Fleet of Stars [Hardcover]

Poul Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997

The award-winning author of Harvest of Stars brings back hero Anson Guthrie in a story about an Earth, now dependent on technology and ruled by machine intelligence, where Guthrie must embark on a journey to save the last freedoms known to humankind.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Poul Anderson marks the 50th year of his science fiction writing career with the conclusion of his Harvest of Stars series (Boat of a Million Years, Harvest of Stars, The Stars are Also Fire, Harvest the Fire). While the writing is leisurely, the action bounces between the solar system and the stars as Anson Guthrie returns to action once again (or at least his downloaded consciousness does). It seems the artificial intelligence that half support and more than half control the Terran system are hiding something from humanity, and Guthrie is determined to find out what that is.

From Library Journal

In the fourth installment of Anderson's "Harvest of Stars" series (e.g., Harvest the Fire, LJ 10/15/95), Anson Guthrie returns from the distant planet Amaterasu to investigate fragmented rumors about what solar lenses have found in deep space. On Earth he joins Fenn, a former Earth policeman, and his Terran girlfriend, Kinna Ronay, to learn why the cybercosm thinks it's too dangerous for humans to resume space exploration. This hard-science novel effectively explores the relationships between men and machines, cultural differences, and rebellion. Highly recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312860366
• ISBN-13: 978-0312860363
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving story with many heroic and human characters..., April 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fleet of Stars (Hardcover)

Much in the same style as a Heinlein book in it's gruff long-lived hero, Anson Guthrie, the story may not please some who want up to the minute hard techno SF or a tight linear plot. The focus on the humanity of the characters, the way they think and feel at first seems distracting but leads you to give real thought to the conflicting philosophies that are presented by the various types of humans and the computer derived "protectors" that they have created somewhat in their image... In between you meet many various characters from different human and evolved animal societies and get involved in what their dreams,wishes, loves, and regrets are... I saw the books questions could be applied to our own here and now and what should be important for humanity to do... Should we be safe and save resources and stay here on our Earth or is there some reason or need to gamble and send man and not just robots to space.. This book explores all that and more without

pushing answers on you..It's also an entertaining big-question, old-style, many ideas at once SF story...not for everyone...but Poul Anderson sure does write characters you would like to know and can feel for... It moved me and made me cry at the end...and whatever a book's faults I guess that's an endorsement of the characterization...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The last book of Anderson's series is the best, but still..., June 28, 2001

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fleet of Stars (Hardcover)

THE FLEET OF STARS, the final book of Poul Anderson's four-volume future history that began with HARVEST OF STARS, is perhaps the most successful. That's not saying much admittedly, but THE FLEET OF STARS leaves one with much fewer complaints than the previous books of the series.

THE FLEET OF STARS takes place over five hundred years after the previous book, HARVEST THE FIRE, and shows a far-future in which humanity is trapped in complacent irrevelance by the cybercosm, a collection of intelligent machines. Anson Guthrie, the libertarian icon and hero of the first book, leaves one of the distant planets he has colonized and returns to the Sol in download form to investigate rumors of a massive discovery by a gravitational lense.

This really is a mystery story, and although it drags often Anderson does manage to sustain suspense over what exactly the lense has discovered. The ending comes as something of a surprise. Unlike another reviewer, I felt the ending was particularly strong because it does answer the one question that the reader keeps in mind.

Although I cannot recommend this series, if you have already read HARVEST OF STARS and THE STARS ARE ALSO FIRE, it might be a good idea to read the latter two books of the series. While not as readable as airplane books or as substantial as real literature, this series does occasionally entertain.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Golden Age SF Dressedup for the 90's and Being Walked Around, October 1, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Orion Nebula) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fleet of Stars (Hardcover)

"Fleet of Stars" is old-style sf dressed-up for the 90's and being walked around. I didn't finish it.

In the story Anderson recycles the classic, hero Anson Guthrie from "Harvest of Stars". "Harvest" was not a bad novel. And I could believe its vision of the future. In "Fleet", hundreds of years have passed. On Earth, an interplanetary sentient computer network exists along side of nano-tech, planetary engineering, and near FTL travel. When two of the characters are given a calculator and told to memorize all the sines from zero to 45 degrees to four decimal places as punishment, I stopped reading. Calculators! Here is an author unclear with the concept. Thinking like that would result in flint chippers being issued as standard equipment with nuclear warheads. That is the problem with "Fleet" everyone thinks and acts like they're in 60's or 70's USA.

Anderson remains technically a good writer, but he is severely dated. Claims to be a "Hard Science Fiction Author" mean he does not write novels with scenes violating the laws of physics. However, societal and technologic change are considerably more volatile then the speed of light. This is a novel by an author who is literally "locked-in" to his formative years. "Fleet" is golden age of sf draped in 90's techie buzzwords. The result is a story not silly enough to be considered a parody.