This was a very old fashioned Science Fiction story, but since it was originally published in 1962 I think that can be allowed.

Unfortunately it has not aged that well in places, with the characters particularly showing there age in attitudes.

Overall though still an enjoyable read.

*Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**
I'm a huge SciFi nerd, and I'm no newbie when it comes to older science fiction books. I understand that often they are sexist and have racism issues. I will say off the bat, this one wasn't THAT bad on that front, more of a, they don't really exist much. Not as bad as some Heinlein for sure hahaha.

Overall the concept is strong, the world is interesting. But the translation was just bad. It was so clunky and often sentences just didn't work well. I don't know where to blame poor writing or where to blame poor translation.

Regardless, what made this story lackluster for me is that all the characters had a short fuse, and most of the situations could be solved through communication.

This might be a good book, it might be better than what I read. But until another translation comes out, or someone bilingual reads it in the native language and confirms. It was a flop for me.

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**


I dnfed this story at 10%. I hardly dnf stories, I might push myself to finish this story one day. But I realized that I never put in my feedback with netgalley while i struggled with this story. I love science fiction stories, but for some reason this fell flat for me.

This book certainly has its flaws. Having been originally published in the ’60s, there are a few ideals that are clearly outdated. Gender roles is one example, as many women in the book are treated as second-class citizens. On that same note, the dialogue is cheesy and has not held up over time. Despite its flaws, the story was good enough to hold my interest.

The City Among the Stars is an interesting science fiction story with a unique plot line. I recommend fans of the genre check it out.

Ok, right off the bat I'd like to confess my ardent love for the Sci-Fi genre. I adore it to itsy teenie tiny pieces and now, couple that with a Space Opera backdrop and BAM... a recipe for hours of blissful escapism and endless possibilities. The premise of The City Among The Stars had me imagining myself fully engaged and immersed in geeky Sci-Fi/Space faring heaven... my shangri-la, my haven away from the craziness of Real Life. And so, armed only with an intriguing premise, I anxiously dove into this book untethered.


First off, there are two important factors to mention. 1) this book was published in the '60s and 2) it is a translated work. Early on, both of these facts were painfully obvious. I took the age and the fact that things can easily get lost in translation into consideration while reading and later on when deciding how to rate the book. With these provisos in the back of my mind I read and read and after reading for quite a long time I am sad to report that this great expectation fell flat on it's overreaching butt.


The wording felt disjointed and clunky... more so than with other translated works. I am a girl who loves her character driven novels. I'll also gladly take a book centered around rich, diverse world building with character development coming in a close second BUT The City Among The Stars was neither of those. The characters were criminally flat and weren't even likeable. The MC was a tool, a creaton, a POS who loved to yell and lash out at women and THAT made me cringe.

The female representation was appalling! Women were portrayed as property... pretty, shiny arm candy and it definitely chaffed... nay, it wrankled! I (a self proclaimed shiny mess of a female) for one, couldn't get past the flagrant injustice. Women were meant to be draped over the arm of some man and our main purpose was for "pleasure or breeding". I feel nauseated just thinking about the blatant sexism... yes, this might be a reflection of how far the notions of gender equality have come in the last 60 years BUT if you're going to translate the author's blood, sweat, tears and dreams made tangible then don't just go to Google Translate, toss it in and regurgitate whatever shows up on the screen. The translator should be both fluent and finely attuned to the nuances of both languages!



So, I'm thinking that I am probably not the targeted demographic here so I'll cut it some slack.



Overall:
I gave this book more chances than I should have. I would pick it up only to put it right back down again. Over and over... rinse and repeat. I wanted to like it, I truly did, but The City Among The Stars made it hard to love... or even like. I appreciate the chance to review the ARC ahead of the release date though! Unfortunately, the bottom line is that it wasn't for me and I wouldn't reccomend it to others.

