Berserker Kill

Berserker #9

by Fred Saberhagen

A renegade Berserker destroyer steals an entire orbiting biological laboratory filled with human zygotes, while a computer falls in love with a woman and must figure out how to acquire a physical body. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Military Science Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Fred Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Beserker'' and Dracula stories.

Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.

From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.

Reviews

[Jay Goemmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berserker Kill (1993) by Fred Saberhagen.

A captivating read for Berserker fans, with plenty of cool stuff revealed, especially at the end. [NO SPOILERS INCLUDED HERE!] However, I noticed redundancies cropping up occasionally in the narrative, which irritated me slightly. Additionally, the pace of the narrative wasn't up to Saberhagen's usually "cracking good" standards. Are Fred's writing abilities slipping only slightly with age?

This story would make an excellent adaption to TV or film, but would probably work best as a story arc in part of an ongoing series, since the tale is best appreciated in the overall context of the Berserker saga (as is Saberhagen's short story "The Sign of the Wolf").

The novel is a little draggy, and I was disappointed that Saberhagen killed off one of the supporting characters before he had a chance to really develop them, but it's certainly not as hard to wade through as its immediate sequel, _Berserker Fury_ (1997). Definitely worth the effort.

(09 Sept 2005)

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not quite up to Saberhagen's standards, this was still a decent read. I kept feeling like I had the answer, but was still a little surprised at the end. The 300 year discontinuity between the first and second parts kind of left things lacking... almost as if it had originally been planned as two separate books, but the end of the first book was chopped off and replaced with the second. The second part also seemed to be a setup for a third book.

For berserker fans, this book adds some more information, but I wouldn't recommend it for readers unfamiliar with the berserker story line.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my second attempt at reading a Saberhagen Berserker book. As with my previous attempt, I find the authors writing style jarring, repetitive and frequently awkward. With that being said, I found this book marginally better than his other book (Berserker #1). This story had several good if unconvincing twists that kept you interested. Nevertheless many of the main characters seemed bizarre. One of the human AIs starts getting attracted to a dead human- even seeming to experience desire? How is this possible? Another character appears to be a mass murderer, and kills several people in cold blood, but suddenly is one of the good guys? What was his background? Is this explained in another Berserker story? Another megalomaniacal character has some very odd plans for colonization that involves doing nothing for hundreds of years (except killing his son in the process)? His goals seemed weak- what was he trying to do?
Still, the book is somewhat fun and entertaining and moves fairly quickly. I would recommend this book only for Saberhagen and Berserker fans.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't the page-turner I had hoped for, but it was still solidly entertaining. The character were well-developed and often surprising. Saberhagen killed off enough of the main characters to keep the level of threat to the others almost constantly high, and enough of the main characters survived to give an emotionally satisfying ending. Most impressively, the ending came as a complete surprise to me, and yet it came across as a fully integral part of the plot, with clues to it present from the beginning and with no unfair tricks by the author to obscure things.

[E.R. Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. Actually got to meet a builder! (Hope that’s not a spoiler🫤). Anyhoo, I get a little annoyed when a 450 page book could have easily been written in half that space—and this one could have been, as it contains redundant information and a few unnecessary scenes, mostly involving Westminster Abbey—but getting to the end was well worth it.

I got hooked on the Berserker books decades ago, and this one certainly didn’t disappoint.

[Cynik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A berserker book that I had not previously read. The first half of the book is difficult. No characters that you can like and it drags. Took me forever to read it because I wasn't putting in a lot of time, just couldn't get too interested. About halfway thru there's a big change - the story moves ahead in time to where the first part is now just history and it is a much better 2nd half that I got in more of a hurry to finish.

[Philroy Hinds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off slow, but I found the way it ended immensely satisfying. I’ll consider this my 3rd favorite of the Berserker Series, behind “Berserker Prime” and “Berserker Man” respectively.

Worth the read, despite the way it sort of drags on.

[Mark Braun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow moving at times, predictable ending after reaching the midpoint of the book.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book that explains what happens when you go undercover for an extremity long period of time,

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of his better books.

[Robert LoCicero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a later work by one of the Grandmasters of Science Fiction. Of course, the Berserker series is a memorable one for readers of hard SF and even led to a board game of the same name back in the late eighties. This novel may start slowly but quickly developes into a mesmerizing collection of characters with organic and without organic bodies. For those not in the know, Berserkers were metallic death machines dedicated to the complete destruction of all living creatures in the universe. They were originally created by the distant race called Builders who hoped they would be decisive within their internecine warfare. They ended up going solo and destroying all living things or at least attempting to do so. These galactic battles occurred over thousands of years and over millions of light years of territory. In this novel we meet an original Builder plus the familiar Solarians, our future spacefaring Earthlings and a scattering of inorganic or semi-organic people with familiar psychologies and passions if not easily recognizable bodies and minds. Jump in and read all the novels in this large group of titles. You will be transported into the far off future by this great author.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not up to par with the previous Berserker books. The 300 hundred year gap in the middle was jarring, maybe unnecessary? Some decent berserker action on the front end and back end but the story really drags through the middle... Long contemplations of what it is to be human... Does artificial intelligence created by humans count? Do "recorded" humans count? Does a human nearly completely replaced by machine parts count? And I simply didn't get the motivation of the Premier... he techno-sacrifices/murders his son and gives up his role as the pivotal power in the galaxy for a chance to become... the pivotal power on some yet-to-be formed potential world? Huh?

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Keeps you guessing right up till nearly the end. There were in my opinion, a bit much in some of the details that could have been toned back to make the story move faster, fewer details in the Nickolas Hawksmoor, or maybe less to do with the Premier, but all in all a clever and good sci-fi read.

[Reynard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per ora do un voto conservativo a questo libro perché l'ho letto troppi anni fa per sbilanciarmi con un voto più alto. Conto però di rileggerlo a breve perché, anche a distanza di vent'anni, la lettura mi ha lasciato belle sensazioni; a quel punto scriverò una recensione più ragionata.

[John Sorensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Berserker attacks a human planet and leaves. 300 years afterward, Berserkers attack the same planet and pursue the original Berserker attacker in mid-attack. The reason for the unusual behavior? The original Berserker is piloted by one of the Builders of the Berserkers.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but the shorts are better

This one is one long story, and is well done, especially if you consider how long ago it was written. However, the other Berserker books are most collections of shorts, and those are much better