This is a very sad story but, nevertheless, one of the best novels I’ve read. Life, as the literature professors will tell you, is a tragedy. Yet there is often joy and humor along the way and so it is here. So I was sorry to see Thomas A. Day’s tale end, especially the way it did. But I didn’t feel tricked or surprised. At least the protagonist had one companion left, even if it was only a worry-wart robot with a Welsh accent.
I always assume space colonization stories will be hopeful, but the colonists often wind up losing much of their high technology as it wears out and they are unable to replace it. They often can’t even go back into the black, let alone travel through space again. This one is a little different. But it’s also a vindication of Murphy’s Law. What they hope to escape, they wind up taking with them. The technology they create to help them turns on them. But the turning is to their ultimate benefit, once they figure it out. They succeed in spite of themselves, something you may only realize after you’ve thought about it a bit.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 