Flint, Eric and Dave Freer ~ Slow Train to Arcturus ~ Baen, 2008 ~ 314 pages ~ adult, teens.
"In the Miran spacecraft now rapidly approaching the enormous alien starship, Kretz swam up from the drug induced trance-hiberation. He opened his eyes and looked at the cramped...
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Flint, Eric and Dave Freer ~ Slow Train to Arcturus ~ Baen, 2008 ~ 314 pages ~ adult, teens.
"In the Miran spacecraft now rapidly approaching the enormous alien starship, Kretz swam up from the drug induced trance-hiberation. He opened his eyes and looked at the cramped room, and up at Selna, the ship-physician, leaning over him."
Flint is an unusually productive author, both by himself and with other authors. This is his fifth book co-authored with Dave Freer.
The setting is a slowship -- one that leaves Earth and never returns but continues from one destination to another at a steady basis with no deceleration. When a suitable location is found, one of the "beads" or habitats is detached to become a space habitat [like a small planet circling a sun] for those in the bead. The ship and the other other beads attached to it continue to go forward
The Mirans sighted the slowship and beads some time ago and have send a small ship to investigate. When a small party boards a bead populated by Aryan fanatics, most of the Mirans are killed. One, Kretz, a biologist, escapes and eventually finds himself in a bead [New Eden] populated by primitive Christians who believe that nearly all machinery and technology violates God's will. He is rescued by Howard who is a bit of an outcast himself and healed by a motherly physician. The plot focuses on the attempt by Kretz and Howard to travel through the beads to one that will allow them to return to the Miran spaceship and perhaps rescue any other Mirans still alive. Along the way, they encounter quite a variety of cultures/lifestyles including a female dominated nudist bead, one with Amerindians who hunt with bows and arrows, and one with a Mao-like Chinese dictatorship. Only one bead is friendly toward the visitors. Besides the adventures and challenges, there are opportunities to comment on the nature of cultures and human behavior. It turns out that each bead contains a group of people that were different enough so that Earth wished them to leave -- for some reason, they just didn't fit in.
This is space opera rather than hard science although there is enough for the slowship model to be persuasive. There is enough detail for the habitats to seem realistic, but not too much on the cultures except as they appear to the outsiders [New Eden where Howard lives is an exception]. Howard and Kretz are the main characters. The romance between Howard and Lani is nicely done.
Writing, both descriptions and dialog, are clear and easily digested. The story moves quickly and the conclusion is quite satisfactory.
The book is easily read with good sized print, and good white space although the see-through is noticeable. Cover art by David Mattingly shows Kretz and his human companions in space suits going from one bead to another. It clearly shows genre and story type.
Recommendation:
Flint has been popular and productive for some time. This story reminds me of what I might have read in Astounding or Analog years ago. It's easily read, holds the reader's interest, and makes some interesting points about the nature of space colonization. A good choice for larger collections.
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