Customer Reviews

Starship

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This book was written long before most readers of this review were born. Maybe that's the reason this great work of science fiction lies dormant and almost forgotten. The book is absorbing, fires the imagination, is both believable and original. I don't believe, of all the thousands of books of science fiction I've read over half a century, I've ever read one similar to this (and few better).

The basic story involves a starship the size of a small city on a voyage lasting hundreds of years. Many generations prior to the time of this plot a cataclysmic event and internal disruptions caused the crew to break into factions and isolate themselves. Thereafter the population forgot itself, what it was, and struggled to survive and understand, by the time of this plot, in a strange world.

If you'd like to discover a 'new' old one you'll treasure and read many times through your life this is a good shot at finding one, while it can still be obtained. Take good care of it.

I recently reread "Starship" and would recommend it as an interesting SF book, but not as a classic of the genre, or even Aldiss's best.

The concept of a self-sustaining starship on a multi-generational voyage where things go tragically awry is not a new one. Heinlein's "Universe" (reissued as "Orphans of the Sky") goes back to 1941, and Aldiss uses much of Heinlein's plot and even his terminology in "Starship".

Nevertheless, the story moves (although not always logically, and to an inconclusive ending), so it's a quick and entertaining read.

I would recommend the stories in "The Long Afternoon of Earth" and "Galaxies Like Grains of Sand", and the novel "Greybeard" as better Aldiss than "Starship"

There is a review on Amazon that says that Aldiss's "Non-Stop" is a SEQUEL to his "Starship". Au Contraire! They are the same book, different editions. Starship was written and copywrited in 1958. Non-Stop was copywrited in 2000, most recently published in 2005.

On the back cover of Non-Stop, it says that "This...[is] Starship...updated for the twenty-first century."

Here is what Brian Aldiss says about the two books:
"For this new edition of an old favorite, I have made some alterations here and there. These occur on 48 pages [193 remain the same]. The adventure remains the same; the characters remain the same; the theme of an idea gobbling up real life remains the same. Only a few words have been changed. But of course a few words make all the difference."
-B.W.A.

So, don't do like I did and get both expecting Non-Stop to be a sequel. My first clue was that the two Table of Contents were exactly the same. Just thought you'd like to know.

Brian Aldiss's "Starship" is a fine example of his early science fiction works. It follows a hunter named Roy Complain, who along with three others sets out from an area called "Quarters" to a mythical area called "Forwards". As he makes this journey, he begins to discover that he is on a moving starship(hence the title), and he and a few other companions he meets, try to find the control room, and stop the journey. In the book itself, you can see the consequences of an extra amino acid, and the consequences of losing the past. It also makes you wonder just what is human? Good work.