Scan barcode
apryde6226's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of my favorite books, by Mr. Pournelle. It's a great idea. The Empire of Man is being re-constituted, and planets without "space travel" are consider essentially barbarian and don't end up with very much in the way of self-determination. So, the planet of New Samuel sends an expedition to an even more primitive planet that has a forgotten library.
They end up making an Orion Drive space craft to gain the lowest classification as a space-faring planet but they are successful
Finally, the main character gets a chance to go back to the less primitive world to try to prevent entropy from winning and it descending in the even more barbarism.
It's an easy read and very entertaining.
They end up making an Orion Drive space craft to gain the lowest classification as a space-faring planet but they are successful
Finally, the main character gets a chance to go back to the less primitive world to try to prevent entropy from winning and it descending in the even more barbarism.
It's an easy read and very entertaining.
fancybone's review against another edition
2.0
The spaceship in question occupies a whole whopping chapter. Most of the rest is, in order by word count, infantry tactics, minor political intrigue, and ship sailing technology.
There's definitely a person this book is for, but that person is not me. That person was also likely born quite a bit before me, because the sexism is shockingly casual when read in 2021.
If you like military history, you'll probably like this. If you like the idea of trying to build spaceships against long odds, try Stephenson or Tchaikovsky.
There's definitely a person this book is for, but that person is not me. That person was also likely born quite a bit before me, because the sexism is shockingly casual when read in 2021.
If you like military history, you'll probably like this. If you like the idea of trying to build spaceships against long odds, try Stephenson or Tchaikovsky.
More...