Durante dos mil años, la nave estelar Astron ha buscado vida alienígena por toda la galaxia, sin encontrarla. Ahora, con una nave ya algo deteriorada y una tripulación reluctante, la única dirección que queda por explorar exige atravesar la gran Oscuridad, un viaje de cien generaciones a través del espacio vacío. El capitán de la nave, un inmortal, está obsesionado con seguir la búsqueda aun a costa de perder la nave. Sólo Gorrión, un joven que ha olvidado su propio pasado, parece ser la clave del incierto futuro de centenares de personas.

Robinson, Frank M. The Dark Beyond the Stars. Tor, 1991.
Sparrow, a crewmember on a generation starship, wakes in the medical bay with partial amnesia and vague memories of a serious fall during a planetary exploration. All his crewmates, except the captain, have names drawn from birds, the Bible, or Shakespeare. He has no clear memories of any of them, but they all seem to expect something from him. As his memory slowly returns, he finds himself more and more embroiled in the complex politics onboard. The ship is 100 generations out from Sol on a mission to discover another communicating intelligence. So far, they have found no hint of life of any kind. It seems that the solution to Frank Drake’s 1961 equation identifying the unknowns in estimating the chances of meeting other intelligent life is as uncertain as ever. Every compartment in the ship is a kind of holodeck that allows the crew to ignore the ship’s dilapidated condition. Is the mission a fool’s errand, or is there an alien civilization at the next star along the way? Some readers found the book a bit slow, but the character drama kept me engaged. ( )

didn't finish; seemend like shallow writing, couldn't hold my interest

A truly excellent sci-fi book in my estimation.

This is a sci-fi novel in the spirit of the best and reminded me in a few ways of Frank Herbert's Dune. The story is good, but the underlying discussion of loneliness, humanity, the mind, morality and evolution make this one of the best books I've read.

I'd seen some reports that this book is full of gay sex. It's not. Not all of the characters are entirely heterosexual, and it is clear that Robinson has created a future where sexuality isn't the issue that it can be today.

It's unforunately not so easy to get hold of this book now. It seems to be out of print, not in many/any libraries and unavailable in eBook form. I bought a used copy from a well known online marketplace. ( )

Lots of intrigue, mystery, which made it a little challenging for me. Def. thought-provoking. And fun hard sf, too. Well-done, and recommended. ( )