What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sioux Spaceman
Kade Whitehawk had two strikes against him in the Space Service. First, he had bungled his assignment on the planet Lodi. Second, he believed all creatures had a right to freedom and dignity - and having such opinions was strictly against the rules.
But when he was assigned to Klor, he found the Ikkinni there - tortured yet defiant slaves of a vicious tyrant race.
Right then Kade swung at the last pitch. For rules or no rules, THE SIOUX SPACEMAN knew that he had to help these strange creatures gain their freedom... and that he alone, because of his Indian blood, had the key to win it for them.
But when he was assigned to Klor, he found the Ikkinni there - tortured yet defiant slaves of a vicious tyrant race.
Right then Kade swung at the last pitch. For rules or no rules, THE SIOUX SPACEMAN knew that he had to help these strange creatures gain their freedom... and that he alone, because of his Indian blood, had the key to win it for them.
133 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1960
2 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
695 books1,384 followersAndre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 11, 2008
I have spent so long trying to figure out how on earth to review this book that it has begun to haunt me, so I shall simply stick my entire mess of thoughts on this book in, and try to sort them thematically.
One: This book is pretty much what you'd expect if you've ever read a book by Andre Norton. The characterization is what could be charitably called 'slight', the main engine of the book is plot, which is tremendously linear and uncomplicated itself.
Two: This book is called 'Sioux Spaceman.' I bought this book because I was with my mother at the time, it was $0.50, and every time I said 'Sioux Spaceman', she twitched. You sort of have to croon the name. The cover exhorts you to 'Beware the Horsemen of the Stars!' and appears to be about Hawkman's radio-controlled harem boys. Everything about how it is marketed is ridiculous, although obviously it was aimed at the reading audience of some fifty years ago.
Three: However, what really caused me to bog down in my attempt to review is this book as a cultural artifact. Inside the book, the protagonist, Kade, is never referred to as Sioux, he's Lakota. Also contrary to what the cover would have you believe, there are no white people in this book, although there are a half-dozen humans. (There are also no women, or even female aliens. There are female horses, however!) Kade's goal is to undermine Alien Species A's attempt to colonize Alien Species B. (Via horses. So, really, you don't need to beware the horsemen of the stars.) I am aware of a certain species of book by white authors in which they send their (white) protagonist back in time to prevent some historical atrocity committed by white people, or some variation on that theme, but Kade doesn't seem designed to assuage liberal guilt.
Three-and-a-half: HOWEVER, there are some, um, infelicities. Kade is often doing things "with the [fill in the blank] of his ancestors," sometimes of his "savage ancestors." One of Kade's superiors is described as "Afro-arabian" and his name is "Abu." I don't speak Arabic, but I'm pretty sure that means 'Father," which seems like a funny name.
Okay, now this book can stop haunting me.
One: This book is pretty much what you'd expect if you've ever read a book by Andre Norton. The characterization is what could be charitably called 'slight', the main engine of the book is plot, which is tremendously linear and uncomplicated itself.
Two: This book is called 'Sioux Spaceman.' I bought this book because I was with my mother at the time, it was $0.50, and every time I said 'Sioux Spaceman', she twitched. You sort of have to croon the name. The cover exhorts you to 'Beware the Horsemen of the Stars!' and appears to be about Hawkman's radio-controlled harem boys. Everything about how it is marketed is ridiculous, although obviously it was aimed at the reading audience of some fifty years ago.
Three: However, what really caused me to bog down in my attempt to review is this book as a cultural artifact. Inside the book, the protagonist, Kade, is never referred to as Sioux, he's Lakota. Also contrary to what the cover would have you believe, there are no white people in this book, although there are a half-dozen humans. (There are also no women, or even female aliens. There are female horses, however!) Kade's goal is to undermine Alien Species A's attempt to colonize Alien Species B. (Via horses. So, really, you don't need to beware the horsemen of the stars.) I am aware of a certain species of book by white authors in which they send their (white) protagonist back in time to prevent some historical atrocity committed by white people, or some variation on that theme, but Kade doesn't seem designed to assuage liberal guilt.