*** I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***

Ok, this book made me realize that science fiction is just not for me. I found something very lacking in this story too.
I honestly detested Tankar the protagonist. You probably won't find a more immature and whiny guy than Tankar. The entire book he whines, he cribs, he complains. He was supposedly treated a little rashly in the beginning in a new place and he holds that silly grudge till the end of the book? I couldn't tolerate the juvenile nature of it all.
And let's not even begin with the "romance" portions of this book. Zero chemistry, insta-love, supposedly hate to love but it was more physical attraction than any other deep form of love. I couldn't care less for the romance or for any of the characters in this book.
I enjoyed the first part of the book a lot. The science parts were good, the concept of a star city was novel. But, apart from that, there was nothing much that appealed me to the story. I would recommend it to science-fiction fans, also to people who are starting out with the science-fiction genre as the language is quite easy to follow. The novel reads fast and you can complete it in no time.


RRKReads rating: ⭐⭐1/2

At first you get real excited because #Francis Carsac which is a pseudonym for the world-renowned French scientist, geologist, and archaeologist Francois Bordes, wrote and published six novels during
the golden age of science fiction.Then with a open mind it’s really hard. The views are just a little outdated.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for an ARC of this book! (comes out 21st May)

When I found out that this book was actually published ages ago and only now translated into English, my expectations plummeted. There is a lot of old sci-fi out there written to show women as feeble and stupid and I had an inkling this would venture into that territory. But the more I read, the more I began to realise that it was the characters thoughts itself that were poisoned. This book is basically low-budget Star Trek (the classical series), which as you might know is VERY sexist and misogyny is a running theme throughout each episode (which is why I stopped watching it).

The main character is 24-year-old Tankar Holroy, who was born to be a soldier on Earth (as you will see him mention this MULTIPLE times). While Earth is controlled by the Empire, there are ships floating in space with Stellarans (called the people of the stars) and another tribe of people called the Pilgrims. Both of these groups of people live in peace on the same ship but are separated. The Stellarans basically treat everyone equally, whereas the Pilgrims are described as monks. The Earth people like Tankar on the other hand, believe in a society where women are only for 'pleasure and breeding' (a literal quote from the book i shit you not), to which I give one giant middle finger to.

The story follows this insufferable character whose mission is to deliver a message to the 7th fleet to come and help Earth. But his ship is sabotaged, and he is floating in space, only to be rescued by the Stellarans. He then realises they actually want information on a tracer, which is a device that can track other ships that jump through hyperspace. The Stellarans basically want to use this device to follow the Mpfifis, who are alien-like creatures that are vile and terrible and want to find their home planet to destroy them. Tankar has this information but apparently doesn’t want to share, because he’s a stubborn nugget.

Now the MC is the most stubborn, annoying, sexist, insufferable, stupid, dumb character I have ever read about. He views women as fragile, and constantly shouts at all the female characters, thinking they all are in love with him. He’s someone who wants attention constantly and starts throwing a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO STRANGLE A CHARACTER WITH MY BARE HANDS AS I WANTED TO IN THIS BOOK. I wanted to throw this book across the room multiple times, but the plot drew me in. Orena is one strong female character in this that I really liked- she stands up for herself and doesn’t let Tankar the sexist man-baby walk all over her. I’m glad she threw away his friendship and ran off with Pei the painter.

The writing was a mess. I think this is a case of lost in translation, because whoever translated this basically entered all of this into Google Translate and printed it word to word. The sentences are disjointed and there is no flow. But it actually helped with the pacing, because I got through it quite quickly. The story had SOOOOOOOO much potential, but it was all wasted. Honestly the pacing and plot was the only thing keeping me going. The ending was such a mess lol. He basically blames himself for his wife’s death, but then this girl he says he isn’t in love with says she can’t live without him, and he decides to live for her ermmmm???

Sometimes the consequences of our actions are unbearable.

Tankar Holroy, Lieutenant in the Emperor's Stellar Guard, finds himself in deep trouble. His ship has been sabotaged and is now just a glittering cloud of dust. He is left spinning in the void in just his spacesuit. With little hope of rescue he accepts his fate and simply watches the stars. Just as he is running out of air a huge ship approaches. Tankar manages to fire his rockets as he passes out.

He awakens on the Tislin. A city ship owned by the People of the Stars. They are comprised of Technicians (Stellarans) and monks (Pilgrims) who escaped the Empire generations ago. Tankar is thrust into a culture very different than the one in which he lived his whole life. He is forced to learn their ways and adapt as best he can. He becomes very angry at the way he is treated by the Stellarans who hate "Planetaries".

