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The Star-Crowned Kings
Race Warden was his name and he was a human being trying to live peacefully in his allotted niche on the colony world Mavia...until the day he moved a stone slab by mental projection. Until that moment, he had regarded himself as a simple pawn on the vast social board. But it raised him to a higher status at once - possibly a castle or bishop or knight. The kings of the board, they who ruled the human cosmos, had the telkinetic-telepathic power. They had crowned themselves with the stars and all the rest of humanity were theirs to move or sacrifice as they wished.
But a maverick mentalist - even one like Race who did not even know the rules of their games nor the extent of his place - was not to be tolerated. He had to be removed from the board before he broke up their cozy zodiac.
But a maverick mentalist - even one like Race who did not even know the rules of their games nor the extent of his place - was not to be tolerated. He had to be removed from the board before he broke up their cozy zodiac.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
188 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1975
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June 29, 2020DAW Collectors #161
Cover Artist: Kelly Freas
Name: Chilson, Robert Dean, Birthplace: Ringwood, Oklahoma, USA, 19 May 1945
Essef - e Worden was his name and he was a human being trying to live peacefully in his allotted niche on the colony world Mavia... until the day he moved a stone slab by mental projection.
Humans fled Earth after a nuclear war and headed for the stars. Hundreds of years later Mankind is divided into humans and Starlings. Starlings are the minority. They live in towers and have special powers that include the ability to fly, lift boulders with their mind and affect the orbit of planets. They can also navigate through space with their mental powers. Their will is law.
Cover Artist: Kelly Freas
Name: Chilson, Robert Dean, Birthplace: Ringwood, Oklahoma, USA, 19 May 1945
Essef - e Worden was his name and he was a human being trying to live peacefully in his allotted niche on the colony world Mavia... until the day he moved a stone slab by mental projection.
Humans fled Earth after a nuclear war and headed for the stars. Hundreds of years later Mankind is divided into humans and Starlings. Starlings are the minority. They live in towers and have special powers that include the ability to fly, lift boulders with their mind and affect the orbit of planets. They can also navigate through space with their mental powers. Their will is law.
December 24, 2024
Review:
The Star-Crowned Kings is a coming-of-age and loss-of-innocence story that follows the character Race, the elder son of a peasant family from a plantation planet who discovers he has the telekinetic powers of a Starling (the Starlings are a subset of humans with telekinetic powers and elevated social status). While learning how to control his powers, he commits an accidental murder of a Starling that sends him on the run and separates him from his mom and sister. Driven by impulse and the fear of being caught, he travels from planet to planet, trying to return to his family. It was not my favorite book; I found it a little boring, and I’m not sure I liked any of the characters. Race had a weird attraction to his sister that also threw me off. I don’t know. Maybe I am being harsh. The book improved as I went through it, but was not outstanding. 3.5
Discussion:
The book's most interesting aspect was the world-building, which Chilson only briefly explores. Race lives in a very stratified intergalactic society. It has an almost feudal feel mixed in some instances with a monopolistic corporate overlordship and other oppressive social dynamics. Between the humans and the Starlings, there is a clear difference in power, both literally with the telepathy but also in social and political terms. This difference in social power translates to a complete difference in experience. Most humans' lives in Chilson’s universe seem severely limited to their immediate context. Everything from what they know and everything they do is limited to their immediate context. Written as it is from Race’s perspective, discovery about the universe, social order, and his place in it is an essential device in the story. Ultimately, Race saves his family and heads off for a new life. He struggles, however, with his new identity as a Starling (although not one that traditional Starling society would necessarily respect) as the book closes: “he was a Starling. But he was also a man! He was still a man. But how long can I remain human if they all insist on worshipping me?” It makes me think of how myth/narrative (religious, social, cultural, etc.) reinforces power.
The Star-Crowned Kings is a coming-of-age and loss-of-innocence story that follows the character Race, the elder son of a peasant family from a plantation planet who discovers he has the telekinetic powers of a Starling (the Starlings are a subset of humans with telekinetic powers and elevated social status). While learning how to control his powers, he commits an accidental murder of a Starling that sends him on the run and separates him from his mom and sister. Driven by impulse and the fear of being caught, he travels from planet to planet, trying to return to his family. It was not my favorite book; I found it a little boring, and I’m not sure I liked any of the characters. Race had a weird attraction to his sister that also threw me off. I don’t know. Maybe I am being harsh. The book improved as I went through it, but was not outstanding. 3.5
Discussion:
The book's most interesting aspect was the world-building, which Chilson only briefly explores. Race lives in a very stratified intergalactic society. It has an almost feudal feel mixed in some instances with a monopolistic corporate overlordship and other oppressive social dynamics. Between the humans and the Starlings, there is a clear difference in power, both literally with the telepathy but also in social and political terms. This difference in social power translates to a complete difference in experience. Most humans' lives in Chilson’s universe seem severely limited to their immediate context. Everything from what they know and everything they do is limited to their immediate context. Written as it is from Race’s perspective, discovery about the universe, social order, and his place in it is an essential device in the story. Ultimately, Race saves his family and heads off for a new life. He struggles, however, with his new identity as a Starling (although not one that traditional Starling society would necessarily respect) as the book closes: “he was a Starling. But he was also a man! He was still a man. But how long can I remain human if they all insist on worshipping me?” It makes me think of how myth/narrative (religious, social, cultural, etc.) reinforces power.
February 19, 2016
I wanted a longer book with more meat, more character development, more of what happened next. There wasn't enough for me to decide if I liked the main character or not, how deep he was going to be tempted by his newfound powers and the position they confer.
Like Ayn Rand's Anthem, or Rush's 2112, I admire and relate to the one man against the universe feeling and am happy for the main character for breaking free. Just how free of the bureaucracy did he break, though?
Without reading additional material from the author, I won't know.
Like Ayn Rand's Anthem, or Rush's 2112, I admire and relate to the one man against the universe feeling and am happy for the main character for breaking free. Just how free of the bureaucracy did he break, though?
Without reading additional material from the author, I won't know.
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