- Hardcover: 310 pages
- Publisher: Baen Books; First American Edition edition (Jun 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671656449
- ISBN-13: 978-0671656447
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.5 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,764,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
'A neat concept taken to a logical conclusion' would be a bald description of what is a rollicking good story. It is so well written, and drags you in its wake so fast, you don't have time to question the shaky science.
By keeping the technology deliberately low level, roughly equivalent to 18th-19th century Earth, Bob Shaw manages to keep it in the background to allow the story to flow unfettered.
Consider this; how would you expect people to travel between planets (believably) with such primitive technology? A hot air balloon perhaps?
The protagonists are sympathetic and believable, which makes a nice change from a lot of similar space opera. I pick my ancient copy off the shelf every now and then for a quick look, which always turns out to be a cover to cover read.
The two subsequent books in the trilogy, The Wooden Spaceships and The Fugitive Worlds take the story to a satisfactory finale.
By keeping the technology deliberately low level, roughly equivalent to 18th-19th century Earth, Bob Shaw manages to keep it in the background to allow the story to flow unfettered.
Consider this; how would you expect people to travel between planets (believably) with such primitive technology? A hot air balloon perhaps?
The protagonists are sympathetic and believable, which makes a nice change from a lot of similar space opera. I pick my ancient copy off the shelf every now and then for a quick look, which always turns out to be a cover to cover read.
The two subsequent books in the trilogy, The Wooden Spaceships and The Fugitive Worlds take the story to a satisfactory finale.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bob Shaw is well-known for writing SF which is solid entertainment rather than being highly-technical. The Ragged Astronauts certainly delivers a thoroughly satisfying mix of vivid characters and high adventure. Please note that this book is the first part of a trilogy. Part 2 is called The Wooden Spaceships, and Part 3 is called The Fugitive Worlds.
In The Ragged Astronauts, Land and Overland are twin planets, orbiting one another as well as their star. Unfortunately on Land, things look grim. The environment is being damaged by over-exploitation, and diseases are spreading. The people are forced to consider radical ideas for their survival. One person has the idea of flying to Overland by hot-air balloon. Of course, no-one believes him....
This splendid book, filled with rip-roaring adventure and huge happenings, ranks amongst Bob Shaw's best, and I recommend it to all.
In The Ragged Astronauts, Land and Overland are twin planets, orbiting one another as well as their star. Unfortunately on Land, things look grim. The environment is being damaged by over-exploitation, and diseases are spreading. The people are forced to consider radical ideas for their survival. One person has the idea of flying to Overland by hot-air balloon. Of course, no-one believes him....
This splendid book, filled with rip-roaring adventure and huge happenings, ranks amongst Bob Shaw's best, and I recommend it to all.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
On a world in a different universe to our own, rival kingdoms battle for supremacy, but a deadly plague, the pterthacosisis, is wiping out the population. The only hope of survival is for the rapidly diminishing group of unaffected to flee and start fresh. But the only potential place for sanctuary is an unexplored sister planet, and it's thousands of miles away across space and seemingly out of reach for a people whose technology is broadly at the stage earth's was in the 17th century. Then a scientist has the great idea to build a giant airship and sail there...
All Bob Shaw's strengths are displayed here: an ingenious and innovative story line, believable characters who you can care about, and gleefully implausible plot twists that you can happily accept without too much worry. In this case the implausibility comes from the fact that space travel between planets is possible by balloon. This unusual premise is unlike most other Bob Shaw plot twists in which the scientific explanation usually only goes to add weight to just how implausible the idea is. No explanation is, very wisely, offered other than a reference to pi having a value of 3 in this universe.
With no time wasted on the science, more time is left for the rip-roaring adventure and that makes this yarn entertaining and one that is well worth reading. Whether the whole trilogy is worth reading is debatable as towards the end of the second book Shaw starts to lose interest in the tale, and he definitely pushes the idea too far in the third book. A short balloon trip through space is just about acceptable if you're willing to suspend your disbelief, but regular interplanetary travel and warfare in wooden spaceships takes some swallowing.
All Bob Shaw's strengths are displayed here: an ingenious and innovative story line, believable characters who you can care about, and gleefully implausible plot twists that you can happily accept without too much worry. In this case the implausibility comes from the fact that space travel between planets is possible by balloon. This unusual premise is unlike most other Bob Shaw plot twists in which the scientific explanation usually only goes to add weight to just how implausible the idea is. No explanation is, very wisely, offered other than a reference to pi having a value of 3 in this universe.
With no time wasted on the science, more time is left for the rip-roaring adventure and that makes this yarn entertaining and one that is well worth reading. Whether the whole trilogy is worth reading is debatable as towards the end of the second book Shaw starts to lose interest in the tale, and he definitely pushes the idea too far in the third book. A short balloon trip through space is just about acceptable if you're willing to suspend your disbelief, but regular interplanetary travel and warfare in wooden spaceships takes some swallowing.
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