from Wizards Tower Press.
His short fiction has appeared in Interzone, Albedo One and Apex Magazine, and is collected in Displacement.
Obituaries:
Locus
Angry Robot Books
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 2, 2019
Winter Song by Colin Harvey is a blend of futuristic science fiction with some fantasy elements. When Karl Allman's spaceship crash lands onto Isheimur, his nearly dead body is found by the remnants of a forgotten Icelandic colony. Rescued by the colonists and nursed back to health by Bera, an orphan who is beholden to Ragnar and his family group for her board and keep, Karl realizes that his best chance for survival is to escape with Bera and try to find the Winter Song, a legendary spaceship that crash landed ages ago on the planet. He will find himself hunted by a vengeful Ragnar and along the way he will find an unlikely ally. You might call Winter Song a shipwreck story, or a new take on Icelandic myth, or a story about survival against impossible odds. It's all that, and more. A great read and I recommend it highly!
March 13, 2015
I found Colin Harvey's Winter Song to be an interesting, if not particularly challenging, science fiction adventure novel.
The worldbuilding was clearly the star of the novel, and I completely bought into the techno-viking colonists of the unforgiving planet Isheimur, as seen through the eyes of a protagonist who is arguably more alien to the reader than the culture he finds himself immersed in.
The worldbuilding was clearly the star of the novel, and I completely bought into the techno-viking colonists of the unforgiving planet Isheimur, as seen through the eyes of a protagonist who is arguably more alien to the reader than the culture he finds himself immersed in.
October 24, 2015
A well-crafted and cleanly-written SF adventure story, with enough twists on old SF cliches (e.g. the "lost colonists" know they're lost, and are rather bitter about it) to keep jaded genre fans entertained. The ending is a bit pat, but I suspect the author wanted to leave room for sequels. I'd read them.
May 5, 2019
It was entertaining to read .I enjoyed the story it was a good read.
September 13, 2012
Colin Harvey’s “Winter Song” marked his major-label debut after a long but fruitful period writing for small presses with novels like “Blind Faith”, “Lightning Days” and “The Silk Palace.” Never one to stick to his comfort zone, always happy to try something different, Harvey’s breakout novel merges SF with what is technically fantasy (in the same way that Anne McCaffrey’s PERN novels are fantasy, despite her insistence that they were SF). Certainly it kicks off as pure space adventure, as Karl Allman is forced to jettison from his exploding ship after it comes under attack.
Coming round on a mysterious icy world, Karl discovers that the ship, in its dying moments, has downloaded the sum total of its knowledge into his fragile human mind, and his brain is struggling to cope with the unexpected influx of data. He makes his way to a community struggling to survive as the climate changes around them, where he finds himself enslaved by elderly patriarch Ragnar. Escaping the community with Ragnar’s persecuted foster-daughter Bera, who carries her own demons, the two set off across the treacherous winter landscape in search of the mysterious Winter Song, a ship that crashed on the planet centuries ago, and that could be their salvation, or their doom.
The scenes in space that bookend the book are exciting, with tantalising hints of conflicts going on in the wider galaxy, and the portrait of the difficult life at the homestead are well-drawn and well researched, if occasionally brutal. Harvey spent time in Iceland researching this book, and a lot of thought has gone into the landscape, and how people are shaped by their landscapes even if they think they are the ones doing the shaping. It’s a convincing portrayal of a society losing its technology and reverting back to feudal ways, unglamourous and frequently violent.
The story dips a little as Karl and Bera set off on their journey to find the Winter Song, and the novel veers into “Monster of the Week” territory. Dragons – check. Flesh eating birds – check. Even trolls – though the trolls are not as they first appear and provide a pleasing twist. Thankfully the tentative relationship between Karl and Bera holds the reader’s interest, and once they discover the last resting place of the Winter Song the pace kicks up a gear again to a breathless, spectacular, slightly daft “Deep Impact” style finish.
There are deeper issues, tackling climate change and genocide, beneath the surface of what at first seems like little more than an SF romp. Winter Song is a book that bears more than one reading.
