The City Among the Stars

February 24, 2020
The first English translation of Carsac’s 1962 space opera offers a thematically rich, but jarringly dated, vision of the future. When Stellar Guard Tankar Holroy’s spaceship is sabotaged, the People of the Stars rescue him. The descendants of religious fanatics who fled Earth and now roam the galaxy on massive city-state spaceships, the People of the Stars hope that Tankar will share the technology that allows Earth’s oppressive, war-mongering Empire to track them through hyperspace. Carsac examines the interplay between politics and personal freedom as Tankar struggles to adapt to life aboard the Tilsin, finding it impossible to assimilate into a people who disdain all those born on planets instead of in space crafts. Despite the People of the Stars’ biases, Tankar’s resolve to withhold the information on tracers from his rescuers reads as pure spite and leads him to ruin. Readers might be able to accept Tankar’s overt misogyny as a similar character flaw, if it weren’t insidiously mirrored in the romantic subplots, wherein stereotypical vixens Orena and Anaena fight for Tankar’s affections. Devotees of classic sci-fi will appreciate this translation, but more casual readers will find the sexual politics difficult to stomach. Agent: Betty Anne Crawford, Books Crossing Borders.

April 15, 2020
Riveting and introspective, The City among the Stars is a novel that readers will devour in one sitting, anticipating the turn of every page. Tankar Holroy is fiercely loyal to the Empire, which rules over Earth after extensive, brutal wars. He never questions anything, holding a rigid moral code until his information delivery mission is sabotaged, and he finds himself floating in outer space, ready to die. Fortunately, he's rescued by the People of the Stars, who reside on the Tilsin, a spaceship that functions as an independent governmental entity. He quickly learns that most of the Tilsin's inhabitants have little time for a "planetary" like himself, and he returns the hostility in kind until he is forced to re-evaluate everything he thought to be set in stone. Tankar grows tremendously as a character, maturing and finding a place for himself on the Tilsin, even providing information that can save their lives. This is a novel that should not be missed. Carsac is the pseudonym of the late French scientist, Fran�ois Bordes, and this is the first of his novels to be translated into English.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)