Heaven Chronicles

Heaven Chronicles

by Joan D. Vinge

Contents:
Legacy (1980)
The Outcasts of Heaven Belt (1978) novel

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Short Stories, Own, Science Fiction Fantasy, Book Club

275 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Joan D. Vinge (born Joan Carol Dennison) is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two novellas combined to make one book, both set in the asteroid belt known as "Heaven". Written in 1978 and 1980 these feel slightly dated nowdays but are still excellent science fiction, and a realistic look at the challenges that would be encountered if humans tried to settle an asteroid belt.

The first story is primarily about two "prospectors", exploring the belt in hopes of striking it rich with a lucky find. The second story is more complicated, as it's told from multiple people's perspectives; it's a little harder to follow at times but describes a ship coming from a nearby planet hoping to make a trade deal with the asteroid belt, and discovering that things are not as expected in the belt after a revolution has created two different factions. The visitors' ship becomes a valuable prize that all the asteroid belt factions want to capture, and the crew of the ship has to find a way to evade, defeat, or negotiate their way to a safe resolution. I wish these novellas, especially the second, were a little longer as I'd love to read more about the details of these extremely well thought out worlds, and to learn more about their societies and what happens next.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely enjoyed these two novellas. They had an "old timey" SF feel to them. The first one had some predictable plot elements but I liked it a lot. I would have liked the second novella better as a novel - it was told from too many different points of view for me. Normally I appreciate this, but in the context of a shorter novella it was too much information without enough development for each character. I kept getting confused about who was who and what was what. Also, I felt like the utopian/ dystopian elements to the different societies could have been given more in-depth treatment in a full-length novel.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually two short novels set in the same universe. I enjoyed them both. Worth reading and fine addition to our sci-fi shelves.