Customer Reviews

STARCHILD

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_Starchild_ (1965) was originally serialized in the January, February, and March 1965 issues of _If_. The cover illustration by Gray Morrow showed a spaceman holding a blaster in his left hand standing on a desert planet with some domes behind him. It was originally drawn to illustrate a scene from Jack Vance's novel, _The Killing Machine_, which was slated for that issue. But because of a publishing snafu, Berkeley Books published the Vance novel before it was serialized. The policy at _If_ was "no reprints," so the Pohl and Williamson novel was substituted. Fortunately, Pohl wrote in the letters column, the cover also illustrated a scene in _Starchild_ as well. With the best will in the world, I have tried to find that scene. But I have never been able to do so. Maybe a reader more sharp-eyed than myself can find it.

The main problem with _Starchild_ is the hero, Boysie Gann. In the preceeding novel in the Starchild trilogy, _The Reefs of Space_ (1963), the hero is a scientist who has seen the dark side of the Plan of Man at the outset of the novel. But Boysie Gann is a mindlessly loyal spy for the Plan, who can think of no higher honor than to be rewarded by the Planning Machine for double-crossing enemies of the state. We are constantly waiting for him to realize what we know at the outset-- that the Plan is rotten to the core. And, eventually, he does. But the trouble is that even when disillusionment comes, Gann cannot think of much to do except pretend to slavishly serve the plan. There is a mysterious figure in the background called the Starchild who makes demands on the current Planner, who messes with the Planning Machine, and who makes the sun go out for a short time. Everybody thinks that Boysie Gann is the Starchild. I don't know why. Boysie Gann is such an obvious pawn.

The actual identity of the Starchild is a bit complicated, and the authors are to be commended on the twists and turns that they take before the final revelation. There are a number of other things that are well done. There are some scenes in the reefs of space that are nicely handled. And there is a section in which Gann is taught to communicate with the Planning Machine-- a skillful blend of behaviorism and symbolic logic terminology. There is also a mysterious disease that eventually yields a clue to the identity of the Starchild. In short, _Starchild_ is a passably intelligent space opera, but it is not quite in the same league as _The Reefs of Space_.

There are conflicting references to the characters in the earlier novel. At one point, the current Planner says that they are still living, now in service to the Plan of Man. Later, we are told that they were killed on the reefs of space. Perhaps. Perhaps. But it seems to me that the reader might be allowed to construct still an another story. Maybe they survived to found a colony in the reefs? Who can say for sure?