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The Killing Star

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About this listen

The opening chapter of an incredible adventure that includes the destruction of Earth by ten thousand relativistic bombs launched by an alien race. This science fiction thriller follows the desperate struggles of the remnants of humankind to survive in a hostile universe.

©1995 Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Science Fiction Fiction
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The novel struggles to build on its elemental premise, I.e, a space fairing human race is a threat to other civilisations and must be eliminated. Most of the book is ham fisted thrusting of this viewpoint which does little to aid the plot. The authors constantly reiterate the importance of the relativistic bomb in a manner which implies they are proud of it and terribly clever. Such character development as exists consists of long winded anecdotes which serve as little more than mouthpieces for the authors views. I don't buy the absorption bomb idea which is crucial to one plot line. There is a general lack of conclusion but that is acceptable in the context of the story arc. Having said all this the book is still worth reading and raises some interesting questions.

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The plot was intensely dark, sad, and gripping. While some parts weren't as strong, none were boring. All the story threads converge in a way that is between the lines, but not too difficult to discern. You see humanity's collective grief progress in real-time as the human race goes from 99, to 99.5, to 99.9, to 99.99% extinct, but also its hardening resolve, and the beginnings of its descent into a race not-so-different from the Intruders. Very good.

Excellent all round

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Great premise executed poorly. There is just not enough story and dialogue without the characters and narrator going off on tangents about earths history. Fine for a multi series 1000 page book but not for this.

Not enough actual story

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It's essentially an essay on a possible doomsday scenario. Not a happy novel, but some interesting ideas on how and why an alien intelligence might exterminate us.

Interesting, but not gripping.

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I had hoped TKS might be a sci-fi cult classic created from an apocalyptic interspecies war between humans and non-humanoid aliens intent on exterminating every last one of us for reasons that are mysterious until the very last chapter.

The story is set in the late twenty first century, but numerous references to the wreck of the Titanic and the film Jurassic Park in the early chapters anchor the story in the late twentieth century, giving it an oddly dated, yet charming premise.

The action all moves along at a decent pace and is not shy in challenging contemporary issues. The examination of moral relativism between different species made some very effective points, albeit a little clumsily. And the discourse regarding earth's religions and its prophets was interesting, though reminded me of The Hitchhikers Guide at times, and brought a wry smile :)

So is TKS a cult classic? It is a novel somewhat short on the action I was expecting. It reads more like an academic thesis that has morphed into a docu-drama populated with a cast of characters given hasty back stories, sometimes resembling an attempt to complete a jigsaw puzzle without a picture to refer to.

But TKS does have other strengths, it is top-heavy with ideas and hits the mark if you enjoy searching questions to mull over or just happen to be partial to 1990s sci-fi nostalgia. It is worth a read.

A thesis that became a novel

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