He finds out he has been saved in hopes that he would have technology the Stellarans need. His refusal to share this technology bites him in the.....well, you know.

I have to stop there or major spoilers will happen.

This book is a classic sci-fi written in French in 1962 and translated to English. Keep that in mind as you read this book. The social attitudes are very, very different now than they were then. Especially in regard to women.

Over all, I did enjoy the book and I thank Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for letting me read the arc.

.

When it comes to reading classic science fiction, it’s best to remember that these aren’t contemporary books. Some of the “future” tech will be outdated as will views about women and minorities. Remembering this is key, otherwise you’ll lose your mind from the misogyny alone.

The sexism wasn’t as bad in City Among the Stars as I’ve encountered in other books published around the same time period, though. Most of the sexism that was there was down to the male-dominated society our main character Tankar came from, where women were essentially breeding stock. Aboard the starships women seemed to be more or less on equal footing, working side by side with men. Also, except for some references to film reels, most of the technology mentioned was up to modern standards.

It’s a relatively short novel and I read it in just two sittings partially because of its length, but also because I was just so fascinated by it. The amount of story that was packed within its few pages was seriously impressive. There is a lot of really good space opera crammed in there! I was hooked from the literally explosive start, eager to learn more about this mysterious city in the stars filled with people so different from Tankar- and from myself.

Why it took so long for this to be translated into English is beyond me because I think it stands up against other novels from that period of science fiction. Heck, it would mostly stand up now. At times the narrative and dialogue did seem a little stilted, but I’m sure that’s a result of the translation. It’s something I’ve noticed in most translated novels, but to be honest it didn’t detract from the story at all.

What was a teensy bit distracting was the insanely short fuses everyone except the Pilgrims seemed to have. Tankar’s was by far the worst, his stubbornness eventually reaching epic and catastrophic proportions. At first it was understandable because upon being brought aboard as a refugee, he faced incredible prejudice from the People of the Stars. It was easily an allegory for what it is like today for refugees. When you’ve been ripped from the only home and culture you’ve ever known, it’s hard to immediately assimilate, especially when the people around you expect you to already be assimilated.

In the end, though, I decided to not nitpick at most of the little things that might have bothered me in this book otherwise. The characters came from cultures and populations that are completely alien from mine and are within a story that was written over half a century ago and in another language. I’m sure 60 years from now people will be looking back at our literature and think we’re a little backward, too.

Full review on my blog: https://alittlenerdtoldme.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/blog-tour-the-city-among-the-stars-by-francis-carsac/

The people at Flame Tree Press have put out some amazing titles this year, but unfortunately this one was a miss for me. Not the Golden Age Science Fiction classic that I expected.

The main character Tankar is an arrogant, self-centered, intolerant, tantrum-throwing, sexist guy set in his ways. He literally punches Orena (yes, she slapped him first, but still), he calls her a "female" and an "advantist bitch", but sleeps with her anyway.
He also has the hots for the head-honcho's librarian niece Anaena, who detests him, because he's a "planetarian" (racist term for Earth-born), but he doesn't care because she's so hot. I could go on an on throwing down examples, but I think you get the gist of it. I liked the premise of him being saved and then exploring the spaceship and different culture, point of views and religious belief system of the inhabitants, but the writing feels stiff and I don't like any of the characters except Orena.

It's not a good read if you're consider yourself being against racism and bigotry.

I cannot with good conscience recommend this to anybody except hard-core science fiction fans that like to read older works.

Thank you Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC for an honest review.

Ah, the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Heinlein. Asimov. Clarke. Names which defined an era and shaped a genre. For non-English speakers, the name Carsac belongs on that list. A French writer during those years, he was published and translated through much of the world. Somehow, though, his 1962 book City Among the Stars was never translated into English. Until now.

Tankar Holroy is a soldier for the dying Earth Empire. He is sent on a secret mission to deliver a message to one of the Empire’s fleets, a message that could turn the tide of war against the rebels and in favor of the Empire. However, his ship is sabotaged. He is left floating in space with hours to live, waiting for a rescue that cannot arrive.

Yet, somehow, rescue does arrive. A ship, larger than he has ever seen, plucks him from space. On board his injuries are treated. He finds that he has been rescued by the Stellarans, humans that had fled Earth centuries before and now lived solely on their giant spaceships, seldom approaching planets and generally despising the people and cultures that exist on them.

The Stellarans pose no threat or advantage to the Empire, but they are themselves threatened by an alien race. To effectively face this threat, they need a technology developed by the Empire: the ability to track ships through hyperspace.

Although Tankar has knowledge of this technology, enough to build it himself, he is faced with an internal dilemma. Should he help these people who rescued him but still despise him? Or should he withhold the knowledge out of spite?

As many Golden Age sci-fi books do, this book suffers a bit from knowledge and technologies unavailable to the author at the time of his writing. Colonies on Venus now seem impossible given the hellscape of the planet’s surface and atmosphere. A ship would not need a huge library of physical books. Communications and computer technologies are already far beyond what Carsac imagined.

However, his social imagination was impressive. Unlike some who dreamt of an idyllic future human race that has left prejudice and violence behind, Carsac sees a future where one group of humans is led by a corrupt and decaying Empire facing its end and another group of humans is unwilling to help their planetary brethren, in fact despises them, simply because they are “planetaries.” And Tankar Holroy is a very flawed protagonist. His views about women are seen by the Stellarans themselves as wrong, his pique at being ostracized leads him to withhold vital information needed by the Stellarans, he leaps to judgments which to this reader seemed ridiculous but were quite in keeping with his character. All of which points to the brilliance of the author.

Carsac manages to tell a compelling story with a broken protagonist moving from a corrupt system to a system that judges him for the corruption he represents. Pulling that off is a high wire act for an author. There were times in the story where I did not like anyone in it--yet I couldn’t stop reading.

The Golden Age. We now know it was not so golden. Thanks in no small part to Jeanette Ng’s powerful acceptance speech, the John W. Campbell award has been renamed to the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Campbell was a racist and a fascist. Asimov behaved abysmally toward women. Other writers have not seen their luster diminish as much, but there are themes and sensibilities that were of that time which we would now find at least dated and possibly even abhorrent.

But oh! Those white men (and for the most part they were, especially because of Campbell’s influence), those white men could tell a story. Carsac’s City Among the Stars is such a story. Adventure, betrayal, redemption, triumph, despair. The story of Tankar Holroy may not be one you know yet. Once you read it, you are unlikely to forget it.

Francis Carsac was a pseudonym of French geologist, archaeologist, and author Francois Bordes (1919-1981), who penned six novels and several shorter works. CITY AMONG THE STARS is considered to be in the Golden Age of Science Fiction. This is the first translation into English.


A member of the Emperor's security force, traveling through Space with an urgent method, is the victim of sabotage and his spaceship is destroyed. Fortunately he is rescued by a spacefaring civilization which eschews planetary living. Unfortunately, the leaders have designs on Empire technology, knowledge he has.

Tankar Holroy is an accidental refugee of the Empire, a brutal regime that controls the Earth and has established itself across many other planets. When rebellion rears its ugly head, Tankar is despatched with a message requesting reinforcements. He doesn’t get the chance to deliver his message, however, as his ship has been sabotaged. This leaves him drifting in space, on the verge of death, before being rescued by the Tilsin, a vast city spaceship inhabited by the Stellarans. And so our story begins.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this setup, as openings go. But there were problems for me from the outset. Little niggles, like Tankar’s air supply seeming to run out very quickly over several pages, before it’s eventually explained that the valve on his oxygen tank is broken. The confusing muddle of exactly what order events happened in prior to Tankar ending up where he is.

I felt I could put aside these initial misgivings when Tankar arrived on the Telsin itself though. Sometimes the writing in a story isn’t the best, but the imagination and worldbuilding make up for it, so I was still hopeful. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel there was much imagination on display in Carsac’s approach. The rooms are austere, and the dwellers of the city are all human themselves, so very little description is given to much of either Tankar’s surroundings or the people, unless they’re an attractive woman (we will DEFINITELY be returning to this point later). Advanced technology is referred to on occasion, but we’re hardly ever told what it looks like, let alone how it functions. The anti-grav shafts that Tankar uses so frequently are, for all I know, helter-skelters. No description whatsoever is given for them, other than their name. Not their size, the sensation of being in one, nothing.

