Starship - Kevin D. Randle Book Review

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Review Summary

Ace, Jan 2004, 5.99, 288 pp.
ISBN 0441011284

After the contact was made between the alien ship and the earth, the leaders of the world decided that even if the planet was invaded, mankind would survive. Huge spaceships, nine miles long and five miles wide, were built and sent into outer space looking for worlds outside the solar system that the inhabitants of Alpha can colonize. Over time, the good of the whole supplanted individuality.

Most residents were fed psychotropic drugs to keep them docile and any deviation from what is considered normal behavior is swiftly dealt with. Even young children were indoctrinated from the time they were little. One day the scientists observe a blight in one of the agricultural pods and it is spreading to other pods. Unless a planet can be found that they can survive and thrive on, the residents of the starship will die in eighteen months.

Generations of suppressed rage led to the conspiracy concerning the food supply. People feel outraged that they were brainwashed and drugged into thinking along the party line. Once the food supply was destroyed, chaos became the norm except for those who were frantically trying to find a way out of the mess those in authority put them in.

STARSHIP is a fascinating novel that shows what living in a closed environment means. Kevin D. Randle is a natural storyteller who shows both sides of the issue leaving it to the reader to make up their minds if such extreme measures in relation to the residents were warranted.

Harriet Klausner

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of Starship

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - lost in spaceship
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - drugs you - strict rationing of freedoms/goods
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Who's a slave/repressed? - humans are slaves of other humans

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - explorer
Age: - a teen
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount

Setting
Spaceship setting: - really, really giant spaceship/station
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript

Most similar books to Starship
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
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Hyperthought by M.M. Buckner
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The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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