Customer Reviews

Rogue Star

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I really enjoy Flynn's near-future series, with its rich characters, intricate plots, and imaginative cultural-political landscape. I especially liked the asteroid trip, the ongoing Mareisa-Roberta interaction, and the intense action at the climax. Mareisa is more interesting because she "screwed up", and thus is more human. Some of the space-station construction details became a bit tedious, but it was done carefully. I don't read a lot of non-SF books, but I am pretty sure that Flynn's development of his characters is unusually good for SF writing, and is on a par with much current mainstream fiction. He even does the sex scenes rather well, including enough, but not too much, erotic detail. The interplay of the skilled workers was a nice contrast to the scenes featuring politicians, movers-shakers, scientists and astronauts. He creates a vivid, believable world and tells a great, complex tale. In my opinion Rogue Star is the best of the first three of this series, although it has been a while since I read Firestar. When I finished this book I went right out and bought Lodestar. I am pleased to see that a fourth book is now available. Flynn is probably a much better writer than good old Bob Heinlein, but of course middle-aged guys like me read Heinlein when we were young and new to SF, so he will always have a special place in our hearts and minds. Bravo, Michael Flynn!

While I think this book is a little slower than the first book, Firestar, it is still a solid science fiction book. It is difficult to write near term science fiction as actual events always overtake the fiction, but I did not mind it with this series (the second book blended a lot of the actual events into the mix). I work for Boeing and have worked on the Space Shuttle. One of the things that I like the most about this series is that it brings out all the different flavors of human beings involved in space endeavors for both good and bad. It is also very acurate on the science and politics.

With Rogue Star, even more than with his previous works, Michael Flynn has joined the forefront of the ranks of practitioners of hardward science fiction. His depictions of life on a space station construction crew rival Allen Steele's and his loving depiction of a deep space mission to an asteroid are a match for Stephen Baxter. If I'm comparing Flynn to Baxter and Steele instead of the other way around, it is only because those authors are more prolific that Flynn.

Rogue Star is a sequel to Flynn's novel Firestar and picks up shortly after the earlier novel ends. While Firestar was the story of Mariesa van Huyten, who continues figure prominently in Rogue Star, the character who really steals the novel is Mariesa's former protege-turned-antagonist, Roberta Carson.

Like Mariesa, Roberta suffers from her own obsession, notably the feeling of betrayal and abandonment. Ignored by her mother, Roberta turned to Mariesa in the first book, only to turn her back on Mariesa when she discovered that Mariesa was "using" her. In Rogue Star, Roberta looks at everyone, from Mariesa, to Phil Albright to Simon Fell to see how they are using people, the ultimate in dishonesty in Roberta's mind. Innever seems to occur to Roberta that she, too, might be using people.

Although at times Roberta's character almost descends into a caricature of political activists, Flynn always manages to pull back before he makes her too two-dimensional. Because of this, the reader is able to maintain sympathy for Roberta, as well as the other characters who populate the novel.

Many of the characters from Firestar make appearances in Rogue Star, although only Forrest Calhoun plays a sizable role as the leader of an expedition to a Near Earth asteroid which Mariesa is behind. Flynn adds a new dimension to his universe with the asteroid expedition and results which may indicate the existance, in the past or present, of alien life.

In many ways, Flynn lucked out with the timing of the release of this novel. Mariesa's obsession, Near Earth asteroids and the possibility of a collision, is extremely timely as the novel was released within a week of the announcement that an asertoid was likely to strike Earth in 2028. Although the calculations behind that prediction turned out to be incorrect, it only serves to drive home the fact that organizations such as SkyWatch may prove vital to the continuing existance of the human species.

Rogue Star is the middle novel of a series, but it does not read like one. A reader can begin with Rogue Star and understand enough of what happened before the novel started without feeling lost. Similarly, although Flynn has left several loose ends to be collected and tied up in the third book in the series, he has done so in a way which permits the reader to put Rogue Star down without feeling as if they are been left high and dry waiting for the final book in the trilogy to be published.

Flynn's sequel, as other reviewers have noted, is overly long with too little meat. The repeated angst of several characters becomes deadening, and the long expositions of satellite construction, etc., are often mind-numbingly detailed and irrelevant. As an excuse, I suppose Flynn tried to give a flavor of life in space. But it made me tend to skip over paragraphs to move on to more interesting sections.

Contrary to reviewer kevind's observation, this book is rather a thorough-going libertarian tract. Especially objectionable is the hugely Machiavellian and immoral scheme attributed to the noted and otherwise highly decent consumer advocate of great integrity, Phil Albright. While such individuals in our society may be savvy politically and tough competitors, the likelihood of a sub rosa scheme provoking politicians not in one's pocket to engage in dastardly behavior of such magnitude is quite unbelievable.

