They Shall Have Stars

Reapproaching the Cities in Flight stories, after first reading them in the late 1960's, I wondered if my memory of them would stand the test of time. This first book in the series (chronologically, but it was the second to be written) was a disappointment. It felt like a book the author had to

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write to fulfil a contractual commitment. Whilst covering the origins of the anti-agathic drugs and 'spindizzy', albeit in very general terms, the plot line was very contrived. There were long dialogue passages used instead of story development, and some of the characters barely sketches. I was disappointed.

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I wanted to like this book, and I found things to like about it, but ultimately it left me a bit disappointed. I thought Blish's take on politics and science (and how they interact) was thought provoking, I found the direct story telling refreshing, and I liked just about everything about the

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gravity research on Jupiter storyline. On the other hand, the whole Paige/Anne/anti-death research storyline unconvincing on several levels, and the final climactic scene on and around one of Jupiter’s moons felt rather clunky.

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I've little but negative criticism to share, and yet I enjoyed this.

In an alternative present, the Cold War has gone the other way. The West has become more socialized to mirror the Soviets, and science has bogged down into stasis for lack of anyone's inability to share data and research. A few

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mavricks in the West decide to buck the system, funnelling government dollars into two related projects that will finally revolutionize Earth's future. The story is told largely from two perspectives: Col. Paige Russel, a Western astronaut whose curiosity gets the better of him as he discovers the nature of the research being done; and Robert Helmuth, an engineer working in Jupiter's orbit with the rest of his team on an enormous, mysterious construct. Both men come to terms with the enormity of what they're grappling with, amidst prying federal watchdogs and the pressures of their work.

As usual for sci-fi become this aged, the author's foresight was hit-and-miss regarding life in 2010, so I have to make allowances for that when reading about a scientific world far more advanced than ours that still believes itself critically sluggish. But the novel also lacks for tension and suspense. While the narration tells me the West has become rigidly security-tight, nothing I was shown supported that. It just seemed like the typical USA government to me; possibly more lax, if anything. This novel is a far cry from capturing the feel of a rigidly controlled socialist society as I'd imagine it. Meanwhile Helmuth's storyline, where he's supposedly in danger of becoming insane, doesn't convey that sense of danger. He's working in a pretty comfortable VR environment that presents no physical danger to anyone, with an understanding boss and the option of taking leave whenever he needs it. Air traffic controllers have it worse.

The novel compensates with some interesting science. How plausible it is I don't really know, as it travels well beyond my personal knowledge of medicine, chemistry, etc. The author certainly makes it sound good for a layperson. I also liked the characters. I found myself relating to the curiosity of the two leads and their yearnings to find answers. I also know this novel is the prelude to some books about floating cities, which is just, like, cool. It's a very short novel that sticks to the point and doesn't wear out its welcome, with a snappy ending. After reading the sequels I'll have a better sense of whether reading this was necessary, but I can already say it wasn't painful.

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This book has sat on my shelf for about 20 years before I actually got around to reading it. I had known Blish from his adaptations of the original Star Trek shows into short story form that were published in the 70s. I was a fan of reading his Star Trek books in grade school since I was a fan of

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all things Trek but due to those books I never thought his original stories worthy of reading.

The "Cities in Flight" series of stories is a vision of the future in which gravity has been mastered and almost any object can be transported at speeds greater than light and whole cities are now migrating across the galaxy in search of work. Blish makes many predictions about the future and almost all never came true. Blish makes predictions about the end result of the cold war, future of medicine, physics, and society and is far from correct in almost every respect. The characters and feel of the novels also seem hopelessly trapped in the 70s. The only thing that rescues the stories is the rather neat technology of the "spindizzy" and its implications. The storytelling is uneven in places and mundane side stories go on for far too long. The characters also seem 2 dimensional even though they are supposed to be hundreds of years old. I'm not disappointed I finally read the book but it could have remained on my shelf for another 20 years.

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They Shall Have Stars would certainly fall within the category of "hard" science fiction, coming with discussions about theories of gravity and magnetism, complete with mathematical formulae(!). The full complexity of the science went over my head, but I was able to grasp enough of it to be

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intrigued by the ideas.

The book begins with a couple of mysteries: a pharmaceutical company is consumed with some particularly hush-hush project, while on Jupiter a massive bridge is being built. What new drug is the company pursuing? And why build a bridge on uninhabitable Jupiter, of all places? And what links the two projects?

The novel is short, and these mysteries kept me turning the pages to figure it all out.

Along the way, the author raises other ideas, e.g. the future of Western culture when it is dominated by those obsessed with sniffing out unconventional thinkers on the one hand (a J. Edgar Hoover-type is a particular villain), and fanatical religionists on the other. (This book was originally written in 1957--what would the author think of things today?) Like much science fiction, characterizations were not very deep, but the content remained thoughtful throughout.

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A good start to the series even if the author does say to start with another book.

The book is okay. It does a decent job of setting up its characters, and establishing the technologies that will appear in future books in the series. However, always skates on the edge of turning into the Exciting Adventures Of Nothing Happening.

The first book in Blish's famous "Cities in Flight" series. Blish wrote, what became the third novel "Earthman, Come Home" first. It's a pretty good book. He then wrote this book as a prequel then went on to write the forth and the second. If you want to complete the series this is the book with

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which to start. The danger of reading this book first is that it might prevent you from reading the good ones. It is the least interesting and generally unnecessary. Many readers agree the second and third are the best. If you start there you may want to finish the whole series.

Do you self a favor and skip this introductory prequel.

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