Berserker (Aliens)

Book Description

It is called a Berserker team--reckless, desperate volunteers recruited by the Company to destroy alien infestations.

Based on the spaceship Nemesis, it consists of three brutal ex-cons who do all the grunt work and the Berserker itself, code-named MAX: an armed and armored exoskeleton powered by the living brain of what was once a human, configured into an unstoppable killing machine.

When the Nemesis is sent to a massive space station, D.S. 949, the team finds an alien hive, the largest in history, with nearly a thousand hapless humans cocooned and incubated. The team mission: to destroy the aliens while leaving the terminal intact. The mission seems like suicide to the bug hunters and their small support staff. And that is perfectly fine for the Company...which wants no witnesses left to the terrifying secret of D.S. 949.

Customer Reviews:

record breaking.......2002-07-07

this book has more action sceans than in any other book ive read.
i do not give this book a 5 star... i give it a 9 star more guts more glory.

Aliens Berserker.......2002-07-05

This book was better than most of the other novelizations in this series. I loved the movies and try to collect as much aliens stuff as I can. The way that the author(S.D Perry) describes the characters thoughts and feelings as they lead the MAX(large robot dedicated to destroying bugs)into battle is astounding. While the story is simple, the character development is outstanding. I just wish she would write more Aliens novelizations instead of Resident Evil ones.

Great Book!.......2000-11-05

This book, to me, is one of the best books I have ever read. The plot is simple, destroy the bugs! And there is also emotion showed for the characters and then end of the book makes you think. I had never seen an alien movie, before I read this book, but I had played an alien game on my computer. After I got done reading this book, I went out and rented some alien movies. The way S.D. Perry describes the feelings, the noises, the aliens themselves and how they look was just amazing. I did things backwards...I played the game, read the book, THEN watched the movie. This book has action, some love issues, it had some sad parts and some really scary parts. I suggest that anyone who is reading this buy this book if your into the alien movies and such. I am only 14, 13 when I read this book, and it blew me away. I am going to buy more alien books by S.D Perry very soon. I couldn't get enough of this book. I would stay up till 3 AM just sitting in bed reading this book. All day in school I would read it when I got a chance. I give it a perfect score!

What a Book!.......2000-10-08

Berserker was a excellent book! It had a awesome story line, S.D Perry did a very good job writing this book. She keeps me into the book. I couldn't put the book down. I love how the Aliens bring in a memeber of the Berserker Team into the hive and send in the MAX. Like I said, this was a great book. A must buy book. Trust me this is worth buying.....

Better than the others..........2000-07-21

Berserker is actually one of the better and more captivating books in the Aliens series. While the concept isn't exactly original -- Aliens: Tribes was also about a berserker team -- this book was certainly a lot better written than tribes. The characters were well developed, and most of them were understandable people the reader is able to sympathize with. You could easily feel sorry for Teape when he's doing his job, or understand how Ellis feels around other members of the crew.

In addition, unlike most of the books preceding this one, there is actually quite a bit of action. We get a lot of bug hunting, and, more importantly, cool bug killing.

Others have complained about the lack of something so basic as a plot, but there is a rudimentary plot, and that's all that's needed. The team is sent to wipe out a bug infestation and uncovers a Company coverup. Let's face it, in this series, you don't need a great, subtle plot, you just need an excuse to kill some XTs.

Customer Reviews:

An Old Compendium of Shorts.......2006-08-07

Decades ago, Fred Saberhagen created a universe where humanity and a few other species are at war with a race of machines. Nobody knows too much about the machines except that they are programmed to destroy all life. The supposition is that they were created for an ancient war and that they eventually destroyed their creators. Now they are the problem of the entire galaxy.

This is not one story. Instead, it is a collection of shorter stories. Some are very compelling and some were, to me, a bit tedious. This impression may just be because of the mood I was in while I was reading them. They are all old but very timeless. This was a major series in its time and it is still worthwhile today. It is not my favorite but I have no regrets in having read it. I will probably read all the others as well.

The Best of SF.......2003-07-31

If you haven't read Fred Saberhagen's stories about the Berserkers, you haven't read some of the best science fiction ever writen. Buy this book--you won't be disappointed!

Can't We All Just Get Along?.......2000-03-08

Saberhagen's Berserkers have been scaring you pitiful humans for years. Powerful, insensate, planet-sized warships dedicated to wiping out all life everywhere. Now, I come to you as a representative of a powerful machine civilization to offer you peace. Berserkers are only a myth. We robots are perfectly friendly. There is no need to fear. Hemphill, put down that blaster! Argh! Help, goodlife! Save me!

