Firestar

Firestar Saga, Book 1

By: Michael Flynn

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

It is the dawn of the 21st century, and America is in trouble. Public schools breed apathy and ignorance, and politics has become the art of the quick fix. There is one woman, though, who has both the vision and the money to leverage change. Mariesa Gorley van Huyten, heiress to one of the great American fortunes, founds an educational subsidiary called Mentor Academies and begins to subcontract public school systems in order to raise a new, less cynical generation. But her clandestine program is much larger than that: it also includes the founding of a private space program, the eventual construction of an orbital power station, and the revival of technological innovation on Earth.

Firestar is a chronicle of private enterprise and individual initiative—the story of one woman’s quest that becomes the focus for a whole new world. Mariesa’s program lets teachers strive to teach, hires astronauts who have no government space program to fly for, and provides productive outlets for the idealistic desires of the rich and powerful—at least those who remain sane enough to have such desires in the face of a crumbling America. And it just might work.

Michael Flynn lives in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is the winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award and was a Hugo nominee for Eifelheim.

©1996 Michael Flynn (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Critic reviews

"As Robert A. Heinlein did and all too few have done since, Michael Flynn writes about the near future as if he'd been there and was bringing back reports of what he'd seen. A splendid piece of work." (Harry Turtledove, New York Times best-selling author)
" Firestar is a knockout…. Blurbmeisters, comparing him to Heinlein, may be shorting his talent…. By any measure, this is the best book I've seen this year." ( San Diego Union-Tribune)

good but not great

Good story but no real pop, excitement or action. Light on the intrigue and have on technical but it kept me hanging on till the end. I don’t know if I stayed with it because I truly enjoyed it or because I was waiting and hoping for the action to begin.

I loved it, some might not.

Overall I thought this book was wonderful. However, it's not jam packed with action and deals primarily with the dream of space, relationships between people, as well as business and government, which can admittedly get a little dry from time to time. I thought the interplay of characters was well done and in particular I loved Flynn's play of language. For me, it was a delight to listen to.

More Drama than Science

The story has many actors and focuses on their interactions, making it drama set in the near future (or alternate recent past at this point). The drama itself is kept to realistic levels, which mean that problems often get worked out without a climatic confrontation. It was well written and well read, but for me ended up too mundane for my taste.

Good Book!

After enjoying Eifelheim, thought I’d give this series a go. I am looking forward to Rogue Star!

A little too much soap opera

Not a bad story, performed well. I suppose all stories have their personal touch, but this was a people story, not a space story. I think if you want excitement and action, this is not very good, but if you want a people story, you should like this.

Good but a bit pulpy

Want to know what 2009 was supposed to be like as seen from the 1996? An interesting and entertaining book but not going to blow you away. At times it fancies itself to be Atlas Shrugged in space which comes across a bit heavy handed and immature. I am not sure if it is its age showing or just a lack of imagination but this book plods forward at an predictable but entertaining pace.

I guess in the 90s everything pretty much always worked out and not much ever changed.

Incredible Epic

What did you love best about Firestar?

Unbelievably well executed story of humanity beginning to reach for the stars.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ned is a jock pilot who knows what is truly important.

What about Malcolm Hillgartner’s performance did you like?

He makes the characters come alive. I feel like I'm standing in a room with them hearing them speak.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It evokes a feeling that we as humanity can truly do anything. It also is a refreshing look on the modern education system with a true grasp of the problems my generation is creating in the modern work force.

like listening to a painting. Nice work of art.

Great narration, and great story combines together to take you away from your everyday life, and think of the stars.

Some of the deepest characterization of any book bar Heinlein's Lazarus Long.

Endless

Great idea but overlong, and far too much soap opera. Too much class warfare as well.

Ayn Rand Lite

The book is too long and ponderous. There is a little bit of science fiction and a lot of other stuff. I am 3/4 of the way through this book and it feels like it will never end. From my viewpoint because it's not set very far into the future the author gets bogged down into a lot of today's geopolitics and socioeconomic woes that really isn't all that interesting to me.

Mr. Flynn did a much better job with Eifelheim, which is another Audible selection, and a standalone SF novel set in the present.