Starswarm
A Jupiter novel
Jerry Pournelle
Starscape
Fiction, MG? Sci-Fi
Themes: Aliens, Space Stories
**
Description
The planet's official name is Paradise. Everyone who lives there calls it Purgatory. To Kip, however, it is simply home - the only home he has ever known. All his life, he has known only two friends. Uncle Mike, who claims to be his mother's brother, has raised him since his parents died, long before he can remember. Gwen is the voice he hears in his head, a voice that tells him all sorts of useful things and helps him out in the hard world of Purgatory's Starswarm Station. The world is owned by Great Western Enterprises, one of Earth's most powerful corporations, but Starswarm Station is dominated by scientists. There are many mysteries of Purgatory that defy explanation. The savage centaurs are both a danger and a curiosity. The most interesting life-form is probably the starswarm, water-dwelling plant networks made of lights and tentacles that baffle scientists no end. Soon, Kip will learn what Gwen's true purpose is, what his real destiny is, and even the secret of the starswarms themselves... a secret that could change the entire world.
Review
I hate books like this. The first time any of these so-called mysteries are mentioned in any depth, I figured out just what the author was angling at. Of
course, I was supposed to be thrown by the way he has his adults - scientists, all of them - act like complete dunderheads and verbally dismiss every clue
thrown at them, no matter how glaring. For that matter, the kids weren't much smarter, even after witnessing things repeatedly with their own eyes; there must
be something in the Purgatory atmosphere that inhibits higher brain function. I'm guessing that, when the answers to the Great Burning Questions about Purgatory,
Kip, the savage centaurs and the mysterious starswarm plants were revealed, I was supposed to be overwhelmed with shock and awe. I wasn't, as I'd come to the
same conclusions long ago. I also wasn't taken in by his peculiarly contemporary futuristic world. Purgatory itself was an interesting place, but am I really
supposed to believe that, in a time so distant from now that humans have colonized several planets for several generations, games like Warcraft will
still be around? The UN will still exist in its current dysfunctional state? Companies like American Express - and, for that matter, national borders as we know
them - will still stand unaltered? That Star Trek and The Music Man will still be part of the common culture, and not quaintly obscure relics
of a pre-starfaring past? That an Earth-based corporation called Great Western Enterprises wouldn't alter its name to reflect the fact that it controls the east
and west of entire planets? I was shocked that this was first published in 1998 - the American-centered "future" described felt more like something out of the
1980's, transposed into deep space. The Starscape edition also suffers another major flaw, or possibly a convenience for readers of average intelligence: if
you read the first few chapters, then go back and take a good, long look at the cover art, you should be able to figure out the Great Mystery of the starswarms
without slogging through the rest of the book.
(Incidentally, updating my Amazon links has informed me that this is actually part of a larger series. Perhaps that had a little to do with my dissatisfaction,
though I doubt it.)