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Dumarest of Terra #8
Veruchia
Earl Dumarest, trans-galactic soldier of fortune, is still seeking his birthplace, the fabled planet Earth. On the distant, decadent planet Dradea, he meets the mysterious, mutant woman Veruchia. She selected him from the gladiators' arena to become her servant. . . and more. Soon, Dumarest discovers that she too is engaged in a quest - and that the fate of her planet hangs in the balance. Fascinated, compelled, he agrees to help her. But then he must face bizarre perils which make the gladiatorial arena seem a haven of safety. . .
190 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
5 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
E.C. Tubb
382 books85 followersEdwin Charles Tubb was a writer of science fiction, fantasy and western novels. He published over 140 novels and 230 short stories and novellas, and is best known for The Dumarest Saga (US collective title: Dumarest of Terra) an epic science-fiction saga set in the far future.
Much of Tubb's work has been written under pseudonyms including Gregory Kern, Carl Maddox, Alan Guthrie, Eric Storm and George Holt. He has used 58 pen names over five decades of writing although some of these were publishers' house names also used by other writers: Volsted Gridban (along with John Russell Fearn), Gill Hunt (with John Brunner and Dennis Hughes), King Lang (with George Hay and John W Jennison), Roy Sheldon (with H. J. Campbell) and Brian Shaw. Tubb's Charles Grey alias was solely his own and acquired a big following in the early 1950s.
An avid reader of pulp science-fiction and fantasy in his youth, Tubb found that he had a particular talent as a writer of stories in that genre when his short story 'No Short Cuts' was published in New Worlds magazine in 1951. He opted for a full-time career as a writer and soon became renowned for the speed and diversity of his output.
Tubb contributed to many of the science fiction magazines of the 1950s including Futuristic Science Stories, Science Fantasy, Nebula and Galaxy Science Fiction. He contributed heavily to Authentic Science Fiction editing the magazine for nearly two years, from February 1956 until it folded in October 1957. During this time, he found it so difficult to find good writers to contribute to the magazine, that he often wrote most of the stories himself under a variety of pseudonyms: one issue of Authentic was written entirely by Tubb, including the letters column.
His main work in the science fiction genre, the Dumarest series, appeared from 1967 to 1985, with two final volumes in 1997 and 2008. His second major series, the Cap Kennedy series, was written from 1973 to 1983.
In recent years Tubb updated many of his 1950s science fiction novels for 21st century readers.
Tubb was one of the co-founders of the British Science Fiction Association.
Much of Tubb's work has been written under pseudonyms including Gregory Kern, Carl Maddox, Alan Guthrie, Eric Storm and George Holt. He has used 58 pen names over five decades of writing although some of these were publishers' house names also used by other writers: Volsted Gridban (along with John Russell Fearn), Gill Hunt (with John Brunner and Dennis Hughes), King Lang (with George Hay and John W Jennison), Roy Sheldon (with H. J. Campbell) and Brian Shaw. Tubb's Charles Grey alias was solely his own and acquired a big following in the early 1950s.
An avid reader of pulp science-fiction and fantasy in his youth, Tubb found that he had a particular talent as a writer of stories in that genre when his short story 'No Short Cuts' was published in New Worlds magazine in 1951. He opted for a full-time career as a writer and soon became renowned for the speed and diversity of his output.
Tubb contributed to many of the science fiction magazines of the 1950s including Futuristic Science Stories, Science Fantasy, Nebula and Galaxy Science Fiction. He contributed heavily to Authentic Science Fiction editing the magazine for nearly two years, from February 1956 until it folded in October 1957. During this time, he found it so difficult to find good writers to contribute to the magazine, that he often wrote most of the stories himself under a variety of pseudonyms: one issue of Authentic was written entirely by Tubb, including the letters column.
His main work in the science fiction genre, the Dumarest series, appeared from 1967 to 1985, with two final volumes in 1997 and 2008. His second major series, the Cap Kennedy series, was written from 1973 to 1983.
In recent years Tubb updated many of his 1950s science fiction novels for 21st century readers.
Tubb was one of the co-founders of the British Science Fiction Association.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 13, 2020
A young society may centralize violence within its culture for certain reasons. Violence used to protect itself from enemies and discourage interlopers; structured violence to develop the skills of its warriors; violent rituals bolstering systems of honor. This is all understandable within a barbarian society that will hopefully grow past such things. An older civilization may also centralize violence: to seize unneeded territory, to supposedly illustrate virility, to reify inequitable hierarchical structures. Or to provide bloody entertainment to desensitized masses. That last use of violence is a hallmark of a people that have become stagnant, decadent.