How do you fight an enemy that isnt alive?.......1999-11-04

How dose one kill what isnt alive, how do youhurt somthing thats feels no pain,how do you reason with something that knows only how to kill, how do you survive aginst somthing that has never lost and will never stop? Bersekers is a book about a group machines created millions of years ago with an artifical brain. These brains knew one thing and had one objective, kill all life. They had traveled threw the galexy for hundreds of millions of years killing all life they came across untill they ran into a small group of life that refused to die, man. This book is made of many short stories from boath sides of the war. They tell of the berserkes never ending pursuit for the end of life and of the human fight aginst geniside. I liked this book because its diffrent. The good guy doesnt always win but story stays posotive. In my opinion its one of the best sci-fiction books I have ever read.

Brilliant science fiction from a master short story teller.........1999-07-25

This compendium contains Saberhagen's tauted Berserker stories chronicled from the perspective of a benign historian of an advanced pacifist race. Individually the stories vary in their expose of humanity's battle against ancient war machines whose sole purpose is the extinction of all life. The berserkers have spent millenia cutting a swath through the galaxy until they finally come upon human occuppied space. Humanity, being the least evolved race and therefore having retained the barbaric ability to kill and make war, are, ironically, the only beings capable of defending life.

These stories are almost legendary classics among science fiction and have bred numerous reincarnations from Star Wars' Death Star to Star Trek's Borg. From Dr. Who to Babylon 5, these tales have been inspiration to the current generation of science fiction.

Book Description

Two beautiful stories telling of the strength of love . . . Lord Ambrose Steele, desperate to strike a truce between the dreaded Norse and the Scots, and his nemesis, Viking Queen Silke Thorganson; and Lady Thunder, Thora ODonnahue, bound to another but in love with the Berserker, Aragon.

Customer Reviews:

Two strong novellas.......2003-12-10

"Lord Steele". In 1000 A.D., Viking Queen Silke angrily wonders what the gods have in store for her as she is escorted by her brother Aragon by ship from Iceland to Scotia to wed a Scottish barbarian as a means of ending the constant invasions. When a storm sinks her vessel, Silke blames her future spouse. The Viking warrior queen makes it to land, but is captured by the Scots, who take the irate Silke to their liege, Lord Steele. He realizes who she is and is delighted for he desires his prisoner queen. However, seduction may not prove enough to gain her love even when she becomes the warden and he the prisoner.

"Lady Thunder". In 1000AD Iceland, Thora O'Donnahue is expected to sacrifice her happiness in order to marry the abusive Viking Ragnald Bluetooth so that he and his horde will stop raiding what is left of her debilitated clan. Irate that she is wedding his enemy who almost felled his sister Silke, Aragon the shapeshifting berserker seeks vengeance against Bluetooth. He captures Thora and forces her to marry him as a slap at Bluetooth. As the newlyweds hide their paranormal secrets from one another, they fall in love, but Bluetooth is coming and does not care who dies in his path.

The two sibling novellas are powerful historical romances filled with vivid descriptions that cleverly fit into the fabulous story lines. The tales are so picturesque; fans will feel wet from the ocean storms. The two pairs of lead couples are solid and a pinch of the paranormal adds flavoring so that medieval readers will appreciate these strong interrelated novellas by a very talented writer.

Harriet Klausner

If you are into Vikings like me, you will LOVE it!.......2003-11-14

Leslie Burbank has done an amazing job on this two part series. My favorite is Lord Steele, but they are both great. Silke is a Viking Queen that is a fabulous heroine. Ms. Burbank really knows how to write a love scene. She has the right amount of conflict and passion to equal one sexy hot read! I have a thing for sexy Viking books, and there are not that many good ones out there. You won't regret buying this book!!!

A Romantic Set Of Stories You Won't Want To Miss!!!.......2003-06-02

To Tame a Viking is a book that includes two different stories about one family, a brother and a sister. The stories are romantic and fanciful and set in Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland.

These were fast paced stories that were fun to read and entertaining. The chemistry and romance between the main characters Silke and Steel in "Lord Steele" was wonderful as was the romance between Aragon and Thora in "Lady Thunder." Ms. Burbank is a great author, and she gives attention to details that help place you in the time period that she is writing about. I look forward to reading more of her stories in the future!

Amazing Debut.......2003-02-25

Leslie Burbank has shown enormous strength as a writer with her debut novella duet. The two stories meld together to form one continuous story. In Lord Steele, Silke is a warrior queen with the determination of ten men, but it only takes one to bring out the woman in her.

In Lady Thunder we meet Aragon, Silke's brother, who just happens to be a beserker. But the wolf in him is no match against the woman who soothes the mighty beast and steals his heart.

Full of action and sizzling with passion, Leslie Burbank has done an outstanding job of bringing to life a set of characters you won't soon forget, or want to.

Average customer rating:

berserker fan - long starving now somewhat full

Decent and Modern Berserker Story

Mixed Feelings

Tightly written, full of the unexpected

action-packed Berserker thriller

Rogue Berserker (The Berserker)
Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743498739

Book Description

Harry Silver has already had a lifetime of trouble from ordinary Berserkersr, the automated killing machines programmed an age ago to denude the galaxy of life. Now when his own family is kidnapped, he faces a deviant machine, a good fit for some or all of the Galactic Dictionary's definitions of ROGUE: ROGUE: (1) A deceitful, double-dealing evildoer .. . (4) A fierce elephant or stamodont that has been banished from the herd . . . (10) Having a peculiarly malevolent or unstable nature . . . (11) No longer loyal, affiliated, or recognized, and hence not governable or accountable . . . erring, apostate. - Galactic Dictionary of the Common Tongue Ordinary Berserkers armed with weapons powerful enough to kill an entire planet were enough of a nightmare. What worse deviltry will a killing machine gone rogue attempt-and even if Silver can stop it, will he ever see his family alive again?

Customer Reviews:

berserker fan - long starving now somewhat full.......2007-09-25

I've suffered through some mighty weak berserker novels since first discovering Mr. Saberhagen back in 1980. This novel is certainly the best in quite some time. Nevertheless its just 3 out of 5. I guess I have always preferred his Berserker short stories to the full length novels.
I also liked Ardnehs sword, which was a recent addtion to the Empire of The East and the Swords stories. These two series have all been worthy books in novel length form and don't suffer from their length like the Berserker series. Between these two novels (Ardneh and Rogue) I now have some hope that Fred still has something to say in novel form.

Decent and Modern Berserker Story.......2006-09-12

Rogue Berserker (2005) is a Better-Than-Average Berserker tale. While we aren't presented with any really new kinds of technology in this book - there are a couple of twists on how technology is used/misused by the humans and their evil machine (Berserker) enemies, which are fairly interesting... for example, both the humans and berserkers resort to disection and experimentation on captured prisoners - of course, it is OK that we do it, because the berserker are "evil machines who can't fell anything, and who are out to exterminate life from the Galaxy".

Harry Silver is the hero of the story, but he is not a very likeable guy... and when his family gets kidnapped, he becomes even more surly, yet obsessed to "get even" with the berserkers who are evidently behind the disappearnce of his family.

Another interesting plot twist are the actions/adventures of the female android, used by one of the antogonists in the tale... she provides an interesting side-story throughout the book, and in the end, winds up having to make some interesting decisions.

The story rates 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4).

Mixed Feelings.......2006-06-25

First of all, it's "Rogue Berserker", not "Rougue Berserker", as titled above. Hopefully, Amazon will change that.

I am starting to think that I need to re-read some of the earlier Saberhagen books to see if they were really as good as I remember.
I hadn't bought any of his books since starting the "Book of Gods" series several years ago. Those books were so poorly written that I couldn't make it through the series and I haven't really looked for any more of his books since then.
In advance of a trip I was making this week, I visited a local book store and saw "Rogue Berserker", which I purchased, having been a fan of the series from years ago. The book started off with a bang, flowed into some fairly minor character development, set up the plot for the book and then resolved the story with rushed action scenes.
As with the Gods series, there are long passages that say the same things over and over, there are paragraphs that seem totally out of place, and there are characters introduced, seemingly for some purpose that is never resolved. A huge, "impressive" rescue effort is mentioned towards the beginning of the book, which turns out to consist of only a few people, none of which turn out to be that impressive. And unless a character has a reason to be young or old, they are all described to be of "indeterminate age", a phrase used more in this book than in all of the other books I have ever read. Combined.

All that said, the story line was creative, there were some really good plot twists and the action sequences were good, if a little bit rushed. At 370 pages, there is plenty of room to flesh out the characters better, build up a better supporting cast and resolve some the story lines - if Saberhagen would just tighten up the repetitive sequences and drop some of the clichéd phrases.

Tightly written, full of the unexpected.......2005-03-03

This novel is more tightly written than some of Saberhagen's other Berserker novels -- more concise and faster moving. The plotting is really skillful. Under the experienced pen of the author, the plot of this book "turns around" to bite the reader in an almost shocking way.

Saberhagen "sets up" the reader from the first page with lots of scattered evidence that is subject to lots of interpretation. The bare facts are these: women and children have been kidnapped by the berserkers. As Harry Winston and his boss Winston Cheng puzzle over the evidence, weighing facts against facts, they work out a pretty sound theory of what has happened and why. Using their assumptions, Harry and Cheng assemble a team and devise a plan to rescue the hostages. The whole rescue mission, which is at the center of the book, is based upon this reconstruction of what really happened. Who did the kidnappings? Why? What will become of the hostages? Where were they taken?

