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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri #1
Centauri Dawn
After a forty-year journey from an Earth left teetering on the brink of nuclear Armageddon, the United Nations colonial Starship "Unity" reaches the lone habitable planet orbiting Alph Centauri's primary star, bringing with it the hope of a new beginning for the human race.
Hope turns to ashes when, on final approach to the new world, a mysterious malfunction damages the ship, triggering a crisis that results in the death of the captain and a rash of infighting over the ship's undamaged colony pods. The "Unity" breaks apart in space and seven colonial factions are scattered across the surface of the planet.
As the "Unity" surviviors struggle to rebuild human civilization on this strange and mysterious alien world, old tensions resurface and one man sets in motion forces that may destroy any dream of a lasting peace.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
292 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 24, 2021
This is a fun, ambitious sci-fi novel that incorporates a unique setting. It is based on the 1990s video game, *Alpha Centauri,* which is a kind of *Sid Meier's: Civilization* but on an alien planet with sci-fi tropes. The best part about this novel is the background lore. You learn about the militaristic Spartan faction and their leader, Corazon Santiago; you learn about the idealistic UN Peacekeeper faction and the son of their leader, Jahn Lal. Some additional factions make cameos: Morgan Industries and the Gaians. There are mind worm attacks, rover battles, and political intrigues, all typical of the game's unique world. Even though it is a video game novel, it is intriguingly ambitious in approach. Ely uses the novel to explore some serious questions, such as the way realism and idealism are always at war in any human endeavor. If you like the Alpha Centauri game and want to learn more about the lore, you'll love this.
September 3, 2018
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri remains one of the most critically acclaimed PC games ever, and was unusual for a 4X game in that it had...a story. Naturally, it had a backstory -- a colony ship divided by assassination, sorting itself into ideological groups in conflict with one another, all exploring an alien world --- but as the player progressed in the game, expanding his respective faction, he learned more about the planet, and specifically how its organisms were part of a collective consciousness. The novel series presumably puts all that in book form, but this first only explores the first decade or so of life on Chiron, as tension between the factions breaks out into war. The principle factions here are the UN Peacekeepers and the Spartans, and the novel ends with the Spartans launching an assault on the UN HQ to recover materials from the Unity ship that it alleges they stole from a Spartan scoutning party. Absent the SMAC connection, it's just light SF combat on an alien planet.
April 26, 2025
It feels weird reading a book about a 25yo 4X videogame, and frustrating to see the main characters being stuck in their ideology, even when the clear path lies ahead. Still it manages to trigger emotions and to make one think about what's the next move for each of them.
July 13, 2025
"Violence always wins. It's just a matter of who's left standing afterwards."
Alpha Centauri is one of the greatest 4X games of all time. Sid Meier and his team of designers built it on top of the Civilization II framework, imagining a world where human communities that left Earth for another solar system could have similar interactions to those that civilizations have had on earth for thousands of years. Michael Ely, one of the game's multimedia designers, created some of the revolutionary content surrounding the game, including this trilogy of novels.
This is a niche sci-fi book and a novelization of a game that is driven by strategy and by the abstraction of anthropological concepts more than personal narrative, so I kept my expectations low. The book definitely exceeded my expectations. Ely's navigation of game concepts is organic and does not feel forced. The narrative plays out like you are playing the game, but with more detail and more philosophical thought. Much like the game, there are plot points that seem inevitable, but you have to play them out, and ultimately you do not know what the results will be. The momentum shifts between sides, much like it would in the game, and much like it does in the real world of geopolitics. This keeps it forward-moving and fast-paced.
This book is more plot-driven than character-driven. Given that the entire video game design team did the world-building, it is top-notch, and it perfectly sets up a scenario where historical battle strategies can play out with imagined future technologies. The best part of the book is the battle scenes. It is easy to picture everything playing out.
The quality of this book is a pleasant surprise, and I would recommend it to any fans of the Sid Meier games. I definitely want to finish reading the Alpha Centauri trilogy. However, the series is out of print, and it is extremely difficult to find book 2.
Alpha Centauri is one of the greatest 4X games of all time. Sid Meier and his team of designers built it on top of the Civilization II framework, imagining a world where human communities that left Earth for another solar system could have similar interactions to those that civilizations have had on earth for thousands of years. Michael Ely, one of the game's multimedia designers, created some of the revolutionary content surrounding the game, including this trilogy of novels.
