Customer Reviews

The Star Conquerors

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This was Ben Bova's first book. It was published as part of the famous Winston Sci-Fi Series and was the best book of the series. I've read most of Mr. Bova's works over the years, and while this was his first, it is still about the best thing he ever wrote. In later years, he tended to develop the tendency to pad his writing.

Star Conquerors, on the other hand, was a great action adventure than spanned the galaxy. When the Terran Empire is invaded by "the Masters", it appears that all is lost. But one man leads a fleet of ships against incredible odds and by genius, luck, new inventions, and indomitable character, overcomes the hordes of invaders and eventually reaches the center of the Galaxy to confront the Masters. There are enough twists and turns to keep you enthralled and the surprise ending is first class.

In recent years many of Bova's fans have pleaded for a reprint of the book (printed in 1959 - believed to be less than 10000 copies in existence), but even though he promised to deliver, he has been delaying now for over 5 years since the original promise. Supposedly he had a copy OCRed and it merely needed to be proofed before release (but keep in mind this happened several years ago).

Needless to say, many of Mr. Bova's fans are less than thrilled at being treated like second-class citizens.

If you are one of the lucky few that read the book during the 60's (published in 1959), then you recall it fondly and would dearly like to read it again.

Here's hoping that Mr. Bova will do the right thing in regard to his many fans!

LATEST UPDATE: Mr. Bova as released a free pdf copy of Star Conqueors. It is on his website which is is full name with no space between first and last name and then a period and then the com extension. Then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says "Interested in Ben's first book". To the right is a Click Here link to download the pdf.

Later Update: For some unknown reason Mr. Bova has now removed the download of the Star Conquerors PDF. Once again his many fans are being disappointed. I still believe this was the best thing he ever wrote. Unlike his more modern novels, this one was fast paced and did not suffer from the padding that seems all too common in current novels.

This book is very much in the mold of science fiction of the 1950's, the heroes are real men and women play only a minor role in their lives. Humanity is locked in a titanic struggle against galactic "bad guys" called the Saurians. However, the Saurians are under the control of a mysterious species called "the Masters." Humanity has never made direct contact with the Masters; all that is known is that it is a very old race of intelligent beings.
The narrator is Alan Bakerman, a humanoid that was once in the service of the Saurians, now an adjutant to the Frontier Coordinator and a military officer. His first assignment is to rescue the command of Geoffery (Jeff) Knowland, fighting a delaying battle on the planet Scandia. The forces of the Masters are relentless in their attacks and the battle is a fighting retreat. Amidst all of this, Jeff demonstrates his skills as a battle commander, holding off the Saurians until all remaining human forces can depart to fight again.
The battle then shifts to a galactic one, when Jeff's father is killed in battle, Jeff is promoted to the command of all fighting forces in the Earth confederation. He also proves to be a skilled politician, rallying support for a massive military buildup and a plan to take the fight to the Saurians. Jeff's tactics prove effective, gaining allies among planets previously fighting for the Saurians and eventually coming face-to-face with the Masters. In an interesting plot twist, the Masters prove to be completely different from what was assumed and they give the upstart humans some advice on what to do next.
The battle for control of the universe is a storyline that is well used in science fiction, in this case, Bova does it very well, using some unusual devices in setting up the "After you win power, you must govern, how will you do that?" question. The setting is that there are many different races in the galaxy with differing agendas and perhaps a static empire is the only way to avoid rivalries on a galactic scale.

This is easily the best novel that Ben Bova ever wrote, and it is also his first, so go figure. The science in this one is pretty bad (humans evolve on different planets from different animals but are the same species) but never mind. This is a great beer and chips space opera read.

In this one, Earth has established a group of colonies on other stars, and mankind seems ready to expand throughout the Galaxy. But then they meet the Masters, a society far advanced over Earth's civilization which intends to absorb humanity as it has in fact absorbed many other budding civilizations. This story is about the conflict between Earth and the Masters and it is a great read.

Great literature this isn't, but it is a superb space opera novel that science fiction aficionados should not miss. It has been out of print for decades, so enjoy. RJB.