The greatest obstacle to me finishing this book was Tankar Holroy himself. His obnoxious, unreasonable and at times completely bizarre behaviour made him impossible to care about or like. He ricochets wildly between emotional states, helpful one minute and stubborn and rude the next. His actions and behaviour are totally disproportionate to the situation, and because his character is so one dimensional it makes it impossible to sympathise with him. The other characters fare little better. If they’re female it’s only a matter of time before someone assures Tankar (possessed of something of a roving eye) that although they look too young, they’re actually not far off his own age, which just comes across as horribly creepy. Conversations between Tankar and the other characters abruptly change tack, which made me flick back and forth several times thinking I must have missed an entire page. They say or do one thing, then say something else that immediately contradicts it. Many of the characters give page after page of dry exposition which has no bearing on the story whatsoever, all of which is in addition to Tankar’s uninteresting reading of Stellaran history.

Conversations that Tankar has had with people that have had a deep and profound effect on him are mentioned, but without us able to read the conversation itself the character development is nonexistent. When Tankar, a soldier, is given the chance to discuss his strategic expertise in drawing up a battleplan, we’re just told that he suggested a different way of doing things, but not what it was. We aren’t even told what the old, apparently ineffective battleplan was. An early action scene, which should be our first chance to really see what Tankar can do in a combat situation, is a confusing mess in terms of its setting, which is initially described as “a clear level field banked by bushes” but then seems to consist of alleyways, a grove and a ravine, with the action itself poorly paced.

Pacing was my other, major issue with this book. So much of the novel seems to go by at an absolute crawl, with very little happening aside from vague attempts at philosophising and displays of Tankar’s objectionable and irrational behaviour. Then whole months elapse, with either Tankar or his situation itself apparently having changed radically in that time. Character development has been eschewed in favour of discussions about history and characters having the same conversations over and over again.

Tankar’s treatment of women and the way the female characters behave toward each other- as if they’re jealous wives in an intergalactic harem - might be of their time, but his schizophrenic behaviour, the patchy worldbuilding and the lurching pace are not. Collectors of classic or obscure science fiction might find this something of an interesting curio, but I would struggle to recommend it to anyone else.

This is one of around 50 books I read during an imposed 3 month quarantine, and it is the best of my science fiction picks. Tankar is a lovable hero who is bold, brave and determinted to do the right thing - even if it costs him is life. But he is also stubborn and witholds one piece of information that he will later regret. Although it was a translation of an older French novel this wasn't immediately obvious and certainly didn't feel old-fashioned. It will not affect your enjoyment in reading it.

I love Sci-fi books. Old, new and most anything in between. When I saw that The City Among the Stars was the first English translation of a French sci-fi classic, I jumped right on it. But....I did not enjoy this story as much as I originally thought I would.

First, the translation seems a bit clunky. The sentences don't flow very well....awkward phrases, stilted conversation, strange word choices. I had a hard time keeping my mind in the story as I struggled through awkwardly written sentences. Not a clean translation...needs some work. The story definitely seems to have lost something in translation.

Second, I found the characters annoying. The entire force of the plot is backed by various characters (and cultures) being completely unwilling to bend or compromise in any way. And all seem to be willing to put others in danger to feed their own selfish ends. That gets really old after awhile. And female characters seem to exist to drape over the arm of men. The main character seems to believe all women are in love with him -- and that they enjoy being yelled at constantly. It's hard to enjoy a story when you detest the main character. Tankar Holroy is an asshat.

This story is just not for me. I didn't like the story or the characters. I'm willing to chalk it up to something lost in translation....or maybe that this story just didn't age well. It was originally published in 1962.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Flame Tree Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

I wanted to get angry at this book. Like really angry. But quickly into this, I realized that I did not want this book to have that much of an effect on my life. And it doesn't have much effect elsewhere, either. This was written decades ago, in the 1960s I believe, and is only now getting translated. The author has been dead for nearly forty years. This book does not matter anymore. It is best to treat it as a product of its time. I will forget about it in a week.