Three-and-a-half: HOWEVER, there are some, um, infelicities. Kade is often doing things "with the [fill in the blank] of his ancestors," sometimes of his "savage ancestors." One of Kade's superiors is described as "Afro-arabian" and his name is "Abu." I don't speak Arabic, but I'm pretty sure that means 'Father," which seems like a funny name.
Okay, now this book can stop haunting me.
November 1, 2015
Nice older SiFi story by one of the masters in the field. Easy but solid read. Recommended
May 28, 2017
Since “The Sioux Warrior” was primarily written for the young adult market in 1960 it would not have caught my eye back then since I was more interested in comics at 12 years of age. Today, 57 years later it caught my eye on that 50-cent sale rack. After all, what’s 50-cents really worth now-days? I found that it was well written, with excellent main character development and well worth my investment of time for an enjoyable read of older works of science fiction. The protagonist, Kade Whitehawk, a Trader for the Space Service, finds himself being reassigned to a Team on the planet Klor in disgrace. Once on Klor, he is slowly being drawn into a battle to help the indigenous population free themselves from the alien Styors who have enslaved mercilessly enslaved them. Again, Whitehawk goes against Space Service policy and sets a plan in motion to help the Ikkinni get free from the hated Styor’s star empire. The plot is, well, just a bit juvenile (after all it was written with that reader in mind), but is sufficient to keep the reader engaged. Since Whitehawk is of Sioux warrior descent he succeeds in getting horses delivered to the planet and helps to get the natives to trust in using them to begin the their liberation. After the battle begins, he is abandoned on Klor in the not so gentle grasp of those he was trying to help. The Space Service sent a rescue ship to his summons and what is revealed to him after the ship lands astounds him. With the Space Service there is the Policy (think Prime Directive of Star Trek) and the Plan. He is one of the few whom the Space Service consider a black sheep who serve in a rebellious state they call the warrior breed. He is then given the opportunity to remain and continue assisting in the Ikkinni’s freedom struggles or go. After all, he is told, “a push here, a push there topples a star empire.”
Read
July 30, 2025One of the first (if not the very first) novels I bought with my own money. This is precisely the cover of that long-ago purchase. The paperback cost ~40 cents. Andre Norton was definitely my favourite SF author in my early reading days, and I had raced through 9 novels before I had made a serious effort at reading much else.
April 24, 2019
This is my second book from the highly prolific Andre Norton, the first being “Daybreak 2250 AD”. From this book it is more apparent why she was such a prolific author, since the book feels very much like a thing churned out to reach a deadline.
The book is set in a future where a space traveling human race shares the galaxy with the evil humanoid Styor, an empire with which they have an uneasy peace. Our hero is the rebellious Kade Whitehawk, a Native American space force guy who is in trouble for some upset involving a Styor ambassador. For his trouble he gets assigned to a backward planet where a humanoid alien race are kept as slaves to the Styor and wear shock collars.
Kade's predecessor on the planet, also a Native, was mysteriously killed and Kade learns that this man had a plan about importing horses to the planet for use by the natives against the evil empire. Our hero goes about putting the same plan into motion, all the while contending with the marks against him by the space force, with potential discovery by the enemy, and with the resentment of the enslaved population.
While the story has the potential to entertain in many ways, the result has little in the way of intrigue or action. Kade sometimes has some nature adventure, contending with wild beasts and the like, but not much direct conflict with the humanoid aliens. Like other Norton characters, he's a beast-master, relating to horses and bears and such. On the bright side, he isn't given a stuffy girlfriend to slow him down either.
“The Sioux Spaceman” is sort of a Cold War analogue, which I guess partly explains the inaction of the whole thing. Norton did build a little world to set the book in, but not much happens there.
This is an old ACE edition I read, which includes a profile on Norton by Lin Carter, but I didn't bother with it.
The book is set in a future where a space traveling human race shares the galaxy with the evil humanoid Styor, an empire with which they have an uneasy peace. Our hero is the rebellious Kade Whitehawk, a Native American space force guy who is in trouble for some upset involving a Styor ambassador. For his trouble he gets assigned to a backward planet where a humanoid alien race are kept as slaves to the Styor and wear shock collars.
