Godspeed

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From Publishers WeeklySheffield, known for both rigorous hard science fiction ( Cold as Ice ) and pulpy space opera ( Transcendence ) combines the two in this space adventure with a background of speculative science and the plot and characters of a Flash Gordon serial. On the isolated planet of Erin, young Jay Hara has grown up on dreams of space and legends of the fabled Godspeed drive, which once allowed humans to travel at translight speeds. After meeting Paddy Enderton, a seedy old spacer, Jay is drawn into a chase which carries him off the planet, into the asteroid belt and its tiny worldlets, and finally to the remnants of an ancient space station where the Godspeed drive may still exist. Along the way, Jay is at once awed and terrified of the piratical spacers who crew the ship, particularly the smooth-talking, ruthless captain, Daniel Shaker. Struggling to reconcile his admiration for Shaker with the man's evident viciousness, Jay eventually comes into his own as a spacer and an adult. With this voyage of development, Sheffield raises his undemanding story above its otherwise rather hackneyed science fiction elements. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalTo the citizens of the planet Erin, the Godspeed Drive is a legendary device from a lost age before the isolation of the Forty Worlds. To teenager Jay Hara, however, it is his one chance to claim his future in deep space--if he can find it. The author of Cold as Ice ( LJ 6/15/92) sets this coming-of-age adventure against the backdrop of a planet struggling in quiet desperation to hold onto the remnants of a dying technology. Despite the high-action content of his plot, Sheffield never slights his characters or his science. A good choice for most sf collections.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.