Coming round on a mysterious icy world, Karl discovers that the ship, in its dying moments, has downloaded the sum total of its knowledge into his fragile human mind, and his brain is struggling to cope with the unexpected influx of data. He makes his way to a community struggling to survive as the climate changes around them, where he finds himself enslaved by elderly patriarch Ragnar. Escaping the community with Ragnar’s persecuted foster-daughter Bera, who carries her own demons, the two set off across the treacherous winter landscape in search of the mysterious Winter Song, a ship that crashed on the planet centuries ago, and that could be their salvation, or their doom.
The scenes in space that bookend the book are exciting, with tantalising hints of conflicts going on in the wider galaxy, and the portrait of the difficult life at the homestead are well-drawn and well researched, if occasionally brutal. Harvey spent time in Iceland researching this book, and a lot of thought has gone into the landscape, and how people are shaped by their landscapes even if they think they are the ones doing the shaping. It’s a convincing portrayal of a society losing its technology and reverting back to feudal ways, unglamourous and frequently violent.
The story dips a little as Karl and Bera set off on their journey to find the Winter Song, and the novel veers into “Monster of the Week” territory. Dragons – check. Flesh eating birds – check. Even trolls – though the trolls are not as they first appear and provide a pleasing twist. Thankfully the tentative relationship between Karl and Bera holds the reader’s interest, and once they discover the last resting place of the Winter Song the pace kicks up a gear again to a breathless, spectacular, slightly daft “Deep Impact” style finish.
There are deeper issues, tackling climate change and genocide, beneath the surface of what at first seems like little more than an SF romp. Winter Song is a book that bears more than one reading.
October 17, 2014
Whilst not a big reader of sci-fi novels I nevertheless do indulge every now and then and admit to being curious about this one given that I'd heard the planet on which our protagonist finds himself has similarities with a Viking settlement.
Perhaps more for those who enjoy their books full of 'world building' of which the author does a fairly decent job. For those readers who, like myself, are into characters, well, let's just say I found this element of the book somewhat .... unadventurous? The fact that the author spent so much time driving home certain ideas (women as little more than baby-factories, Bera, an unwed mother, a slut, the grim conditions in which Karl found himself and so on) mundane. And as for the dialogue? Awkward, amateurish and unconvincing to say the least.
Still, interesting in that as far as this genre goes I'm used to reading of planets and societies far advanced to our own and in this Winter Song is quite different. Whilst the starship from which Karl ejects is obviously technologically superior, Karl himself biologically and technologically enhanced, the planet, indeed not without its similarities to Viking society albeit with a bit of a space-age twist, on which he finds himself can scarcely be described as such.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
Perhaps more for those who enjoy their books full of 'world building' of which the author does a fairly decent job. For those readers who, like myself, are into characters, well, let's just say I found this element of the book somewhat .... unadventurous? The fact that the author spent so much time driving home certain ideas (women as little more than baby-factories, Bera, an unwed mother, a slut, the grim conditions in which Karl found himself and so on) mundane. And as for the dialogue? Awkward, amateurish and unconvincing to say the least.
Still, interesting in that as far as this genre goes I'm used to reading of planets and societies far advanced to our own and in this Winter Song is quite different. Whilst the starship from which Karl ejects is obviously technologically superior, Karl himself biologically and technologically enhanced, the planet, indeed not without its similarities to Viking society albeit with a bit of a space-age twist, on which he finds himself can scarcely be described as such.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
August 12, 2016
This novel is about a man who is forced to crash land on a forgotten world and hopes to reach a working station so that he can send a distress signal; but the community into whose hands he's fallen won't let him go that easily. The basic story is fine, I guess, but the prose is so awkward and amateurish, the dialogue so unconvincing, that it fails completely. It really should have gone through more rewrites and editing (there's some annoying repetition now and again) and feels like it was rushed out. Also, I'm not a physicist, but I'm pretty sure the science and situations, especially in the final act, aren't even remotely realistic. This book went quickly from three stars (it was only okay in the beginning) down to two and then finally blew it in the end. Reminded me a lot of Jack L. Chalker's work (particularly The Four Lords of the Diamond) so if you really like that you might like this.