This is a niche sci-fi book and a novelization of a game that is driven by strategy and by the abstraction of anthropological concepts more than personal narrative, so I kept my expectations low. The book definitely exceeded my expectations. Ely's navigation of game concepts is organic and does not feel forced. The narrative plays out like you are playing the game, but with more detail and more philosophical thought. Much like the game, there are plot points that seem inevitable, but you have to play them out, and ultimately you do not know what the results will be. The momentum shifts between sides, much like it would in the game, and much like it does in the real world of geopolitics. This keeps it forward-moving and fast-paced.
This book is more plot-driven than character-driven. Given that the entire video game design team did the world-building, it is top-notch, and it perfectly sets up a scenario where historical battle strategies can play out with imagined future technologies. The best part of the book is the battle scenes. It is easy to picture everything playing out.
The quality of this book is a pleasant surprise, and I would recommend it to any fans of the Sid Meier games. I definitely want to finish reading the Alpha Centauri trilogy. However, the series is out of print, and it is extremely difficult to find book 2.
March 22, 2020
Having been a fan of the game since the early days of LAN parties in high school, I was excited to pick up this book. It also helps that one of the creators of the game also wrote the story. The tactile feeling of a pulp novel was really fun.
What the story does well is that it does provide an origin of landfall on Alpha Centauri but at the same time it's focused on just a few factions. There is no concentration on what exactly happened on Earth to cause the launch of the life boat to AC. For some, the focus on the Peacekeepers, the Spartians, and the Gians might not be enough. However, with the size of the book and the point of the plot it makes it just big enough to concentrate on this tale. While some of the battle details can tend to run a bit long, there is a story arc that carries through that makes the ending very impactful. The characters who exhibit different ideals within the game mechanics are consistent and while they struggle at times it's nice to see consistency in the characters.
I'm not sure this would be as enjoyable if you haven't played the games but the story does stand on its own. You can get the game on Good Old Games (GOG.com) if you're looking for some classic turn based strategy gaming. I would recommend the book on top of the game. Final Grade - A-
What the story does well is that it does provide an origin of landfall on Alpha Centauri but at the same time it's focused on just a few factions. There is no concentration on what exactly happened on Earth to cause the launch of the life boat to AC. For some, the focus on the Peacekeepers, the Spartians, and the Gians might not be enough. However, with the size of the book and the point of the plot it makes it just big enough to concentrate on this tale. While some of the battle details can tend to run a bit long, there is a story arc that carries through that makes the ending very impactful. The characters who exhibit different ideals within the game mechanics are consistent and while they struggle at times it's nice to see consistency in the characters.
I'm not sure this would be as enjoyable if you haven't played the games but the story does stand on its own. You can get the game on Good Old Games (GOG.com) if you're looking for some classic turn based strategy gaming. I would recommend the book on top of the game. Final Grade - A-
December 17, 2025
Sci-fi that self selects for failure
Based on a cult classic video game that was known for its depth and diversity, however despite the strength of the source material and the fact that the author actually worked on the game it doesn't translate well. The depth in the game worked well as the player was able to fill in the relationships and interactions themselves however that presents a much harder task for a character driven novel. So what you get with this book is a fairly pulpy sci-fi story that is unlikely to live up to the expectations of anyone motivated enough to find a book that is this obscure.
Based on a cult classic video game that was known for its depth and diversity, however despite the strength of the source material and the fact that the author actually worked on the game it doesn't translate well. The depth in the game worked well as the player was able to fill in the relationships and interactions themselves however that presents a much harder task for a character driven novel. So what you get with this book is a fairly pulpy sci-fi story that is unlikely to live up to the expectations of anyone motivated enough to find a book that is this obscure.
September 13, 2024
This wasn't too bad, which surprised me. It wasn't amazing, but given that it's a tie in novel for a videogame it's pretty darn good. The first couple of chapters read a bit like a strategy guide for the game with the bits where Pravin is talking about building a new base where there's better farm land and what not. In my opinion though, this should have been book two. Book one should have been the mutiny on the Unity. That seems like it would have been a more logical place to set up the relationships between the future faction leaders.
January 21, 2021
Firstly I cant recommend this book as the final book in the trilogy is so expensive/hard to find. However if you happen to find a copy of all three then this isn't a bad yarn. Centauri Dawn is the backstory and novelization to Alpha Centauri the video game by Firaxis (Brian Reynolds, Sid Meier). Ely himself worked on both the game and its expansion. All in all a great book to fill in the details.
June 28, 2024
Surprisingly well thought out and unpredictable for a civ game. It feels very Asimov-like in writing style, for better and worse. It also goes WAY HARDER than I would ever have expected with brutal deaths and horniness, which was a pleasant surprise. Hard to see something like this getting printed nowadays as an official tie-in.
February 2, 2025
A bit of Illiad, a bit of video game. Great world.
February 9, 2025
Glad to see these characters again but not particularly well-executed
September 23, 2012
I bought the Alpha Centauri PC game way back in the late 90s. The addiction that fueled more late nights than I care to admit echoes well after that last turn and I've played it at least once a year since. While I appreciate the great lengths the game went through to personalize the experience, the voiceovers can only carry you so far. On this latest playthrough - over 12 years after the game was released - I thought it would be fun to take the next step. Centauri Dawn does a pretty good job getting that done.
A little background for anyone unfamiliar with the game. Humanity, teetering on the edge of apocalypse, sends out a colonization mission to the Alpha Centauri system. The mission launches under the United Nations banner, but as the ship arrives at the new world, the colonists fragment along ideological lines. Each faction grabs a landing pod, makes planetfall and establishes their own base.
Centauri Dawn follows the United Nations Peacekeepers as they try to reunite humanity under the original charter. While they have some success with the a few of the factions, the remnants of the ship's security forces, the Spartans, have different plans.
In the opening act, you get a good feel for Pravin Lal and Corazon Santiago, leaders of the UN Peacekeepers and Spartans, respectively. You see his idealism and her militarism as they deal with the difficulties of life on the new world. The limited resources, dangerous native life and brutal decisions pay homage to some of the game's conventions; from a player's perspective, one can plausibly imagine these scenes playing out as you decide to build up your base instead of creating a military unit.
While Lal, Santiago and the other faction leaders are stars in the game, the book makes Lal's son, Jahn, the protagonist. After an early skirmish with the Believers faction, he is made commander of the Peacekeeper forces and is put to the test after diplomatic relations with the Spartans go south.
It's this conflict with the Spartans, particularly their assault on the Peacekeeper's primary base, that takes up a good third of the book (and most of what happens before just sets up the conflict.) The action moves along at a good clip as the tide swings back and forth. Ground is gained and lost, characters win and lose and die. As a player you can't help but pity the Peacekeepers who should have beefed up their military forces with the Spartans on their border.
I won't spoil the ending, but it impacted me enough to change my policy toward the Spartans in my current game. They once shared their continent with the University -one of my more profitable trading partners- but have long since pushed them out to sea. I gave the University a couple of bases just to keep them going (and to keep trading with them.) Out of the kindness of my own, capitalistic heart (I'm playing as the Morganites), I decided to hold back my overwhelming military from them in favor of peaceful trading. After Centauri Dawn, I feel like unleashing some righteous revenge.
A little background for anyone unfamiliar with the game. Humanity, teetering on the edge of apocalypse, sends out a colonization mission to the Alpha Centauri system. The mission launches under the United Nations banner, but as the ship arrives at the new world, the colonists fragment along ideological lines. Each faction grabs a landing pod, makes planetfall and establishes their own base.
Centauri Dawn follows the United Nations Peacekeepers as they try to reunite humanity under the original charter. While they have some success with the a few of the factions, the remnants of the ship's security forces, the Spartans, have different plans.
In the opening act, you get a good feel for Pravin Lal and Corazon Santiago, leaders of the UN Peacekeepers and Spartans, respectively. You see his idealism and her militarism as they deal with the difficulties of life on the new world. The limited resources, dangerous native life and brutal decisions pay homage to some of the game's conventions; from a player's perspective, one can plausibly imagine these scenes playing out as you decide to build up your base instead of creating a military unit.
While Lal, Santiago and the other faction leaders are stars in the game, the book makes Lal's son, Jahn, the protagonist. After an early skirmish with the Believers faction, he is made commander of the Peacekeeper forces and is put to the test after diplomatic relations with the Spartans go south.
It's this conflict with the Spartans, particularly their assault on the Peacekeeper's primary base, that takes up a good third of the book (and most of what happens before just sets up the conflict.) The action moves along at a good clip as the tide swings back and forth. Ground is gained and lost, characters win and lose and die. As a player you can't help but pity the Peacekeepers who should have beefed up their military forces with the Spartans on their border.
I won't spoil the ending, but it impacted me enough to change my policy toward the Spartans in my current game. They once shared their continent with the University -one of my more profitable trading partners- but have long since pushed them out to sea. I gave the University a couple of bases just to keep them going (and to keep trading with them.) Out of the kindness of my own, capitalistic heart (I'm playing as the Morganites), I decided to hold back my overwhelming military from them in favor of peaceful trading. After Centauri Dawn, I feel like unleashing some righteous revenge.
