Godspeed Paperback – Illustrated, 19 July 2013

I had read this (from the library) when it was originally published in 1993, and purchased it as an anniversary gift. We both read it and enjoyed it (me, for the second time). Sheffield dedicates the book to Heinlein and Robert Louis Stevenson, which should give you a broad hint as to how retro and enjoyable it's going to be. Not at all parodic or rollicking, it's a good solid first-person yarn about a boy on an ailing planet that falls in with a gang of rapscallion spacers in search of the Holy Grail of the "Godspeed drive," the sudden failure of which (centuries ago) has left his home system withering on the vine. Reading it in 2016, I realized that it actually works quite well as a post-peak-oil narrative, but don't let that deter you from having a good time, which you will -- so long as you enjoy a well-built tale of adventure in the deep eddies of a large and complex solar system.

I have read this before and I am looking forward to reading it again.Bob