Rogue Star [Paperback]

Michael Flynn (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Tor Books (1998)
• ASIN: B000OTQW40
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best, so far, of an excellent series, July 6, 2001

By 

Perry M. Duncan (Norfolk, Virgina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rogue Star (Firestar Saga) (Mass Market Paperback)

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!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid near term science fiction book, February 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rogue Star (Firestar Saga) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the first book in the series, April 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Rogue Star (Hardcover)

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.