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Vonda N. McIntyre
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Starfarers Mass Market Paperback – April 1, 1989

by Vonda McIntyre (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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Construction of the spaceship Starfarer is almost completed – its vast solar sails accelerating and widening its orbit around Earth. Its crew of specialists, headed by dedicated scientist Victoria MacKenzie, is prepared to make history with America's second attempt at interstellar exploration. The first research ship, unfortunately, was never heard from again...

But that is only the beginning of Starfarer's problems. The U.S. government has decided to reassess the spacecraft's objectives, to place the vessel in the hands of the military.

Victory MacKenzie has other ideas. And she plans to uphold the Starfarer's original scientific purposes – the exploration of space and the search for intelligent life – even if it means hijacking the ship...
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    280 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ace
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 1989
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 1 x 5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0441780539
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0441780532
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; First Edition (April 1, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0441780539
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441780532
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1 x 5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

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Vonda N. McIntyre

Vonda N. McIntyre

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
17 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Richard Thomas Given
5.0 out of 5 stars The book came in perfect condition. I actually think I own 2 of ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2016
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The book came in perfect condition. I actually think I own 2 of them now. I am happy with my purchase.
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S.A.W.
4.0 out of 5 stars Solar sails, cosmic strings, genetic modes, sure, but Characters!
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2019
This is the first book by this author that I've read. McIntyre seems at her best when developing characters. Each and every character in this book is given enough attention and interaction to blossom in one's mind, and even the supposed villain gets a chance to grow and change. From a plot standpoint virtually the whole novel is prehistory to the subject/title of the book and series. But it carried me along quite well, and I now want to read the next book. Recommended.
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Wj
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a wonderful book in a wonderful series
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2015
This is a wonderful book in a wonderful series. I was recently laid up in bed and had the opportunity to read the entire four book series from start to finish. It was delightful, thought provoking, quotable, enchanting and has many great twists. All the threads are brought together in the last pages of the last book and woven into a delicious ending. Thank you, thank you, again, Vonda, for another great adventure! Keep them coming!
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R. Christenson / Lunamation
4.0 out of 5 stars Just gets good at the end.
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2017
Starfarers by Vonda McIntyre was hard for me to get into as one character after another was introduced and developed without one clear protagonist throughout the first half before any real action or suspense. And for a book called Starfarers, I was disappointed that they didn't go anywhere until late in the book. However, all that groundwork in the first half was used to advantage in the second, making it interesting and suspenseful with conflicts and relationships developing as they prepared for interstellar flight against mounting obstacles (mostly political). My favorite author is Robert Heinlein and the second half of this vaguely reminded my of his Methuselah's Children. I was well into it by the end, when it really started to get good.
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E. Marin
4.0 out of 5 stars The best is yet to come
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2002
Admittedly not the strongest start, but recommended regardless as the first volume of one of my favorite science fiction series of all time. Vonda McIntyre tends to incorporate a few favorite elements into many of her short stories and novels, and I consider this series to be the culmination of her imaginings, even if it didn't get the same kind of critical attention as "Dreamsnake" or "The Moon and the Sun." "Starfarers" is a bit slow, used mainly to introduce the principals and really only hinting at the adventures to come, but the payoff in the next three novels is more than worth it.
6 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer8675309
2.0 out of 5 stars I bought this as an ebook from Storybundle
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2015
It was disappointing. The writing style reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in its short-sentence, low-key, descriptive approach. But where Rusch's writing comes across like a laconic master storyteller who tells just enough and leaves the rest to the reader's imagination to fill in, McIntyre comes across as a novice writer. Is this a juvenile "trunk" novel that only later was published? Feels like it. Downright boring a lot of the time.

Also disappointing were the characters and characterization. It's a world run by 14-year-olds. I don't think any ages are specified for characters, but all the "good" characters behave like 14-year-olds. Except for one character who seems to be only 12. Mature adults have learned to handle their emotional natures and are not consumed by continual emotional crises, yet these characters seem to exist primarily for that purpose. The main character, who should be, or should become, likeable to the reader, is annoyingly naive and self-centered -- and never grows out of it. Yet, this same character is responsible for navigation calculations upon which the entire starship depends - you would think someone with the mental discipline to undergo the rigorous education in physics would have learned to manage her own emotions a bit better, but you would be mistaken. The main villain is someone I could come to like, with a little more background development. The most likeable or understandable characters of the bunch are two disaffected and displaced people who are only secondary characters.

What is the purpose of the divers and orca society in this story? What does this have to do with space travel? Other than setting up a scenario for one character to make really bad choices ... Buehler? Anyone?

The author pounds her bully pulpit of hatred against America and/or Americans. Just put it away, lady, leave the political rants to the political rags.

The author's notion of a consensus-driven starship is disturbingly naive. I wonder if she thinks engineering and construction problems are amenable to consensual decision-making. The characters behave as though the starship was built just for them (by whom? the government they so hate? elves? or ... ??), but once it is built, the dreamers rule it - consensually, of course. And exactly how this amazing community starship functions physically is not explicated. There are numerous descriptions of the lovely lyrical landscapes, but no clue provided about what keeps them operating. Are there perhaps elves toiling away in the engine room or sludge pit or suchlike? Hey, it worked at Hogwarts and in Bartertown. Oh, wait, I see the original publication date was long long ago ... long predating Harry Potter, well anyway, it has that feel of not-so-well-thought-out, pesky details. Perhaps she actually believes in the quaint communist notion that Boxer will do and enjoy doing all the nasty or unpleasant work for everyone else until the day he dies and all will be beautiful for the lovely physicists and geneticists? None of this is sufficiently disbelief-suspending to make the story enjoyable.

As I said above, disappointing. Needs major updating. Rewriting, even. I give it two stars because I liked the concept of the starship itself, even as sketchily as it was drawn, and I want to know more about it. In a future book, I want to see the Russian, the gardener, and the spy forced to team up to solve a crisis, providing some form of redemption for each of them. And I wouldn't mind if the main characters got tragically killed off by the aliens. But I won't be buying the sequels, so I'll never know.
2 people found this helpful
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C. B. Manges
3.0 out of 5 stars Soooooo Sloooooowwwwww.
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2014
An interesting novel from a good writer, it took me months to read because I kept falling asleep. Not wanting to give too much away, McIntyre's story slogs through the preflight preparations before an epic space voyage that doesn't really start until the last 10% of the book. Even the political machinations occur "off-stage," with the characters--which are, to McIntyre's credit, unique and fully fleshed out--acted upon, but not active in. I suppose the author might have been trying to communicate how frustrating it would be to be at the whim of political machinations, but it made me want to skip ahead. More frustrating was an entire subplot based around "divers"--genetically engineered humans who have chosen to live mainly at sea, with sentient Orcas--which is introduced but largely abandoned. The divers are immediately captivating and curious--what are they about, why are they in peril--but disappear as quickly as they appear. When the action finally does begin, it is in the final 30 pages of the book, which then abruptly ends.

I have to suspect that what happened here was a publisher who approached a larger story and said "let's make this a series," but I prefer series books that stand on their own and this one totters a bit. Let's hope the sequels redeem it, because what we get here is a like a watching a friend's exotic vacation pictures, only most of the pictures are of packing and driving to the airport--with a few shots at the end from en route, and just a single, long range snapshot of the destination at the end.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

LindaMoon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book and great seller
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 22, 2021
Verified Purchase
Delivered early and in good condition, good packaging. Didn't like the barcode sticker being put on the front of the book as this could potentially damage the cover.
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