This is another story that might have been better written in the 1960’s…we know too much now to accept some of Hogan's presumptions. But, other than that, it’s an entertaining story.

The weakest part of the plot is the assumption that ANYONE would be allowed to send an interstellar probe-cum-colony ship: a) staffed and controlled by robots—which is okay; b) filled with frozen human zygotes with which, IF they discover a favorable environment, are to be unfrozen and cared for and raised by the robots—which I dare say is not so okay.

We know from the grotesque experiments performed on monkeys that mammals cannot develop any kind of emotionally stable relationships if they’re not exposed to truly positive emotional interactions with other mammals. At this point we have to allow a bit of “suspension of disbelief” in order for Hogan to provide an environment that will allow the ‘children’ to be raised in a manner removed from the normal/traditional top-down guidance of Western civilization. With this premise accepted we see that the children were taught by the robots to think for themselves and to learn to base their inter-personal relationships on the quality of the interactions, rather than any potential for self-aggrandizement. And more, these children still managed to evolve a ‘respect’ for each other such that they were allowed by the robots to actually kill anyone who tries to force their views/desires on other people.

“The war [of 2021] had been the price of allowing shopkeepers to posture as statesmen, factory foremen as industrialists, and diploma-waving bohemians as thinkers, of equating rudimentary literacy with education and simpleminded daydreaming with proof of spiritual worth.”

“Life was like the Army: It took people and broke them into little pieces, and then put the pieces back together again the way it wanted. Except it did it with their minds. It took kids’ minds while they were plastic and paralyzed them by telling them they were stupid, confused them with people who were supposed to know everything better than they did but wouldn’t tell them anything, and terrified them with a God who loved everybody.” Etc. and more of the same.

The inspiration for the plot is Hogan’s opinion in the controversy between which is the source of man’s problems: the inherent evil of mankind vs. the inherent dysfunctionality of civilization. This is not the place for debating the causes of the many failings of the modern world; but it is worthwhile to stipulate that Hogan, while being a bit simplistic, is at least offering some interesting thoughts on the subject.

Allowing for all that background, is this story worth reading? Is it entertaining enough to carry us through a rather simplistic view of good vs. evil? For what it’s worth, I vote yes. I give the book a good 3.5 star rating on its entertainment value in general, and its excitement value toward the end—when the two social theories finally clash and “may the best man win”. It's not a riviting story; but a pretty good one.

Allowing for the author’s pedantic tendencies, it was nice to see at least one way this might be made to work…if we all could live in a simple, tribal format, society—writ large. But, what really bothered me is that, while repeatedly reminding us of the other world cultures—Europeans, Africans, Chinese, Russians, Indians—with the same top-down indoctrination—which will be arriving in just a couple of years with their own thousands of needy settlers: there was zero follow-up; there was no mention of how these new groups will, or will not, duplicate this story. I guess Hogan expects that the Chironians will just “do it all over again”. ( )

On a technical level this is a wonderfully written book, but other than that I found this pretty "meh".

I Actually quite liked the first chunk of this, I found the parts on the ship interesting and the characters multidimensional. But as others have mentioned this is a very preachy book, and you're told very early on once the ship arrives at its destination that Chiron way of life is the best, no if or buts about it. The world is flawless, the people are flawless, and anyone who disagrees is a degenerate who deserves what's coming to them. Oh, and in typical 70's utopia fashion there's no such thing as monogamy - I have no idea if that was a cliche when this was written, but it's a cliche today while I'm reading it, so points deducted for that.

And honestly this book was just boring. There's a big "science" chunk towards the end, where the author attempts to explain why the Chiron's world is they way it is because of anti-matter, which was just dull. Once on Chiron none of the characters are particularly compelling, and the plot takes too long to get to the climax.

Over all, this was a book with an interesting premise, but I just really was not impressed. ( )

I have sixteen Hogan books on my shelves. I've been rereading them years after having bought them to decide which to keep. I've read a dozen of those now, and this is the first one that makes me understand why Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke once praised Hogan as worthy to be counted in their company. Up to now the other books tended either to be too heavy-handed and preachy (especially Mirror Maze) or technobabble infodump (almost all, especially Thrice Upon a Time and Two Faces of Tomorrow), took too long to get going--and in the case of Cradle of Saturn too crackpot--that one was dedicated to Immanuel Velikovsky of Worlds in Collision infamy. According to the Wiki, late in life Hogan became attracted to a host of "fringe" views--one critic claimed he had encountered a "brain-eater." Generally, Hogan's earliest novels are considered his best. Realtime Interrupt was a close runner up, with interesting thoughts on AI and one of his most appealing protagonists, and I found Code of the Lifemaker, with its biomechanical "biosphere," a keeper--just brilliant in concept and with a sense of humor.

But so far, with just the four Giants novels to go, Voyage from Yesteryear is the prize. There were one or two dry passages dealing with the physics; Hogan is known as a master of hard science fiction for good reason. But this novel turns more on the psychological and sociological than hard science. It deals with the clash between the people of the Mayflower II from Earth, and earlier Earth colonists who settled on Chiron. The world of the Mayflower represents a neo-fascist dystopia. That of the world of Chiron an interesting utopia, in which, honest to God, I can hear echoes of More's book of that name. It's a classless society where the state has withered away--but that doesn't mean what you might think. At all. That's part of the mystery unraveled in this novel that made things interesting. How could this society work? And beyond that it tells a suspenseful action-adventure tale and has characters I cared about--which actually is unusual for Hogan. So, yes, this one earned its place on my shelves. ( )

Loved the book, the ideology, and the writing. I like Hogan. I would like to see a society such as the one described here, and certainly like to live in one. I also believe that it is a realistic future to hope for. ( )

The Voyage is at least two tales in one. The first is the science fiction story of man’s expansion into another solar system; the second is the confrontation between an anarchist or libertarian society and a strong central government.

In the science fiction story, a robotic ship carried frozen human sperm and eggs on the multiyear jump between systems. On arrival, the robots determined that there was a habitable planet, inseminated humans, then decanted and raised the first generation of pioneers. By the time this story commences, several generations have occupied the planet successfully, and have built a unique and mostly anarchic society. They even began to gain new scientific knowledge. When this was communicated to earth, efforts began to launch a huge, life-crewed ship to provide the colonists with a ‘proper’ governmental and military oversight. In fact two competing efforts: one by the ‘Western Alliance’ and one by competing Asians. The traditional Sci-Fi plot covers the actions involved in the defeat of this attempted take-over by the victorious colonists.

The second plot is also unveiled in those same actions, but involves the different assumptions between those two societies. In brief, the colonists assume: 1) a universe that contains unlimited resources, that the only thing needed is the knowledge and skills to access them; 2) that most people will use their best skills and knowledge in pursuit of personal goals that contribute to that end or the gaining of the respect of their peers. This is contrasted with the new expedition official view that a strong central government and military is needed to ‘defend’ against the coming Asian ship.

The story is of the conflict between those two societies. It makes a rip-roaring sci-fi or space yarn, and also allows Hogan to expose us to the benefits he sees in his Anarchic Society. If you accept the author’s view, the only disappointment is when you realize that our current civilization is his ‘Yesteryear’. A must read for both space story and minarchist fans. ( )