The novel “Anvil of Stars” by Greg Bear was published for the first time in 1992. It’s the sequel to “The Forge of God“.
The Benefactors have failed to save the Earth from destruction but had time to save thousands of human beings. In addition to starting the terraforming of Mars, they offered the survivors the support of the Law, a galactic code which requires among other things that the Killers, the species that created the machines that destroyed many planets, including Earth, are found and destroyed.
A group of human boys and girls have been traveling for some subjective years in space in search of the Killers. The Ship of the Law is equipped with an artificial intelligence and robots called moms who assist them but it’s up to the humans to decide when it’s the moment to apply the Law. At last, they find traces of Killers in a solar system but it could be a trap.
“Anvil of Stars” is a rather special sequel because it’s completely different from “The Forge of God”. In fact, it’s set mainly in one of the Ships of the Law who are seeking to destroy the world of the Killers. In this case, the crew is made up of young humans who volunteered for that mission.
Among the thousands of human rescued by benefactors when the Earth was destroyed by the machines sent by the Killers, a little more than 80 teenagers have left to seek justice for the crime committed against their planet. During their journey they’re trained with the help of the artificial intelligence and the moms of the Ship.
The first part of “Anvil of Stars” shows the microcosm within the Ship of the Law and the relationships that have been created after a few years in the group. It’s certainly not an easy mission and even before they can find some trace of the Killers some of them reached their limit of endurance and committed suicide. However, those are just a few cases and in general within the group there’s a pretty good harmony.
Things change when they find a lead to the Killers and the themes of “Anvil of Stars” really start developeding. The main one concern justice, in particular its application within the law. Initially, the hardest part seems to find the Killers because they have already been sentenced to death for destroying the Earth and other planets. However, when the time comes to apply the Law, its interpretation is made complex by the circumstances.
Much of “Anvil of Stars” is developed on the ambiguity of the results of the search for the Killers. The application of the death penalty to an entire species first requires certainty in its identification but how can it be achieved when they find many species that are part of a vast community?
The moral dilemma is developed showing the different points of view of various characters, even aliens. Another Ship of the Law has a crew of Brothers, aliens whose individuals are sub-sentient and form small groups that become sentient gestalt. They have the same purpose as humans but their way of thinking is really alien and adds more points to ponder on the question of the interpretation of the Law.
For the humans, the problem becomes more complex because the responsibility becomes heavier and heavier and starts creating deeper and deeper internal divisions within the crew. After living for years in a kind of direct democracy with few rules and leaders who had an easy job, suddenly things change. Hans, the leader who must lead the crew when they need to decide the application of the Law, takes more and more authoritarian attitudes and doesn’t hesitate to manipulate others to maintain his power and impose his point of view.
The conflict within the crew lead not only to mistrust among its members but also towards the computer of the ship and its moms. In the course of the novel, it becomes clearer and clearer that the Benefactors trust human beings only up to a certain point so they provide only the information necessary to fulfill their mission, in particular concerning the technologies available to the Ship. Again, the presence of the Brothers expands the development of this theme given that the Benefactors have a greater trust in those aliens.
The development of these themes gives life to a very intriguing story with moral ambiguities and gray areas that give the reader much food for thought, also because Greg Bear doesn’t offer his own idea but until the end shows different points of view and everyone can evaluate their pros and cons.
In “Anvil of Stars” Greg Bear focuses a lot on the development of these issues and for a novel almost 500 pages long the plot is in other ways very linear, without parallel subplots, unlike some of the author’s previous novels, including “The Forge of God”. The story is told in the third person but follows the point of view of Martin, the son of Arthur Gordon, one of the main characters in “The Forge of God”.
In common with the previous novels “Anvil of Stars” has the presence of many characters and inevitably only a few are really developed. In the case of the Brothers there aren’t exactly fixed characters in the sense that the gestalts can vary depending on which individuals form them.
The pace of the story is initially slow and sometimes you may think you’re reading a book for kids but don’t be put off because in the course of the novel the pace becomes faster, the tone more dramatic and the themes show that it’s very suitable for an adult audience.
In my opinion, “Anvil of Stars” is overall an excellent book so I recommend reading it. You don’t need to have read “The Forge of God” because the necessary information are provided in the second novel but the best thing is to read both of them.
