Godspeed (Sheffield novel)

Godspeed is a 1993 novel by American author Charles Sheffield.

Plot

On the isolated planet of Erin, young Jay Hara has grown up on dreams of space and legends of the fabled Godspeed drive, which once allowed humans to travel at translight speeds. After meeting Paddy Enderton, a seedy old spacer, Jay is drawn into a chase which carries him off the planet, into the asteroid belt and its tiny worldlets, and finally to the remnants of an ancient space station where the Godspeed drive may still exist. Along the way, Jay is at once awed and terrified of the piratical spacers who crew the ship, particularly the smooth-talking, ruthless captain, Daniel Shaker. Struggling to reconcile his admiration for Shaker with the man's evident viciousness, Jay eventually comes into his own as a spacer and an adult.

Reception

Karen Joy Fowler of The Washington Post wrote that Sheffield is "most interested in spinning an adventure rather than in thinking about the variations in sexuality, politics and philosophies that might result under such conditions" and "focuses on the technology of space travel with a vivid and satisfying imagination, and on the adventurous plot." Fowler opined that the pace "never flags" and praised the "satisfyingly smart and exciting climax." David Brin of Science Fiction Age wrote that it is not the novel's "many routine competencies" that stand out but rather the "unexpected and the untraditional in its resolution of what happened back in Erin’s misty past". Kirkus Reviews called it "passably diverting and involving—if you don't mind precarious plots and chirpy 16-year-old narrators."