"Imhotep spun toward northern autumn." (p. 448)
Autumn, of course. This is the opening sentence of the concluding chapter of a novel. The adventure, the Rebellion and Olaf Magnusson's life and career all approach their ends; also, Dominic Flandry's career and the history of the Terran Empire.
On the other hand, autumn is followed by winter, then spring. Flandry tells Diana and Targovi:
"'...are you really hell-bent on faring out yonder? I'm prepared to arrange that for you, however you choose.'" (p. 453)
Two young lives and careers, just beginning. We want to read about them before we turn to events in later centuries.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Anderson even expressed regret in one of his letters to me at abandoning Diana when she had just barely started her career as a possible Intelligence agent. But there were other ideas and themes he wanted to examine. Such as THE KING OF YS and THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Those two are good, I agree. But I would have preferred less of the later stuff and more Technic History.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But I'm glad Anderson gave his readers the four volumes of the HARVEST OF STARS timeline. In those works he returned to themes touched on in some of his earliest stories, such as BRAIN WAVE, and surpassed them.
Ad astra! Sean
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