The Starchild Trilogy

Starchild #1-3

by Frederik Pohl, Jack Williamson

On the future Earth all humanity must serve the Plan of Man.
THE REEFS OF SPACE
Far beyond the orbit of Pluto, half-mythical bodies circle the Solar System--the Reefs of Space, unknown, shrouded in mystery, the goal of human conquest, the obsession of the Plan of Man, tyrannical ruler of Earth.
STARCHILD
A mysterious being of awesome powers, the Starchild has sent an ultimatum to Earth, demanding that the Plan of Man abdicate his control over humanity. If not, the Starchild will extinguish the Sun & the Plan of Man's realm will become a frozen, lifeless waste.
ROGUE STAR
A passionate human love sets in motion forces of cosmic power & unleashes the Starchild, a creation that knows neither love nor hate and understands only "life." But even "life" is not necessarily life as humans define it.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Collections, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Ebooks

442 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing: 4
Story: 3
Satisfaction: 2

The Starchild Trilogy is very well written and the worldbuilding is immersive. The story lines are also interesting and well built out but unfortunately each leaves with an unsatisfying conclusion. The way that the story is told, it builds up this huge expectation of an awesome climax which never really occurs, the "book" ends and it's on to the next story set far in the future. It's interesting to read about how this society progresses, through different dystopian states but I really wish that there was some overall conclusion to the stories, especially in the first two.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I try really hard not to make references from this book, because so few people will get them. I read this about the same time I read the LotR set, which seems to have effected other people in the way Starchild effected me.

[Mathew Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Starchild Trilogy is a collection of three novels by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson: The Reefs of Space, Starchild, and Rogue Star. The books share the exploration of similar ideas about the struggle between man and government, religion, higher intelligence, etc. and a common timeline. Starchild picks up far enough after The Reefs of Space that the events of the previous book are important, but not necessary to the understanding of the second book. The gap between Starchild and Rogue Star is similar. In both cases, some of the events of the previous books are retold, but in a manner that makes it obvious in this format that the new book's characters understand the previous events in a historical context, sometimes twisted according to the current society's views. Some of the characters may be related to previous characters, but most would never be able to live long enough to be in multiple books in this series.

The storytelling has some obvious influence from Frederik Pohl, but it's different enough from books he wrote alone that there is apparently some significant influence from Jack Williamson as well (though without having read any other books by Williamson, I can't really go into detail). Each of the books has one or two characters with some depth, but most of the detail is in the environment, rather than the characters. There's a weird mix of what was probably cutting-edge science in the 1960s and 70s and psychedelia (especially in the Reefs of Space and Starchild).

If I had to characterize the main theme of each book, I'd say that Reefs of Space is an attack on the systems of government in mid-20th-century "communist" states like the USSR and China (especially as portrayed in the west); Starchild is an attack on organized religion and religious states (especially like those which grew up around the USSR and China in part fueled by religious exiles); and Rogue Star is an attack on cults (especially the types of religious and communist cults which sprung up in the west in the 60s and 70s). Of the three, Rogue Star is probably the best at hiding the underlying theme, but also seemed like it did the worst job of giving the story any depth at all.

Overall, this is an interesting read about a galactic dystopia with plenty of imaginative features, very much like many sci-fi movies and television shows from the 60s through the mid-80s. It very rarely feels like something which might have been written recently, but that's not necessarily a negative point, either.

[Davide · Rating 4 out of 5]

In un solo volume è presentata la trilogia delle scogliere dello spazio. I primi due libri presentano l'incontro fra l'uomo e la vita dello spazio, nell'ultimo l'uomo entra a far parte di una grande civiltà galattica dominata dalle stelle.

[Anthony Messina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-fi that reminds me of the many space stories that fueled my childhood

[Chloe Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

incel tries to rescue a girl who doesn’t want him — on the sabbath

[A. S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off with a really interesting premise for the first book. It was fast-paced and described the world in great detail. As the books progressed, however, they got progressively more dull and the worlds were not described as well so the reader cannot get a sense of plot or cohesiveness between the books. The heroes and heroines are a mixed bag: while Steve Ryland, Donna Creery, Quarla Snow, and Cliff Hawk make complex, or at least truly heroic characters, Boise Gann, Andy Quam, and Molly Zaldivar are boring and not complex at all, and this is how the last book loses steam. If you are considering purchasing these as separate volumes, I would recommend just getting the first two, because I feel the story would have done better to leave off at Starchild rather than go into Rogue Star, which, as I said earlier, was boring.

