Pentapod reviewed Heaven Chronicles by Joan D. Vinge
Review of 'Heaven Chronicles' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Two novellas combined to make one book, both set in the asteroid belt known as "Heaven". Written in 1978 and 1980 these feel slightly dated nowdays but are still excellent science fiction, and a realistic look at the challenges that would be encountered if humans tried to settle an asteroid belt.
The first story is primarily about two "prospectors", exploring the belt in hopes of striking it rich with a lucky find. The second story is more complicated, as it's told from multiple people's perspectives; it's a little harder to follow at times but describes a ship coming from a nearby planet hoping to make a trade deal with the asteroid belt, and discovering that things are not as expected in the belt after a revolution has created two different factions. The visitors' ship becomes a valuable prize that all the asteroid belt factions want to capture, and the crew …
Two novellas combined to make one book, both set in the asteroid belt known as "Heaven". Written in 1978 and 1980 these feel slightly dated nowdays but are still excellent science fiction, and a realistic look at the challenges that would be encountered if humans tried to settle an asteroid belt.
The first story is primarily about two "prospectors", exploring the belt in hopes of striking it rich with a lucky find. The second story is more complicated, as it's told from multiple people's perspectives; it's a little harder to follow at times but describes a ship coming from a nearby planet hoping to make a trade deal with the asteroid belt, and discovering that things are not as expected in the belt after a revolution has created two different factions. The visitors' ship becomes a valuable prize that all the asteroid belt factions want to capture, and the crew of the ship has to find a way to evade, defeat, or negotiate their way to a safe resolution. I wish these novellas, especially the second, were a little longer as I'd love to read more about the details of these extremely well thought out worlds, and to learn more about their societies and what happens next.
