Starborn and Godsons
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4.8 • 8 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
THE LONG-AWAITED CONCLUSION OF THE HEOROT SERIES FROM GENRE LEGENDS LARRY NIVEN, JERRY POURNELLE, AND STEVEN BARNES
Avalon was thriving. The cold sleep colonists from Earth had settled on a verdant, livable world. The fast and cunning predators humans named grendels were under control, and the mainland outposts well established. Avalon's new mainland hydroelectric power station was nearly complete, and when on-line would compensate for the nuclear power systems lost in the Grendel Wars. Humans would have power, and with power came the ability to make all the necessities for life. They would survive.
They would not survive as a spacefaring people.
What they were losing faster than they knew was the ability to get to space. But unbeknownst to the planet-bound humans, something was moving out there in the stars, decelerating at a rate impossible for a natural object. And its destination was Avalon. The most probable origin was Earth's Solar System.
This is a novel of first contact—between the human Starborn and the self-named Godsons who followed on, between the first generation of Avalon born humans and their descendants, and between humans and the almost ineffably alien species native to their new world . . . .
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About prequel The Legacy of Heorot:
"Page-turning action and suspense, good characterization and convincing setting . . . may be the best thing any of those authors has written.”—The Denver Post
“Outstanding! …The best ever, by the best in the field . . . the ultimate combination of imagination and realism.”—Tom Clancy
“Well written, action-packed, and tension filled … makes Aliens look like a Disney nature film."—The Washington Post
“Spine-tingling ecological tale of terror.”—Locus
About prequel Beowulf's Children:
"Few writers have a finer pedigree than those here . . . As one might suspect, Beowulf's Children is seamless . . . absorbing, substantial . . . masterful novel."—Los Angeles Times
"Panoramic SF adventure at its best."—Library Journal
Larry Niven is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces. With Jerry Pournelle, he is the author of the all-time SF classic The Mote in God's Eye, and subsequent books in the series, as well as the novels in the Heorot series. He lives in Chatsworth, California.
Jerry Pournelle was a master of military science fiction, author of the series of novels about John Christian Falkenberg and his legion of interstellar mercenaries, and many other works, such as Janissaries, Exiles to Glory, High Justice, King David's Spaceship, Starswarm, and others. With Larry Niven he collaborated on a string of bestselling novels, including Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, and many more. He held advanced degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science, and has was actively involved professionally in all these fields.
Steven Barnes is a New York Times best-selling, Hugo Award–nominated author of Twelve Days among other novels, a screenwriter, and creator of the Lifewriting™ writing course, which he has taught nationwide. He recently won an NAACP Image Award as coauthor of the Tennyson Hardwick mystery series with his spouse, Tananarive Due, and actor Blair Underwood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of the hard sci-fi Heorot series from Niven, Barnes, and the late Pournelle (1933 2017) are likely to feel that the 25-year wait for this final installment (after Beowolf's Children) was worth it. Mostly complete by the time of Pournelle's death, this work thoughtfully builds on the vision of the future painted by prior volumes. The human colony on the extrasolar planet Avalon has achieved stability despite threats posed by the planet's voracious reptilian monsters, who have decimated their numbers and destroyed essential tech. As the colony's leaders work to repair and maintain their machinery, including shuttlecraft that enable them to leave the planet's surface, they face two new challenges: the discovery of another intelligent life form, called cthulhus, whose intentions are unclear, and the arrival of a spaceship captained by Godsons, humans belonging to a group who had been excluded from the expedition that led to the creation of the Avalon colony. Unlike the expedition members and their descendants, whose goal was to create a peaceful society free from want and crime, the Godsons believed that humanity's destiny was to conquer the universe. The ideological differences inevitably lead to clashes as tension between the humans mounts en route to the thrilling climax. This excellent series finale sticks the landing.