March 19, 2012
Angry Robot thoughtfully(?) provide a little ‘file under’ code of:
Starship crash
Abandoned colony
Alien genocide
Comet death
They could have also added:
nanomachines
bio-cyborg
Icelandic sagas
Environmental disaster
Actually, the AR list is slightly misleading (no surprise, I guess, that 8 words doesn’t describe a novel) in that is doesn’t capture the tone and thoughtful feel of the book. I think the climate/ environmental aspects were the most interesting for me. On the level of detail though, an SF book set on a planet that looks like ours but is cold, seems a bit of a waste of opportunity. On the other hand, it’s tricky to come up with environments that humans can believably prosper in.
Colin’s early death is a loss still felt in the UK SF community.
Starship crash
Abandoned colony
Alien genocide
Comet death
They could have also added:
nanomachines
bio-cyborg
Icelandic sagas
Environmental disaster
Actually, the AR list is slightly misleading (no surprise, I guess, that 8 words doesn’t describe a novel) in that is doesn’t capture the tone and thoughtful feel of the book. I think the climate/ environmental aspects were the most interesting for me. On the level of detail though, an SF book set on a planet that looks like ours but is cold, seems a bit of a waste of opportunity. On the other hand, it’s tricky to come up with environments that humans can believably prosper in.
Colin’s early death is a loss still felt in the UK SF community.
December 11, 2016
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2741049.html
I liked this book a lot: protagonist from sophisticated spacefaring society crashes into Viking-style world, and then must track down the long-abandoned spaceship to break out of the surly bonds of the planet Isheimur and bring about the seeds of a new society. There's plenty else in there - commentary on polyamory (good), libertarianism (bad), being nice to trolls who turn out to be differently evolved humans (good). There are dramatic chases across frozen landscapes with 'orrible creatures snapping at our heroes' heels, and a seat-of-the-pants rocket launch with barbarians complaining about weightlessness. Lots of good stuff, and I think he'd have got better.
I liked this book a lot: protagonist from sophisticated spacefaring society crashes into Viking-style world, and then must track down the long-abandoned spaceship to break out of the surly bonds of the planet Isheimur and bring about the seeds of a new society. There's plenty else in there - commentary on polyamory (good), libertarianism (bad), being nice to trolls who turn out to be differently evolved humans (good). There are dramatic chases across frozen landscapes with 'orrible creatures snapping at our heroes' heels, and a seat-of-the-pants rocket launch with barbarians complaining about weightlessness. Lots of good stuff, and I think he'd have got better.
November 4, 2010
I gave up on this one at 92 pages in. 1) The characters weren't interesting to me. 2) The main character is a bit of a cipher (though admittedly that's part of the plot). 3) The premise was not intriguing enough. 4) Nothing much was happening. So basically I was too bored to continue. The story involves a starship pilot named Karl who crashlands on a forgotten outpost on an icy planet where the human population is descended from Iceland and barely eking out a living. What was I thinking?
November 25, 2014
Intergalactic spaceman is stranded on a forgotten, frozen colony world that harkens back to the Norse people. It pulls together a lot of interesting ideas (genocide, artificial intelligence, survival) and includes a dark-skinned hero (hardly central to the story, but I mention it because it’s so rare). Stumbles in a few places, but it’s a fun ride.
April 21, 2016
An excellent SF adventure set on an ice planet that resembles Iceland/Norway. The inhabitants live a very spartan existence and when Karl Allman's space ship crash-lands he is faced with coming to terms with the environment and the people and getting off the planet. It's a rollicking tale, told with humour and verve.
November 5, 2010
slow start, good character development and possibility of a squel
January 14, 2013
Had me up until the ending.
June 13, 2014
A good idea but doesn't really go any where. Not particularity well written - I found myself re reading a lot of sentences. good characters but dull story, last few chapters especially disappointing.
June 4, 2012
slow, fairly dull. tone kept changing, and characters were not very likeable.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews