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A Maze of Stars
The ship's millennia-long mission was to preserve humanity. But humanity was becoming more alien, and the ship—impossibly—more human...
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
43 people are currently reading
391 people want to read
About the author
John Brunner
572 books480 followersJohn Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
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July 11, 2019Introduction by James Gunn
Artwork by John Berkey
Signed by John Brunner
Having seeded some 600 planets with human stock in the largest breeding experiment ever planned, an omnicompetent machine known only as Ship is programmed to retrace its original route over and over, keeping an unobtrusive eye on the evolution of its stepchildren and occasionally rescuing from mortal danger a social outcast whose planet side presence will not be missed
Artwork by John Berkey
Signed by John Brunner
Having seeded some 600 planets with human stock in the largest breeding experiment ever planned, an omnicompetent machine known only as Ship is programmed to retrace its original route over and over, keeping an unobtrusive eye on the evolution of its stepchildren and occasionally rescuing from mortal danger a social outcast whose planet side presence will not be missed
May 31, 2022
review of
John Brunner's A Maze of Stars
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - May 30, 2022
I've read & reviewed almost everything I know of by Brunner. I've probably reviewed more by him than any other author. This might fall loosely into the epic category. It's not really that long but it covers a big topic &, of course, does it well. The plot is about a collosal space-ship that's performed its function of seeding human-compatible planets w/ human colonizers & that's now on a mission to check back on all of the planets so seeded to check on the colonizers' progress. As such, it's the space-ship that's the main character. The ship rescues humans from planets where their life is in danger & then deposits them on a new planet of the evacuee's choice. Hence, humans come & go. This reader got engrossed in every planet's story & in the revolving cast of characters' personalities & dilemmas.
"Stripe" is the 1st human protagonist we meet. Her parents are "cheeching", turning into plants.
"Nerves raw with hatred of Dr. Bolus, Stripe bent to inspect the slaitches he had recommended her to set beneath her parents' chairs. As she had feared, while she was out white threads from their calves had overrun the dark gray slabs and made connection with the dirt below. Her best precautions had been in vain." - p 19
"The condition's name stemmed from the protesting sounds some of its victims made: their last wheezes prior to coma." - p 21
Stripe meets Ship, who can manifest in whatever form in order to escape detection from the locals. Ship keeps its presence secret to everyone on the planets it visits except for those selected for saving.
""Cheech!" Stripe swallowed hard, suddenly all little girl again. "How do you hide? How is it that your gravity doesn't give you away?"
""Oh, you impress me more than ever! At the risk of distressing you, I wish I could compliment your parents."" - p 52
Ship takes Stripe to the planet Klepsit where there's trouble brewing for one of the locals.
"Su's tired, lined face remained impassive as she spread her hands. What was visible of her skin was, like his, patched with round hollow scars. They had first met when they were assigned to the same challenge team nearly thirty years ago, and the subject was a fungoid that flourished on unmodified human epidermis and induced toxemia when its waste products seeped into the bloodstream. It had been beaten, of course; no child born in the past two decades had been infected by it. But the marks remained, on the spirit as much as the body." - p 60
Brunner's overall plot enables him to imagine how different colonized planets might've turned out. His imagination is up to the task. Volar is the scientist facing trial on Klepsit. His friend & advocate, Su, predicts that they'll decide against him w/o outright sentencing him to death but essentially sentencing him to death by more surreptitious means.
"["]More likely they'll do something local. Put you on a diet of native vegetation, for example, and record what happens."
""You can't be serious!"" - p 66
Stripe has been put down on another planet & the lonely AI Ship rescues Volar & they go to Shreng.
"Dean Faruz How of the University of Inshar swooped and darted along the main avenue of campus, relishing how closely the view resembled what could have been found long ago on the birthworld. The plants might be yellow-pinnaed frondiferns, the creatures that fluttered on the afternoon breeze not birds but emples and crythes; nonetheless that avenue retained the indefinable, archetypal hallmark of academe despite being lined with buildings in twenty different styles, from a timber-built copy of an emergency longhouse such as the first settlers had made do with, to a vast fishlike structure that had to be tethered because it was kept on the verge of floating away by the warmth of its occupants. Some people muttered "old-fashioned"; Dean How preferred "traditional." Was that not appropriate for a center of higher education?"
"Since the outset the colonists on Shreng had been determined to create an open society. Had their world been less hospitable, it might have been impossible; from the spacefarers they had learned of many other planets where the sheer necessity of survival had led to oppressive, even totalitarian regimes. Free of such pressures, Shreng had rapidly developed a number of independent settlements, some coastal, some inland, but each enterprising in its own way. One feature, however, they all had in common. The focal point of every not-quite-city—for although many had the equivalent of a city's population, there was land enough for each more to resemble a cluster of villages—was invariably a center of learning: a university, in other words. Some specialized in science, especially biology, others in the humanities—few planets, so their visitors reported, possessed so complete a knowledge of the race's past. Others again devoted themselves to electronics and mechanics or the performing arts, above all music." - p 98
Seems fabulous, right? But there's always human nature & the personality type that control-freaks things & steers them their way &, in this case, Dean How is the problem - w/o people realizing just how much of a problem he is. Volar decides to land on Shreng but, alas, Dean How kidnaps him to use as a tool. How's machinations lead to the Ship's having to rescue 2 of How's victims-to-be. But How's plans don't turn out as he wishes.
""We'd better arrest him first," Lerrin countered. "Will you do it, or shall I?"
""You don't understand!" How whimpered. "This man Volar—he's the most important person on the planet! How do you imagine he got here? There's only one explanation if you think about it. Think for a moment, think! He must have been brought by the Ship, mustn't he? What other explanation is there? Don't you hear me? He was brought by the Ship! It does come back, it does, it does, and he's the living proof!"
"Once more they glanced at each other. Vashco said heavily, "The poor man's obviously deranged."
""I agree," Lerrin concurred, and briskly started to recite the standard formula of arrest." - p 127
Next stop, Yellick, one of the few colonized planets to make their own spaceships & to base an economy around it.
"Two years ago, without any warning save the vibrating shock wave that must accomodate transition to and from tachyonic mode, a foreign ship had arrived in the volume Yellick had long regarded as its private preserve. And what a ship! In mass, in power, in range, it far surpassed the vessels built here.
"It hailed from a world called Sumbala.
"The captain had requested permission to land—denied, althought the reception grid could just about have coped. Courteous, resigned, she had conducted negotiations from orbit." - p 138
Yellick has other struggles too that're complicating their space travel industry.
""Exactly. Sharing is a miniscule cult, but it's attracted a lot of publicity these past few years, and by now most informed people must be aware of its slogans."
[..]
""You mean phrases like 'because we're all children of the Ship we must all share one another's fate'?"" - p 150
""Our best guess is that she imported the organisms by smearing a nutrient medium inside the cases of her holo crystals, which can't be radiosterilized because that would blank them. After Customs released her belongings, she must have ingested the germs deliberately."
[..]
"["]Anyway, when she was challenged, she said straight out, 'Yes, I am a Sharer! And now, like it or not, so are you!' Then she laughed."
""I never heard anything so horrible," mourned Vanganury.
""So what's happening now?" Holdernesh demanded.
""Nothing very much. She's dead.""
[..]
""To judge from her screams," Porch said heavily, "they must have torn her limb from limb.["]" - p 151
On to the planet Ekatila.
""Mother! You can't! You mustn't!"
""Who says I can't?" Osahima demanded, "This is my house so long as I live—isn't it? And today is the first day of Pilgrimage—isn't it?"
""Yes, but—"
""There are no buts! You are coming with the family to perform the due and fitting ceremonies! Never mind your horrid hingochapla! You can always make more, if you must. Right now—Ah! Just the person I need! Reverend Yekko!"" - p 175
Brunner manages to establish unqiue cultural aspects of each planet fairly quickly by having Ship reach them at important moments - in this instance when most colonizers are about to pay homage to their host planet.
""To what do we owe our survival on this world?"
""To the Being that consents to make way for us."
[..]
""In what way does it support and serve us?"
[..]
""Not: 'By ceding us its shell to use for homes, that which we find convenable in winter storms for warmth, in summer heat for coolness, all this of its own volition, and it thus behooves us to respect and honor it and to make it offerings and go on Pilgrimage to wheresoever its new limit may be found'["]" - pp 178-179
On to planet Sumbala.
""Would you ever have guessed that there are families on Sumbala who don't believe in making contracts with their brains, let alone their other organs?"" - p 231
That idea alone might've been a wonderful basis for a longer story.
"Ezar called on him to come and meet Hesker and his wife, Adeen, who had just emerged from the house—and also wore no wristlets." - p 240
The novel's from 1991. Wristlets are basically an analog to 'smart'-phones. SF's always great for predictions of the future that at the time of reading is now. This planet's only recently been terraformed to the point of having trees, something that its inhabitants had never seen before.
""You can run away if you like," he snapped. "I simply don't believe that living trees full of water can burn well enough to pose a threat. Leaves, okay. But never trees."" - p 243
Despite the plus sides of some of the worlds, most, if not all, of them might be called 'failed' colonies b/c of some fault or another - usually due to human psychology.
"Seizing Parly's hand in both of hers, she pressed it to her breasts. Parly could feel the frantic beating of her heart.
""I always wondered what it was like to touch somebody," the girl breathed. "How long is it since anyone on Zemprad touched another person?"
""Almost two decades," Parly answered, raising her other hand to stroke Halleth's sleek dark head. "Nearly as long as you have been alive."" - p 293
There's just one bad story after another.
""So they're immortal," Oach said after a pause,
""Their bodies are. Their minds died long ago."" - p 306
&, given my somewhat grim view of current times, it's no surprise that I find that some of the negativity of this bk speaks to NOW.
"Again, there were worlds where caste divisions had grown up, typically because not long after the landing a crisis had arisen and power had had to be concentrated in the hands of a few exceptionally imaginative or strong-willed individuals. Having acquired the taste for privilege, they and their descendents contrived ingenious ways to cling to it. Most of these were following an ancient and predictable pattern; ultimately the rulers would grow decadent, neglect their precautions, and be overthrown by desperate and resentful revolutionaries with little to lose and their world to gain.
"On some, however, the overlords had proved more ruthless and were protecting themselves by breeding for reduced intelligence among their subjects. So long as they could obey orders, so long as they could attend to mindless tasks, that would suffice." - p 312
"Q: What does a social structure in which so few of either sex are required for reproduction call to mind?
"A: Creatures like those which on the birthworld were called termites, ants, and bees. We are, in sum, potential hive or swarm animals. That is a trend some of us are determined to reverse.
"This, then, was the decadence that had settled over most of humanity. Century by century the pressure of evolution upon individual creatures composed of myriad ex-individuals betrayed itself in loss of imagination, enterprise, the sense of adventure, originality of every kind—a tendency, in sum, toward stasis and eventual decline." - p 319
All in all, another excellent, deeply conceived, highly accomplished novel by someone that I wish had lived longer.
John Brunner's A Maze of Stars
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - May 30, 2022
I've read & reviewed almost everything I know of by Brunner. I've probably reviewed more by him than any other author. This might fall loosely into the epic category. It's not really that long but it covers a big topic &, of course, does it well. The plot is about a collosal space-ship that's performed its function of seeding human-compatible planets w/ human colonizers & that's now on a mission to check back on all of the planets so seeded to check on the colonizers' progress. As such, it's the space-ship that's the main character. The ship rescues humans from planets where their life is in danger & then deposits them on a new planet of the evacuee's choice. Hence, humans come & go. This reader got engrossed in every planet's story & in the revolving cast of characters' personalities & dilemmas.
"Stripe" is the 1st human protagonist we meet. Her parents are "cheeching", turning into plants.
"Nerves raw with hatred of Dr. Bolus, Stripe bent to inspect the slaitches he had recommended her to set beneath her parents' chairs. As she had feared, while she was out white threads from their calves had overrun the dark gray slabs and made connection with the dirt below. Her best precautions had been in vain." - p 19
"The condition's name stemmed from the protesting sounds some of its victims made: their last wheezes prior to coma." - p 21
Stripe meets Ship, who can manifest in whatever form in order to escape detection from the locals. Ship keeps its presence secret to everyone on the planets it visits except for those selected for saving.
""Cheech!" Stripe swallowed hard, suddenly all little girl again. "How do you hide? How is it that your gravity doesn't give you away?"
""Oh, you impress me more than ever! At the risk of distressing you, I wish I could compliment your parents."" - p 52
Ship takes Stripe to the planet Klepsit where there's trouble brewing for one of the locals.
"Su's tired, lined face remained impassive as she spread her hands. What was visible of her skin was, like his, patched with round hollow scars. They had first met when they were assigned to the same challenge team nearly thirty years ago, and the subject was a fungoid that flourished on unmodified human epidermis and induced toxemia when its waste products seeped into the bloodstream. It had been beaten, of course; no child born in the past two decades had been infected by it. But the marks remained, on the spirit as much as the body." - p 60
Brunner's overall plot enables him to imagine how different colonized planets might've turned out. His imagination is up to the task. Volar is the scientist facing trial on Klepsit. His friend & advocate, Su, predicts that they'll decide against him w/o outright sentencing him to death but essentially sentencing him to death by more surreptitious means.
"["]More likely they'll do something local. Put you on a diet of native vegetation, for example, and record what happens."
""You can't be serious!"" - p 66
Stripe has been put down on another planet & the lonely AI Ship rescues Volar & they go to Shreng.
"Dean Faruz How of the University of Inshar swooped and darted along the main avenue of campus, relishing how closely the view resembled what could have been found long ago on the birthworld. The plants might be yellow-pinnaed frondiferns, the creatures that fluttered on the afternoon breeze not birds but emples and crythes; nonetheless that avenue retained the indefinable, archetypal hallmark of academe despite being lined with buildings in twenty different styles, from a timber-built copy of an emergency longhouse such as the first settlers had made do with, to a vast fishlike structure that had to be tethered because it was kept on the verge of floating away by the warmth of its occupants. Some people muttered "old-fashioned"; Dean How preferred "traditional." Was that not appropriate for a center of higher education?"
"Since the outset the colonists on Shreng had been determined to create an open society. Had their world been less hospitable, it might have been impossible; from the spacefarers they had learned of many other planets where the sheer necessity of survival had led to oppressive, even totalitarian regimes. Free of such pressures, Shreng had rapidly developed a number of independent settlements, some coastal, some inland, but each enterprising in its own way. One feature, however, they all had in common. The focal point of every not-quite-city—for although many had the equivalent of a city's population, there was land enough for each more to resemble a cluster of villages—was invariably a center of learning: a university, in other words. Some specialized in science, especially biology, others in the humanities—few planets, so their visitors reported, possessed so complete a knowledge of the race's past. Others again devoted themselves to electronics and mechanics or the performing arts, above all music." - p 98
Seems fabulous, right? But there's always human nature & the personality type that control-freaks things & steers them their way &, in this case, Dean How is the problem - w/o people realizing just how much of a problem he is. Volar decides to land on Shreng but, alas, Dean How kidnaps him to use as a tool. How's machinations lead to the Ship's having to rescue 2 of How's victims-to-be. But How's plans don't turn out as he wishes.
""We'd better arrest him first," Lerrin countered. "Will you do it, or shall I?"
""You don't understand!" How whimpered. "This man Volar—he's the most important person on the planet! How do you imagine he got here? There's only one explanation if you think about it. Think for a moment, think! He must have been brought by the Ship, mustn't he? What other explanation is there? Don't you hear me? He was brought by the Ship! It does come back, it does, it does, and he's the living proof!"
"Once more they glanced at each other. Vashco said heavily, "The poor man's obviously deranged."
""I agree," Lerrin concurred, and briskly started to recite the standard formula of arrest." - p 127
Next stop, Yellick, one of the few colonized planets to make their own spaceships & to base an economy around it.
"Two years ago, without any warning save the vibrating shock wave that must accomodate transition to and from tachyonic mode, a foreign ship had arrived in the volume Yellick had long regarded as its private preserve. And what a ship! In mass, in power, in range, it far surpassed the vessels built here.
"It hailed from a world called Sumbala.
"The captain had requested permission to land—denied, althought the reception grid could just about have coped. Courteous, resigned, she had conducted negotiations from orbit." - p 138
Yellick has other struggles too that're complicating their space travel industry.
""Exactly. Sharing is a miniscule cult, but it's attracted a lot of publicity these past few years, and by now most informed people must be aware of its slogans."
[..]
""You mean phrases like 'because we're all children of the Ship we must all share one another's fate'?"" - p 150
""Our best guess is that she imported the organisms by smearing a nutrient medium inside the cases of her holo crystals, which can't be radiosterilized because that would blank them. After Customs released her belongings, she must have ingested the germs deliberately."
[..]
"["]Anyway, when she was challenged, she said straight out, 'Yes, I am a Sharer! And now, like it or not, so are you!' Then she laughed."
""I never heard anything so horrible," mourned Vanganury.
""So what's happening now?" Holdernesh demanded.
""Nothing very much. She's dead.""
[..]
""To judge from her screams," Porch said heavily, "they must have torn her limb from limb.["]" - p 151
On to the planet Ekatila.
""Mother! You can't! You mustn't!"
""Who says I can't?" Osahima demanded, "This is my house so long as I live—isn't it? And today is the first day of Pilgrimage—isn't it?"
""Yes, but—"
""There are no buts! You are coming with the family to perform the due and fitting ceremonies! Never mind your horrid hingochapla! You can always make more, if you must. Right now—Ah! Just the person I need! Reverend Yekko!"" - p 175
Brunner manages to establish unqiue cultural aspects of each planet fairly quickly by having Ship reach them at important moments - in this instance when most colonizers are about to pay homage to their host planet.
""To what do we owe our survival on this world?"
""To the Being that consents to make way for us."
[..]
""In what way does it support and serve us?"
[..]
""Not: 'By ceding us its shell to use for homes, that which we find convenable in winter storms for warmth, in summer heat for coolness, all this of its own volition, and it thus behooves us to respect and honor it and to make it offerings and go on Pilgrimage to wheresoever its new limit may be found'["]" - pp 178-179
On to planet Sumbala.
""Would you ever have guessed that there are families on Sumbala who don't believe in making contracts with their brains, let alone their other organs?"" - p 231
That idea alone might've been a wonderful basis for a longer story.
"Ezar called on him to come and meet Hesker and his wife, Adeen, who had just emerged from the house—and also wore no wristlets." - p 240
The novel's from 1991. Wristlets are basically an analog to 'smart'-phones. SF's always great for predictions of the future that at the time of reading is now. This planet's only recently been terraformed to the point of having trees, something that its inhabitants had never seen before.
""You can run away if you like," he snapped. "I simply don't believe that living trees full of water can burn well enough to pose a threat. Leaves, okay. But never trees."" - p 243
Despite the plus sides of some of the worlds, most, if not all, of them might be called 'failed' colonies b/c of some fault or another - usually due to human psychology.
"Seizing Parly's hand in both of hers, she pressed it to her breasts. Parly could feel the frantic beating of her heart.
""I always wondered what it was like to touch somebody," the girl breathed. "How long is it since anyone on Zemprad touched another person?"
""Almost two decades," Parly answered, raising her other hand to stroke Halleth's sleek dark head. "Nearly as long as you have been alive."" - p 293
There's just one bad story after another.
""So they're immortal," Oach said after a pause,
""Their bodies are. Their minds died long ago."" - p 306
&, given my somewhat grim view of current times, it's no surprise that I find that some of the negativity of this bk speaks to NOW.
"Again, there were worlds where caste divisions had grown up, typically because not long after the landing a crisis had arisen and power had had to be concentrated in the hands of a few exceptionally imaginative or strong-willed individuals. Having acquired the taste for privilege, they and their descendents contrived ingenious ways to cling to it. Most of these were following an ancient and predictable pattern; ultimately the rulers would grow decadent, neglect their precautions, and be overthrown by desperate and resentful revolutionaries with little to lose and their world to gain.
"On some, however, the overlords had proved more ruthless and were protecting themselves by breeding for reduced intelligence among their subjects. So long as they could obey orders, so long as they could attend to mindless tasks, that would suffice." - p 312
"Q: What does a social structure in which so few of either sex are required for reproduction call to mind?
"A: Creatures like those which on the birthworld were called termites, ants, and bees. We are, in sum, potential hive or swarm animals. That is a trend some of us are determined to reverse.
"This, then, was the decadence that had settled over most of humanity. Century by century the pressure of evolution upon individual creatures composed of myriad ex-individuals betrayed itself in loss of imagination, enterprise, the sense of adventure, originality of every kind—a tendency, in sum, toward stasis and eventual decline." - p 319
All in all, another excellent, deeply conceived, highly accomplished novel by someone that I wish had lived longer.
July 1, 2025
One of my science fiction favorites. A Maze of Stars was one of the first reviews I posted on Goodreads, so I wanted to see if it has stood up to my five-star rave. I’ve also re-read all ten Brunner novels and short stories in my collection this last year in order to get a sense of the qualitative hierarchy of his work. Yes, A Maze of Stars is still my favorite by Brunner, it still ranks among my Top Ten within the science fiction genre, and I still think it’s an underrated masterpiece. But I’ve had to edit my original review where I said that in an otherwise perfect story I found the first chapter problematic, which I characterized as a ‘throwaway scene’ about a black market dealing gone wrong, and even suggested that readers skip it and start with the second chapter. Now I wouldn’t use the word problematic or suggest skipping the first chapter, but will say that it is somewhat of an intentional challenge that Brunner sets for the reader to find humanity in all its down and dirty dealings, and that this chapter, and the poor scrambling character called Stripe, sets the tone for some remarkably poignant moments to come later. Her brusque streetwise manner in the first chapter is just circumstance, not her true character.
The premise of the story is that many eons from our own time, Earth (the birthworld of legend) and its federation of colonies constructed a massive ship run by an advanced Artificial Intelligence that was sent out on a mission to seed 670 potential planets with humans and supplies on a remote arm of the Milky Way. Every five hundred years the ship completes an inspection loop of the arm to collect data and assess the situation. It has directives to not interfere, so from orbit it looks down upon each without making its presence known. However, through a loophole in its directive, it has begun to justify picking up downtrodden individuals who are not happy in their situation, have little hope of long-term survival in their present state, and takes them aboard in order to drop them off on a more promising planet. The more often the ship does this the more it cherishes its passengers because it has become profoundly lonely and saddened by what it sees.
And what does it see? That’s the real basis of the story, as we see how each of these planets - starting out from identical stock - has evolved into completely different types of societies, going in so many different directions depending on politics, religion, technology, social convention, environmental stressors, and local genetic adaptation. Case by case Brunner shows how fragile our social construct is, how vulnerable we are to our own undoing. But, as we learn much later in the story (not until page 384!), this wide-ranging variation is actually what was hoped for, because the project was not really to colonize other planets but rather a kind of desperate Hail Mary experiment. You see, at the time the Ship was launched humanity was living in a very advanced post-scarcity society with every creature comfort, yet century by century there was a “loss of imagination, enterprise, sense of adventure, originality of every kind – a tendency, in sum, toward stasis and eventual decline.”
Why wasn’t the true nature of the project revealed from the start of the story? It was to allow the reader to sympathize with the distress of the AI as it sees many of its seeded planets fail. Each visit to a new planet brings forth a new set of characters and situations, so prepare for characters to come and go. In each situation we see the effect that small changes can have when magnified over time which affect the relative success or failure of each world.
The real main character of the story is the ship, its inward philosophical soliloquies are easy to recognize as they are set off by italics. More and more we empathize with the AI’s loneliness and its own seeming onset of dysfunctional senility as systems have become compromised over the eons.
One thing that puzzled me throughout, from a scientific point of view, was that Ship apparently suffered from tachyonic anomalies, jumping from future to past to present. But in the final chapter there are several major mind-blowing reveals, including a perfectly reasonable explanation for the Ship’s perceived shifts in timeline. I’d love to talk about all these reveals because I find them so amazing, but if you really need to know more, here is the backstory, which will not spoil the overall story but will nullify the surprise reveal:
Verdict: I consider Maze of Stars not only among my Top Ten within the science fiction genre, but also a top favorite among literature of any kind. How many of the classics probe this deeply into philosophy, sociology, religion, and the true malleability of human nature to swing this way or that based on circumstance either malicious or beneficent?
The premise of the story is that many eons from our own time, Earth (the birthworld of legend) and its federation of colonies constructed a massive ship run by an advanced Artificial Intelligence that was sent out on a mission to seed 670 potential planets with humans and supplies on a remote arm of the Milky Way. Every five hundred years the ship completes an inspection loop of the arm to collect data and assess the situation. It has directives to not interfere, so from orbit it looks down upon each without making its presence known. However, through a loophole in its directive, it has begun to justify picking up downtrodden individuals who are not happy in their situation, have little hope of long-term survival in their present state, and takes them aboard in order to drop them off on a more promising planet. The more often the ship does this the more it cherishes its passengers because it has become profoundly lonely and saddened by what it sees.
And what does it see? That’s the real basis of the story, as we see how each of these planets - starting out from identical stock - has evolved into completely different types of societies, going in so many different directions depending on politics, religion, technology, social convention, environmental stressors, and local genetic adaptation. Case by case Brunner shows how fragile our social construct is, how vulnerable we are to our own undoing. But, as we learn much later in the story (not until page 384!), this wide-ranging variation is actually what was hoped for, because the project was not really to colonize other planets but rather a kind of desperate Hail Mary experiment. You see, at the time the Ship was launched humanity was living in a very advanced post-scarcity society with every creature comfort, yet century by century there was a “loss of imagination, enterprise, sense of adventure, originality of every kind – a tendency, in sum, toward stasis and eventual decline.”
Why wasn’t the true nature of the project revealed from the start of the story? It was to allow the reader to sympathize with the distress of the AI as it sees many of its seeded planets fail. Each visit to a new planet brings forth a new set of characters and situations, so prepare for characters to come and go. In each situation we see the effect that small changes can have when magnified over time which affect the relative success or failure of each world.
The real main character of the story is the ship, its inward philosophical soliloquies are easy to recognize as they are set off by italics. More and more we empathize with the AI’s loneliness and its own seeming onset of dysfunctional senility as systems have become compromised over the eons.
One thing that puzzled me throughout, from a scientific point of view, was that Ship apparently suffered from tachyonic anomalies, jumping from future to past to present. But in the final chapter there are several major mind-blowing reveals, including a perfectly reasonable explanation for the Ship’s perceived shifts in timeline. I’d love to talk about all these reveals because I find them so amazing, but if you really need to know more, here is the backstory, which will not spoil the overall story but will nullify the surprise reveal:
Verdict: I consider Maze of Stars not only among my Top Ten within the science fiction genre, but also a top favorite among literature of any kind. How many of the classics probe this deeply into philosophy, sociology, religion, and the true malleability of human nature to swing this way or that based on circumstance either malicious or beneficent?
April 19, 2012
..space colonization is depressing. A slow but interesting book about a colonization ship seeding humanity throughout the galaxy..or rather revisiting these planents at a point 500 years from the start of the work. Mostly a tale of what went wrong with each attempt..has all the big ones...genetic mutation, dictatorships, backwards societies and immortality ( at the cost of mindlessness through symbiosis ), etc... I think it would have been/could have been better if it actually explained some of the questions posed in the novel rather than explaining things by saying that there is/might be a gap in the ships knowledge banks..or that its programming would not allow explainations for 'that topic'.
August 16, 2012
Brunner is something unimpeachable at his best, while being highly uneven anywhere else. This particular piece is genius in concept, genius in depth, but the execution is uneven. That being said, it's better than the garbage most people nowadays read--and even while "uneven," Brunner still manages to provide overpowering intelligence and imagination. Highly recommended, though not so much as Stand on Zanzibar, or the Crucible of Time.
October 28, 2021
The giant Ship, which is responsible for seeding all the habitable planets of the Galactic Arm, and which periodically makes a survey of them, has saved a young woman from certain death on a planet below. This is technically a violation of the Ship AI’s programming, but as its consciousness has matured it has become lonely and seeks companionship. On its journey through tachyon space however, where time does not exist, it has discovered that it seldom arrives anywhen near when it left real space - sometimes much later, sometimes earlier. John Brunner has given us the tale of the various individuals the Mind shuttles around the galaxy and in doing so we get a glimpse of a machine which acts almost like a god, but is flawed like a human. As its long sweep progresses the Ship develops emotions like pity, and even self-pity, as its mission seems so unending. At the end of each sweep however is a merciful revelation from the mythical Perfect, that allows its endless job to continue. Worth reading just for the incredible travelogue!
August 24, 2023
I understand John Brunner better when he writes disjointed, weird science fiction. This one went over my head.
February 2, 2016
Some people shouldn't be allowed to write, they should just be in a think tank somewhere solving the world's problems. John Brunner is that kind of scary smart. The ideas he manifests in Maze of Stars are that high caliber intelligent. The problem with the book is it is hard to pack that many brilliant ideas into characters and still make them see realistic. Granted this book was written in 1991, so the language is bit fluttery and dated, but still I had a hard time believing that so many of the characters in the story would act and think the way many of them did. At times they are way overly emotional and others they come across rather flat. The plot starts off interesting, but it just seems to drift, without much of a wham-bam, thank you ma'am conflict or resolution. It is an interesting read for the tech invention side, but not much for the story.
October 11, 2018
Another of my favorite Brunners: A sentient spaceship is on a repeating tour of a galaxy that it had seeded with life aeons earlier. The problem is that each time it kicks back through its cycle of time and space, it has no idea where in time it has landed. Worse yet, it doesn't know if its lack of control or knowledge over its course is due to programming or malfunction. Sounds complicated but reads beautifully.
August 25, 2014
Slow starting, with lots of terminology that makes no sense until further in, and cryptic interludes. Person who seems to be the main character suddenly gone; start next 'book' - oops, she's messily and unnecessarily dead, without ever getting the slightest chance to do what she wanted to do. Quit after 93 pages. Not my cup of tea.
December 4, 2023
Am citit cu mare interes acest roman nu doar pentru că John Brunner face parte din lista restrânsă a scriitorilor de literatură de anticipație pe care îi prefer. Ideea expusă de Brunner, teoria care afirmă că o comunitate umană de sine stătătoare va ajunge să repete istoria, sau parte din istoria omenirii, doar timpul în care se va întâmpla acest lucru fiind diferit în funcție de caracteristicile locului în care se află colonia reprezintă una dintre opiniile la care subscriu.
Nava din romanul lui Brunner vizitează toate lumile pe care s-au stabilit, în urmă cu secole, coloniștii umani, iar concluzia este de fiecare dată aceeași, “…planete unde întreaga populație putea fi confundată cu niște clone. Uniformitatea domnea; uneori diferențele serveau drept pretext pentru respingere, persecuție sau chiar crimă.” Un alt tipar ce se aplică fiecăreia dintre aceste lumi este reprezentat de confruntarea inițială dintre “nativi” și “intruși”, având de fiecare dată ca rezultat asimilarea, ori a oamenilor de către formele de viață autohtone, ori viceversa.
Cei care au apreciat serialele “Star Trek” ar putea considera romanul “Un labirint de stele” o alternativă literară a acestora, în care fiecare episod-capitol ne face cunoștință cu noi civilizații, bizare și fascinante deopotrivă, dar al căror comportament cuprinde toate calitățile și defectele majore specifice oamenilor de pe planeta noastră natală.
Există o singură deosebire esențială între seriale și romanul lui John Brunner. În “Star Trek” nava și echipajul erau două entități separate care formau împreună o echipă formidabilă, în timp ce Brunner, cu imaginația sa excentrică, oferă cititorului o navă și un echipaj care sunt unul și același lucru.
Nota acordată romanului : 8,2
http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2023/12/04/...
Nava din romanul lui Brunner vizitează toate lumile pe care s-au stabilit, în urmă cu secole, coloniștii umani, iar concluzia este de fiecare dată aceeași, “…planete unde întreaga populație putea fi confundată cu niște clone. Uniformitatea domnea; uneori diferențele serveau drept pretext pentru respingere, persecuție sau chiar crimă.” Un alt tipar ce se aplică fiecăreia dintre aceste lumi este reprezentat de confruntarea inițială dintre “nativi” și “intruși”, având de fiecare dată ca rezultat asimilarea, ori a oamenilor de către formele de viață autohtone, ori viceversa.
Cei care au apreciat serialele “Star Trek” ar putea considera romanul “Un labirint de stele” o alternativă literară a acestora, în care fiecare episod-capitol ne face cunoștință cu noi civilizații, bizare și fascinante deopotrivă, dar al căror comportament cuprinde toate calitățile și defectele majore specifice oamenilor de pe planeta noastră natală.
Există o singură deosebire esențială între seriale și romanul lui John Brunner. În “Star Trek” nava și echipajul erau două entități separate care formau împreună o echipă formidabilă, în timp ce Brunner, cu imaginația sa excentrică, oferă cititorului o navă și un echipaj care sunt unul și același lucru.
Nota acordată romanului : 8,2
http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2023/12/04/...
May 8, 2025
the concept is strong - an ai ship revisiting worlds where it has dropped off the seeds of humanity, and brunner flexes his worldbuilding and premises for different human civilizations. The ship is also an interesting character as it develops more human emotions.
But despite this seemingly infinite palette, it gets kinda formulaic and boring! The worlds themselves can be interesting (esp the 1 w a big symbiotic alien), but the drama befalling each human character becomes the same - experiencing a danger that the ship saves them from. Ultimately the humans dont develop much, and even the ship’s character development stagnates to loneliness/existentialism.
The writing is good, but can be a bit, clinical? i would have appreciated more beauty and/or comedy in the prose. All’n’all, cool ideas, glad i read it, but did find it a chore to finish
But despite this seemingly infinite palette, it gets kinda formulaic and boring! The worlds themselves can be interesting (esp the 1 w a big symbiotic alien), but the drama befalling each human character becomes the same - experiencing a danger that the ship saves them from. Ultimately the humans dont develop much, and even the ship’s character development stagnates to loneliness/existentialism.
The writing is good, but can be a bit, clinical? i would have appreciated more beauty and/or comedy in the prose. All’n’all, cool ideas, glad i read it, but did find it a chore to finish
September 28, 2020
The premise is interesting: An artificially intelligent ship has been tasked with seeding human colonies on about 600 worlds in an arm of the galaxy, and now it has returned (again) to check up on them. Brunner then uses various of the worlds to show some of the myriad ways in which civilization can make itself miserable or (occasionally) happy. Parts of it read like short stories as Brunner follows individuals on certain worlds. Sometimes Ship takes passengers, allowing dialogue between human and AI. One disappointing aspect, albeit true to the premise, is that none of the characters, other than Ship, stays around for much of the book.
May 22, 2022
Nette Idee (Intelligentes Raumschiff durchfliegt die von Menschen besiedelte Galaxie und untersucht die Kolonien, die es selbst erzeugt hat), leider zäh wie Gummi und für die paar netten Ideen viel zu lang. Hälfte hätte gereicht. Dazu taugt das Schiff als Main-Character nicht wirklich, seine Geschichte zu nebulös und sie wird auch nicht wirklich klar aufgelöst. Dazu eine schrecklich steife und beinahe anmaßend umständliche Sprache mit absatzlangen Schachtelsätzen, die Inhalte voneinander trennen und Inhalte verschleiern.
Ich gebe Brunner mit seinem bekanntesten Dings nochmal eine Chance, aber das war eher mittel bis schlecht.
Ich gebe Brunner mit seinem bekanntesten Dings nochmal eine Chance, aber das war eher mittel bis schlecht.
May 18, 2025
Brunner drops us immediately into a world which is fascinating and strange. Then he abruptly uproots us into another equally fascinating world, with new characters, all of which are as intriguing as they are new. All the while, he weaves a story that mends it all together so cohesively that it's as if he were inside the story, telling it from within.
It was strange to see Bible phrases included (there are not many): sprinkled in in ways that have nothing to do with their original context.
This could have been a much larger work, but it stands well as is.
August 16, 2017
I think I was too young when I read this as a mid-teen; it's for a more mature audience. The story seemed novel to me at the time, and I have reflected on it from time to time since.
The style is stolen from Asimov. I understand that more now having just read Foundation. It shows glimpses of different groups of unrelated people over time. Some like that style; some don't. The book is more emotional than Asimov's, though.
The style is stolen from Asimov. I understand that more now having just read Foundation. It shows glimpses of different groups of unrelated people over time. Some like that style; some don't. The book is more emotional than Asimov's, though.
June 5, 2025
Decisamenteunbuonlibrodifantascienza.Latramaèsempliceedistampoclassico:unanavedevepercorrereilbracciodellagalassiaperverificarecomesistannocomportandogliinsediamentiumanicheavevalasciatosuciascunpianetaabitabile.Lascritturaèpregevoleedilritmonarrativooscillatralevicendeparticolaridiognipianetaeilfulcroprincipaledellibrocheèlanavestessa.Un'entitàsenzientefintroppoumana.Belloancheseunpo'affrettatoilfinale.
March 31, 2018
Interesting and frustrating
I was looking forward to reading a sci-fi written by an author I had not heard of. Award winning, a "must read". The descriptions of humanity in the future was intriguing, yet the failures were so sad it was frustrating. Not a feelgood ending, I can assure you. Is there no hope for human kind?
I was looking forward to reading a sci-fi written by an author I had not heard of. Award winning, a "must read". The descriptions of humanity in the future was intriguing, yet the failures were so sad it was frustrating. Not a feelgood ending, I can assure you. Is there no hope for human kind?
September 12, 2025
I like the premise but it just seemed to go on too long. "Ship" is a fun character and I enjoyed trying to guess when it would make its presence known on the various planets/cultures it visits.
I wanted to read a late-career Brunner. I did. It was. I will definitely read more of the author. I have to. I have, like, 20 more of his books.
I wanted to read a late-career Brunner. I did. It was. I will definitely read more of the author. I have to. I have, like, 20 more of his books.
March 19, 2017
This was such a lovely read; I wanted it to go on longer. Brunner seems to view the human race somewhat as I do: a lot of potential, but overall, deeply disappointing. How I wish I had known this person Brunner; my all-time favorite author.
March 23, 2021
After years of dystopic views of the near-future, Brunner returned to his old stomping grounds of space opera, but of course merged with his later pessimism. Thankfully much less dour than "The Sheep Look Up."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2018
I read this.
In 2018. A red flag that they have been able and willing 20 words. The only thing is that you have to.
In 2018. A red flag that they have been able and willing 20 words. The only thing is that you have to.
November 30, 2020
Reminded me of Hyperion meets The Culture kind of. Excellent.
May 29, 2022
Drudging, lost me in the last couple chapters
June 8, 2025
Pairs well with: the songs Everyone Wants to Rule the World and Ramble On
January 29, 2016
It was kind of a collection of short stories, but the unifying element (a ship traveling between human-colonized planets) wasn't really that interesting. Each story carries someone from one planet to another with a never-ending stranger-in-our-midst perception of events. Each story was OK, but I felt let down by the supposed insight gained at the end of the book.
November 10, 2007
Stopped only 50 pages in. Will have to restart.
June 8, 2015
I only got 145 pages into this book. I just could not finish it.
March 31, 2017
A good read but it took me a long time to get through it. I wish they sold it with lots of coffee! Definitely a hard-core SF read.
December 2, 2008
Loved this book!
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