Berserker Prime (Hardcover)

by Fred Saberhagen (Author) "The noise came snarling out of the distance, through the air and open windows, penetrating bedrock and reaching up into the foundations of Timber's capital..." (more)
Key Phrases: Twin Worlds, Huang Gun, Admiral Radigast (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The ninth book in Saberhagen's Berserker series (Berserker Fury, etc.) concerns yet another attempt by humanity to survive the life-destroying machines of an ancient race. "Berserker" is the name given to the dreadnought of unknown origin that invades the twin-planet system of Prairie and Timber just as it's on the brink of war with the Huveans of another system - and as Belgola, the Twin Worlds president, is turning his rule over to a computer. Incidentally lampooning Asimov's laws of robotics, the story champions the cause of man over machine with its focus on certain values such as determination (dreadnought and scout-ship captains don't give up even in the face of inevitable death) and valor (cadet Dirigo sacrifices his life saving his friends). The heroes are larger than life, the robotic enemies implacable in their evil. The large supporting cast includes Gregor's granddaughter, Luon, and a Twin Worlds "hostage" from the Huvean nobility, who pursue a Romeo-and-Juliet romance. The shifts from the big picture to the individual view of the many space battles enrich an otherwise familiar plot that lumbers to a predictable conclusion. Still, this is a dependable read for fans of Saberhagen or space opera, as long as they don't examine too many details of the science, plot, setting or characters.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The Twin Worlds, Prairie and Timber, already face the threat of invading Huevans. And then come the Berserkers, and the Huevans suddenly become a very secondary problem. This time in his long-running saga, Saberhagen shows the Berserkers' kidnapping of humans and reprogramming of them into "goodlife" --that is, as collaborators --from the inside, and he makes the collaborators more understandable and the Berserkers even more terrifying than they have ever been. Meanwhile, the Huevans are revealed as the key to saving the Twin Worlds and get a reprieve. But will that reprieve and the Huevans' bloody self-sacrifice come in time? Character development is fuller than in some recent Berserker novels, while the action and suspense remain abundant as ever. Enough aspects of both the Berserkers and their human foes remain to be delineated to keep the series going for as long as Saberhagen wishes, which will probably not be as long as most dedicated readers would like. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (November 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765306255
• ISBN-13: 978-0765306258
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #409,466 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars first contact with the Berkserkers, February 3, 2005

By	Kevin M. Christensen (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This would be called a prequel, going back to the situation briefly sketched by the Carmpam first historial in the linking material in the first collection of Berserker stories. Mankind has spread to the stars, and two star systems are on the brink of war. And a Berkserker shows up. Having been a Saberhagen fan since my first delireous reading of Changeling Earth (part of Empire of the East), and still remembering my first discovery of his Berserker stories with pleasure. And I liked this one. I enjoyed seeing Hemphill as a cadet, a fascinating character who appeared in three of the original tales. And I especially like Saberhagen's wry use of Asimov's Three Laws set against the presence of the murderous berkserkers.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Berserkers Deserve Better, June 15, 2005

By	J. Brian Watkins (San Dimas, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Berserkers are among the archtypical monsters of science-fiction. They are machines capable of self-replication and self-
repair that exist for no other purpose than to eliminate life, which of course has predictable consequences when said machines encounter humanity. The Berserker represents several common themes of science fiction--the potential danger of artificial intelligence, the wisdom of unleashing the ultimate weapon, the unknown dangers of space, parallells between artificial and natural intelligences, etc. Unfortunately, none of these ideas are explored in this book. The original stories were great, but Berserker Prime doesn't come close to delivering on its promise.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Total Disappointment, May 11, 2004

By A Customer

Having grown up reading both Saberhagen's Berserker series and Swords series I was excited to see that the Master had put out yet another Berserker novel. That was where the excitement ended.

This book is beyond bad. It is terrible. I forced myself to finish reading it, desperately hoping that some twist of plot would make the effort worthwhile. There was none.

Flat characters. Full of clichés. Bad stereotypes. Limited plotline. Overall, shallow and uninteresting. But it gets worse - there is one characters that is obviously supposed to be Saberhagen himself.

Like the pro athlete that we watch achieve greatness then stay in the game past their prime and fall quickly below mediocrity before our eyes, I only wish that Mr Saberhagen had walked away from the keyboard years ago so that we could remember him going out with a bang, not this flat fizzle.