The novel “Starplex” by Robert J. Sawyer was published for the first time in 1996.
The starship Starplex and its crew that includes members of four different species aims to explore the space reached thanks to artificial wormholes of which the creators are unknown. Each new wormhole discovered leads to a different area of space that can offer surprises. The discovery of a green star with a composition possible only after a time much longer than the age of the universe is definitely unexpected.
The discovery of the mysterious green star is only the first unexpected event for the crew of the Starplex. Keith Lansing, the human commander of the expedition, suddenly has to run a mission with far more serious problems than the relationships between crew members. The situation starts getting dangerous and the stakes quickly rise.
Robert J. Sawyer has addressed many different themes in his works but tends to focus on very few of them in a single work. Occasionally, he mixes several different themes into a single novel, and that’s the case with “Starplex”, which offers a space opera on a large cosmic scale. Such a scale is an isolated case for Sawyer, to the point that sometimes this novel reminded me more of Stephen Baxter’s style.
In the future told by Robert J. Sawyer, humans recognized the intelligence of dolphins and, along with them, met other sentient species with which they formed an alliance. These species have developed propulsions for interstellar travel but such journeys are mostly accomplished through artificial wormholes created by an unknown species.
The mission of the starship Starplex is a bit in the style of Star Trek and this makes sense considering the many references to this saga included by Robert J. Sawyer in his works set in the present or in the near future. In this case, rather than strange new worlds, the protagonists discover strange stars. Another result is the encounter with new life forms that are truly exotic, as the author exploits concepts that were new at the time when he wrote this novel.
A problem with “Starplex” is that the cosmic mysteries encountered throughout the story are developed and find solutions based on cosmological models that have in the meantime been made obsolete. Reading the novel today requires ignoring 25 years of progress in astrophysics for some parts of the plot to make sense.
“Starplex” is in many ways a hard science fiction novel but the characters and interpersonal relationships are important as well. The aliens are alien enough to be interesting, on the other hand, human characters often end up being dull. Keith Lansing in particular is experiencing a midlife crisis and, despite loving his wife, is attracted to a much younger scientist. Luckily, there are other parts of the protagonist’s story that are much more interesting.
The combination of scientific elements, sometimes dated, and the personal stories of some characters makes “Starplex” a novel that gave me mixed feelings. Robert J. Sawyer writes novels that aren’t very long by today’s standards. This means that the exposition is contained and the pace tends to be fast, also thanks to action moments. In my opinion, overall the merits outweigh the flaws and dated elements with mysteries and twists that can still be intriguing. If the merits are interesting to you and the flaws aren’t a big deal, you’ll like it.
