Reviews

I really enjoyed the last third of the book but found the first two-thirds to be pretty tedious. I didn't get in to it until the story shifted more to the science and less to the relationship drama.

hakimbriki's review against another edition

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2.0

Good premise, cool hard sci-fi postulate, terrible everything else.

I really feel like Tau Zero would have worked much better as a short story. It's a short novel (about 200 pages), and it is fast-paced (no pun intended)... but it still felt drawn out and partly soporific. The dialogue tied to the romantic intrigue (which, intrinsically, was the worst part of this novel) numbed the hell out of my mind. I wasn't a fan of most of the protagonists, and there's a strong deus ex machina running through the whole ending.

manuflo97's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

magykmancer's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

tsitua's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring tense medium-paced

5.0

burns_cheadle's review against another edition

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3.0

Manned spaceflight is a hellish proposition at the best of times—profound isolation, incomprehensible distances, searing radiation—but the scenario at play in [b:Tau Zero|240617|Tau Zero|Poul Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389216838l/240617._SY75_.jpg|598009] by [a:Poul Anderson|32278|Poul Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1218818842p2/32278.jpg] beggers even the most nightmarish imagination. An interstellar craft is locked in an ever-increasing acceleration approaching the speed of light and the crew is powerless to avoid the inevitable consequences of relativistic effects. This is a SF classic, replete with the quaint anachronisms of a worldview and scientific understanding fifty years out of date. Much of that can be forgiven and, perhaps, even found charming in its own way. The novel, however, suffers from an overbearing hard SF obsession with technical details at the expense of character development and dialogue. The main characters are two-dimensional and lack the kinds of motivating conflicts (other than basic survival) a reader might expect from a diverse cast of humans under constant existential threat. Anderson tells, rather than shows, us the symptoms of depression and despair as a general condition rather than unique expressions of behaviour. Still, the story has enough drive to keep us turning pages to the end...and just a little beyond.

randybaggins's review against another edition

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4.0

I'd often imagined that there was such a book as this, and it happened to be Tau Zero. While it may struggle in character development, Poul Anderson takes the reader on the ultimate interstellar journey imaginable.

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