Jerry Pournelle - Starswarm

[I, Brian]

Originally by Elaine Frei:



Starswarm is the story of Kip Brewster, a boy with a secret. He has a voice in his head. His discovery that this voice, which he calls Gwen, has a perfectly logical explanation, only opens up his life to further, more serious, secrets. From this starting point unwinds a tale that is partly a coming-of-age story, partly a first-contact story, and partly a story of corporate greed and deceit.


Kip, an orphan, lives with his uncle and a small community of scientists and their families at Starswarm Station on Paradise, a planet that has been colonized from Earth under corporate sponsorship. Starswarm Station is named after one of the life forms the scientists are studying; a specimen lives in a lake near the settlement. This life form was named a starswarm because of its ability to produce twinkling, starlike lights. Life at the station is relatively peaceful until the planet's governing corporation starts paying entirely too much attention to Starswarm and its inhabitants. There are multiple reasons for this interest, and these reasons supply the action and the conflict that made this novel a compelling and compulsive read for me.


I liked this book a lot. As I read, I kept being reminded of the Robert Heinlein juveniles - book-reviews like Red Planet and Citizen of the Galaxy - that I read when I was nine or ten years old and remember quite fondly. In doing a little research to find out if there might be a sequel to Starswarm, I discovered (in a Publisher's Weekly blurb on a commercial website) that there is a good reason for this: Starswarm is part of a series of novels deliberately designed to follow the Heinlein juvenile pattern. This is not a bad thing at all, and it does not mean that Starswarm will appeal only to younger readers. The writing is crisp and clear and the action never lags for long. In addition, there is a certain amount of social commentary and speculation about the nature of intelligence that will probably appeal more to adults than to younger readers, but will certainly not leave the younger reader behind.


I have only one quibble with the story or the way it is told: it ends quite abruptly (the reason I took to the web in search of a sequel). Not that I'm going to tell you where or how - you'll have to read it yourself.