In this respect, the novel takes on some of the suspense of a good mystery novel. And yet the author wisely plants some seeds of doubt. Harry Silver's logic wars with his instincts. "That HAS to be what happened . . . but it somehow doesn't 'smell' right." Have Harry and Cheng built a house of cards?

A blur of shocking and violent events bursts upon the reader at the end of Chapter 12 -- about two-thirds of the way through the book. As Lawrence Durrell once put it, "take but a step to the east or the west and the entire picture changes." It turns out that every key assumption of Silver and Chang was WRONG.

As weapons blaze, as his friends are dying, and as his installation is being blown apart, Harry realizes with a kind of horror that his whole picture -- everything -- was based on wrong interpretations. Some of his brothers in arms, on whom he was depending, turn out to be arch-villains, and the berserkers whom he thought he understood are acting in inexplicable ways, beyond anything Harry could have expected. Furthermore, the hostages are not where everyone assumed they were. The kidnappers are not the ones that everyone "knew" were guilty. Lastly, characters who up until now have seemed inconsequential and even silly suddenly become key and central players in the novel.

The author has managed all of this so skillfully. The plotting is almost brilliant. It is like one of those "gestalt" drawings where a picture seems to change from a lady's hat to a duck. The author takes the same evidence and lays it out in a different pattern. And, suddenly everything is up for grabs.

Harry improvises, recruiting the most improbable allies, making it up as he goes along.

When he blasts his way finally into the fortress and releases the hostages, one of them says, "where are all the others? The other rescuers?" Harry said, "I'm it. There's no one else. I'm the only one that's still alive." What a story!

The characters are marvelous. The book is full of robots or androids of one type or another, and a number of interesting human characters as well. Even though "we all know" that berserkers are unreflective killing machines, you will be surprised to find a few in this book who behave in the most extraordinary ways, reinterpreting their prime directive to make the most aberrant actions seem "logical." Motivation of these berserkers is crafted as skillfully as in Issac Asimov's masterpiece "The Naked Sun."

Saberhagen sometimes evokes Asimov. Asimov's robots relied upon their 'positronic' brains. Saberhagen's rely on their 'optelectronic' brains. Both Asimov and Saberhagen have so much fun warping and parsing their robotic "prime directives." The reader thinks, "robots can't act that way." but -- they can! They do! Because they think in their OWN eerie way!

Heck-- just READ IT. It's about as good as a shoot-em-up space novel is ever going to get.

action-packed Berserker thriller.......2005-01-28

Harry Silver, with a wife and as a new father, needs money, but a Berserker destroyed his vessel. Wealthy Winston Cheng offers him a small fortune along with a quality ship in exchange for Harry leading a private army to rescue his granddaughter and great-grandson kidnapped by a Berserker. Harry knows that if these killing machines allow a "Goodlife" to live it is only because they become subservient. Winston feels this abduction is different because the death machine is a rogue who acts dissimilar from the others. Still Harry says no as he has two reasons to live.

However, Harry learns that the rogue Berserker kidnapped his wife and son. His only hope to save his beloved Becky and Ethan, assuming they have not been terminated as "Badlife" and that Cheng's theory is correct, is the deal. Harry meets old friends, several enemies, and other adventurers while preparing for an assault. Though Winston's strategy seems logical, Harry knows from first hand experience that the best laid plans of Silver always goes astray when confronting a Berserker so why should this quest be any different especially when another machine seeks to kill Cheng's crew.

ROGUE BERSERKER is a throwback tale to the earlier novels with Berserkers in the forefront leading to non-stop action. Harry seems more complete as he seeks vengeance, prays for a miracle expecting none, and accepts any means is fine as long as he rescues his family. Fueled by anger and helplessness, his obsession makes him less ethical yet more human than hero. Fred Saberhagen provides a terrific entry in his long running series as he returns to the basics: human vs. invincible killing machine within a tense story line.

Harriet Klausner

Average customer rating:

Read More Than One Novel by One.
A rare find

Berserker Base (Berserker)
Poul Anderson , Larry Niven , and Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0812553276

Customer Reviews:

Read More Than One Novel by One........2001-01-15

I can call this novel a link among the science fiction novel's. It is full of fantastic events and very interesting. You can travel through the worlds from one galaxy to another, and take part in a war between the human kind and robots, one of the human dreams'. After Reading This book I ask this question again from myself: Is that true, Can robots disturb human's bright technology?

A rare find.......1997-04-15

If you love the Berserker stories, then this is a very rare find. Especially if you love stories by Roger Zelazny or Larry Niven

Average customer rating:

Fair Far-Future SciFi
Uninteresting with too many loose ends
Worth the investment
Rather lacking ...
A Berserker Mystery!

Berserker Kill
Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812550595

Customer Reviews:

Fair Far-Future SciFi.......2006-04-02

I've been meaning to start reading a Berserker Series story for some time, and was trying to determine the best place to start, and I ended up choosing BERSERKER KILL (1993).

The book has a number of good space combat sequences, but bogs down at times with monotonous contemplations about the moral and ethical implications of raising human zygotes into adult humans for the sole purpose of implanting the memories of exiting adult humans... indeed the author must have grown tired of these contemplations, as the book suddenly changes tack halfway thru, and in Part 2 we find ourselves suddenly 300 years further into the future - and at least we get back into a more action-oriented mode.

This story is now available as the third part of the omnibus BERSERKER DEATH, which is probably a better way to choose to start reading the Berserker Series.

Uninteresting with too many loose ends.......2006-01-30

I haven't read a lot of Saberhagen, a few Berserker short stories (that I enjoyed)and probably a few novels that escape my memory over the years. This book is really weak. It is long and uninteresting until the final 25%. The book repeats points over & over. Worst, there are more loose ends than a bowl of spagetti. The big event that most of the first third of the book builds up to is skipped over, later referred to in past tense with incomplete descriptions. The last words of a character are significant and referred to many times, but never fully explained. When the big climax comes, it is ***an explanation***, and a predictable one at that!!! Battles just end as if someone turned off a switch. At the end of the book, the fates of two major characters are left hanging.

Finally, boarding and hand-to-hand fighting in space battles? Come on! I thought Niven buried that idea long ago. If I can get a small craft grappled to an enemy's hull, I'd be inclined to fill it with explosizes than little-itty-bitty-fighter machines.

Worth the investment.......2005-09-09

A captivating read for Berserker fans, with plenty of cool stuff revealed, especially at the end. [NO SPOILERS INCLUDED HERE!] However, I noticed redundancies cropping up occasionally in the narrative, which irritated me slightly. Additionally, the pace of the narrative wasn't up to Saberhagen's usually "cracking good" standards. Are Fred's writing abilities slipping only slightly with age?

This story would make an excellent adaption to TV or film, but would probably work best as a story arc in part of an ongoing series, since the tale is best appreciated in the overall context of the Berserker saga (as is Saberhagen's short story "The Sign of the Wolf").

The novel is a little draggy, and I was disappointed that Saberhagen killed off one of the supporting characters before he had a chance to really develop, but certainly not as hard to wade through as its immediate sequel, "Berserker Fury" (1997). Definitely worth the effort.

Rather lacking ..........2000-02-20

I must disagree with the other reviewers - While I DO like the berserker saga, simple fandom-appeal is no excuse for shoddy quality. The book IS too long, in many parts repeats itself ( you often get the same train of thought in three or four slightly different variations ), the plot confusing ( not complex, confusing ) and the characters come across as stilted. Still, it had enough nice ideas for me to finish it.

A Berserker Mystery!.......1999-05-17

Why are the Berserkers suddenly NOT killing people? What are they up to? Sure, the book is a tad long, but when you realize Berserkers are fighting each other, you want to know WHY! The answer is worth the wait.

Average customer rating:

Very full of surprises
Tedious and meandering
Not the best in the Berserker series
Maracanda was a dangerous place...
Saberhagen Coasting

Berserker's Star (Berserker)
Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0765343215
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

Fred Saberhagen continues his Berserker Seriesreg;, a chronicle of a war between humanity and the terrifying race of sentient machines bent on death and destruction. Pilot Harry Silver's name is know throughout the galaxy. While he has defeated his share of Berserkers, he has also stolen a powerful weapon from the Space Force, making him a fugitive from the life he once knew. Looking for an adventure Harry agrees to bring a passenger aboard his ship: Lily, a woman who is on a quest to retrieve her husband.It won't be easy, as Lily's husband has joined a secretive religious cult on Maracanda, an almost-planet lodged between a shifting black hole and a neutron star. While the landscape of Maracanda is treacherous, so too, may be the people around Harry Silver. For as the search for Lily's husband deepens, Harry finds himself investigating a larger mystery and looking for missing persons, almost ending up one himself.And, as always, there is the threat of death from above, in the path of a machine whose only intent is to kill.

Customer Reviews:

Very full of surprises.......2005-02-24

This is the first berserker novel I have read in several years. I found it quite entertaining, largely for the quite extraordinary stellar system, which consists of a black hole, a neutron star "pulsar," and a "habitable body" called Maracanda. This place is NOT a planet, as several characters keep repeating almost as a mantra.

The concept -- for the sake of entertainment at least -- is that the gravitational distortions of massive objects in a tight orbit have created weirdness on the habitable portion of Maracanda. Traveling around or adventuring on Maracanda is quite an experience of time and space dilation.

The characterization is not very deep for the most part, although the protagonist Harry came to life pretty well for me. He is part rogue and part "the last honest man." There's a kind of love linkage in the character of Lily, although the author never really has time or room to build this into too much. Really, Harry's first love is his intelligent ship, the Witch. The ship is actually a better developed character than some of the characters.

