Starbound

Marsbound #2

by Joe Haldeman

Carmen Dula and her husband spent six years travelling to the distant home of the powerful race known as "The Others," in the hopes of forging a truce. But by the time Carmen returns to Earth, fifty years have passed-and the Earthlings have built a flotilla of warships to defend Earth against The Others.

But The Others have more power than anyone could imagine-and they will brook no insolence from the upstart human race.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction, Aliens, Space Opera, Ebooks

292 pages, Hardcover

First published December 9, 2009

About the author

Brother of Jack C. Haldeman II

Haldeman is the author of 20 novels and five collections. The Forever War won the Nebula, Hugo and Ditmar Awards for best science fiction novel in 1975. Other notable titles include Camouflage, The Accidental Time Machine and Marsbound as well as the short works "Graves," "Tricentennial" and "The Hemingway Hoax." Starbound is scheduled for a January release. SFWA president Russell Davis called Haldeman "an extraordinarily talented writer, a respected teacher and mentor in our community, and a good friend."

Haldeman officially received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for 2010 by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at the Nebula Awards Weekend in May, 2010 in Hollywood, Fla.

Reviews

[Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joe Haldeman is one of my favorite authors, but this book is a literal (and literary) train wreck. First, every chapter is written from the first person POV of one of the characters, and it switches every (short) chapter. Half the time I had no idea which character was actually doing the 1st person narration, because Haldeman doesn't provide an ample clue via dialogue or narration. After half the book is done I started to get a feel for who was narrating, but it wasn't always obvious. Really, REALLY frustrating because I often felt lost.

Secondly, the first half of the book is abysmal, involving the characters on a journey to meet the "Others." They spend the entire trip screwing one another, while secretly lamenting that each other's spouses are also screwing other people. It's takes a very reprehensible (and unlikable) person to do these things, then display feelings that they do...but continue to do it. It made me want to see the ship plow into a random star on the way to Wolf 25 and burned to ash so I'd never have to read about them again. The entire "free love" garbage just fell utterly disjointed, completely unnecessary, and out of place to the storytelling because it had absolutely ZERO bearing on what was happening other than to introduce some drama during the many years long journey. It read like a really shitty soap opera (yes, that statement is redundant).

Thirdly, the story is driven mostly by dialogue. An overly heavy technique I'm not fond of, that makes a story feel like it's just a group of people sitting around a table talking the entire book. Ugh. John Scalzi is becoming guilty of this, and I no longer read his books anymore because of it.

Thankfully the second part of Starbound picks up with some actual story involving meeting Other-prime and Spy. Marsbound was a decent read, and the first part of Starbound is easily 1 star, while the second half is 3 stars (overall 2).

I hope this trilogy is somewhat salvaged with Earthbound...not holding out much hope. Unfortunately, Joe Haldeman glory days of The Forever War are far behind him, and he's seen much better days as a writer and storyteller.

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a bitterly disappointing turd when held up to what "The Forever War" was. It feels like Haldeman set out trying to write a young adult novel with relatively simplistic characters- but somewhere he decided to add copious amounts of sex to keep everyone else from falling asleep. Rather than adding flavor, it only makes things come off more than a little weird. None of these characters have any interesting or driving force of personality. The changes between POV every chapter (at least give me a heading so I know whose head I'm in now?) are disorienting at the least. Unforgivably confusing at worst. Because there are no distinct personalities everyone's perceptions bleed together into an indistinguishable mash of "oh-I-remember-someone-thought-that." The alien personalities seem to exist purely for the sake of comic relief. No realism or fleshing out at all. Everyone on this diplomatic mission is uninspiring. Rather than sending along some of earths best and brightest (whose thoughts might actually be interesting) we instead get a farcical cast of contaminated rejects who don't even have a game plan once they reach the all powerful "others."

[Ove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starbound left me conflicted, I have had to have a few days to think it over before writing a review. After the human race’s near extinction from an exploding martian the earth authorities decide to send an expedition after the mysterious Other’s starship that left the solar system heading for what might be the Others home world.

