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Berserker's Star by Fred Saberhagen
01/09/2004 . Source: Paul Hanley 
pub: TOR. 368 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30423-6. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
TOR
I have not read any of the earlier 'Berserker' books, although did not find this detracted from my enjoyment in reading this one. I now intend to read the earlier stories in the series.
The key character is a pilot, Harry Silver, who is a somewhat dubious character but who possesses his own spaceship. He is on a planet which has to be evacuated due to a nearby sun having gone nova. Whilst the armada of ships are carrying refugees in one direction, Silver takes little persuading, save money, to transport a woman and two men to the odd world of Maracanda which is in the opposite direction. The women, Lily, is searching for her husband who has apparently gone there following some religious cult. The men, Redpath and Dietrict, claim to be businessmen. They try to steal the ship in mid-voyage but the wily Silver is more than a match for them and strands them on an abandoned space station. Shortly afterwards, he encounters a Berserker. These are automated machines programmed to destroy all life. Silver succeeds in destroying it using technology he has stolen from the military.
When he and Lily arrive at Maracanda, a weird world, as the military impound his ship he helps her trek across the planet to find her husband. The weirdness includes areas where advanced technology fails to function.
I will not spoil the story by recounting it in detail but this is an adventure story. Silver encounters the Berserker machines, their human supporters, the good life and other characters - some allies and some not. After many adventures, he triumphs over his adversaries.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and do not believe that not having read the earlier books stopped me enjoying the story. I did find one or two loose ends which were not satisfactorily cleared up but the book was a rattling good yarn despite these minor gripes.
Paul Hanley 
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