[Charles Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another omnibus which is worth taking as a whole. Weirdly this collection is three separate books which are in no way connected except by setting. This makes the second book rather confusing. To make matters even stranger the books are arranged in reverse chronological order! The stories are solid, the science interesting (universal steady state) and the plot clever. Enjoyable enough but not among the greats.

[Frankenoise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly good sci-fi trilogy and I wasn't expecting much since I had never read any book by either author. Book 1 (The Reefs of Space) and 2 Starchild) were pretty solid and I especially loved the first chapter of book 2 with the Starchild threatening mankind. However, book 3 (Rouge Star) wasn't as good. Felt like it was written by different authors and I'd say it had that 1970s Ace sci-fi quality to it. Still, pretty great read overall.

[Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in this trilogy is Rogue Star. A couple of characters back on earth create a rogue star. A rogue star is sentient but doesn't interact with any of the other sentient beings or stars that fill the universe. The rogue star (it is actually the second rogue star the characters create) is the ultimate Frankenstein's monster, bent on destruction after a woman rejects its love.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just because Goodreads won't let me enter "Worlds of If: Science Fiction" January 1965 & February 1965. But it does include a portion of this tale. Which is magnificent! The Reefs of Space are such a cool concept.

[Leo Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book of the trilogy was quite good, but it falls off after that. The 2nd book is cluttered with too many plot points, and reads very shallow. The third book just seems flat and bland, held up mainly by the author's skill of vivid description.

[Chris Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty classic example of mid-century sci-fi. Some interesting ideas on intelligence and colonization of space by its natural fauna though.

[Samwise Chamberlain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reefs of Space 4/5
Starchild 3/5
Rogue Star 2/5
Good world building, fun to read, wouldn't kill him to write a strong female character though.

[Ansate]

No likable characters. Character actions don't drive the story, they are powerless. The scifi is so fantastic that it goes straight to fantasy - ghosts, teleportation by mystical beings, space creatures that happen to create air pockets and food humans can eat. [return][return]An amazing feel for the cold war view of communism. [return][return]The fantastical elements remind me of nothing so much as Doctor Dolittle on the Moon - which is jarring against the totalitarian society portrayed. [return][return]Wasn't interested enough to finish it (I read the first book of the three in the collection, and the first 50 pages or so of the second) even though it's such a weird product of its time.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average but readable

[Michael Nalbone · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Vocabulary of the 1960's was interesting.
The third part of the Trilogy was expanded in a book published years later.
OK read

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

In order I rate the stories 3, 4 and 2 stars.

[Joey]

The Reefs of Space 4 stars

[Ettore.bilbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non particolarmente interessanti i primi due romanzi. Più affascinante il terzo.

[Katy Hexberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the idea of a culture that turns its destiny over to a computer very interesting but that culture was overturned at the end of the second book. The characters are not evenly developed. I especially found the women characters to be one dimensional. It was written in the early 1960's so you have to cut some slack there.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I liked the first book best, then the third. The second I was just confused the entire time. They were pretty good books. I liked a lot of the sci-fi elements. He had some really cool things in there, but sometimes I felt left hanging in the storylines.

[Scott Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book - I liked the idea of seeing the universe it created across vastly different timeframes but I kept looking for some thread to weave the 3 stories together and there wasn’t one

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago, but I remember really enjoying the trilogy when I did.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting --- I love sci-fi so from that perspective it was good. I found it a little hard to read --- it was slow read, but it was a good story and very sci-fi!

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair page-turner of a science fiction trilogy. For reasons I cannot recall, I read the first two volumes of it in this cloth edition and the third in paperback.

[Serenitydots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginative, fast-paced read, with very interesting scientific and technological concepts. A good read.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

A reasonable good yarn albeit rather too simple socially and culturally throughout.

[A.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago, but as I currently have some free time on my hands I am going back through the archives to see what I loved about it.

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read 1980
Book 1 grade B-
Book 2 grade C-
Book 3 grade C-