Carmen Dula and her husband have spent six years travelling to a distant solar system that is home to the enigmatic, powerful race known as “The Others,” in the hopes of finding enough common purpose between their species to forge a delicate truce.

By the time Carmen and her party return, fifty years have been consumed by relativity-and the Earthlings have not been idle, building a massive flotilla of warships to defend Earth against The Others. But The Others have more power than any could imagine-and they will brook no insolence from the upstart human race. From the Product Description.

This book continues the story from Marsbound and will continue in Earthbound. Carmen, also called the Mars girl is one of the protagonists of this story. She was the first one to meet a Martian, now she is going on a possible suicide mission to the stars together with her husband Paul, another mars bound couple, two martians and a married husband-wife-husband military-spy-specialist triplet from earth.

The story is mainly told as the crew members log entries, blog posts if you like. It works pretty well, in some chapters it takes a while until you have identified the voice. I enjoyed that you get different points of view on events and personalities. Even the martians blog.

The martians are portrayed with an underhanded humor that underline their amusement and bafflement with their human crew mates. The martian is also interesting because they where constructed by the Others thousand of years ago to be their tools of communication with the humans. I enjoyed the martians very much.

When the human crew are not fornicating with each other or contemplating fornication they struggle with high tension. Is it a suicide mission? Are there hidden agendas? Are there spys among us? Will we be able to make peace with the Others? What will happen if we fail? etc. Characterization felt a bit sketchy to be honest, and that I feel is an important weakness with this book as so much rides on the interpersonal interactions of a little group on a starship heading into danger.

The world is also interesting but a bit dark. The terrorist attack on Israel that wiped out almost everyone there in a single day is an important part of the back story. Earth is again, like in so many of today’s stories, an ecological disaster as well as ruled by oppressive states. As one of the crew said it is “one big happy police-state family”. The Israel twist where inventive.

Relativity and time dilation plays a major part of this story as well as in Forever War. The technology of the Others live up to “An advanced enough technology would be indistinguishable from magic “. They also have serious trust issues, which is explained in an interesting and convincing way in the book. The prospect of Homo Sapiens is slim if we choose conflict, so what will we do?

Not a bad book, nor an excellent, it is somewhere in between for me. It took a little long time before the action started and when it did it was over in no time. I would recommend it if you like mysterious aliens and Defying Gravity-esque personal interaction.

I haven’t read Marsbound, and it it is supposed to be a better read than this one, maybe it suffers from middle-book-itis.

[A.R. Norris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the perfect example of how not to write in 1st POV...and multiple characters in 1st POV to boot.

I was so excited to follow up with this series after reading Marsbounds, which I thought rocked. However, it was clear within the first couple chapters that I'd struggle to even finish. The characters were only 2 dimensional and focused mostly on themselves and the sex lives of the others.

There was no clear antagonist. I mean, I understand that the Others really are the over arching bad guys, but they don't even get there until the last couple chapters. I needed some more subplot development to sustain the long journey! Plus, once they arrived, the story never even explored that dynamic to its fullest extent.

The Others were a problem for me in general. It's hard to develop an "evil them" and unfortunately Halderman wasn't able to pull this off well in Starsbound. We didn't get a full understanding of why they'd evolved in the direction they did. What it ended up as was a overly sensitive, paranoid Intersteller Mob pushing their power for no other reason than because...well, because.

The SF tech was spot on as usual for Halderman. This is just one of those examples that really enforces the need for an actual story behind the tech.

[Robert Laird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starbound is a sequel to the Marsbound novel by Haldeman. I found both to be very enjoyable stories, strictly hard-sf, so no funny business. When beginning Marsbound, my first impression was that the story was written very simplistically and with no guile. However, after reading both and reflecting on the overall story, I decided that it is deceptive: the story (I use the singular since the two novels are really one story) covers a lot of ground, the characterizations develop fully if slowly, and Haldeman is able to get his ideas across in a seemingly simple manner, yet everything is fully fleshed out. Well, the important parts of the story are, anyway. For once, I felt the story could have added much more detail and still been interesting. I don't want to say he rushed through the story, but if he had spent more time with the depth of the side-stories, it could have been excellent. I liked it more, the more I thought about it.

