Saberhagen has given SF one of its most powerful images of future war in his Berserker series. Created for a long-forgotten conflict, the berserkers are implacable, inimical killing machines that have been programmed to rebuild and redesign themselves. Their computer cunning and mechanical evolution present ever-greater challenges to humanity's scattered colonies. In this latest novel, Saberhagen draws on such epics of vengeance as The Searchers and Moby Dick. The loss of his family and of his left leg drive Niles Domingo to pursue the immense berserker known as Old Blue or Leviathan. Although he succeeds, his fanaticism transforms him into an inhuman acolyte of the godlike machine, a role that comes to define Domingo's purpose and existence. One of the best entries in the series. November Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Saberhagen has given SF one of its most powerful images of future war in his Berserker series. Created for a long-forgotten conflict, the berserkers are implacable, inimical killing machines that have been programmed to rebuild and redesign themselves. Their computer cunning and mechanical evolution present ever-greater challenges to humanity's scattered colonies. In this latest novel, Saberhagen draws on such epics of vengeance as The Searchers and Moby Dick. The loss of his family and of his left leg drive Niles Domingo to pursue the immense berserker known as Old Blue or Leviathan. Although he succeeds, his fanaticism transforms him into an inhuman acolyte of the godlike machine, a role that comes to define Domingo's purpose and existence. One of the best entries in the series. November
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Long before recorded history, two interstellar races were at war. One, pushed to desperation, created Beserkers, space-going battleships whose robotic minds were instructed to annihilate all biological life--presumably on the alien enemy's worlds. But eons after friend and foe were put to an end, the Berserkers still roam, and now they've encountered mankind. Such is the premise of one of the most famous science fiction series of all time. This book is a typical entry, with an obsessed man hunting down the machine that apparently killed his daughter. Patrick Cullen possesses a rich, compelling voice and sounds so fascinated by the story that the listener is, too. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine