Colony Fleet [Mass Market Paperback]

Susan R. Matthews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

Four hundred years have passed since the leaders of an ecologically threatened Earth launched a great fleet of asteroid ships toward the stars. Five pristine planets were designated to be colonized by descendants of the first crews. Each new world would be inhabited by a homogenous mix of creators and facilitators, workers and intelligentsia. All would prosper in harmonious equality. But things have changed over the centuries...

Hillbrane Harkover belongs to the Jneers, the privileged third of the tripartite class system that evolved during the voyage. Now, with the first world landing mere months away, she finds herself betrayed by one of her own, expelled from her caste, and exiled to the dangerous fringes of the fleet. Abandoned here, where lowly Mechs toil in unsafe, unhealthy conditions, Hillbrane no longer has a place in the cruel hierarchy she has always taken for granted. But a four-century-old dream is suddenly in dire jeopardy, doomed by custom, suspicion, and class hatred. And someone on the outside may be the only one who can save the first colony--and the fleet--from catastrophe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A brilliant author. A new SF star has risen." -- -- David Feintuch, author of Patriarch's Hope

"[Matthews] will stand out in a field dominated (in numbers if not in stature) by mediocre imitators." -- -- Analog

About the Author

After earning an undergraduate degree in psychology, Susan R. Matthews was commisioned into the United States Army, where she was the operations and security officer for a combat support hospital specializing in nuclear, biological, and radiological warfare. Currently working as an auditor for an aerospace manufacturer, Susan lives with her partner in Seattle, Washington.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038080316X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380803163
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,112,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan R. Matthews has been a Seattle area resident since 1967 (with two years out for active duty in Virginia). She's been writing since her teens, and sold her first novel in 1997 ("An Exchange of Hostages"). Since then she has published another seven novels, including her latest, "Warring States," from Meisha Merlin (February 2006).

Susan lives in Seattle with her spousal equivalent of 25+ years, Maggie Nowakowska, and two Pomeranian dogs who will always be puppies. She works for a local defense contractor that also makes large commercial aircraft.

Scott versus Amundsen: Amundsen
Peary versus Cook: Cook
Seahawks versus the world: Seahawks
More versus RIII: RIII
Paper versus plastic: whatever's handy will do fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Joy of Transparent Third-Person Narration, October 25, 2000

By 

Dianna Deeley (San Francisco,, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colony Fleet (Mass Market Paperback)

First of all, if you've held off buying this book because you've been scared by Matthews' other books (think Andrej), be reassured. In all honesty, this is much more conventional. It's a fine read, and won't challenge your sensibilities or your equilibrium.

What does Matthews get right?

First of all, her technology is well thought-out and believable. She writes this one in good old transparent third-person narration, which is pleasant. While I loved all three Andrej Koskuiscu novels, there were times when the more dramatic breaks of sentence would send me back to the start of the paragraph to figure out what, precisely, was happening. Justice gets handed out, always a pleasant ending.

What does she get wrong?

Matthews writes her characters as much more simple and unitary than I guess I believe people to be. Her characters may tell themselves something, but they don't have the doubter, the mocker, the comforter and so on talking back. One doesn't feel that her characters ever find an empty room crowded, if you can follow what I mean. The society pictured here felt wrong - how to explain that? Not morally repugnant, as the society surrounding the Bench is, just overly simplified. The beginning impressed me, the "What are we waiting for?" response to disaster felt right. But the society of Jneers, Admin and Mechs felt non-functional. It just wouldn't work. And her heroine wasn't presented as resilient enough to manage the transition from class one to class three. Nope. The villain felt closest to real, but even so, he felt cartoonish.

I wanted to like this book much more than I did. I kept going back and trying to figure out if I was missing something (if this was a satire, sorry, but I missed it), and I couldn't come up with it, if I were.

This isn't perfect, by any means, but it's worth reading.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits the mark, November 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Colony Fleet (Mass Market Paperback)

I recommend this book to anyone planning a career in the technical fields -- it will help you keep a clear head when seduced by the temptation of technical arrogance!

It's a good read, also.

After 20 years in the defense industry, specifically aerospace, I can say that COLONY FLEET examines a true difference in approach between the engineering and technical sectors of our field.

Matthews provides an excellent and entertaining look at the engineering/technical worldviews and how each group's prejudices can affect such a project as colonization. This is a perfect subject for science fiction.

I found the plot and the characters totally engrossing. The heroes are neither all-knowing nor annoyingly anguished. Those who stand in opposition to the heroes are not stupid, but believably, and so deeply, invested in their worldview that they cannot see outside it.

Ultimately, this is an optimistic book, which I also found refreshing.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Yet From One of SF's Greatest, October 16, 2000

By 

"hikeeba" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colony Fleet (Mass Market Paperback)

Matthews' is one of the most gifted, imaginative voices in science fiction. She goes from strength to strength with each powerful novel. From the harrowing Kosciusko trilogy, to the edgy powder keg that is AVALANCHE SOLDIER, she presents to us now her strongest, most complex work, yet -- COLONY FLEET.

Enter the strange, closed world of the Fleet, Earth's desperate attempt to save humanity. On a centuries long journey to find new worlds capable of sustaining life, the Fleet has lost contact with the home planet, but they are determined to fulfill the Plan.

Within the world of the Fleet, a strict caste system has developed to divide the colonists. Hillbrane Harkover, the protagonist, has her world turned upside-down and comes to view the status quo in a new way. Her awakening is a riveting, complex process that may open your eyes, too.

The true genius of Mattews' storytelling comes to a peak with the story of the advance party's experience. Life on WayStation One begins with cautious optimism and deteriorates into chilling horror. The episode is as finely written as any suspense novel in memory, and as unsettling as any true story in the headlines.

Matthews' writing has always been brilliant; with COLONY FLEET she moves into the ranks of the masters of science fiction. It is a classification she has long deserved.