The idea is grand: a huge generational starship is prepared to leave Earth orbit carrying thousands of human volunteers to a potential new home circling the star Tau Ceti. But the focus is entirely earthbound as the ship's imminent departure causes political, psychological, and ideological fractures on a homeworld already teeming with billions of unhappy people. The technology is merely brushed upon so it's not standard science fiction. There are luddite terrorists at work yet it is not exactly a thriller. The leader of the anti-starship (anti-progress?) mob is an enigma yet it's not a mystery. There is sex and relationship issues yet it is not a romance. Even the characters, as meticulously drawn as they are, eventually emerge as so many archetypes: the dreamer, the angry young man, the dutiful cop, the charismatic prophet... So why did I find it so engrossing? Kube-McDowell has written something of a multi-player epic which sweeps you along with a narrative that always engages and rarely lags...even the protagonist's incessant whining (of the "my father never loved me, waaah!" variety) ends up being the springboard for some valuable insights. And for that final piece of the puzzle the author uses a bit of genetic sleight-of-hand which suddenly gives the entire story a very different perspective. Reads like a TV mini-series and I mean that as a compliment. ( )

Kube-McDowell, Michael P. The Quiet Pools. Ace, 1990.
There are three dramatic possibilities in any generation starship story. You can focus on problems getting launched, or on problems on the way, or on problems when you get there. The Quiet Pools, nominated for a Hugo, is in the first group. Most stories about launching are starship are focused on the people who want to go. Heinlein’s Methuselah’s Children is a good example. The Quiet Pools is unusual in that it focuses on the opposition. Having said that, it is hard to say more without creating spoilers I would rather avoid. The central symbol of the novel is in the title, but it takes a long time for Kube-McDowell to tells us about it. Technology is underplayed—though there is a very believable scene with an AI—in favor of psychology and genetics. In that way, without the longevity wish fulfillment, it is the heir to Methuselah’s Children. It is better written than Emprise, an earlier Kube-McDowell novel, though I could do with several fewer banal sex scenes and scenes of Freudian angst. However, the scientific argument the story finely presents is worth the wait. ( )