As a very "fun read," I give this book pretty good marks. As for quality, I think the author succeeded in creating an imaginary place that is -- ta ta! -- ORIGINAL and that keeps you guessing.

The berserkers are a fun concept -- a bit like the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the "replicators" in SG-1. In short, legion of self-replicating robots with the gone-wrong mission imperative of exterminating all life. These are not original, but they make pretty good -- and scary -- villains. Because in the war with the berserkers, it appears mankind is LOSING . . .

If you want a fun read that keeps you turning pages, and some very original ideas spun off of Einstein's relativity and astrophysics -- I think you will like this. It is not "War and Peace" but it is fun -- and good of its kind.

Tedious and meandering.......2004-11-16

Years ago, Saberhagen published a series of short stories on berserkers which collectively became classics. Since then, his productivity on this idea has slowed. But he recently released this book.

Sadly disappointing compared to his earlier work. Part of the reason may have been that his short stories intrinsically had to have tighter focus. Here, the plot meanders over a zany unearthly landscape. Perhaps Saberhagen was trying to show his ability in fashioning a truly bizarre arena. But it was hard to identify with any of the characters.

Though the main character shows some potential. Akin to the Stainless Steel Rat, Slippy Jim diGriz, in Harry Harrison's novels.

More to the point, people who read Berserker novels want to see descriptions of actions against the Berserkers. Not the tedious shilly shallying of this book.

Saberhagen is capable of far better than this sloppy rendition.

Not the best in the Berserker series.......2004-11-16

Fred Saberhagen is widely acknowledged as one of science fiction's foremost masters of military science fiction, especially with his acclaimed "Berserker" series. However, "Berserker's Star" is the worst installment I have seen so far, coming across as a poorly written "Star Trek" novel, than another exciting tome in Saberhagen's series. His two protagonists, Harry, the irascible merchant ship captain, and Lily, his passenger, didn't garner much enthusiasm or interest in either character from me. If you are a fan of Saberhagen's work, I would recommend skipping this novel and reading instead, his earlier, critically acclaimed works.

Maracanda was a dangerous place..........2004-04-02

An almost-planet, trapped between a black hole and a neutron star, this is the last place youi would think Harry
Silver would end up at. But being on the run from the Space Force makes for an interesting life and, as he is always looking for more adventure, he agrees to take some passengers to this world.
Little did he know he would have to deal with the Space Force, drug smugglers, missing persons and, of course, berserkers.
366 pages, very focused, much better than the last few Berserker books. Still, I would of liked more berserkers.

Saberhagen Coasting.......2003-10-03

Berserker's Star reads like a first draft and is badly in need of some editing. The plot drags through the first half of the book, and, even when it does pick up, it is convoluted and confused. The characters are not well-developed, and are, on the whole, rather uninteresting. Kul is an exception, but still he gets tedious. With only a brief role, General Pike may have been the best of the bunch. I grew all too tired of them. The story line is interesting, but hardly sufficient to hold this together. Still, I think that there is a great book in here that is fighting to get out, probably at about half the length. I read many of the books in this series years ago, and my recollection is that they were well-paced. It appears that established authors, like Saberhagen, don't feel compelled to really put in the kind of work necessary to create polished jewels, but are content with producing only rough cut stones, and coast on their name. Saberhagen has followed in the footsteps of Roger Zelazny and Tony Hillerman, to name a couple, who have failed to maintain the same level of storytelling as they had in their early works.

Average customer rating:

Disappointing
Berserkers Deserve Better
first contact with the Berkserkers
Total Disappointment
solid but typical Berserker tale

Berserker Prime (Berserker)
Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0765345439
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Book Description

Master storyteller Fred Saberhagen continues his Berserker series, detailing humanity's war with the dreaded Juggernaut-like machines programmed to destroy all life in the galaxy.In the Twin World planets, Prairie and Timber, Plenipotentiary Gregor is determined to serve his government. Even if it means executing innocent Huvean hostages, invaders from another planet. And even though Gregor's granddaughter, Luon, is in love with Reggie, a Huvean.But now the Berserkers are threatening the Twin Worlds, crashing a scoutship, capturing the planets' president, and reprogramming his brain to suit their violent agenda. And only the Huveans, in a desperate reprieve, can save the Twin Worlds' populace from annihilation.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2006-06-08

Earlier books in this series had led me to expect much more than this installment delivered. Sadly, it reads like the work of someone who has run out of new ideas, and is milking the old ones for all they're worth.

We don't really learn anything new about the berserkers. We don't care much about the characters. There's precious little science in this science fiction. And the book itself could probably have been 10 percent shorter if Saberhagen's characters could just stop using his made-up swear word (it's "motherless").

