Star Flight

Pax/Astra #1-2

by Andre Norton

Two complete novels of courageous men and women whose only hope was escape in an untested starship to other worlds of bright promise—and unknown
The Stars are Ours : Dard Nordis is a hunted man. His brother was murdered for covert activities as a scientist in a world which scientists and engineers are blamed for the global war that smashed civilization, and the global dictatorship of Pax has ordered their execution. Now he is on the run, trying to find the secret stronghold of his brother’s friends and colleagues—a hidden place where the few remaining scientists are desperately building a spaceship to escape to the stars.
Star Born : Centuries after the desperate flight from Earth, Pax has been overthrown and humanity again reaches for the stars. Rof Kurbi’s spaceship reaches the planet Astra, not knowing that the planet already has a colony established centuries ago by the fugitive humans from Earth . . . and that the apparently friendly natives of the planet are actually malevolent invaders from elsewhere, who are plotting to eliminate all humans from Astra, both the recent arrivals and the star born colonists.

Publisher’s Star Flight was originally published in parts as The Stars are Ours and Star Born . This is the first time both novels have appeared in one volume.

Genres: Science Fiction, Ebooks

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Denman G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing too original idea-wise, but the plenty to think about. The characters are charming and the plot well-paced. It's hard to argue with telepath/empaths escaping on a starship from authoritarian rule.

[Poetreehugger · Rating 3 out of 5]

1950s science fiction, written by an author who legally changed her name from Alice Mary to Andre Alice Norton because a male name would sell more readily to the nearly all male sci-fi market at that time. For the same reason, female characters are as good as nonexistent in this two part series. (I guess I was one of the few female readers, as I was a huge fan of hers after reading Beast Master as a teenager in the early 70s.)
Definitely a product of it’s time, but some imaginative world creating keeps the interest.
Much respect for the author, a woman pioneer in a male field of writing.
This reprint is a very low quality edition, with very many printing errors and mistaken words, such as “man” where it should read “than”, possibly a mechanized or computerized reprint effort, or some such.

[Mason Kendrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to learn that my favorite science fiction book of all time, starborn, was actually the sequel to another book. this is a combination of those two books and I recommend reading just starborn. I have a review of the stars are ours already and it's pretty scathing. it's definitely a two-star book at best and I think that it actually takes away from a lot of the mystery and interesting details of starborn. in starborn they will reference things that happened in the past that sound Grand. once you read it in the stars are ours it makes them seem small and kind of silly. but starborn is still my favorite science fiction novel. it has held up from when I read it as a kid which doesn't happen very often. it still might be Nostalgia that makes me love it, but I'm definitely going to read it again soon. five stars but just read starborn.

[John Aga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Flight fits in nicely with the Beast Master series which has Human/Animal teams of explorers and their connection to each other. I also just finished Star Soldiers which consisted of two books Star Guard and Star Rangers. Those books include a theme about humans place in a crowded galaxy. Cannot say more without spoiling the surprises.

[Robin Dewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROOFREAD PLEASE!

The premise of the story is good, but all the proofreading errors stole the pleasure from it. Ouch, ouch ouch!

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains two books.
The Stars are Ours
Star Born

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the first novel of this omnibus, since I had already read the sequel.

[A Hoppy Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Born- 3.5 stars