Lords of the Starship

It would take two and a half centuries to construct. To build this vast ship would require the undivided activity of an entire nation and would mean carrying out a ruthless program of war and conquest, of annihilation and reconstruction, and of education and rediscovery. But was this starship really what it was claimed to be? Or was there a greater secret behind its incredible cost - a secret so strange that no man dared reveal it? The Fall of Hyperion.

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The Hand of Zei. The Last Wizard of Earth. Legends say that the fortifications still standing nearby defended human civilization against Dark Powers over the mountains to the west. The magnificent city of Gateway grows in the hills above the Yards while the Victory slowly takes shape. Much of the population of the Caroline moves to the Yards and its society is formally divided into two classes. The Technos supervise construction and are aware of the motivational "myth of the ship" plan while the People believe that the voyage to the planet Home is the actual goal.

Some Technos realize that, although Gateway has become rich and prosperous through the Victory project, the Caroline homeland is still as miserable as its neighbors. Before they can act on this knowledge the People revolt, led by a man named Coral who claims truthfully that the Technos have lied and do not intend to complete the Victory. Most of the Technos are killed although one is allowed to bring the news to the Dresau Islands in the eastern sea.

The Dresau Navy has a proud tradition as the last surviving remnant of vital humanity and its leader believes the Victory project has a sinister purpose, possibly directed by heirs of the dark power Salasar, which once ruled most of the earth.

After almost two centuries of construction, the Victory is completed and the women and children of the People are placed aboard in suspended animation. Led by the Dresau Navy the gathered enemies of Coral's triumphant People attack with their restored ships and scavenged weapons. The defenses of the Caroline Empire are ineffective, and an apocalyptic battle rages about the Yards, with millions fighting. At the height of the battle the sea turns red with blood and the dead of past wars rise in support of the assault.

The legendary fortresses fire missiles toward the west. Before any of the men of the People board the Victory it moves down the ways to the sea. Through a series of vignettes, the novel chronicles the For a book written by a year-old student in the Summer of Love, this is a deeply cynical and dark little novel.

11 thoughts on “Book Review: Lords of the Starship, Mark S. Geston (1967)”

Through a series of vignettes, the novel chronicles the building of the ship and the plots surrounding it — gradually becoming darker, more fantastical, and more frenetic as it builds towards a train-crash conclusion. I first read the book years ago and it is both memorable and distinctive. The early chapters paint a picture of stasis, decay, and gloom that oddly reminds me of The Radetzky March , set in the final years of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire probably the first and last time Mark Geston and Joseph Roth will ever be bracketed together.

Approaching the end, the chapters get shorter one is just three lines long , the writing more aggressive, and events more chaotic.

Science Fiction Review Fridays: Lords of the Starship | VR Goggles

The finale is apocalyptic. Lords of the Starship is flawed in many ways, but it still has a vitality and individuality lacking in most genre novels. A work that possibly serves as an excellent beginning to a trilogy, but which still functions as an interesting standalone work for the most part.

The book opens with a plan being set forth to renew the human spirit which has atrophied in the hellish setting of the book. Though at first we are only told that the setting is hellish, later chapters show that this is the case. Grand ruins of lost civilizations, mutants, and mysterious powers inhabit this landscape and manipulate it to their own end A work that possibly serves as an excellent beginning to a trilogy, but which still functions as an interesting standalone work for the most part.

Grand ruins of lost civilizations, mutants, and mysterious powers inhabit this landscape and manipulate it to their own ends. The ending raises a potential spiritual element to the world as well, though not with much clarity.

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At first it seemed that the book was illustrating the maxim that man is its own worst enemy, but the ending does not bear that interpretation out. In general this book was good at letting the reader piece together what is going on instead of hitting him over the head with it, but by the end of this volume I do not believe that it is possible to say with certainty what was going on at the macro level and which side, if either, was in the right.

A weakness of the story was that characters were introduced solely to move the plot forward, and so they felt insubstantial and not particularly sympathetic. To see a book manage to pull off characters more adeptly in a similar narrative structure check out The Carpet Makers by Eschbach.

A decent read, although being the first of a trilogy means that it feels only somewhat complete.

Lords of the Starship Series

Dec 04, John rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Written when the author was only 21, this is both short and epic. I've now read it several times over the years and it still interests me. This time I became painfully aware of some of its actually quite obvious failings: But it still moves.

It represents the most awesome in the traditional sense Written when the author was only 21, this is both short and epic. It represents the most awesome in the traditional sense aspect of evil I've ever read: The deliberate immolation of the millions on board the ship by the end still comes as a shock every time: And when he does write well it has an elegiac historical distance that resonates. This novel about the manipulation of the masses by forces both well-meaning and totalitarian, by means of a project to build a massive starship, is well-written and fascinating, but will only appeal to a limited audience; the long span of time involved, and the subsequent though necessary focus on plot over characters makes it a story that geeks -- he said affectionately -- will like, and casual readers will ignore.

Heavily praised by some professional science fiction critics, this certainly i This novel about the manipulation of the masses by forces both well-meaning and totalitarian, by means of a project to build a massive starship, is well-written and fascinating, but will only appeal to a limited audience; the long span of time involved, and the subsequent though necessary focus on plot over characters makes it a story that geeks -- he said affectionately -- will like, and casual readers will ignore. Heavily praised by some professional science fiction critics, this certainly is one of the better SF novels of the 's, if not truly worthy of "classic" status.

Apr 11, Bob Rust rated it it was amazing. Lords of the Starship this work which establishes the dark mood of all his fiction and is like its immediate successors each of which is a study in cultural and technological Decadence is set in a weary war-torn Far-Future Earth describes a dilapidated centuries-long attempt to construct an enormous Spaceship whose completion would transform the fortunes of everyone involved and mark a phase of rebirth. The project is however a shambles and a sham and the novel closes in Entropy and despa Lords of the Starship this work which establishes the dark mood of all his fiction and is like its immediate successors each of which is a study in cultural and technological Decadence is set in a weary war-torn Far-Future Earth describes a dilapidated centuries-long attempt to construct an enormous Spaceship whose completion would transform the fortunes of everyone involved and mark a phase of rebirth.

The project is however a shambles and a sham and the novel closes in Entropy and despair. Oct 25, Death Jon rated it really liked it. Things are pretty fucked up on earth and everyone wants off. See what happens when they try. May 02, Bill Walker rated it really liked it. More of an historic account than a true narrative, the book fleshes out some of the concepts Geston uses in Dragon. A surprising page turner, I wanted to know what was going to happen next! Bill Reynolds rated it it was amazing Jan 09, Ken rated it it was amazing Aug 10, Shane rated it really liked it Nov 18, Keith rated it liked it Feb 01, John rated it really liked it Jul 20, Kyle Norman rated it it was ok Feb 11, Steve Hughes rated it it was amazing Nov 07, Cp Leigh rated it it was ok Aug 28, Trevorh rated it it was amazing Oct 01, Sentuvilla rated it liked it Mar 01, Theo rated it it was ok Dec 08, Kevin Peter rated it really liked it Oct 14, Loopy rated it it was ok Aug 25,