The City Among the Stars had some cool concepts that I would actually like to see more of in a more modern work. It is just too bad that the good is mired down by all the bad. At times I found myself interested in spite of myself. Interested, that is, until it once again brought out one of the weirdly...bad parts.

The main character, Tankar Holroy, is from Earth. A chivalric Earth where we never really got past the whole Medieval, peasant/noble, knights in armour thing - even if they have reached into the stars. And that system is falling apart, just as Tankar's spaceship is sabotaged. Leaving him to be picked up by a group of humans, the People Among the Stars, who are space nomads and broke away from the Empire due to the Empire's oppressive nature and the dislike of science.

The People Among the Stars holds a grudge against the Empire because of the way they were treated, and the war waged on them just as they were getting their cities started at the dawn of their civilization. Something Tankar has no knowledge of, just like he had no clue there were other humans in space. The Nomads also have an alien enemy, the Mpfifis, who just seek out and destroy humans when they can. Tankar has been asked to give Earth technology to the Nomads that will help track the Mpfifis. Tankar refuses, because he is self-absorbed and can't see past the end of his nose. Until Tankar doesn't refuse - for inexplicable reasons.

See, this entire book is a bit like a minefield. I really enjoyed the concept, and I would probably read something similar with a more modern author. I just had so many problems with the book. Ignoring the fact that the writing was just unpleasant to read, the book was just confusing. I'm not blaming the translators - I'm sure they did a fine job. It's just the style of the time Carsac was writing that I dislike. Tankar made the most random leaps of logic. It was like if someone asked you why the sky is blue and you say "because the ocean is". You're not completely wrong but dang you had to leap a few bits of logic to get there. And at several points changed his mind in the space of two paragraphs. I felt like I had whiplash at points. I'm still not certain how he talked himself into loving one of the love interests.

From this point on it is not going to be spoiler free. I try to keep my reviews without spoilers, but it is impossible to really speak to the issues I had without telling a lot of the story.

There were bigger problems than the writing. There was the bigotry and discrimination Tankar faced the entire time, just because he was from a planet. Which in itself wasn't too bad. It made sense, and it is what drove part of the story - their hatred and treatment of Tankar made him hate them enough that he didn't care if they lived or died and kept technology they needed from them. It just felt so shallow for most of the time. It was there, and things happened with it, but the ways it was used just never felt full. These two quotes are a good explanation for why I felt it was shallow:

>"You don't like planetaries?"
>"Who does?" She shrugged. "They forced our ancestors into exile. It ended up being a good thing, but it wasn't well intentioned."

>"How am I responsible for the behavior of my ancestors? I don't think mine were even involved."
>"We are the products of our worlds, Tankar."

And then there was, of course, the way women are treated. It's a really bizarre mixture of trying to be progressive and then failing completely. For one, everything Tankar does is in response to a woman. And typically he is blaming one of them for something or another. He thinks he is being accepted? Woman. He gets tricked? Woman. He gets tricked again? Another woman, but he blames the first that tricked him. He finally decides to do the right thing? Woman. He gets, in his mind, double crossed and so he sulks and doesn't do the right thing anyway? Woman responsible for the sulking. And then another woman he likes dies pushing him to the do the right thing in the end.

Yeah, that's right. Fridging. Marvelous.

That isn't even the half of it. The women always seem in competition for his affections. All of them like him for no discernable reason. And the jealousy meter is crazy - at one point a woman left just because he talked to another woman that he, at the time, hated.

>"Pfft. I'm an advantist, and she's a conservative. And anyway, how many times have you met two attractive women who like each other?"

And Tankar would beat himself up every time a woman got the better of him. In any way at all. It was just boring. Blame yourself, dude, that is who you should be blaming.

>He paced, drunk with rage and shame. How could he, a lieutenant of the Stellar Guard, have allowed her to toy with him? He looked for harsh enough words to describe her - treacherous and manipulative bitch. The rules of the Guards were wise: women were to be used for pleasure and to incubate future Guards.
>Now he was driven by one wish and one wish only: revenge. He would love to batter her lovely lips with his fists, smash her lying mouth, but even that was not enough. Did he want to kill her? Should he challenge her to a duel? He was not sure that he, as a man, could do that."

