Synopsis:
Reissued after seventy-five years out of print—and in hardcover for the first time in a generation—David Starr, Space Ranger is the first book in the Lucky Starr series written by the legendary Isaac Asimov, author of Foundation, the Galactic Empire series, and I, Robot.
Conway could remember the day, the exact minute, when the news had reached Science Tower. Patrol ships had shot out into space, tracing the pirates; they attacked the asteroid lairs in a fury that was completely unprecedented. Whether they caught the particular villains who had gutted the Venus-bound ship none could ever say, but the pirate power had been broken from that year on.
And the patrol ships found something else: a tiny lifeboat winding a precarious orbit between Venus and Earth, radiating its coldly automatic radio calls for help. Only a child was inside. A frightened, lonely four-year-old, who did not speak for hours except to say stoutly, “Mother said I wasn’t to cry.”
It was David Starr.
Review:
Well I didn’t have “reviewing a new Isaac Asimov book” on my 2026 Bingo card, but here we are.
To be fair, David Starr, Space Ranger isn’t a new book. In fact, it was first released in 1952 as the first book in a series aimed towards a potential television series. The series fell through and Asimov ended up with six books in the series in total. Asimov didn’t think a lot of television at the time, so he adopted a pen name — “Paul French” for the series — but later editions of the books had his own name on the covers. Asimov’s original intent was a sci-fi version of the Lone Ranger, and based on the first novel, I can see where he was going with this short novel.
As for me, I was a voracious Asimov reader and fan as a teenager — probably because my father was as well and had many of the Foundation and Robot books on our shelves. For many years when people would ask my favorite book, my go-to was Foundation, which I’ve read numerous times as well as his short stories and the space detective books with Elijah Baley which paved the way for his Galactic Empire. I do still have a soft spot for Asimov, even though I can say his style of writing can be outdated at times. In many ways, Asimov predated Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere as he connected many of his books together in one way or another.
So, I was a little surprised that I hadn’t read or heard about the Lucky Starr series until recently. The pen name probably had a lot to do with it, but I’m happy to have read the first installment now. I got a kick from reading David Starr, Space Ranger, and was tickled with reading something new but familiar at the same time. But, I can totally understand why this is not going to be beloved by many modern-day sci-fi readers. Asimov’s writing is indicative of a certain time in history and taking it out of that time without context could make for a strange read.
I haven’t read the other five books in the series, so I can’t really comment too much on the whole thing, but the first book, David Starr, Space Ranger has its own story and mystery, but a significant chunk is devoted to being an origin story. Asimov loved detective stories and mysteries, so you know this will end with the typical reveal at the end, ala Agatha Christie. Speaking of women — you’re not going to find a lot here. Asimov never really included a ton in his writing and Starr’s mother is one of the few female characters in this book, but she dies decades before the book even begins.
As the book starts, we’re immediately thrown into a galactic mystery — people are dying of food poisoning and the only link is food grown on Mars. David Starr, who comes from heroic and mysterious origins, is tasked with going undercover on a mission to discover who or what is at fault. He ends up as a farmhand on Mars, dodging death threats and discovering the truth behind the plot. During his time on Mars, he ends up discovering a long-buried secret on the red planet and one that helps him become the Space Ranger.
So…a lot going on here. First, remember in Back to the Future when Marty goes back to 1955 and his dad is obsessed with space and science fiction? That’s almost exactly where this story comes from — a time period between the hey-day of The Lone Ranger and the space race. There is a simplicity to stories told during the Golden Age of Science Fiction where writers like Asimov and Heinlein don’t tell everything in their stories, leaving some of the cut scenes open to the readers’ intelligence and imagination.
Also…we gotta talk about Mars. But first, let me tell you about my 8th grade science project. Over winter break back in 1992 I was tasked with writing a report about the Moon. We traveled to my grandmother’s house in the middle of North Dakota and one day my mom told me to ues grandma’s World Book Encyclopedia to do some research on the Moon. I opened it up and as soon as I started reading, it just felt weird. It was all “Scientists think the Moon is…” and “Experts speculate that…”
I closed the book and looked at the spine. This encyclopedia was from 1960. Apollo 11 set foot on the moon in 1969. The encyclopedia was out-of-date for the knowledge I needed.
And that’s kind of the feeling I had reading David Starr, Space Ranger. Written in the early 1950s, Asimov didn’t know a lot about Mars — from atmosphere to water to temperatures to whatever. He didn’t know much about Mars because no one knew much about Mars. Frankly, if the book supposed Starr traveled outside the solar system and landed on other planets, it would be a little more believable. The ability for people to use Mars for extensive farming is a big hang-up and there are multiple times where characters are out in the Mars atmosphere with only a breather on and if you think too hard about it all, your brain starts to break a little bit.
And Foundation showed that Asimov could be great at predicting the future, but there were just things he never anticipated about our current world that didn’t make it into the book. And he talked at one point about wooden furniture on Mars, which just felt strange to even think about.
But…there is just a charm to it all. If you’ve previously read Asimov and never found David Starr, Space Ranger, you need to check it out. I couldn’t stop reading it. Even after all these years, there’s something engaging about Asimov’s writing and propulsive in getting characters to the inevitable conclusion.
Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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