May 6, 2009
I have never played the video game on which this book is based (Alpha Centauri) nor its more famous predecessor, Civilization. This probably hampered my enjoyment. Though you do not need to be familiar with the games to understand the plot, I suspect that anyone not obsessed with the game will feel much the way I did: meh. Basically, Earth is tearing apart itself with war so a colony ship is sent off to another planet. It breaks up in space and each pod, holding roughly one thousand people and one leader, lands on a different part of the planet. The leaders are the diplomat, the warrior, the farmer-hippy, the economist, the professor, and two others I can't recall just now. Anyway, they each found their own groups following their personal philosophies, thus creating large numbers of walking stereotypes. The warriors (who call themselves Spartans, natch) are the most grievous offense here, obsessing over honor and battle even more than your average Kling-on. They are not in the least bit sympathetic, fighting the other groups for no more reason than they feel like it. The author makes some weak attempts at motive but it's not convincing. In short, this is not something I would recommend to a lover of science fiction...or to anyone, in fact, except those who simply cannot get enough of the Alpha Centauri universe.
July 4, 2015
I enjoyed it far less on this re-read than when I originally read it many years ago, before I had even played Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The focal character, Pravin Lal's son, is entirely uninteresting, with no discernible character traits. I think the reader is supposed to identify with him, but.. I just couldn't, at all. You get a better story from playing the game. The author does a pretty good job at highlighting the horrors of war.
I didn't pay particular attention on this point, but looking back, I think it failed the Bechdel test.. There were scenes of women talking about subjects other than men, but they were not both named. (a decent amount of the Spartans were female).
I didn't pay particular attention on this point, but looking back, I think it failed the Bechdel test.. There were scenes of women talking about subjects other than men, but they were not both named. (a decent amount of the Spartans were female).
May 22, 2007
I really liked this book, a lot. It was written by an acquaintance of my husband, based on a computer game that they helped make. This is the first of the trilogy, and I think the strongest. The central theme of this first book (apart from colonizing a new planet) was peace and family and personal stability. These are themes that I find strike very close to home for me. Ok, full disclosure: I was crying for the last 10 pages of the book, and probably a good 5 minutes after that, too. Maybe I'm just a sap.
December 27, 2012
Centauri Dawn, by Michael Ely.
Everyone knows me to be a bit of a nerd. So when I heard there was a book trilogy based off one of my favorite games, I decided to check it out. There are only two parts I don't like: 1 It doesn't tell much about the alien ecosystem. 2 My favorite character doesn't really do anything.
That's just me. Everything else is great. I won't spoil the ending, but let me tell you, it's pretty good. A lot of people hated it, but I enjoyed the ending.
Everyone knows me to be a bit of a nerd. So when I heard there was a book trilogy based off one of my favorite games, I decided to check it out. There are only two parts I don't like: 1 It doesn't tell much about the alien ecosystem. 2 My favorite character doesn't really do anything.
That's just me. Everything else is great. I won't spoil the ending, but let me tell you, it's pretty good. A lot of people hated it, but I enjoyed the ending.
November 21, 2015
SMAC is still one of my all-time favourite games, and I'm sad it never got a proper sequel or remake. Video games never get good novelisations regardless of their own quality, though, and Centauri Dawn is barely mediocre at best.
Still, it works as a nostalgia piece, and if you keep your expectations low it fills an evening adequately. If I can find the other two books in this series for under £60 I'll probably pick them up, at least.
Still, it works as a nostalgia piece, and if you keep your expectations low it fills an evening adequately. If I can find the other two books in this series for under £60 I'll probably pick them up, at least.
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August 7, 2011I thought the premise was good (which is why I decided to read the book) but I did get weary of the endless battle scenes. Since this book was based on a video game, it makes sense that there are a lot of battle scenes of course, just not quite my cup of tea. Also I thought that the character development was lacking - probably not the most well-written book I've read!
February 15, 2013
This book was terrible. I quit about halfway through despite being a huge fan of the game. The writing was cardboard, the characters were vacant and the adventure was sucked clean out! I got it used on Amazon for $0.01 and want my money back. Do something else with your time.
June 26, 2009
Despite (or maybe due to) being a huge fan of the game, this was a very disappointing book.
January 25, 2013
Decent, better than I expected it to be, but felt a little rushed or patched up with game references in places. Neat to be able to read some of the backstory for Alpha Centauri.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews