Mothership (Gollancz Sf S.) [Hardcover]

John Brosnan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2004 | Series: Gollancz Sf S.

Since the Day of Wonder, when all the electric lights stopped working, there have been rumors of unrest in the neighboring domains—and no one has seen any of the Elite, the ruthless technocrat class that have ruled Urba for centuries. What most of the inhabitants don't realize is that their world of Urba is actually a giant spacecraft, an ark built more than a thousand years ago to save as much of the Earth's population as possible before the sun went nova. The Elite were originally the ship's crew, but as the centuries passed, they became decadent, corrupt, and cruel, and the truth about Urba became hidden. And now Jad and the courageous Prince are about to find out what happened to the Elite—and what's happening to the people of Urba.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Snappy and amusingly picaresque. While this one's satisfyingly complete, sequels will follow.” -- Kirkus Reviews

“The author injects a hefty amount of humor and a hint of youthful romance.” -- Library Journal --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

John Brosnan was born in Australia, but has lived in London for many years. A journalist, film critic and novelist, his work has appeared in many national newspapers and genre magazines. The author of a number of critically acclaimed film books, including the MOVIE MAGIC, FUTURE TENSE and THE HORROR PEOPLE, he has written a number of sf novels.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575074914
• ISBN-13: 978-0575074910
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,251,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Reworking of an Old Story, July 27, 2005

By 

J. Brian Watkins (Laie, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mothership (Gollancz Sf S.) (Mass Market Paperback)

Mothership is at its heart a buddy tale; two guys off on a grand adventure who discover more than they bargained for. Of course, they are joined by an enigmatic woman who knows most of what is really going on. The story is exceptionally good science fiction with an accomplished mix of backstory and character development. Great summer reading--I haven't seen the likes of this kind of work since Heinlein and it is tragic to encounter an author this good only to find that there will be no more works.

It is a story of discovery on many levels not the least of which is self-discovery. Mr. Brosnan clearly owed a debt to whoever came up with the 1973-1974 TV series "Starlost" in which characters from a rustic non-technological society learn that they are in reality passengers on a giant starship that is missing a crew. Starlost tanked. Mothership succeeds because the author has spent some time thinking about the backstory--too often science fiction has great characters with a lousy ill-conceived plot or great plot and lousy characters. Brosnan gets the balance just right. As opposed to the now typical practice of abruptly ending a book in order to entice readers to sequels, Brosnan wraps up at least part of his narrative in the first book. However, this reviewer hopes that a sequel was completed before his untimely demise.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pratchett Lite, May 22, 2005

By 

dshan111 "Reader Rabbit" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mothership (Gollancz Sf S.) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Pratchett Lite" is probably the best short summary of this amusing and entertaining novel I can think of. If you like the work of Terry Pratchett then you'll probably like this as well. It's got much the same dry amused take of the plight of humanity but without the sometimes over-crammed laugh-on-every-page force Mr. Pratchett is known for. It's funny without trying so hard.

The world is called Urba and is inhabited by many tribes of medieval-era humans who have been ruled over by the mysterious "Elite" for untold centuries until very recently. Suddenly in what the common folk soon call "The Day of Wonder" the Elite techocrats fall, their magical machines and weapons fail them and they are soon overthrown. The various tribes start uncontrolled warfare (the Elite had allowed only limited warfare during their time in charge) and chaos is apparently coming to Urba. Into this new age are thrust the son of the ruler of the state of Capelia Prince Kender and his boyhood friend, and failed court jester, Jad. They go off into the other kingdoms of Urba to try to discover what happened to the Elite and where the world is headed now they are gone. The prince is handsome, brave, but not too bright whereas Jad is less attractive but considerably smarter. A mysterious woman enters their lives and nothing is the same from then on of course.

The three travellers eventually find that the fall of the Elite was no accident and Urba is under dire threat from beyond its borders. Urba is no ordinary world, it is in fact a giant (9,000 mile long!) multi-generation STL starship sent from Earth over a thousand years before. They are living on the inside of the cylinderical craft in a fake medieval society the former ship's crew and their descendents, who became the Elite, created to prevent Earth's old nationalistic hatreds from destroying the ship and it's passengers centuries before.

This is the first volume in what would have been a series if not for the recent tragic and untimely death of the author John Brosnan. Apparentlty he was in the final stages of the next volume when he died, so perhaps we'll get to see the next part of the story before too long. I hope so.