The Wreck of The River of Stars

Tor has brought out a trade paperback edition of The Wreck of The River of Stars.  This was the critical and literary success that disappeared in the sales figures.  It is not everybody's cup of tea.  Some have been disappointed it was not an action-adventure or that it was too literary, had too much characterization.  Others found the omniscient narrator, rare within the SF genre, hard to follow.  But others rather liked it.  Not enough others, but still.  You now have another chance. 

The book is also available as an Audible audiobook and as a Kindle.  Also on Barnes&Noble in book and nook.

Some reviewer comments:

"Flynn's fully realized characters, easy mastery of technical detail, and meticulous, consequential style perfectly matches the theme of this long, dense, spellbinding, brilliant work."

-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

This is a sad but compelling study of (literally) explosive group dynamics in an arena where technology is critical to human life.

-- Publisher's Weekly

"This is the best hard-SF tragic novel of character yet written (though this is an uncrowded niche)." 

-- Peter D. Tillman, The SF Site

"Thus do triumph and tragedy merge into an ultimately satisfying whole. For all its flaws, The Wreck of The River of Stars emerges finally as a lovely tale."

-- Jeremy Smith, Strange Horizons

NESFA review by Jim Mann

 A curious review by a fan of Jane Austen Regency stories!

This is a particular sort of book. It’s not an adventure or romance. It’s a quiet little drama, and ultimately, a tragedy. But it’s also a social commentary and a psychological discourse. It’s more literary fiction than science fiction. And while I wouldn’t want to read one of these every week, I’m very glad I read this one, and I highly recommend it.

-- Joseph Robert Lewis,  Joe's Blog

What I so enjoy about Michael Flynn in that while his stories and world building are great SF, it is his characters that truly add flesh to the bones of the SF plot. His skills at character dialog are delightful and have a depth that goes beyond so much SF, or really so much of any genre. The crew of The River of Stars are a hodge podge of people who like the ship have fallen on hard times. They are an assortment of hard luck stories that have been gathered together as the crew of this aging ship. Put all together this novel just works on every level.

-- Jeff Miller, Goodreads

 An excerpt from The Wreck appears on the Book Preview page.