The President's scheme for a space-based military laser is also quite unbelievable, given the legal and treaty violations involved and the inevitable political consequences and loss of reputation, not to say the international peril as a result. (Sidebar: the Balkans, while politically volatile, are unlikely to come apart as Flynn envisaged.)

As minor but annoying, like so many SF writers, Flynn mishandles Russian and Hispanic naming conventions and, perhaps from a meagerness of imagination, draws on famous family names from history for his characters: Marshal Kutuzov of the Napoleonic Wars, and Lady Murasaki no Shikibu, writer of Tokugawa Japan. These names are not particularly frequent in their respective societies; one wonders why the author couldn't have been a bit more creative.

Flynn has left us with the tantalizing open issue of whether asteroids' orbits are being modified to target Earth. If he can make this an interesting theme in the final book of the trilogy without the weary, belabored "human interest" threads, the third volume might be a worthwhile read.

I thought that this book was even better than Firestar, though a little slower moving. All of the characters' subplots were fascinating, especially the new character, Flaco. Once again, Flynn has convinced me of the plausibility and necessity of reaching for the stars in the near future. Maybe some of our US congressmen should read this...

Welcome back to the world of Firestar. It's more than a decade later, and the commercial space program has grown up. The academy kids have grown up. And the test pilots have grown up, too...

Viewed through a critical eye, Rogue Star doesn't quite exhibit the same intensity as the first novel. There are fewer character threads. The characters make choices that are hard to identify with. The conflicts seem a bit worn at the knees and frayed at the hems. It's only two-thirds as long.

But none of that can detract from the talent exhibited by Flynn, who skillfully weaves individual plots into a memorable story. Each of them could stand alone, but together, they reinforce each other to robustly carry on the saga of Mariesa van Huyten and her obsessive quest to insure that humankind doesn't go the way of the dinosaurs.

I would have liked more speculative elements. I would have liked to see more characters carried forward from Firestar. And I certainly would have liked 300 more pages. But in this case, wanting more means that what you have is darn good!

Based on Firestar and Rogue Star, I'm shelling out the bucks for Lodestar in hardcover... something I've only done twice before.

. . . to the outstanding "Firestar".

I've just a few comments to make and don't wish to include plot "spoilers". I'm also presuming that readers of this review have previously read "Firestar".

* Character development continues in "Rogue Star" highlighting some interesting people. Roberta Carson (Styx) actually has to come to terms with reality. The bizarre computer genius, Jimmy Poole, is greatly developed from hints we see toward the end of "Firestar". Marisa is forced to deal with herself -- and makes some unique choices. Some interesting new characters are introduced.

* The plot is considerably tighter than in "Firestar" -- and that is neither a criticism of the first book, nor praise for the second. I'm merely stating my impressions.

* The focus of Marisa's fears is developed far more thoroughly and in unique ways.

* The action and intrigue are as strong as ever.

Highly recommended. I'm looking forward to the next two books.

I agree with the previous reviewer who wrote, "in a word- dull". I really enjoyed the previous book in the series, Firestar, but this one drags on waaaay too long (which is strange, because it's shorter than Firestar, but seems much longer), and too litle or no end. A big disapointment.

Too long, boring, too much irrelevance, not enough resolutions

It is not often that I search out a location in order to critique a "publication"; however, having just this afternoon completed ROGUE STAR I was compelled to do so.

The original characters and story-line from FIRESTAR contained a wealth of potential. It is so sad to see that the sequel failed to follow through with any development. There were countless "threads" which were never made relevant. Page after page after most of the 667 pages seemed to have little purpose.

The situation with the attempt to sabotage the laser could have been exciting, yet the verbosity and incoherence of the dialog made little sense causing me to re-read the section and still fail to grasp anything other than some were tied up and had their underwear pulled over their heads as the chapter closes. The next chapter relating to this situation assumed that the reader was aware of the complete situation yet the situation was never revealed and continued to be an unresolved mystery to the end. Too many directions were opened with insufficient explanation while page after page of irrelevant dribble droned on and on.

If Mr. Flynn, in spite of the failure of this "novel" should release the third in the series I certainly hope that he thinks it through and, more importantly, that those folk over at TOR READ IT before they publish it. I'd just as soon not spend another $6.99 for the sake of total and absolute boredom.

One word: dull. As I read, it always seemed like something was about to happen, but nothing ever did. The Flaco character was the only good thing in this book, and his sections are the only ones I enjoyed. Everything else was too long, drawn out, and there were too many characters, many of which had very little to say. Save yourself some time and skip this one.