Out of respect for earlier books in the series I finished reading this one, but I can't see myself picking up another. If you enjoyed the berserker books do yourself a favor and skip this one, and leave those pleasant memories intact.

Berserkers Deserve Better.......2005-06-15

Berserkers are among the archtypical monsters of science-fiction. They are machines capable of self-replication and self-
repair that exist for no other purpose than to eliminate life, which of course has predictable consequences when said machines encounter humanity. The Berserker represents several common themes of science fiction--the potential danger of artificial intelligence, the wisdom of unleashing the ultimate weapon, the unknown dangers of space, parallells between artificial and natural intelligences, etc. Unfortunately, none of these ideas are explored in this book. The original stories were great, but Berserker Prime doesn't come close to delivering on its promise.

first contact with the Berkserkers.......2005-02-04

This would be called a prequel, going back to the situation briefly sketched by the Carmpam first historial in the linking material in the first collection of Berserker stories. Mankind has spread to the stars, and two star systems are on the brink of war. And a Berkserker shows up. Having been a Saberhagen fan since my first delireous reading of Changeling Earth (part of Empire of the East), and still remembering my first discovery of his Berserker stories with pleasure. And I liked this one. I enjoyed seeing Hemphill as a cadet, a fascinating character who appeared in three of the original tales. And I especially like Saberhagen's wry use of Asimov's Three Laws set against the presence of the murderous berkserkers.

Total Disappointment.......2004-05-12

Having grown up reading both Saberhagen's Berserker series and Swords series I was excited to see that the Master had put out yet another Berserker novel. That was where the excitement ended.

This book is beyond bad. It is terrible. I forced myself to finish reading it, desperately hoping that some twist of plot would make the effort worthwhile. There was none.

Flat characters. Full of clichés. Bad stereotypes. Limited plotline. Overall, shallow and uninteresting. But it gets worse - there is one characters that is obviously supposed to be Saberhagen himself.

Like the pro athlete that we watch achieve greatness then stay in the game past their prime and fall quickly below mediocrity before our eyes, I only wish that Mr Saberhagen had walked away from the keyboard years ago so that we could remember him going out with a bang, not this flat fizzle.

solid but typical Berserker tale.......2004-01-10

The inhabitants of the twin planets Prairie and Timber feel euphoric having defeated the Huvean invasion. However, as Plenitpotenary Gregor prepares to have the Huvean prisoners executed over the objection of his granddaughter Luon who loves a Huvean, the Berserkers invade the twin-planets.

The Twins do not know much about these robots except that they are ancient construct killing machines. Ironically, only the Huvean might be able to stop the raiders, but they are prisoners with death awaiting them. Will the Plenitpotenary negotiate life for life or will he remain stubborn in face of the Berserker assault that means with no help certain Twin pandemic genocide?

Fans of the Berserker series will enjoy this solid but typical ninth book. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of action and the usual Cecil DeMille-size cast. Though the valiant good guys without thought are willing to die for the Twin-Huvean cause, the Berserker robots are as malevolent as ever. An interesting underlying theme throughout the plot is Fred Saberhagan's Laws of Robotics: (1) a simple output is better generated by machine; (2) situations when values should determine outcomes, humanity needs to supersede computers. Though quite predictable as a normal Berserker entry, this still remains a prime space opera.

Harriet Klausner

Average customer rating:

A half-finished novel . . . .

Padded, clumsy and slow. Worst Saberhagen I've read.

Rather Disappointing

Started mediocre and got weaker.

weak...

Shiva In Steel (Berserker)
Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Rogue Berserker (The Berserker)

Berserker Death (The Berserker)

ASIN: 0812571126

Amazon.com

This is another installment in Fred Saberhagen's ongoing saga of war between humanity and the almost-sentient death machines known as Berserkers. For long years the war has been at a stalemate, with humanity managing to fend off the bulk of Berserker attacks and even strike back from time to time. But on a remote planet called Hyperborea, things are about to change. The Berserkers have developed a new tactical computer that has proven unbeatable, and it could spell the death of all living things in the galaxy. A last-ditch effort to destroy the machine, code-named Shiva, has failed, and now the only thing that stands between Shiva and certain victory is a handful of humans that circumstance has thrown together on Hyperborea. In this Berserker book, Saberhagen returns to all of the things that have made his series such a mainstay in science fiction. His heartless enemy machines are as treacherous as ever, and the fragile humans who most stop them may not be perfect, but they are resourceful. --Craig E. Engler

Book Description

One Berserker computer has suddenly developed a tactical strategy unlike anything the human opposition has ever seen. Shiva, like the Hindu god of destruction after which it was named, annihilates entire colonies with the help of its fiendish subordinates. It's up to Commander Claire Normandy to prepare for Shiva's attacks, with the help of Pilot Harry Silver. When the Berserkers approach, a decision is made to destroy the destroyer, whatever the cost. But will Normandy and Silver be ready to discover that something wholly unexpected yet eerily familiar lies gnarled within the steel?

