5 h 22 minAudiobook2 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 132 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 132 pagesAbout this book
What good is reaching the stars if the journey separates you from the people you love?
Sixteen-year-old Alan Donnell grows up aboard an interstellar trading ship. For him, life among the stars is ordinary. But time passes differently for travellers and people on Earth. When his twin brother, Steve, chooses to stay behind, that difference becomes more than a scientific puzzle: it threatens their shared life.
In Robert Silverberg’s Starman’s Quest, Alan seeks a way beyond this painful divide. His search brings him to Earth, where planetary society and shipboard life have different habits, loyalties, and expectations. The possibility of another form of travel gives him a goal: finding a way to cross space without losing so much to time.
What you’ll discover
- A brother left behind Steve’s choice gives the vast problem of time a close, human face.
- Time with a cost Explore a scientific puzzle through the relationships that unequal ageing puts at risk.
- Two ways of living Follow Alan between Earth and starship communities, each with its own loyalties and expectations.
- A search for connection The quest for different space travel holds out hope for keeping people together.
- Growing beyond the ship Join a young traveller as he questions the only life he knows.
Who will love it
For readers who love classic space adventures with young heroes, scientific puzzles, and family stakes, and anyone drawn to a search for independence among the stars.
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Starman's Quest
by Robert Silverberg · 1958
Alan seeks an answer to the time differences of space travel as his brother's choice to stay on Earth separates them.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Alan Donnell grows up aboard an interstellar trading ship. Space travel is not an occasional adventure for him; it is the life he knows. His father commands the ship, and its journeys carry a close community across enormous distances. But this way of life comes with a cost that no successful voyage can erase.
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What is Starman's Quest about?
Starman's Quest follows Alan Donnell, a young man raised aboard an interstellar ship, as he seeks an answer to the time differences caused by space travel. His brother's decision to remain on Earth makes the scientific problem a matter of family and belonging.
Who are Alan and Steve Donnell?
Alan and Steve Donnell are twin brothers whose lives take different paths. Alan belongs to the world of interstellar travel, while Steve stays on Earth. Because time passes differently during high-speed journeys, their separation changes more than the distance between them.
How does time work in Starman's Quest?
The novel uses time dilation: people travelling close to light speed age more slowly than people remaining on Earth. This means a space traveller can come back to find that far more time has passed at home than aboard the ship.
The author
Robert Silverberg
1935–? · American science fiction writer
Robert Silverberg is an American science fiction writer and editor born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1935. He graduated from Columbia University in 1956. His novel Starman’s Quest appeared in 1958. He also wrote Nightwings and Dying Inside. He moved from New York to California in 1972.
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