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Serpent Catch #1-2
Serpent Catch
Science Fiction Fantasy
418 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1991
1 person is currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Dave Wolverton
66 books152 followersDave Wolverton (born 1957) is a science fiction author who also goes under the pseudonym David Farland for his fantasy works. He currently lives in St. George, Utah with his wife and five children.
(Wikipedia entry: Dave Wolverton)
(Wikipedia entry: Dave Wolverton)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 25, 2011
Sometime in the mid 90’s, my mother found a book by Dave Wolverton called “Path of the Hero” in a library discard bin and bought it home. It was set on a far-away moon named Anee where humanity has created a historical zoo by resurrecting ancient life such as dinosaurs and Neanderthals. It features the struggles of Tull, a half-human, half Neanderthal psychic warrior who battles against the slave lords of Craal and Bashevgo, and ultimately against the Creators, ancient living machines created to keep the balance of life but who have ultimately decided to wipe out all those living on the moon. The book featured a mixture of mysterious, distant aliens, high technology that has been lost, struggles against the nature of man, high adventure and raw sexuality, and as a teenager, I ate it up and read it numerous times, and can trace some of those themes in my current writing even today.
It wasn’t until almost a decade later that I realized that Path of the Hero was actually the sequel to another book, which I had never read, called Serpent Catch. Don’t ask me why. I didn’t realize that David Wolverton had written another book that I enjoyed a great deal as a teen, the Courtship of Princess Leia, until recently either. (Don’t ask me why. Apparently I wasn’t that observant as a mid-teenager.) Either way, Serpent Catch has been out of stores for a long time, but I managed to locate a copy on E-bay, and I set upon it to finally learn the past of some of the more memorable literary characters in my mind.
Serpent Catch did not read like I remembered Path of the Hero, but to be honest, nor did Path of the Hero when I re-read it immediately after finishing Serpent Catch. What I found was a much more adventurous tale that did a lot to expand my knowledge of the world Wolverton had created, which I found very rich and engaging. To sum it up very simply, the humans who created the preserve on Anee, called the Starfarers, lost their space-faring infrastructure after the mysterious alien Eridani used their remote-controlled warships to wipe them away from the stars. Trapped on Anee, some Starfarers justified using the Neanderthals as slaves, both to maintain their lifestyle, and to wage war against the Eridani. Their efforts fail, and by the time of Serpent Catch a thousand years later only one remains, a man named Phylomon who wears a symbiotic blue skin that grants him effective immortality. However, the slave lords remain, and rule most of Anee.
I thought this was a fantastic setting. It gives Wolverton the opportunity to play with some very science-fiction concepts and technology. Furthermore, Wolverton has established a rich history for Anee, one of struggle and conflict that manages to frame Serpent Catch very well. At the same time, the addition of psychic elements, and the low-tech setting for most of the novel, gave this very much a fantastic feel. As I mentioned earlier, many of the themes that Wolverton writes here are ones that have influenced my writing, although I didn’t realize just how much until I read Serpent Catch.
That said, reading Serpent Catch was a little disappointing, and here’s why. This observation may be coloured a bit by my failure to realize it, but despite that Path of the Hero immediately follows Serpent Catch, the two stories felt very separate. In fact, although many of the same themes were present, they felt somewhat different and disconnected. The first leads very naturally to the second, but the second almost does not need the first. Indeed, I felt that many things that happened in the first book were essentially ignored in the second, things that I felt were important. And for all that reading Serpent Catch was ultimately enjoyable, and taught me a lot about the themes I enjoy and have influenced me, it left me with a different view of Path of the Hero. Nonetheless, it is a series with strong characters and themes that I enjoy greatly, and very well writted.
It wasn’t until almost a decade later that I realized that Path of the Hero was actually the sequel to another book, which I had never read, called Serpent Catch. Don’t ask me why. I didn’t realize that David Wolverton had written another book that I enjoyed a great deal as a teen, the Courtship of Princess Leia, until recently either. (Don’t ask me why. Apparently I wasn’t that observant as a mid-teenager.) Either way, Serpent Catch has been out of stores for a long time, but I managed to locate a copy on E-bay, and I set upon it to finally learn the past of some of the more memorable literary characters in my mind.
Serpent Catch did not read like I remembered Path of the Hero, but to be honest, nor did Path of the Hero when I re-read it immediately after finishing Serpent Catch. What I found was a much more adventurous tale that did a lot to expand my knowledge of the world Wolverton had created, which I found very rich and engaging. To sum it up very simply, the humans who created the preserve on Anee, called the Starfarers, lost their space-faring infrastructure after the mysterious alien Eridani used their remote-controlled warships to wipe them away from the stars. Trapped on Anee, some Starfarers justified using the Neanderthals as slaves, both to maintain their lifestyle, and to wage war against the Eridani. Their efforts fail, and by the time of Serpent Catch a thousand years later only one remains, a man named Phylomon who wears a symbiotic blue skin that grants him effective immortality. However, the slave lords remain, and rule most of Anee.