Customer Reviews:

A half-finished novel . . . ........2005-03-16

In the last couple of months I reviewed two other Saberhagen novels on Amazon: Berserker Star and Rogue Berserker. Both showed more craftsmanship than Shiva in Steel.

The other reviews printed here carry the main idea. The book seems carelessly or hastily done.

For example-- the first two-thirds of the book are focused toward preparing and arming a sortie against the berserkers. The ships are prepared, the crews are trained, the strategy is planned. Then we find out, there's going to be no expedition. A kind of ad hoc battle flares up as the berserkers somehow locate the Solarian base. A reader has the feeling that Saberhagen started out to write a big novel, say 500 pages, and then for whatever reason needed to bring it to a very rapid close.

As for the characters . . . again, a work half finished. Harry's great love, Becky, shows up in the novel. Given the build-up to her appearance, we are expecting some engagement between Harry and the girl. However, she is little more than a cardboard cutout. There's no characterization, really, and the total exchange between Harry and Becky amounts to just a few paragraphs.

Several times, Harry begins to develop sub-plots. Marut is a commander with whom Harry has lots of conflict. He's a pretty central figure in the first half of the book. Then he just disappears. We finally get a sentence or two at the very end informing us that his ship was lost in the battle. Other characters are brought on stage, given some scenes, and assume some reality in the story, to include the Emperor Julius and Christopher Havot. Both of them peter out. It is as though Saberhagen decided to write them into the story, then loses track of them.

I formerly had given Saberhagen's Rogue Berserker a very strong rating. I thought it was really well done. This novel is really a patched-together mess. I wonder if the publishers were pressuring him and he was over-deadline. He had a rough draft . . . well, "it would just have to do!"

Not for me it didn't. Didn't do, I mean. And one of the other reviewer's comments, that we never find out what happens to the title villain Shiva . . . that's ridiculous. You have a title villain, and you somehow lose track of him?

This is a problem with today's equivalent of the pulp market. Novels are pumped out fast, sometimes one or more a year. Publishers keep badgering their few authors who have something of a name for more and more productivity. If the book is ready it comes out. If it is half-finished and desperately needs work, it comes out anyway. At least some of this criticism should go to the editor at the publishing house.

Saberhagen has other much better novels in print. Buy those.

Padded, clumsy and slow. Worst Saberhagen I've read........2004-01-18

__________________________________
I made it through Saberhagen's new Berserker novel, but just barely
-- the opening moves like rush-hour traffic in L.A.: S - L - O - W.
Once it gets moving [around p. 160(!)] it's not too bad. Inside the
padding is a pretty decent novellette struggling to get out. Maybe. The
characters are so flat, cardboard looks well-rounded. Plot-threads
dangle, and logical holes gape. Saberhagen clearly lost interest at the
first draft, and his editor didn't send it back for a badly-needed rewrite
(bad Tor!). Is he in poor health?

Shiva in Steel somehow got a good review in Locus, which is why I
bought it (besides having liked previous Berserker stories). So I
suppose YMMV, but I doubt it. Trust me -- you don't want to read
this one. Reread an old Berserker book instead. It's bad enough, I feel
guilty recycling it to the used bookstore.

Happy reading (something else) --
Peter D. Tillman

Rather Disappointing.......2001-01-14

First, let me say that in general I like the way Fred Saberhagen writes, and his stories and plots are exceptional. I got hooked on the berserker series after reading "Berserker Base", and went to my local half price bookstore and bought every book in the series I could find. This book, Shiva in Steel, has proved to be the worst. The hype over the big bad Shiva is never resolved! Did it die? Is it hiding in our hero's ship as he makes his get away? We never know. Mr. Saberhagen repeats himself a lot, and his prose isn't very smooth in this novel for some odd reason. He's done fine in the past, but this one was sloppy. New editor? No editor? The plot wasn't bad, but the execution was poor. This should have been a draft rather than the final product. If this is your first Berserker book, don't give up on the series. This was the worst of the bunch; the others are pretty good.

Started mediocre and got weaker........2000-06-15

I'd swear I read this beserker story before. First, I thought this was a poor expansion of a previous short story. I've loved a lot of Saberhagen's work including a lot of the Beserker stuff. I'd suggest he put away this milieu until gets some real new inspiration.

weak..........2000-02-19

This is really quite weak compared to Saberhagen's earlier writings. Not terribly engrossing. if you're new to the Berserker series, start with a much earlier book. Only read this if you liked the Berserker series as a whole and are willing to spend time on the weakest member of the series.

Average customer rating:

Berserker
Fred Saberhagen
Manufacturer: Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0441054048

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