Stardance

Spider and Jeanne Robinson

Shara Drummond lives to dance. Unfortunately, she does not have the body required by a Modern Dance artiste. She is too tall, too Junoesque. Her sister, Norrey, has the desire, the talent and the body to succeed. Norrey introduces Charles Armitage to Shara through Shara's dance. Charlie is flabbergasted. He knows Shara cannot succeed in any dance company on Earth.

Shara finds a way to dance and to make the world take notice of her. She befriends the wealthiest man on Earth. Carrington also happens to own Skyfac, the factory spacestation. She convinces Charlie to accompany her into space. He is a cameraman, and can film the dance in her head better than anyone else she could find.

But she is working against a deadline imposed by her own body. All people need to return to Earth for around six months every year to adjust back to gravity. Otherwise their body will adapt to weightlessness and be unable to return to the planet. But the considerations for Shara's health fall to the wayside when the plasma aliens appear in space near Earth.

This novel definitely has Spider Robinson's feel. The unity of a group of people plays a major role in this book before it is done. The Robinsons take us through the evolution of Stardance and first contact though Charlie's narration. He admits his weaknesses as well as his strengths.

The novel is not real strong. The writing is all right, not overly compelling. I enjoyed it. Yet I recognized that it is not a book I will mention to friends looking for casual reading unless they have already read and enjoyed some on the Robinsons' other work.