Anvil of Stars was published by Warner Books in 1992, the sequel to The Forge of God. The Earth has been destroyed; a remnant of humanity has been rescued by benevolent alien machines called the Benefactors. Now the Benefactors offer the surviving children a mission: travel to the star system of the “Killers” — the civilization that sent the self-replicating machines that destroyed Earth — and execute the Law, an interstellar code that demands the destruction of any civilization that builds planet-eating weapons.
The Ship of the Law carries eighty-two children, now young adults, across interstellar space on a mission of vengeance. Martin Gordon, the elected leader (called the “Pan”), must hold the group together during a journey that takes years, manage the psychological pressures of their mission, and ultimately decide whether to carry out the destruction of an alien civilization — a civilization that may have changed, may have repented, may not even be the original Killers.
The novel is a sustained meditation on justice and vengeance. The children have every reason to want revenge — their world was destroyed, their families killed — but the act of destruction they are asked to perform would make them exactly what the Killers were: a civilization that destroys other civilizations. Bear does not resolve this moral dilemma; he forces the characters and the reader to live inside it.
Collecting Anvil of Stars
First edition (Warner Books, New York, 1992): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $15–$40
- Paperback editions: $5–$10