Starfire (Bantam Spectra Book) [Paperback]

Charles Sheffield (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bantam Spectra Book | Publication Date: November 2, 1999

The end draws nigh....

Earth has been ravaged by galactic disaster--but the real devastation is yet to come.

The year is 2053, and Earth has barely recovered from the Alpha Centauri supernova that destroyed much of the planet's infrastructure. Now the supernova's residual effect--a storm of high-energy particles--is racing toward Earth, and an international effort has been launched out of the Sky City space colony to save the planet. But the controversial plan--to build a giant protective shield for Earth--is falling dangerously behind schedule. A series of unexplained murders has disrupted the Sky City workforce, so much so that a brilliant but monstrous criminal has been enlisted to track down the Sky City killer.

Then comes more startling news. Evidence indicates that the original supernova was caused deliberately, and that the lethal particle storm will arrive sooner than anyone expected. But who--or what--tried to destroy the Earth? And will the answer come in time to save it from its final apocalypse?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The sky is falling--again. Following up on 1998's excellent Aftermath, Starfire subjects planet Earth to yet another cosmic blast from the Alpha Centauri supernova. But while the blast that hit Earth in Aftermath simply cooked the Southern hemisphere and knocked out unshielded technology with a flash of gamma rays, this wave promises to do some real damage, with a sleet of trillion-nuclei bundles moving at one-tenth the speed of light.

Warned by the first catastrophe, Earth began building an electromagnetic shield out of the orbiting Sky City station to divert the incoming apocalypse. But not only will the storm come earlier than expected, the carnage may be worse than anyone imagined--preliminary data shows that the supernova was no accident, and that the wave of particles may in fact be a beam. Crackerjack hard-SF author Charles Sheffield brings back much of the cast of Aftermath for this suspenseful, well-paced follow-up, the two most satisfying returnees being sociopath-savant Oliver Guest and his former patient Seth Parsigian. In the book's subplot, the brilliant Guest and gruff Parsigian must team up to solve a string of grisly child murders on Sky City that threatens to push the shield project even further behind schedule. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly

High-tech hard SF and murder mystery converge in Sheffield's (Aftermath) latest, multi-voiced narrative, but the result does credit to neither genre. After escaping from the "judicial sleep" in which he was to have spent six centuries atoning for killing 18 adolescent girls in order to clone happier versions of them, infamous murderer Oliver Guest hid in an Irish castle. More than 11 years later, in 2053, Guest, still on the lam, is found by Seth Parsigian, who blackmails him into helping to identify a serial killer who has been slaying teenage girls on Sky City. The murders are upsetting the city's dedicated residents, who are building a shield to help Earth survive an oncoming wave of deadly particles from Alpha Centauri. While U.S. president Celine Tanaka handles the political fallout from physicist Wilmer Oldfield's disastrous predictions about the proximity of the approaching particles, Gordy Rolfe, the short, depraved genius who is in charge of building the protective shield, sabotages Earth's plans for survival so he can rule the depopulated planet that will be left in the wake of the disaster. Though there is plenty of actionAthe murders are solved, a love affair begins, evil characters are vanquishedAthe many switches in points of view produce a herky-jerky narrative, and there are long, dull expositions about particle waves and space stations. Sheffield creates powerful space-faring women, but his dark wit sparkles most in his depiction of Oliver Guest, who is rewarded for his crimes by having a houseful of loving little girls always at his beck and call. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books (November 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553378945
• ISBN-13: 978-0553378948
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,972,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific hard SF intertwined with a good murder mystery, December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Starfire (Bantam Spectra Book) (Paperback)

I read this book without realizing it is a second part of a series. It gives enough background information to stand on its own - and stand very tall indeed. "Star Fire" is both a good science and a good fiction fiction, with a scientifically plausible yet totally unexpected ending. At least one unexpected ending - I figured out the killer's identity about halfway through the book, but it does require careful attention to details. While it is hard to imagine detectives who would keep their mind on solving a murder while the world is about to end, Sheffield manages to make it believable. The most complex and interesting character in the book is one of two detectives - a Hannibal Lecter type genius serial killer enlisted to catch another serial killer, - but other characters are good also. The weakest point - indeed the reason I am giving the book 4 stars instead of 5, - is one major female character who starts out as an incredibly tough and ruthless "corporate Mata Hari", then suddenly falls in love and comes totally unglued. Considering the nature of organization she works for and the fact that she managed to reach Number 2 in it, this is pathetic.

I am looking forward to the sequel, but I don't think I will bother reading the first book in the series ("Aftermath"). It did not get very good reviews, and "Star Fire" seems to adequately summarize what happened before.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now this is cool SF, July 17, 2001

By 

Daniel P. Bond "DPB" (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starfire (Bantam Spectra) (Mass Market Paperback)

The most striking thing about this book is its exploration of emotional intelligence. Scheffield constantly plays with the stock images of the engineer, the polititian, and the business person, turning them upside down. Nothing is really what it seems...it seems. He takes the reader deeply into the motives, weaknesses and strengths of individuals who happen to have those roles. And that's just one of the threads deftly woven into the story. Scheffield makes a supernova cool (sorry 'bout that!).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, old-fashioned, October 22, 2000

By 

Robert H. Nunnally Jr. "gurdonark" (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starfire (Bantam Spectra) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sheffield's work reminds me of the hard-science multi-plot future history works of the writers of the 50s and early 60s. The work has very much the feel of a serialized sci fi mag piece from Astounding or some such. The usual ingredients are there--a collection of disparate characters enmeshed in a handful of subplots, the mildly dystopian but recognizable earth of fifty years hence, a global threat, eccentric yet capable minds that work to solve it, and, finally, not one but two little puzzle mysteries, with punch line endings to both inquiries. Sheffield's plotting is a real strength; the characterization is a bit pat. I recommend this one, though, as the central dilemma is compelling, and the book lacks the gratuitious glandular or violent juvenalia which infects so many more modern sci fis. This is a fun afternoon, rather than an epic voyage, but not every unmanned satellite can discover a new universe....