I thought this was a fantastic setting. It gives Wolverton the opportunity to play with some very science-fiction concepts and technology. Furthermore, Wolverton has established a rich history for Anee, one of struggle and conflict that manages to frame Serpent Catch very well. At the same time, the addition of psychic elements, and the low-tech setting for most of the novel, gave this very much a fantastic feel. As I mentioned earlier, many of the themes that Wolverton writes here are ones that have influenced my writing, although I didn’t realize just how much until I read Serpent Catch.
That said, reading Serpent Catch was a little disappointing, and here’s why. This observation may be coloured a bit by my failure to realize it, but despite that Path of the Hero immediately follows Serpent Catch, the two stories felt very separate. In fact, although many of the same themes were present, they felt somewhat different and disconnected. The first leads very naturally to the second, but the second almost does not need the first. Indeed, I felt that many things that happened in the first book were essentially ignored in the second, things that I felt were important. And for all that reading Serpent Catch was ultimately enjoyable, and taught me a lot about the themes I enjoy and have influenced me, it left me with a different view of Path of the Hero. Nonetheless, it is a series with strong characters and themes that I enjoy greatly, and very well writted.
September 30, 2009
This is an interesting blend of science fiction and fantasy. The story takes place on a moon on which high-tech people (called the Starfarers) of the future have recreated extinct creatures, including Neanderthals and dinosaurs. Then the Starfarers got into a war with aliens and most of the Starfarers had to abandon the moon. The Starfarers who were left made the neanderthals into slaves. They justified this act by claiming that using the neanderthals as slaves would free them to defeat the alien enemy.
When they terraformed the moon, the Starfarers realized that the many of the creatures could not co-exist, so they created a separate continent for each time period. They also created dragons and sea serpents (which grow up to 300 feet long) to keep any of the creatures from moving from one continent to another.
The story opens at a time when the sea serpents near the hero's village die out and the local innkeeper conceives a plan to go to a neighboring country (which is ruled by slavers) to catch more serpents to protect the village.
From that point, the story takes off into a quest involving the hero, Tull, who is half-human and half neanderthal. He is accompanied by the innkeeper, his neanderthal best friend, his new wife (who is the daughter of slavers) and the last of the Starfarers.
It's a good book, but it's not a fast read--lots of exposition and not much dialogue. There is also a fair amount of sex, although it is not graphic. The author also has some kind of preoccupation with women's breasts. He keeps mentioning the female characters' breasts, sometimes at weird moments. If you can get past those issues, the book is worth reading.
When they terraformed the moon, the Starfarers realized that the many of the creatures could not co-exist, so they created a separate continent for each time period. They also created dragons and sea serpents (which grow up to 300 feet long) to keep any of the creatures from moving from one continent to another.
The story opens at a time when the sea serpents near the hero's village die out and the local innkeeper conceives a plan to go to a neighboring country (which is ruled by slavers) to catch more serpents to protect the village.
From that point, the story takes off into a quest involving the hero, Tull, who is half-human and half neanderthal. He is accompanied by the innkeeper, his neanderthal best friend, his new wife (who is the daughter of slavers) and the last of the Starfarers.
It's a good book, but it's not a fast read--lots of exposition and not much dialogue. There is also a fair amount of sex, although it is not graphic. The author also has some kind of preoccupation with women's breasts. He keeps mentioning the female characters' breasts, sometimes at weird moments. If you can get past those issues, the book is worth reading.
June 22, 2021
This is a great book and original. 5 stars.
Read
October 23, 2025In order to save his homeland, Tull must find the great sea serpents and bring one of them back alive, but he must first pass through enemy territory
April 24, 2008
Recommended, but not highly. Here's what I wrote to Stan....
What would you get if Edgar Rice Burroughs and Larry Niven teamed up to write a book? What if they wrote about a world that was a combination of Caspak (link) and the Ringworld (link)?
Their styles are very different and I never imagined that one novel would remind me of both of them, yet that's exactly what happened to me a couple of weeks ago.
I was in the mood to read, but most of my book were packed away, and I sort of picked up whatever was within reach. It was "Serpent Catch" by Dave Wolverton. It is set in a world that is very much constructed, a la the Ringworld -- though perhaps it is more accurately described as a case of extreme terraforming than of construction. It is populated by creatures drawn from different periods of Earth's prehistory, a la Caspak. Dinosaurs, mammoths, sabre-tooths, neaderthals, homo-sapiens, and a variety of other creatures all appear on stage. So the environment was quite evocative of both Caspak and the Ringworld, though in different ways. The story revolves around a group of both humans and neanderthals who go on a quest, and is told in a fairly straightforward way, so it was somewhat evocative of Burroughs, but the characters are much less stereotypical, and the point-of-view and narration seemed much more modern and mature. And we got a lot more of the main character's inner thoughts and feelings than typical of either Burroughs or Niven. Most of the environment in which the characters find themselves is extremely low tech, so was not evocative of Niven in that way. In a few instances, extreme high tech was present but with an appearance of magic.
The book was entertaining. No single idea within it seemed terribly new, but the combinations led to some neat scenarios. Such as: humans and Neanderthals living side-by-side in a variety of societies -- some where they are more-or-less peers, some where the Neanderthals are found only among the slave population. Such as: limits on the fidelity with which environments can be constructed, and what starts to happen when organisms start to get into the "cracks" in unplanned-for ways. Such as: how might a Neanderthal culture differ from our own, based on what little we know about the physical differences between them and us?
The situation is basically one in which a planet-wide "Jurassic Park" was constructed, except one continent was "Miocene Park", one was a "Pliocene Park", etc. Then the planet was cut off from Earth and the rest of human society. A thousand years later, the novel begins, as some of the eco- and bio-engineered barriers between continents are breaking down, and causing problems for the human and Neanderthal inhabitants of a village. They get some ideas for how to "fix" the problem, and their quest is born.
I enjoyed Serpent Catch but also found it awkwardly written in places -- unlike Orson Scott Card who reviewed it in Fantasy & Science Fiction in September 1991: "dammitall, folks, in my humble opinion Serpent Catch is a masterwork of the first rank." (See full review.)
What would you get if Edgar Rice Burroughs and Larry Niven teamed up to write a book? What if they wrote about a world that was a combination of Caspak (link) and the Ringworld (link)?
Their styles are very different and I never imagined that one novel would remind me of both of them, yet that's exactly what happened to me a couple of weeks ago.
I was in the mood to read, but most of my book were packed away, and I sort of picked up whatever was within reach. It was "Serpent Catch" by Dave Wolverton. It is set in a world that is very much constructed, a la the Ringworld -- though perhaps it is more accurately described as a case of extreme terraforming than of construction. It is populated by creatures drawn from different periods of Earth's prehistory, a la Caspak. Dinosaurs, mammoths, sabre-tooths, neaderthals, homo-sapiens, and a variety of other creatures all appear on stage. So the environment was quite evocative of both Caspak and the Ringworld, though in different ways. The story revolves around a group of both humans and neanderthals who go on a quest, and is told in a fairly straightforward way, so it was somewhat evocative of Burroughs, but the characters are much less stereotypical, and the point-of-view and narration seemed much more modern and mature. And we got a lot more of the main character's inner thoughts and feelings than typical of either Burroughs or Niven. Most of the environment in which the characters find themselves is extremely low tech, so was not evocative of Niven in that way. In a few instances, extreme high tech was present but with an appearance of magic.
The book was entertaining. No single idea within it seemed terribly new, but the combinations led to some neat scenarios. Such as: humans and Neanderthals living side-by-side in a variety of societies -- some where they are more-or-less peers, some where the Neanderthals are found only among the slave population. Such as: limits on the fidelity with which environments can be constructed, and what starts to happen when organisms start to get into the "cracks" in unplanned-for ways. Such as: how might a Neanderthal culture differ from our own, based on what little we know about the physical differences between them and us?
The situation is basically one in which a planet-wide "Jurassic Park" was constructed, except one continent was "Miocene Park", one was a "Pliocene Park", etc. Then the planet was cut off from Earth and the rest of human society. A thousand years later, the novel begins, as some of the eco- and bio-engineered barriers between continents are breaking down, and causing problems for the human and Neanderthal inhabitants of a village. They get some ideas for how to "fix" the problem, and their quest is born.
I enjoyed Serpent Catch but also found it awkwardly written in places -- unlike Orson Scott Card who reviewed it in Fantasy & Science Fiction in September 1991: "dammitall, folks, in my humble opinion Serpent Catch is a masterwork of the first rank." (See full review.)
February 5, 2016
Published in 1991. Dave Wolverton (aka David Farland) wrote this early on in his career. It is a adventurous, packed, jumbled and imaginative. Yet, I found it a tough read. The pacing is uneven and the multiple themes, severely under explained at times, made it frustrating at points. I have much more enjoyed his latest series "Runelords". I think this a good example of Wolverton finding his way in writing.
February 16, 2010
So far it's an interesting premise, and you don't often get to see both a harkening to the future and the past.
August 21, 2010
I liked it. This felt like it would go on and on in some parts. It also felt like there was going to be a sequel...hopefully someday.
October 5, 2012
Started a little slow, almost called book long winded, however it actually needs every word to describe this wonderful New World. The ending of course was as predicted a Fairy Tale.
August 7, 2016
Very interesting world.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews