I picked up this book months ago at a free library. I didn't think much of it at first, it seemed kind of predictable.
However as I read more I was interested to know what was going to happen and how the characters would develop.
It became less predictable, too, as the story progressed. And interesting look into religion and it's uses alongside science. ( )

Contains: This star shall abide -- Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains -- The doors of the universe. ( )

Surprisingly nuanced and surprisingly surprising, I read this after R had borrowed it. Like him, I'd read the first book in this trilogy - originally that was the only one published in the UK, and in fact I hadn't ever known there were more.

The first book (published in the UK as [b:Heritage of the Star|715920|This Star Shall Abide|Sylvia Engdahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1198115292s/715920.jpg|2357897]) was very definitely a YA book: a good basic SF story about individual differences and strength of belief, in a quasi-mediaeval yet futuristic setting. The other two are much stronger fare - the second one is an extended disquisition about faith, theism, and atheism and the third is a story of real struggle that staggers the reader in its intensity and lack of compromise.

I kept on being surprised by the fact that [a:Sylvia Engdahl|3145|Sylvia Engdahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198025800p2/3145.jpg] didn't take the easy way out - at various points it looked like she was either destroying an established relationship just in order to supply exciting new love interest, or bringing in a deus ex machina. In fact she works very hard to avoid the ending of the trilogy from being such, which I admired.

Overall, a very strong and engaging read, reaching levels I never expected and repaying close attention.

(borrowed from Ian and Ruth) ( )

This trilogy should be required reading. So much more than science fiction (though great as that) it goes so much deeper, to the very essence of what it is to be...human, intelligent life in the process of evolution, a species that could be us - is us - when we've reached the stars only to lose our world and have to build a new one. It is a thoughtful, intelligent and successful attempt to explore the role of religion in human evolution, how faith in science and the mysteries of the universe ascend the primitive notion of God, Intelligent Design and other notions still prevalent in our world.
Read this trilogy! ( )