A review by snowcrash
Antares Dawn, by Michael McCollum
3.0
I had picked up a pristine first printing paperback copy of this book at a library booksale a few years back. Now that I’m at home more, I’ve been tapping the dwindling stock of fiction books on the shelf. The cover is a perfect example of 1980’s space art, where the cool ship is presented in all its glory. While reading the book, it is very apparent it is from the 1980’s, mainly through how it handles characters and plot points.
Here, the author uses the concept of hyperspace tunnels between star systems. Some melding of spacetime and foldspace, along with Antares going supernova. This cuts off some star systems from each other. After 100+ years, an Earth starship arrives signaling two things: foldspace is back and someone beat the crap out of it.
So mystery. Yea! Also semi-plausible ship designs, ones that need rotation to generate gravity and crew suffers under high-g runs. No idea how any of the cruiser’s weapon systems operate (what is an antimatter projector?). But its good fun being with the crew as they chase down the Earth ship to solve the mystery.
The characters are what really hold the book back. The ship captain is the best out there and knows best. The historian is a lady who’s smart and beautiful, described in the woman-as-object terms. The politicians are slimy and only want to control without caring about the overall picture. Other people we meet also demonstrate this same mono characteristic. I didn’t really care much for anyone we meet (the whole marriage question was weird - do people actually say some of those things?).
Through some small twists and tidy conclusions (people magically change their stripes by the last pages without much of an internal journey to get there), the book ends with a hook for the next in the series. In reading for the mystery, I got it partly answered and learned of another. I think the mystery part is the most interesting, then the ships and then the people.
Here, the author uses the concept of hyperspace tunnels between star systems. Some melding of spacetime and foldspace, along with Antares going supernova. This cuts off some star systems from each other. After 100+ years, an Earth starship arrives signaling two things: foldspace is back and someone beat the crap out of it.
So mystery. Yea! Also semi-plausible ship designs, ones that need rotation to generate gravity and crew suffers under high-g runs. No idea how any of the cruiser’s weapon systems operate (what is an antimatter projector?). But its good fun being with the crew as they chase down the Earth ship to solve the mystery.
The characters are what really hold the book back. The ship captain is the best out there and knows best. The historian is a lady who’s smart and beautiful, described in the woman-as-object terms. The politicians are slimy and only want to control without caring about the overall picture. Other people we meet also demonstrate this same mono characteristic. I didn’t really care much for anyone we meet (the whole marriage question was weird - do people actually say some of those things?).
Through some small twists and tidy conclusions (people magically change their stripes by the last pages without much of an internal journey to get there), the book ends with a hook for the next in the series. In reading for the mystery, I got it partly answered and learned of another. I think the mystery part is the most interesting, then the ships and then the people.