Tau Zero

"Constellations grew lopsided, grew grotesque, and melted, as their members crawled across the dark"

I have just finished my third book in the SF Masterworks series, Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. I took a little while to get into but I did really enjoy it. I was not sure what to expect however despite a fairly repetative narrative the book is an interesting study of the problems and solutions to the emotional termoil of being trapped and going nowhere. The number of characters is at first a little staggering and their unusual names don't help but after some time that is easy to get used to and the central characters begin to stand out. The most interesting part of the read for me was seeing how the relationships and actions of all of the characters had to be tweaked and altered to keep the whole ship stable and I really enjoyed the emotional battle the characters experience and was happy to see the development of the characters and relationships whilst the narrative struggled to move.

Anderson's himself is an SF figure and has written a staggering number of classics and won a large number of award, he was even the President of the Science Fiction Writers of America. When reading his work it is easy to see why. Using his knowledge as physics graduate Anderson pleases both a non scientifically educated by describing things simply but somehow refrains from becoming patronising. He uses difficult scientific concepts and SF concepts that have routes in science fact and somewhat educates and pleases readers that are in the know. He therefore adds a realism to the staggering feats featured in Tau Zero and uses both scientific and poetic language, in the frequent paragraphs that outline the ship Lenora Christine's current state, to capture any kind of readers imagination. The science seems not just a plot device which is nice and parts of the book for some readers may be too science driven however the character arcs are also heavy features so the science should not be off putting for any non-scientific readers.

Like I said Tau Zero is very good but a little slow to start and with the frequent jumps forward in time it is a little hard to get to know the characters. However once you do, it is a really good read full of tension, humanity's struggle and science! I would recommend this more to science buffs and give it an 8/10