Customer Reviews

The Last Starship from Earth

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

 

 

Those other reviews, I mean. The ones that fall all over themselves praising this book. I had heard good things about it, but when I finally got around to reading it I found it a great disappointment and a novel I labored mightily to finish. To be honest, I really don't understand what the excitement is all about. The novel starts out as a cliched dystopia, the kind where people are split into rigid castes and go around with names like Hirsute 5, A-6, 33411-CR-445. After a while, we learn that this is technically an alternate history novel, one where the universe of the story diverged from ours about two thousand years ago. The speculative science elements are amateurishly done, with technical words thrown around meaninglessly, on a par with, "According to these blueprints, if we double loop the tachyon incubator, the solution for negative time will be created by the increased flux convergence." The protagonist is arrested on the grounds of sedition, and there is a somewhat interesting though difficult to figure out trial scene, and then the hero is flown via starship to a planet of exile, which turns out to be something quite different. From then on, much of the story reads like Heinlein in his latter-day socio-wacko phase. Along the way, the author seems to enjoy dropping little in-jokes, such as setting a description up so that he can term one character a "master baiter." Although there are some intriguing elements, this is a work of rank amateurism.

John Boyd's The Last Starship from Earth (1968) is a rather forgettable and predictable alternative history/science fiction novel incorrectly described by some reviewers as a lost classic. The basic divergent point in history (which is only mentioned near the end) is the only redeeming feature of the work because the society he's created becomes slightly more cohesive and realized. However, Boyd's reliance on time-travel (unless used in a somewhat less predictable way) to make any interest in the final third of the work is a cop-out. Boyd's prose continually falters -- I dared not count the times "atavistic" was used.

Avoid unless alternative-histories are your Holy Grail.

Brief Plot Summary (some spoilers)

Haldane IV, a young mathematician, falls in love with Helix a young poet. In this society classes based on profession are stringently adhered to and partners (within the class) are selected by a computer. The mixing of classes is forbidden. Haldane decides to study the "mathematics of poetry" as an excuse to meet up with Helix.

Haldane's Earth is divergent from our own at at crucial point in history -- Jesus. Instead of dying, Jesus leads a victorious revolt against the Romans. Here's Boyd's only redeeming concept -- Christianity re-conceptualized as a religion of might/destruction instead of a religion based on self-sacrifice. Also sometime in the past a famous mathematician (a godlike figure for the class of mathematicians) constructed a computer program which serves as the Pope.

Helix and Haldane's love is doomed and they are caught and tried. The events leading up to the trial when Haldane is interviewed by a church official, a mathematician, a lawyer, a sociologist, and a psychologist are the brightest points in the novel.

Haldane is sent to Hell (an dark ice world) in "the last starship from Earth" and discovers an utopian group of convicts who have set up a secret society. Then the novel is quickly inundated with a deluge of hokey plot twists which fail to deliver any surprise because the characters are lifeless and dull.

Final Thoughts

If you haven't read Read Philip K. Dick's masterful The Man in the High Castle (1962) for a solid alt-history/sci-fi novel pick up a copy NOW. Stay away from Boyd's PKD inspired but laborious and un-involving cavalcade of silly plot twists.

As often happens, the most unusual and fascinating ideas -- a reconceptualizing of Christianity, etc -- are only slightly touched on. What remains are skeletal piles of ideas held together by wholly insipid prose and cardboard characters.

This is a truly fantastic book. I can't imagine how I went all these years without knowing about John Boyd but now that I've read this I'll be looking for more.

This book was written in 1968 and the thing that jumped out at me right from page one was how ahead of his time John Boyd was. He added words to his dialogue which gave the book a futuristic feel. That is common these days but in the sixties most authors used only the language common to the time. Here we find odd little slang words not used back then. Also, this is an "alternate reality" novel, again, common today but very rare back then. Add to this the fact that Boyd predicts the use of cell phones and you have a very interesting novel indeed.

As mentioned in the review above, this novel tackles many different topics. Boyd handles them all well and weaves them into a fascinating story. I would recommend this book to anyone. Sadly, the book has long been out of print. However, used editions are easily had. There are many for sale right here at Amazon. They should be fairly easy to find in local used book stores as well. I found mine at a library book sale.

The Last Starship from Earth is socio-political commentary, science fiction, an excellent mystery, and a romance novel, with even a small bit of theology. Serious fans of any one of these genres will genuinely enjoy this book. Those who prefer a story more focused on one of the above topics may lose interest, but for a wide variety of themes in one finely-told tale, I heartily recommend this one.

John Boyd wrote that his ideal reader "should have the mentality of a Southern stock-car racer, be a Baptist with a sense of detachment, have a well-developed sense of the absurd, and be fascinated with the quirks and accomplishments of the human animal." His dystopian novel, The Last Starship from Earth, is witty, intelligent, playful, subtle, ingenious, and evocative. I've read it many times over the last twenty years. Boyd's later books, although interesting, never equalled this debut effort, which was very well received when it came out in 1968. I guess you're only as good as your last movie, book, etc. A unique sensibility, nonetheless.

The Last Starship From Earth (1968) by John Boyd Upchurch - 182 pages - rating: 8/10

What do you get when a Poet, Historian, Social Critic and Scholar of Literature decides to write the classic Science Fiction story ? You get The Last Starship From Earth.

I must be honest and tell you that I almost quit reading this novel after the first 60 or 70 pages. It seemed nothing more than word games and poetic gobbledy goop. By the end of the fifth chapter nothing of any interest or consequence was happening or had happened. The author seemed more intent on demonstrating his vocabulary. Then suddenly the story takes off and I couldn't stop reading it.

Many classical science fiction themes are incorporated effectively and intelligently into the ensuing plot which will go places I guarantee you will not expect but will thoroughly enjoy !

Claus Kellermann
2006 April 17
Sci_Fi_Researcher@yahoo.com

Everything was going well until the last two chapters. It was a Dystopian novel where boy meets girl he's not supposed to get involved with, Government intervenes (because the Government always knows best), how will our couple get out of this? It was part Milton, part Huxley, a bit sexist but given the time when it was written, that's to be expected. And then it took a dramatic turn and went off the deep end. It turned into an Alternative History/time travel novel, the nature of which bothered me due to its religous context. It could've been an A novel if the author had merely ended it a little sooner.

The writing is brilliant, both intellectual and concise, poetic and awesome, and consistently brief in words that are long in meaning or unusual in definition. The story is extremely well-woven and fun. Use your dictionary for greater enjoyment! This work easily stands among the best-of-all-time science fiction writers and stories, and once read will be remembered with them. My question is: Who is/was John Boyd and where is a list of all of his science fiction publications, together with a bibliography of the author?

I picked up a copy of this book because it looked like it would appeal to me as a nice piece of 1960's pulp scifi. And while this book had a light pulp feel to it, the story surprised me quite a bit. This is definitely a fun book to read through, and is one that you can read through more than once and get a different perspective each time. Pick up the book, it's a lesser known jewel of the science fiction genre.

This is one of teh best and most thoughtful science fiction books I've ever red. But its very self-conscious, so if you dont like science sci-fi, steer well clear