Then there are the stupid duels. Why was so much of this book focused on duels?? As soon as he gets on the ship, he nearly sparks a duel. At another time, one of the three love interests tries to use a duel to kill him - and he blames another love interest for setting him up (falsely). And Carsac is trying to play Tancar off as this soldier among non soldiers, and he has all the answers to fight off this alien threat - only these hobbyists are almost able to get the better of him? And I'm supposed to believe in Tankar? Please. And the Nomads even have the audacity that the reason they have freedom is because they have duels. Like, what?

>Like the idiotic duels, which no true man should take part in. If the point is to show bravery, there are far better ways."
>"You really don't understand, do you? We all take personal responsibility for our actions, and that's the basis of our freedom."

There are so many other things that annoyed me. Like the main character, who is just incredibly unlikable with no redeeming qualities. And the half-baked religious ideas that do really weird, squirrely things to the plot. Also the fact that every time a character told Tankar something about himself or others, he would say the opposite. Which we as the readers agree with because up until that time what Tankar is saying is true - and then the entire book would rewrites itself to the reality of the thing that secondary character said. Just to prove him wrong I guess?

This was just a frustrating read. There were moments I was enjoying myself, but the book typically ended that pretty quick. I think I would enjoy this a lot more if I read, and liked, more golden age sci-fi. I've mostly not read it, and I wasn't even aware that this was from the 1960s when I requested the ARC (I should have looked into this better - the interesting story in the blurb got to me and I wanted it). The City Among the Stars tried to do a lot of things: be a character study, analyze (the then) current events into something understandable, and even at one point tried to be philosophical. It all fell flat to me. I ended up finishing this because I found the way the tropes have changed over time to be mildly interesting and I read it for inspiration for my Trope Time posts.

Technically this is part of a series. I won't be reading the rest if they get translated. The only thing really to do with future books is finish up the threat against the Mpfifis. And I don't care about them because the author never made me care about them - either as an alien race or a threat.

I appreciated getting to read this translation of a mid-twentieth century sci-fi work, but I didn't really like it. I struggled to finish the book for weeks. The concept was interesting, the characters were not. The main character, Holroy, was vindictive, whiny, and never reaches a point of redemption. The other characters were never fleshed out enough to give them any interesting draw either. The plot jumped too often, and events seemed to come and go on a single page too quickly. Overall, this book had potential but failed to live up to it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an earc in exchange for my honest review.

“The City among the Stars” by Francisc Carsac
The first English-language translation of his work, Carsac’s “City Among the Stars” is a good, old-fashion space opera. At its center we have Tankar Holroy, a young officer in the Imperial Stellar Guards who, in the course of a mission, is saved by the nomadic People of the Stars. Technicians who fled the grasp of the Empire generations ago, they show Tankar a galaxy different than the one he has been taught. Caught between a grim and violent past and his strange saviors, Tankar is forced to learn and adapt.
It is rare to find a sci-fi in important elements of the story – the political organization of a community, its history, its enemies, technology – are simply laid out by the characters in a casual discussion.
This style of storytelling is unlike contemporary science fiction narratives, which only slowly uncover their world to the reader. And yet, if you’ve read the great authors of the genre, like Asimov or Heinlein, you will find it refreshing. Carsac’s star societies are communal, populated by technicians who are equal, sexually free (the main character, himself apparently but inexplicably irresistible, falls in love three or four times during the story), work two hours a day, have few possessions, receive the same salary and abide by no hierarchy. An engineers’ communism. The same social organizing, however, makes them vulnerable to attacks from the alien Others. Read this if you’re hungry for an old-school sci-fi.

At first, I didn’t know that this was a classic, translated from the original French science fiction novel from 1962.

That explained quickly some of the dated elements in this story. Although that doesn’t take away the brilliance of the plot.

The main character, Tankar, is a former child soldier who was kidnapped at the age of three. I will admit that I found it a little difficult to really relate to this character at first, but I did end up really liking him.

This story is more of a contemporary sci-fi novel and I found that I really quite enjoyed it.

The writing was clear, concise and simple. It was easy to read and I found myself getting absorbed into the story quite easily.