Book 3 for my 2026 goal of 36 books for the year! Today, I can oddly only link to the audiobook on Bookshop.org, since it is an old book and largely out of print.

I’ve been slowly reading the Berserker series of books by Fred Saberhagen in order (book one, book two, book three), but recently I saw one of the later novels in the series, The Berserker Throne (1985) in my local used bookstore and couldn’t resist jumping ahead! It doesn’t seem to be an issue to jump around a little, as long as one knows the backstory, because each novel appears to tell its own story about the Berserker menace.

For those unfamiliar, the Berserkers of Saberhagen’s tales are an army of super-intelligent robotic war machines that were constructed by an ancient alien race to eliminate their long-time enemy… however, the Berserkers went beyond their intended programming and wiped out both sides of the conflict and moved on to wipe out all life in the universe. They are fast, powerful, intelligent, deadly, and utterly ruthless in their goal. The first book of the series tells the story of humanity’s first devastating encounters with the Berserkers, and how it was only through the genius of a general named Karlsen that the main force of machines was wiped out and its remnants driven into hiding. The Berserkers are clever, however, and even a single weakened and isolated Berserker has the potential to ruin an entire world if left unchecked.

By the time of The Berserker Throne, a nearly religious order known as the Templars has taken on the role of defending humanity and destroying any Berserkers that appear. One of their many headquarters is an unusual structure known as the Templar Radiant. There are only a handful of known radiants in the universe that act in essence like reverse black holes, with gravity pushing things away from their center. Around the Templar radiant, a shell-like world was built long ago, with the Templars occupying the inner surface.

An unwilling guest of the Templars is Prince Harivarman, a former noble of the Eight Worlds who was banished to the custody of the Templars by its Empress. Harivarman now spend much of his time on the outer surface of the Templar Radiant, studying its ruins and investigating its long history.

Then two major events happen at almost the same time that shatters Harivarman’s dull but serene life. The Empress of the Eight Worlds is assassinated. A suspect in the assassination, a young man named Chen Shizuoka, arrives on the Templar Radiant, having enlisted in the Templars to avoid arrest for his alleged crime. Harivarman knows that powerful people that he had been shielded from by the Empress will be not far behind to collect him and Shizuoka… and kill them.

The second event is even more unexpected. While exploring the ruins of the Radiant, Harivarman comes across the remains of a Berserker, covered in dust but carrying a functional interstellar drive. In inspecting the drive for possible use, Harivarman discovers something that is potentially game-changing in the war against the Berserkers: this Berserker contains software that allows it to be controlled by a human operator.

With his enemies from the Eight Worlds on the way, and no help from the Templars to protect him, Harivarman must decide whether his discovery is a bargaining chip… or a terrifying weapon to defend himself with.

One of the really delightful aspects of the Berserker series is how many different variations Saberhagen finds on the “killer robot” trope. So far, every story I’ve read has been really different, and in each one the Berserkers play a surprisingly different game in their quest to exterminate humanity. The Berserker Throne is no exception. Saberhagen does a remarkable job of giving the Berserkers themselves an incredible amount of gravitas: reading the books, you don’t doubt that these are the deadliest weapons that have ever been created in the universe.

Each book in the series also has its own theme, and The Berserker Throne seems to be asking the question: how far would you go to defend yourself, and how much of your own personal code would you sacrifice, if you knew that your enemies were coming to kill you? Harivarman makes shocking decisions in this book, and one thing that I love about it is that there comes a point in the story where you feel that everyone involved has been pushed into a precariously and potentially deadly stalemate, and that it was almost a predestined path because of the rules, regulations and politics at play.

I did find the ending a bit too clever for its own good. Everything gets wrapped up just a little too cleanly considering the carnage that has preceded it, though it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the novel and I found the ending satisfying nevertheless.

I may have to scare up some more novels in the series in the near future, as I’m back in a Berserker mood…