[Jamie Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the middle book in the Marsbound/Starbound/Earthbound trilogy. I've read most of Haldeman's work, and I like his writing. This was a quick, smooth read, despite the admittedly confusing first-person POV changes. (It was obvious when the "Martian" was speaking, but Carmen and Namir sounded too much alike, and often it would take me a few paragraphs to figure out which one was speaking.) I liked the characters, and the story of their confinement for years in a spacecraft was interesting, even with the focus on bed-hopping that everyone was oh-so-cool about.

However, the plot didn't do much for me. I dislike stories with omnipotent, omniscient, essentially godlike aliens, and unfortunately the author is fond of them. This book also suffers from the unsatisfying ending that is typical of the middle part of a trilogy. I was a little disappointed, but I'm sure I'll read the next book, just because it's Haldeman.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will probably not finish this book.

The POV changes are disorienting and annoying. The book jumps from character to character, all of which are written in first person, and it makes you guess who is speaking. To speak as one character for while, saying "I" and "she", then to immediately jump to another POV using "I" and "she"… it takes a while for me to recalibrate my thinking when all I'm wondering the whole time is "ok, whose head am I in now?"

I just finished Hobb's Ship of Destiny, which was written in third person using many different POVs (let's see: Althea, Ronica, Kefferia, Wintrow, Reyn, Malta, Brashen, Kennit, Etta, Kyle, Vivacia, Paragon, the serpants…). But being written in the third person, it was much easier to follow when the author skipped around and shifted.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I love about Haldeman is how he throws a ton of ideas at the reader in a relatively short book. He's very much a hard sci-fi writer in that way, although he also delves into the psychology of how humans would react to an alien species. This is also one of the things I don't like about Haldeman, because any one of the ideas he approaches here (monogamy in human relationships, mental illness, mass murder, faith in God, not to mention first contact with an alien species incomprehensible to humans) could be its own book in another writer's hands. That's not to say a better writer; just a different one.

I particularly liked Namir in this book - his experience as a Mossad agent during a biological attack against Israel that killed 4 million people gives him the most depth of all the characters. He carries that experience with him and provides much of the psychological depth in the story. I hope to see more of him in the next one.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Haldeman's writing style, and this one doesn't disappoint. His handling of much of the minutia of living and traveling in space is generally well-written, and like his other books there's a little hedonism thrown in here and there to keep you on your toes. There's plenty of hard sci-fi in here (pun intended).

Anyway, Haldeman does a good job telling an interesting story with realistic characters without the book being too wordy. There are many hard-sci-fi elements in the book, but the author doesn't bombard you with it. Starbound is 2nd in a trilogy, but it would function very well on its own, I think, as Marsbound does. I await the real punchline in his next book, Earthbound.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually think people are too hard on Haldeman these days, but this one just wasn't up to snuff. I liked getting back with the characters from "Marsbound" (which I liked quite a bit) and seeing what happened as a result of the events in that book...

However, the shifting narrators here was annoying. AND it did not have to be. Yes, I could discern who was talking after reading for few sentences (or in some cases paragraphs) but why did I need to? That took my focus from the story & unlike a really good read...I always knew I was just reading words on a page. Just having the character's name near the chapter title would have made this a more enjoyable read.

Still, I liked it.

[Kathy KS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing tale from the man who penned The Forever War. Bland. Reminds me of a road trip story where nothing really happens. You have a few interactions between the main characters that might, or might not, go somewhere, but one begins to not really care.

Like so many others have reported, the switches between first-person narrators was confusing.

I hadn't read the first book in the trilogy, but after finishing this one and reading reviews on Goodreads, I don't believe I'll even look at the others.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the 2nd of a three book series - MARSBOUND. If you are looking for good hard-hitting SciFi RUN, do not walk, from this series. Book 1 "Marsbound" was boring but readible. Book 2 "Starbound" is one of the most boring books I have ever read. In fact, it is so bad I will not finish the book nor even attempt to read the 3rd book "Earthbound".

Joe Haldeman is generally a very good author and I have enjoyed many of his yarns but not this crap.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quickly read over the weekend. It feels a lot like a nice space opera: fun and engaging, a page turner which focuses more on the human interaction between people (though at a very shallow level considering a year can pass in the space of a few pages). I enjoyed it as much as a high quality miniseries.

[Darnoc Leadburger · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read *Marsbound* years ago, I found it hard to believe that it was written by the same man who wrote *The Forever War* decades before. This summer, I tried revisiting it (and, apparently, its sequels) in the hopes that I'd find a renewed appreciation for them this time. Sadly, I merely affirmed my belief that *Marsbound* is a cheap YA approximation of thoughtful science fiction. I hoped that the older cast of *Starbound* would make for a more complex and interesting narrative, but alas, that's not what we got - instead, *Starbound* is a sexed-up soap opera with trite concepts that probably won't excite any consistent reader of science fiction. I'll try and keep this one kind of short for all our sakes', but... we'll see what I can manage.

Set decades after *Marsbound*, this book details the journey of seven humans and two Martians from Earth to the solar system inhabited by the Others, where they intend to convince the aliens that humanity isn't worth squashing out because they can learn to be civilized players on the galactic stage or... something like that. This crew includes three romantic groups - Carmen Dula from the first book and her flyboy husband Paul, another married couple (Merryl and Moonboy), and a throuple consisting of one horny woman and two men. One of them, an ex-Israli spy named Namir, has a dark past and a lot of blood on his hands that only becomes apparent through occasional flashbacks; once the seven humans take flight alongside two Martians (Fly-In-Amber, one of the golden/yellow recorder Martians, and one that I've completely forgotten about), Namir develops a little bit of an attraction to Carmen. They never act on it, although Namir's wife Elza starts sleeping her way through the men of the ship, starting with Moonboy, whose childhood trauma comes out during their play, inciting him to violence against Elza. This incident causes shipwide drama which ends in Moonboy hiding within himself and spending all day behind the keyboard without interacting with anyone else. Paul never falls for Elza's wiles, but nothing really important to the fate of humanity happens until they stop halfway through their journey to turn the thruster around or some made-up reason like that and they're boarded by a man-like creation named Spy who says he's made from the Others, and that he and the Other above him (in this little pocket of space) must decide whether or not to let them through. Apparently the crew passes the test, because they're allowed to go to the homeworld of the Other...

Using Other technology, Spy and his Other bring the crew to the Others' homeworld in an instant for them (although I think it caused twelve years of real-time to go by; relativity is a little torn up in this book). Once they're shown the homeworld they see a bunch of destroyed ships, and we gradually realize that the Others almost wiped out an invading race in the past, and that they only kept a few of the would-be-invaders alive so they could use them to create a little organic warning system in case life was detected on Earth; The Others took that race and turned them into the Martians. After these revelations, Fly-In-Amber and Moonboy are offered (either by themselves or the crew, respectively) to be frozen in time alongside the Others (as they require someone to submit to it), the Others tell the humans that they will be spared as long as they don't try to fight back against the Others. Hence, the crew sets off for Earth two souls lighter. They all prepare for homecoming in different mental ways, but once they arrive back home they're greeted by a little military fleet and escorted to the surface where the President receives them. It seems like the last fifty years have not done Earth well; the countries of the world have largely united, but their shared goal seems to be the destruction of the Others, and even after the starbound crew tells the world what the aliens told them while on the press junket, Earth doesn't listen and keeps working on war-faring technology. Hence, the Others blow up the moon and create a debris field around Earth to prevent space travel (but wouldn't this throw tides out of whack? If they did, it wasn't mentioned). And when humans try to launch a rocket meant to clear the debris, the Others respond by disabling all electricity on Earth. How? Hell if I know. Might as well be magic. With the social order about to collapse around them, the book's crew take off running, hoping to find a safe place to survive...

If I had to give one word to describe my thoughts on this book, it'd be "apathy." I just couldn't bring myself to give a crap about any of the characters or about the fate of the world; if the whole universe is inhabited by underbaked characters and drawn by subpar prose, what is there to reflect upon? I just think that this is an uninspired turd, but for the sake of using some objective literary critique instead of just saying "this sucks," let me find a comparison... it reminded me more of a poorly laid out soap opera than a novel about the fate of humanity. If you had the misfortune to watch the Netflix sci-fi series *Another Life*, you might remember feeling like a space agency would never be stupid enough to send only hormone-fueled fools into space, and if you read this book, you'll start experiencing deja vu. The idea of sending couples to space has been done before to some level of success, but throwing a throuple into the mix seemed like an objectively odd choice, and the only things that two thirds of that throuple developed were childhood trauma and physical brawls over sex lives. They didn't offer anything to say about the human condition or tie in interestingly to the whole plot about the Others. Of course, in the throuple's defense, it's hard to tie into such a bland thing interestingly...

The Others exist at a much slower metabolism than us and have been around for a lot longer, so they should be a pretty epic race. But instead, they feel... tired. There's not much distinguishing them from any other race of ancient super-aliens in science fiction, and the fact that they exist at such a slower pace of existence than us almost seems like a crutch upon with nonsensical power levelling (like the stuff about shutting down all the power on the moon while being contradictory about the possibility of faster than light travel and stuff like that) can sit on; if you have no shot of understanding aliens you can right whatever kind of jank you want to, right? It just felt very cookie-cutter, and even the use of Haldeman's hallmark trope of relativity (you know, the main concept of *The Forever War*, his principle work) wasn't enough to save this story. Its end result was pretty clearly telegraphed by the back cover, and it feels Haldeman didn't even try to show us (instead of telling us) what was going on; not that he tells us much that's interesting and worth mentioning here, either.

This novel's a total soap opera with an egregious amount of dumb sex (although at least *Starbound* only takes one of Heinlein's hallmark trips this time - Haldeman skips the juvenile stuff and just focuses on the eyeroll-inducing sex), but at least one character was memorable to me: Namir, the ex-Israli black ops agent. He had an interesting past and his perspective on biological terrorism committed against the Jews felt decently real, and it has the potential to hit particularly hard in today's political climate. He's the only character I'd really care to read more of. Otherwise, even the Martians - these genetically-engineered creatures which should inhabit a really cool place in any science fictional ecosystem - failed to pique my interest. I just didn't find the setup, the characters, or the contrived confines of the plot to be convincing. The ending also seemed a bit forced with its whole end-of-the-world twist; gee, I wonder what the third book will be about...

I guess I'm just bitter. It's probably not as painful as I'm making it out to be, but I have no real nice things to say. But at least it's a breezy read for a time when I had a lot of other things going on; I think that earns a 5/10. And you know I'll be here, like a glutton for punishment, to tell you if the concluding volume (*Earthbound*) gets any better. I doubt it, but I'm willing to find out so you don't have to. I'll see you there, my space-faring friends...

[Jon]

he first book in this latest series by Haldeman, Marsbound, was a pretty good read, very much an homage to Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars, in my opinion. The heroine, Carmen, was the first human to make contact with the "Martians", who are actually beings designed by The Others, vastly powerful entities from insterstellar space. They have been observing humans on Earth for thousands of years, and apparently decide that they are too dangerous to be allowed to survive, so they attempt to destroy Earth at the end of the novel. Obviously, their plans are thwarted, otherwise we'd have no sequel in Starbound.
The governments of Earth, Luna and Mars have decided to send an expedition to contact The Others, to try to plead with or reason them out of their decision to destroy Earth. Carmen, and her husband, Paul, are two of the members of this mission, which will take seven years, subjective time, but much longer from an Earth reference frame, due to relativity effects.
Most of the novel is the story of their voyage, which is mildly amusing. There are four humans from Mars, three from Earth, and three of the "Martians" on board the voyage. Their interactions and discussions of alien philosophy go on for about three and a half years, to the "turnover" point when the ship must begin deceleration. At that point, I think even Haldeman got tired of their issues, and decided to cut things short. When they enter free fall at turnaround, they are met by a representative of the others, a biological construct, who tells them they are to be allowed to meet The Others, instead of being destroyed out of hand. He makes use of a very convenient (to us and the author) way to travel without experiencing subjective time, all the way to the home planet of The Others, and then back to Earth. Thanks, Joe, for saving us from another ten years of Peyton Place in Space.
On their arrival at Earth, they deliver the aliens message, but once again Mr. Haldeman takes a short cut, leaving us with a very unsatisfactory ending. If there turns out to be a third in this series, I'd be really surprised.
(color me surprised, Haldeman wrapped this up with Earthbound a short while later)

[Tony Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the middle book of the trilogy, coming after Marsbound and followed by Earthbound - although, given the ending of this novel, it's a bit difficult to see where the final book is going to go.

Whereas Marsbound was a YA novel -or, more likely, Haldeman's homage to Heinlein's juveniles - this is a more traditional SF novel. It starts as hard SF, but goes beyond that when The Others' technology is introduced. To be fair, Haldeman doesn't attempt to explain this technology, which fits Clarke's description of "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", but instead has it explained to the characters as "trying to explain how it works would be like trying to teach a bird how an elevator works," which I thought was a nice phrase to avoid technobabble.

As usual with Haldeman, the book is driven by human reactions, both on an individual level and on a species level, although the latter is very much in the background until the end of the novel - most likely the final novel will explore that more fully.

The problem for humanity in this case is how to react when faced by a species that is literally tens of thousands of years (if not hundreds of thousands) more advanced. Spoiler (not really) - we don't react sensibly 😝

[Phorc Ewe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as bad as a lot of others have said here.
The changing narrators was annoying, but slightly less once I realized it was only three different people: Carmen, Namir, and Fly-in-Amber.
There also wasn't as much partner swapping/sex stuff as others here have also said.

Narrator list: (Sorry if I made any mistakes, I started this list many chapters in and had to go back for the first bunch)
1. Carmen
2. Haldeman/unknown
3. Fly-In-Amber
4. Carmen
5. Haldeman/unknown
6. Carmen
7. Namir
8. Carmen
9. Namir
10. Carmen
11. Namir
12. Carmen
------Part Two
1. Namir
2. Carmen
3. Namir
4. Fly-in-Amber
5. Carmen
6. Namir
7. Carmen
8. Fly-in-Amber
9. Carmen
10. Namir
11. Carmen
12. Namir
13. Carmen
14. Namir
15. Fly-in-Amber
16. Carmen
17. Namir
18. Carmen
19. Namir
------Part Three
1. Fly-in-Amber
2. Carmen
3. Fly-in-Amber
4. Carmen
5. Namir
6. Carmen
7. Fly-in-Amber
8. Namir
9. Carmen
10. Namir
11. Fly-in-Amber
12. Carmen
13. Carmen
14. Namir
15. Carmen
16. Namir
17. Carmen
18. Carmen
19. Namir
20. Carmen

[Dirk D · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this middle book of the series Earth launches an expedition to the star system of the seemingly invincible alien species that nearly destroyed the Earth. This story is about that expedition sent to try and negotiate. Carmen and Paul from the first book are part of it in a dysfunctional group with mysterious agendas (three of them are spies). This book is mostly about trust issues; can the aliens trust us, can we trust them (they did try to kill us once), can we trust ourselves? Can these issues be overcome peaceably? It's more of a long journey locked into a somewhat small interstellar vessel waiting to see what happens. At first it seemed a bit boring but as the issues grew clear (the story is told from 3 POVs: Carmen's, one of the spies, and one of the alien Martians) the tale becomes more interesting, just enough for four stars. Now I almost have to read the final volume just to see how this turns out.

[Cicero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it says that this is book #2, it easily can be read as a stand alone, which I did. Initially I was a bit put off. Where is my mental escape into Sci-Fi? About the first 50% of the book seemed to be a study of human nature. Each character is a distinct personlity, with three of them being more finely developed than the others. However, the chapters varied from one character to the next and it was quite difficult to know who was talking for a good portion of the book. Once the reader gets past the first half or more, the story finally begins to mature. Confronted with an alien species that surpasses human intelligence and abilities, 6 humans and 2 Martians try to intercede on Earth's behalf to prevent it from being destroyed. People on earth are given a choice and of course, we fail. The destruction is not the loss of life as we know it but the ability to use power. That alone is almost unimaginable.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation of the Marsbound story which I found interesting but Halderman seem to over indulge with sexual exploits in both books. This is not needed or wanted in a SF book , just get on with the story. The "others" (could he have tried a better name?) are a powerful race of non DNA beings that live at extreme cold temperatures and are seemingly in control of much of the galaxy. How beings like this could ever have made a fire much less be millions of years ahead in technology is beyond me. With all their tech and power they don't really care if a "normal" room temperature race of beings lives or dies (and they have killed some). I guess this is alien logic. Worth reading but you have to start with Marsbound then decide.

[Becky Beaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books where I'm glad I get to visualize the aliens for myself instead of seeing them in a movie, which takes away all the options. "4-legged, and excrete through pores on the bottoms of their feet" is the first descriptive phrase. 4 arms AND 4 legs. Two large hands and two small ones, 4 fingers (or 4 thumbs) each. Head like an old potato. What would Disney do with that?

The book is the story of a voyage to meet the Others. Well paced, good dialogue, good action (despite the years-long journey in a small craft). And you get to visualize your own version of the aliens.
Recommended.

[Paul Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story dragged until around the last third, when events suddenly and for no particular reason started moving faster. Fortunately, they also got better, or my review would have been 3 stars.

The flipping between different characters is something I’ve seen before, and usually it doesn’t bother me. This time, though, it wasn’t done well. Having to figure out who was talking, sometimes for almost a full page, detracts from the reading experience and constantly dragged my attention from the plot.

I did enjoy the ending, and will be reading the next book.

[Charl · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I hate the guessing game of "who's POV are we having in this chapter?" It's a gimmick that quickly wore thin, disrupting my immersion every single chapter. To me, breaking your reader's immersion is the greatest sin a writer can commit.

But I enjoyed Marsbound, and with Marsbound's almost cliff-hanger ending, I persisted. And I did like the story, especially the Others' second (and probably final) "spanking" for Humanity.

If you enjoyed Marsbound, I recommend Starbound. Just be prepared for a "who's talking?" guessing game throughout

[Philip Shade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've largely outgrown Haldeman's style. He consistently comes up with ideas and concepts that make readers sit and ponder the larger implications, especially of technologies effects on humankind, but writing-wise I think the series (Marsbound, Starbound, Earthbound) are probably better suited for a YA audience.

Still, I stayed up till 1 AM to finish it, and the ending left me wanting to run out to the library and get the final book.

[Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book was the changing perspective. Told from the first person, the storyteller changed with nearly every chapter after the first few. Sometimes it was hard to pick up who was telling the story, other times it was pretty simple. like most sequels, the story wasn't as good as the first, and I felt like the end was a little rushed. just like the first book, though, as soon as I was done I reached for the next (and in this case, the final) book in the series.

[Falbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this one. It's a great follow up to Marsbound. The aliens are fascinating and alien enough to be more believable than most of the crap out there. Also, a truly killer ending. I've read so many books recently that just leave you hanging that it's nice to read something with some resolution, and it sure as hell is not a 'happily ever after' kind of thing.

[Nola Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story, but still annoyingly sexist. The point of view switches each chapter, and it can be hard to tell who the narrator is, since they're all told in first person. I once read three pages thinking it was A before I realized it was B, and that wasn't the only time; I frequently had to re read to figure it out.

[Wrathleader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhh. Interesting to read, and as a study in human nature its not bad. But I am still not impressed by this trilogy. I like that the "others" are undefeatable and are totally alien, but the author leaves too much unexplained and there is this weird perspective shift between 2 characters that is very jarring.

[Elizabeth Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intricate story with characters we’re sometimes puzzled as to who is speaking. But to me, that gave the story a bit of charm. I liked eventually being able to recognize a character by her or his language or point of view. It allowed me to fully engage in the story as it rose to the climax.

[Juan Sanmiguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A team from Earth head out to deep space to meet the aliens who almost destroyed the Earth. The team hopes to come to accord with the aliens aka The Others. Joe does a good job depicting a long star voyage. We get an idea of what motivates the characters on this trip. The Others and the Martians are very alien. I cannot wait to read the next installment.