Kade's predecessor on the planet, also a Native, was mysteriously killed and Kade learns that this man had a plan about importing horses to the planet for use by the natives against the evil empire. Our hero goes about putting the same plan into motion, all the while contending with the marks against him by the space force, with potential discovery by the enemy, and with the resentment of the enslaved population.
While the story has the potential to entertain in many ways, the result has little in the way of intrigue or action. Kade sometimes has some nature adventure, contending with wild beasts and the like, but not much direct conflict with the humanoid aliens. Like other Norton characters, he's a beast-master, relating to horses and bears and such. On the bright side, he isn't given a stuffy girlfriend to slow him down either.
“The Sioux Spaceman” is sort of a Cold War analogue, which I guess partly explains the inaction of the whole thing. Norton did build a little world to set the book in, but not much happens there.
This is an old ACE edition I read, which includes a profile on Norton by Lin Carter, but I didn't bother with it.
July 11, 2024
Its importance cannot be overstated. The novel features Kade Whitehawk, a Native American of (NOT) Sioux descent, and weaves his cultural heritage into a narrative that defies convention: a choice far ahead of its time. Norton delves into themes of oppression and resistance while drawing parallels to historical colonialism through Kade's support for the subjugated Ikkinni against the alien Styor regime. The Council/Confederation universe sets the stage for an intricate plot that tests the protagonist with interstellar diplomacy and ethical quandaries. Understanding this work in its historical context is essential; though it may not seem extraordinary by today's standards, it stands as a simple yet compelling story about an Indigenous American helping free alien slaves. I stumbled upon this book amidst a stack priced at two for 10 cents in a dusty flea market shop in Tehran, its seal from the "Seafarers Education Service" adding an air of mystery only heightened by its exotic discovery location.
December 21, 2018
I picked this up because of the outrageous title and cover. I read a lot of Andre Norton's SF when I was 10-13 years old, and while this was a lot like them, this wasn't actually one that I had read before. Young Kade Whitehawk is re-assigned to a new trade service position among a crew of 4, on the world Klor where the evil intersteller Styor have enslaved the native Ikkinni. Kade, being Lakota Sioux, decides to help the Ikkinni fight for freedom, by bringing them plains horses from Earth. Plot mundane and predictable. But sometimes you just need that, you know?
May 22, 2017
It wasn't bad; I liked the animals and the allegory. But there wasn't enough characterization, like someone else said, no romance, and no explanation of what happened on Kade's previous assignment that got him into so much trouble. But it was a really good premise.
April 23, 2020
Next Norton uses one of her favorite devices, a Native American hero transplanted to space and involved in a fight with a nasty alien race and uses his wits and his people’s past history to if not succeed totally, at least get a heads up in the struggle.
Read
August 5, 2021As always Andre Norton gave us a wonderful read! Combining cultures, naturalism, science and so much more into a book of astonishing action, intrigue and more! Well Andre! I first read thia book when I was in High S\school in the early 1960s again in the Army in Viet Nam and now yet again!
May 14, 2024
3 1/2 stars. It's a good story; I enjoyed the reread.
May 29, 2021
Andre Norton has written a number of novels about native American Indians in space. If you like this one you might like the BEASTMASTER series. Which isn't much like the movie.
Read
June 29, 2010I'm pretty sure this is the edition I have. Like at least one other book, this has the bibliographic afterword by Lin Carter
Norton often got off the hook as a racist because she was not an orthodox racist: conventional categories are pretty much ignored, or rewritten. Nevertheless, she was a racist, because she held to the belief that people are what they are because of who they chose for their grandparents.
This is another such story. The hero is a Lakota, and he's not presented at all the way 'Sioux' are commonly presented in racist books. But his opponents are faceless slavers, with no identity and no personhood. They're killed without compunction, and it's forbidden to pity them or to show them any consideration at all. In the end, suppose the 'Plan' succeeds. What becomes of the Styor? And who replaces them? The Ikkinni, who practice gladiatorial spectacles with their captives, and seem to have no home life? And note that there's some doubt about the future of any of these peoples, since none seem to have any women around.
On the other hand, this is a reasonably good exportation of the effect the (re)introduction of genetically modified horses had on the peoples of the North American Great Plains. (The original Equus caballo more nearly resembled the ones found in European cave paintings, or present-day Przwalski's horses. They were virtually useless as draught animals, beasts of burden, and steeds, because they were too small and not muscular enough. They were native to North America, and probably were there when the 1st humans arrived, but they became extinct there, probably largely due to human predation for food. They survived where they had migrated to Eurasia largely because they were domesticated and bred for size and strength by peoples of the steppes, and thence were introduced into various parts of the world, including a reintroduction to their homeland. So much for the 'natural' life of early pastoralists.)
Because this story is rarely told, even in such a form, it needs to be retold, and this is an adequate, if not inspired, version.
Norton often got off the hook as a racist because she was not an orthodox racist: conventional categories are pretty much ignored, or rewritten. Nevertheless, she was a racist, because she held to the belief that people are what they are because of who they chose for their grandparents.
This is another such story. The hero is a Lakota, and he's not presented at all the way 'Sioux' are commonly presented in racist books. But his opponents are faceless slavers, with no identity and no personhood. They're killed without compunction, and it's forbidden to pity them or to show them any consideration at all. In the end, suppose the 'Plan' succeeds. What becomes of the Styor? And who replaces them? The Ikkinni, who practice gladiatorial spectacles with their captives, and seem to have no home life? And note that there's some doubt about the future of any of these peoples, since none seem to have any women around.
On the other hand, this is a reasonably good exportation of the effect the (re)introduction of genetically modified horses had on the peoples of the North American Great Plains. (The original Equus caballo more nearly resembled the ones found in European cave paintings, or present-day Przwalski's horses. They were virtually useless as draught animals, beasts of burden, and steeds, because they were too small and not muscular enough. They were native to North America, and probably were there when the 1st humans arrived, but they became extinct there, probably largely due to human predation for food. They survived where they had migrated to Eurasia largely because they were domesticated and bred for size and strength by peoples of the steppes, and thence were introduced into various parts of the world, including a reintroduction to their homeland. So much for the 'natural' life of early pastoralists.)
Because this story is rarely told, even in such a form, it needs to be retold, and this is an adequate, if not inspired, version.
June 22, 2015
Okay, this cover is RIDICULOUS. Who could resist?
It's kinda hard to connect with, in that the aliens are sort of jerks, including the ones the reader is supposed to empathize with; but it is actual sci fi, and the kernel of the story is good. It's the kind of thing Cherryh does very very well, the 'stranger' theme, the lone human in a world and culture he doesn't understand.
but seriously, totally worth it for the cover.
It's kinda hard to connect with, in that the aliens are sort of jerks, including the ones the reader is supposed to empathize with; but it is actual sci fi, and the kernel of the story is good. It's the kind of thing Cherryh does very very well, the 'stranger' theme, the lone human in a world and culture he doesn't understand.
but seriously, totally worth it for the cover.
Read
February 5, 2013If you like Andre Norton, you'll like this story. Norton's themes revolve around young people finding their way in the world, although her worlds incorporate hefty doses of science and fantasy. This story is typically well written and a fun read.
to-investigate
December 14, 2009I think I read this one all the way through, but there are a couple of plot details that don't immediately come to mind. Hopefully I can find a copy around somewhere.
May 12, 2012
Old time SF - bit dated now
March 7, 2015
1977 grade B
1995 grade B+
1995 grade B+
September 13, 2016
About what you would expect from an Andre Norton book written ages ago. Not a bad read, but not one of her outstanding stories either.
August 17, 2024
Purchased from Powell’s Books, Spring 2022
I’d expect a book about a Sioux Peace Corps officer emancipating a race of alien slaves by introducing horses to their planet to be more entertaining
I’d expect a book about a Sioux Peace Corps officer emancipating a race of alien slaves by introducing horses to their planet to be more entertaining
June 2, 2009
summer challenge 5.7
Ilike Norton's book, but this is not one of her best.
Ilike Norton's book, but this is not one of her best.
May 1, 2017
Kade has troubles. He is a trader and just caused an incident. He is sent to join another team and things go bad as the controllers of the universe, try to destroy him and the team. Surprise ending.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews