Berserker (Berserker, Bk. 1) [Paperback]

Fred Saberhagen (Author), Boris Vallejo (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace (September 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441054951
• ISBN-13: 978-0441054954
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #838,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good premise but I found it kind of dry., June 8, 2005

By 

chester (concord, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berserker (Paperback)

I liked the idea of the man versus machine, but felt that none of the characters were really developed. Although it was competently written, it seemed more like an outline than a finished book.
I like some of Saberhagen's Berserker short stories, and bought this book on the basis of those, but the book just didnt hold my interest. About halfway through I found myself skimming through it, and realized I just wasnt connecting with the book. I found the premise more compelling than the actual reading. Some good moments, but it just didnt grab me emotionally. Saberhagen's style is terse and dry, and I prefer writers with a more poetic style.
Like Asimov's 'Foundation', it is really a collection of separate stories, so it lacks the continuity and plot threads of a fully realized novel. Not bad, but I wouldnt rate it a classic.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mutually Assured Destruction on a cosmic scale, May 16, 2004

By 

Jack Purcell (Placitas, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berserker (Paperback)

If, somewhere in this universe two interstellar enemies assumed the trait humanity demonstrated during the 20th Century, took 'I'd rather be dead than Red' to the ultimate logical extreme, killed one another off entirely after having set their killing machines on autopilot, just to make certain, you'd have the 'other side' in the Berserkers series. Mankind innocently encounters the machines somewhere in his future and finds himself at war with them.

This series appears on the surface to be a relatively simple, fairly shallow-but-entertaining set of stories. Maybe that's the way it was intended. But if you scrape off the surface and consider the implications I believe you'll appreciate it more.

This book and all those in the Berserker series are worth reading for their intertainment value. If you pause afterward and ponder what the author might have been saying about humanity, so much the better.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must-read for Sci-Fi fans., June 5, 2002

By 

Peter Hand "mediacult" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Berserker (Berserker, Bk. 1) (Paperback)

This week I read "Berserker" by Fred Saberhagen. If you are a "Star Wars" fan, you will hate this book. Originally written in 1967, it contains most of the plots that George Lucas "adapted" for his well-known movies. What Lucas didn't manage to capture was Saberhagen's direct, no-nonsense style. His ideas are unique and fresh, even after all these years.

The big thing he does that many sci-fi authors fail to do is he creates believable technology that withstands the march of time. I think the key is: he doesn't explain _how_ the technology works, just _what_ it does. I plan to continue reading works by this author until I have read them all, and then start over again.