The Sky People (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. For this rollicking first of an alternate history series, Stirling (Island in the Sea of Time) uses the terrific premise that Mars and Venus are exactly as depicted in pulp-era SF, eerily Earth-like and populated by prehistoric people and creatures. When 1960s space probes find that Venus is habitable, the Americans and Russians scramble to set up colonies and get in good with the natives. In 1988, a Russian rocket crashes in the wilderness and can only be reached by an airship from the U.S. Commonwealth base of Jamestown, crewed by a classic love triangle: Ranger Lt. Marc Vitrac, Harlem-born geologist Cynthia Whitlock and ultra-British anthropologist Christopher Blair. Stirling doesn't stint on old-fashioned elements, most notably the gorgeous native princess with magical powers, but the multiculturalism sidesteps most stereotypes while retaining a broad-brush pulp sensibility; the science is refreshingly realistic; and everyone cusses (sometimes in awkward translation). Readers will eagerly anticipate a trip to Mars in the sequel, In the Halls of the Crimson Kings. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

A long time ago, in a time line slightly to one side of our own, aliens terraformed Mars and Venus, a fact that, when discovered, transforms the course of the second half of the twentieth century into a frantic though peaceful race. Amid Venus' lush vegetation and fierce wildlife, Cajun ranger Marc Vitrac's wilderness savvy makes him valuable but gets him sent on a dirigible expedition to rescue survivors of a crashed Russian shuttle and to discover that the aliens left behind an AI that is either wearing out or insane. It takes all his savvy, including taming a dinosaur, to get his friends out of a sticky situation. This is the first of two novels recalling the aura and action of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars and Venus yarns; the next will shift some of the finest action writing in sf to Mars. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765353768
• ISBN-13: 978-0765353764
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #189,787 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A taste of yesterday, November 15, 2006

By	K. Salmon "salmon_of_the_wicca" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Sky People (Hardcover)

For those of us who cut their eye-teeth on Edgar Rice Burroughs and all the wonderful pulp classics of Science Fiction; SM Stirling has given us an adventure right up that alley and shows his versatility as a writer. From good stand-alone books, through "door-stopper" trilogies and now, revisiting the Golden Age he gives us a great yarn.
It's alternate history, with a twist. That twist is the "Lords of Creation." Instead of a "what if" that happened in OUR history, the what if is an alien race messing around in our backyard.
In this universe the Soviets and the Americans realize that Venus and Mars support life. Instead of wasting each other and the world with two pointless World Wars and countless skirmeshes, the two super powers begin a space race. The Americans launch a probe at Mars and the Soviets at Venus. By the nature of the broadcast, each nation shares the information with the world.
The next step is sending people up to the two planets. Unlike Carson and Carter, the colonization of our sister planets is by no means possible for the individual industrialist or mystic. Fantastic as the premise is, SM Stirling still keeps a very good grasp on the cost effectiveness of interstellar travel under the conditions postulated.
In the American colony on Venus Marc Vitrac (Cajun) is tapped to join an expedition to resuce a missing Russian pilot. With him fly his secret passion, the Harlem raised Cynthia Witlock, the Brit fair-haired boy with a dark secret, Christopher Blair: his boss, Captain Tyler and Jadviga, wife to the missing Russian.
Secrets aplenty tickle and tease the imagination through the book, planned as one of a duo. Hints have been scattered through the book, leaving fans screaming for more.
The Sky People is a straightforward adventure in the old pulp style. It's short, in the old pulp style and it is limited to 4 main characters, in the old pulp style. The villains are black and the heros are white... except when they aren't.
It's a great Saturday evening read in front of the fire.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Venus as it Should Have Been, November 17, 2006

By	Mark R., Whittington "author of Children of A... (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: The Sky People (Hardcover)

Science fiction readers of a certain age remember those stories written before the 60s where Venus was covered with jungles, teaming with life. Alas, modern space probes discovered instead a hell world, choking in a sulferous atmosphere with temperatures of near nine hundred degrees.

Steve Stirling imagines a Venus as it should have been, with the jungles, the teaming life (including dinosaours!), and human space explorers. A space race such as people could only dream about is on, with America and the British Commonwealth on one side, the Soviet Bloc on the other. A US/British expedition is sent forth to rescue the crew of a crashed Soviet space ship. An adventure begins such as we have not seen since the first Mariners and Veneras ruined things for us. Enjoy.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid; 3.5 stars, November 19, 2006

By	R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Sky People (Hardcover)

This book and its projected successors are updated versions of the pulp genre pioneered by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Carter (Mars) and Carson (Venus) series. In these books, Venus, Mars, and other components of the Solar System are inhabited by humans (or humanoids) and the backdrop for adventure stories. This is not the first time that Stirling has used an alternative history approach to update a genre classic. His book The Peshawar Lancers is a similar effort following Kipling's Kim, and his The Protector's War paid homage to Conan Doyle's best historical novels. While somewhat derivative, The Sky People displays several of Stirling's best characteristics. The construction of the alternative history and biology are well done, and this is the best part of the book. The plotting is solid. The quality of writing is competent, though I think he has produced more interesting characters in other books. Overall, a fun read.
Readers who like this kind of book and who are not familiar with the older books of the genre might do well to try to find them in libraries or used book stores. Stirling mentions several of the authors in this genre in the preface to this book. I particularly recommend the work of Leigh Brackett, alas now long out of print. I particularly recommend her The Ginger Star series, published for Del Ray about 25-30 years ago.