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Mothership by John Brosnan check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
Some favoured the approach which said that since heavier-than-air flight was once proved to be impossible, then eventually someone will find a way to produce an FTL drive. Others decided to go with the known laws of physics and find an alternative way for mankind to spread throughout the universe. Then, as societies evolve, problems will inevitably arise within the populations, providing endless possibilities to drive the plot along. Brosnan has taken this last scenario, thus following in the footsteps of masters such as Brian Aldiss ('Non-Stop') and Harry Harrison ('Captive Universe'). Urba is a generation ship, constructed to carry the entire population of our Solar System away from a dying sun. Presumably, there was no time to build several ships so all humanity is in the one fragile vessel. Sufficient clues are given in early pages for the reader to appreciate the setting even though the majority of the inhabitants do not. The Elite, presumably descendants of the original engineers, have arranged the world into discrete territories. Warfare is allowed, indeed encouraged - it makes a good population check - but anyone likely to set up an empire is severely curtailed. The Elite are definitely in control, until the Day of Wonder when power fails and Elite aircars fall out of the sky. It seems an ideal opportunity to get ones own back on the tyrants and hunt down anyone who might possibly be Elite. At one end of Urba, in the kingdom of Capelia, the headstrong Prince Kendar decides to venture out on a self-imposed spying mission to find out what is happening in other areas. His father sends Jad, Kendar's childhood friend and the (ineffectual) court jester, with him to keep him out of trouble. More by luck than judgement, they rescue an Elite woman, Alucia, from those who are killing Elite. Kendar falls instantly in love with her. Together, they travel to the Citadel, the power centre of the Elite, only to find that Urba has been invaded. This is pure adventure fiction and is entirely plot driven with virtually no depth to the characters. For some readers, this will be enough. The more discerning reader will be dissatisfied. The ordinary people of Urba, the mundanes, have gods given to them by the Elite (such as Maurice, God of War and Agnes, Goddess of Good Sex) and believe that their world is a hollow within a solid universe. (Members of the Digger Sect think they can dig a hole through to the next world.) When Alucia explains the true situation, Jad instantly believes her even though he doesn't understand half of what she means about stars, planets and nuclear reactors, whereas Kendar thinks she is lying or mentally abnormal. Even in the face of evidence, he still thinks it is an Elite trick, but as he loves her he is prepared to overlook it. Jad and Kendar are too much at opposite ends of the scale for their attitudes to be completely believable. For someone whose entire upbringing has been almost in a mediaeval framework, Jad is far too accepting of everything Alucia has to say, especially as her kind have always been regarded with suspicion. She freely admits that tales of atrocities carried out by the Elite to keep the population in check are true. Added to this, despite all the obstacles put in their way, they complete their mission comparatively easily. Jad, at one point, wonders why Alucia needs Kendar and himself tagging along. It is a good question, not fully answered, except to add interest to a plot that rushes past at a great rate. There are touches of humour but they are not enough to compensate for the lack of depth. Pauline Morgan
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OTHER REVIEWS - April 2004
Other reviews: April 2004 Lucifer's Dragon by Jon Courtenay Grimwood The Companions by Sherri S. Tepper Beyond Infinity by Gregory Benford Sunshine Patriots by Bill Campbell The Skies Of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Eight Keys to Eden by Mark Clifton The Adam Strange Archives Volume 1 Wit'ch Gate: Immortal Magic - Infinite Vengence by James Clemens Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong Deep Space Nine: Rising Son by SD Perry Absolution Gap (The Inhibitors series book 3) by Alastair Reynolds Alchymist (The Well Of Echoes book 3) by Ian Irvine Hal Spacejock: Second Course by Simon Haynes Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris The Dancers At The End Of Time by Michael Moorcock The Crow: The Story Behind The Film by Bridget Baiss British Summertime by Paul Cornell The Year Of Our War by Steph Swainson April 2004: Hardback to Paperbacks The Chesley Awards: A Retrospective by John Grant and Elizabeth Humphrey with Pamela D. Scoville
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The
concept of the generation ship has a long history in the Science
Fiction field. As the basis for faster than light travel seemed
to recede in the theories of working scientists, space-faring authors
had to decide which of two camps to fall into. 
The
usual solution to the latter was the generation ship. Sometimes,
most of the passengers are in suspended animation with either a
small rotating crew to operate the systems or they rely on robots
to wake everyone up. The alternative option is to have everyone
living to their natural life spans. 
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