# Starquake

![Book cover of Starquake](/books/covers/starquake.jpg)

by [Robert L. Forward](/books/authors/robert_l_forward/)
Book 2 of [Cheela](/books/series/cheela/)
Awards: [2024 Favorites](/blog/favorite-books-of-2024/)
★★★☆☆

## Review

_Starquake_ is the second book in the _Cheela_ series by Robert L. Forward. It follows
the Cheela as they rescue the humans and rebuild after a devastating
starquake.

_Starquake_ begins just moments after the ending of [_Dragon's Egg_](/books/dragons_egg/).
Unlike its predecessor, _Starquake_ presents a more straightforward
narrative, with characters who---thanks to the Cheela's natural
regeneration---remain present for longer than 15 human minutes.

The story's initial conflict arises when the human spacecraft is damaged, and
the Cheela pledge to repair it. This section is both amusing and
thought-provoking due to the stark contrast between the perspectives. The
humans see an urgent crisis mere minutes away from disaster, while the Cheela
view it as a long-term, somewhat boring project. We watch the Cheela
population gradually losing interest, their government postponing votes and
shelving critical bills, and the space fleet Cheela struggling to secure
funding to fulfill their promise. In a way, this becomes a study of how
societies handle large-scale, slow-moving crises---not unlike our own
challenges with issues such as [climate change][gw].

[gw]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change

The book's central conflict unfolds shortly after the humans are rescued, when
a massive starquake decimates the Cheela civilization, leaving only four
survivors on the star and a few hundred in orbit. The remainder of the novel
follows the Cheela---and humans---as they rebuild their society, confront the
barbarian Cheela who rise to take control of the star, and work to restore
their technological capabilities, allowing them to rescue the humans again. In
a not-so-surprising turn of events, the humans play a crucial role in the
battle against the barbarians by using their LIDAR to blind the horde. This
was foreshadowed earlier with a reference to _The Lion and the Mouse_, suggesting that even
the technologically inferior humans might one day again be able to help the
Cheela.

The large cast of characters who persist across hundreds of generations
reminds me of [Peter F. Hamilton](/books/authors/peter_f_hamilton/)'s works, like the [_Commonwealth Saga_](/books/series/commonwealth_saga/), [_The Void Trilogy_](/books/series/the_void_trilogy/),
and [_The Chronicle of the Fallers_](/books/series/the_chronicle_of_the_fallers/); which is reinforced by the theme of building super-advanced
technology. While the plot's rising tension and climax provide the novel with
clear direction, it limits the amount of detail Robert L. Forward can include,
which was the highlight of [_Dragon's Egg_](/books/dragons_egg/). Still, it's impressive that he
was able to echo the structure of the first book, once again depicting the
Cheela building their civilization from scratch. In the end, these factors
mostly balance out, resulting in a book about as good as the first.

Robert L. Forward was inspired by [Hal Clement](/books/authors/hal_clement/)'s [_Mission of Gravity_](/books/mission_of_gravity/) when writing
this series, so that is the next book I plan to read.

## Reviews that mention _Starquake_
- [_Dragon's Egg_](/books/dragons_egg/)
- [_Mission of Gravity_](/books/mission_of_gravity/)
- [_Star Light_](/books/star_light/)†

† _Mentioned via a link to the series._

## Related Books
- [_Dragon's Egg_](/books/dragons_egg/) by [Robert L. Forward](/books/authors/robert_l_forward/) --- ★★★★☆: Dragon’s Egg is a hard sci-fi novel by Robert L. Forward. It is the story of first contact between humans and the Cheela: beings who live on a neutron star.
- [_Field of Dishonor_](/books/field_of_dishonor/) by [David Weber](/books/authors/david_weber/) --- ★★★☆☆: Field of Dishonor, by David Weber, is the fourth book in the Honor Harrington series. It reduces the scale of the narrative, trading fleet battles for political maneuvering and personal grudges.
- [_The Short Victorious War_](/books/the_short_victorious_war/) by [David Weber](/books/authors/david_weber/) --- ★★★★☆: The Short Victorious War, by David Weber, is the third book in the Honor Harrington series. Harrington takes command of the battlecruiser Nike as the People’s Republic of Haven makes its move and a revolution brews in Nouveau Paris.