Customer Reviews

Berserker: Blue Death

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you haven't read any of the Berserker books, I'd recommend starting at the beginning and working your way through them. The series is different in that the books can be read in any order, as long as you have the backplot established. Read "Berserker", a collection of short stories that sets up the plot, then pick any other Berserker book and go.

Berserker: Blue Death can be compartmentalized as a science fiction equivalent to Moby Dick. Captain Ahab is protrayed by Nils Domingo, an enigmatic man who has lost a family instead of a leg to what he thinks is the ultimate enemy. Ishmael, Queequeg and the others are more than adequately picked up in the form of Spence Benkovic, Branwen Galway, etc. as members of Domingo's crew who have their own reasons for being there, but are struggling with their captain's reasons as well. Throw in Fourth Adventurer, a Carmpan, (you have to know the backplot of the universe this story is written in to understand how amazing this is) and the berserker, the unfeeling bringer of death, Leviathan (a.k.a. Moby Dick) and you've got a story ready to explode.

Simply put, this book is about a father's misplaced quest for revenge against the murderer of his daughter. The same things that made Moby Dick such a good read apply here as well. Characters who are developed to the point that you can relate to them on a personal level, strong intermediate story about the quest for revenge, and a titanic ending, with a very interesting twist. In this one, Ahab wins, twice in fact, but at the cost of his soul. Fantastic read.

BERSERKER BLUE DEATH (1985)(**1/2 stars) is a novella-size tale, based on the classic THE WHALE (MOBY "D"). The main character Niles Domingo, like Captain Ahab, is obsessed with the destruction of the Blue-tinted Berserker ship (instead of the White Whale) that was reponsible for the death of his wife and children, and indirectly responsible for the loss of his left leg. In this story, the Captain is fitted with a leg made from "the bone" of a captured berserker android, rather than the bone of a whale.

Many Berserker stories include nebula-based situations, and this story takes place mostly in the Milkpail Nebula.

Computer technology plays a big part in this story written in 1985; the author describes "3-D hologram plots" which the ship's computer takes a great amount of time to "assemble"... this technology is dated, given the ability of any modern PC with a decent graphics card to render 3-D images instantaneously... while it can take a good amount of time to build graphics databases - but not to build the image from the completed database (as described in the book).

By the end of this story, we have a faily good idea of the personalities of the main characters, but we don't have a really good idea of what they look like physically.

This early Berserker story is now available in the Berserker Omnibus BERSERKER DEATH (2005), published by Baen Books - which is probably the best place to start reading stories from the Berserker series.

Fred Saberhagen is a terrific writer, but this book is not a good example of his capabilities. Though there is some character and plot development, it is often agonizingly slow. Toward the last third of the book, it does pick up the pace a bit. Worth a read if you like the Berserker series, but don't set your expectations up very high.

A fairly decent Berserker book. Not a lot of action, but the character and plot development is very strong for a SciFi novel. In Blue Death we watch the breakdown of Captain Domingo who believes the Berserker "Old Blue" has killed his entire family. Domingo is so single focused on Blue, he doesn't notice everything else going on around him, some of it extraordinary. One note however, the last few pages (actually the conclusion) were really stupid. That is just a testament to the strength of the rest of the story though, that it overcame the silly ending.

An exhilirating thrill ride in an exotic setting. This is a great Berserker book. The middle of the book dragged some, but it was worth it with the revelation of one of the Milkpail nebula's big mysteries, and the heartpounding extended climax when the man, Niles Domingo, finally goes head to head with his long sought after arch enemey, the Berserker Leviathan. Not to mention a shell-shocking surprise ending. What a rush!

Oh yeah, there's even a subtle but very meaningful implied connection to another Berserker book discovered toward the end. Exactly the kind of thing I love about the Berserker series.

Get your hands on this one if you can!

Well worth reading, but I must admit, I really like Saberhagen (except the last of the Sword series which went on far too long).

A story about one man and one berserker, out in the middle of space, fighting to the death (if a machine can be killed). If you are a Berserker fan, this is a book you have to have.