This installment finds Earl Dumarest up against one such exemplar of decadence - an asshole eager to rule the stagnant society of Dradea. A red pill type in a world increasingly full of such types. Citizens of Dradea would find much to appreciate about our own civilization.
The book includes brief but heated discussions on what makes a civilization move forward and moody ruminations on the transitory nature of all things. The novel is philosophical, but it is also sharp, fast, and fun. Tubb's sleek prose always impresses and he aims to entertain. And so there are arena battles and assassinations and underwater adventures and deaths by giant eel; serial monogamist Earl providing kindly, empathetic, "hands-on" support to Veruchia - a shy heiress to a world in dire need of improvement, with a genetic mutation that gives her a spiderweb-like pigmentation that is sadly at the heart of her insecurities (open-minded Earl thinks it's hot); and outside-of-the-box thinker Earl transferring his consciousness to a giant water-breathing centipede because sometimes that's what has to be done to save the girl so she can claim the world. We also have some mild chauvinism, nothing too bad, but a bit more noticeable in this book than in other entries.
Overall, an enjoyable ride and it only lasted a few hours.
This installment finds Earl Dumarest up against one such exemplar of decadence - an asshole eager to rule the stagnant society of Dradea. A red pill type in a world increasingly full of such types. Citizens of Dradea would find much to appreciate about our own civilization.
The book includes brief but heated discussions on what makes a civilization move forward and moody ruminations on the transitory nature of all things. The novel is philosophical, but it is also sharp, fast, and fun. Tubb's sleek prose always impresses and he aims to entertain. And so there are arena battles and assassinations and underwater adventures and deaths by giant eel; serial monogamist Earl providing kindly, empathetic, "hands-on" support to Veruchia - a shy heiress to a world in dire need of improvement, with a genetic mutation that gives her a spiderweb-like pigmentation that is sadly at the heart of her insecurities (open-minded Earl thinks it's hot); and outside-of-the-box thinker Earl transferring his consciousness to a giant water-breathing centipede because sometimes that's what has to be done to save the girl so she can claim the world. We also have some mild chauvinism, nothing too bad, but a bit more noticeable in this book than in other entries.
Overall, an enjoyable ride and it only lasted a few hours.
January 5, 2023
Perhaps a tad less inspired than the absolute best among the series, nonetheless another great entry. The real delight of these books is the opportunity to explore a wholly new alien planet with each book, and of course the conundrums and dangers which Dumarest faces, always with great zeal and surprising inventiveness. In Veruchia he comes face to face with some terrifying sea monsters who threaten his new love as well as the source of a possible vital clue to Earth's location. The reveals in each book regarding his quest for Earth and further revelations of the Cyclan's nefarious plans for the galaxy are immensely tantalizing and always leave me wanting more.
February 2, 2017
Tubb writes with a compression that I think has fallen far out of favor these days. Dumarest is unceremoniously kicked off the planet Selend under mysterious circumstances and in order to throw off pursuit he quickly boards an unexpected vessel. Next scene: he's arena fighting on Dradea. There are ideas everywhere that are not mined thoroughly, whether it be Veruchia's sudden attachment to Dumarest after a life as an outcast due to unusual skin patterns, or the understated social system of Dradea, where the planet is technically owned by a single person descended from the original lander.
In Dumarest's universe the planetary governments appear to be the largest political entities, despite vibrant commerce, and this is a little weird for someone coming from a Star Wars or Star Trek background. There are organizations or cults that are more widespread--the Cyclans in particular--but their power is more subtle and insidious.
In Dumarest's universe the planetary governments appear to be the largest political entities, despite vibrant commerce, and this is a little weird for someone coming from a Star Wars or Star Trek background. There are organizations or cults that are more widespread--the Cyclans in particular--but their power is more subtle and insidious.
February 5, 2022
I continue to really enjoy this series. I love the way the lore of the universe builds with each book and how each one has a slightly different plot-vibe. Good stuff. Makes me want to play some Traveller.
December 23, 2025
“A city, thought Dumarest, like a machine, like a man, showed the agony of its death.”
At the start of Veruchia (1973), the eighth entry in E. C. Tubb’s pulp space opera Dumarest of Terra series, Earl has come to Selend in search of the Original People religious sect, whose members believe they originated on Earth. But according to the holographic display in a museum he’s visiting, fifty-eight years ago, their supposed city on Selend was reduced in a momentary sublime pillar of fire to a molten-cooled mass of slag. And no records survived that destruction. So he’s been foiled yet again in his never-ending, galaxy-wide search for his homeworld, Earth.
The museum, by the way, is one of Tubb’s neat throw-away creations, a cathedral like structure housing, along with the display of the incinerated city, some scary extinct insectoid creatures and a “peculiar fabrication of metal,” which may be a machine, a work of art, or a spaceship part.
Leaving the museum, Earl senses he’s being followed, undoubtedly because he possesses the molecular codes that would enable the possessor to make an artificial symbiote called an “affinity twin,” a useful way to transfer one’s consciousness to various host bodies. Earl’s preternatural senses and reflexes give him just enough time after being shot with poison in the neck to gouge out his attacker’s eye before collapsing unconscious. (Tubb doesn’t shy from graphic violence.)
As the authorities dislike strangers who cause trouble, after healing Earl with two weeks of medical care which uses up the last of his money, they tell him he has to leave Selend asap on a ship of their choosing. Earl knocks out a careless guard (with one punch, Earl being quite the fighter), goes to the spaceshipyard to arrange transport on his own terms, and destroys the ruby containing the molecular codes he’s been wearing as a ring. Henceforth, the forces after the codes will have to take him alive.
We next find Earl on the planet Dradea, where he’s fighting for his life in an arena for the entertainment of a rabid audience (not for the first time in the series). It develops that “the Owner” (ruler) of Dradea has begun promoting blood sports as a means of invigorating his sleepy people, following the advice of his Cyclan advisor.
The Cyclan is a powerful culture of Cybers, “living machines totally lacking emotion” whose ultimate group goal is to rule the galaxy (because they know that normal human beings are too prey to irrational passions) and whose ultimate individual goal is to become an immortal, disembodied member of their Universal Gestalt (hive mind). Needless to say, anything the Cyclan advise is not in the best interests of humanity, and Earl is their bitter foe.
The compact novel’s title character Veruchia is in the crowd watching Earl fight, and her friend Selkas (who has seen Earl fight on another world) tells her to bet on the hero to win so as to cause maximum financial damage to her repugnant cousin Montarg. The overweight Owner of Dradea may not be long for this world, and the mutually hostile Veruchia and Montarg both have strong claims to inherit the Ownership. Earl becomes Veruchia’s bodyguard/advisor/lover, while Montarg relies on the representative of the Cyclan, Surat, a typically crimson-robed and skull-headed, creepy and manipulative Cyber.
Veruchia is another of Tubb’s beautiful, sexy, brave, vulnerable female leads we know Earl may hook up with for a time with but sure won’t end up with, cause, heck, there are still twenty-four more books in the series (!). Thus, as often happens in the series, the suspense here involves wondering how Tubb will prevent Earl and Veruchia from ending up together.
Veruchia is appealing. She’s an exotic beauty: tall, lithe, boy-shaped, soft-lipped, silver-haired, and touched by a mutation whereby her melanin is concentrated in a spider web of ebony beneath her white skin. Her eyes look bruised and wary, because, apart from the paternal friendship of Selkas, her mutation and lack of connections render her an outcast. She flushes when she and Earl touch palms in greeting. Yet she has a steely resolve to find proof of her superior ancestry to that of Montarg and thus to become the next Owner.
The novel is weaker than previous entries in the series. Selkas is interesting in his strange concern for Veruchia, but Montarg is a one-dimensional villain, Earl doesn’t do so much, the Cyclan representative plays the same role that Cybers do in previous books, and this story ends abruptly. And Tubb can’t write good romantic dialogue: “Earl! Earl, my darling!”
But—wait—there is a cool gladiator scene featuring Earl fighting a huge war-bird, and the scene where he rides the mind of a ten-tentacled leviathan of the deeps is impressive, and the theme as to whether it’s better for a civilization to promote education and arts and sciences or martial arts and violent entertainment is worthy.
And moments like the Cyber Surat observing Montarg throwing a tantrum are prime:
“A stupid, emotional gesture without logic or reason, typical of the man and typical of all those who were slaves to glandular secretions. How could such people hope to control the destiny of worlds? How could they formulate policies and determine actions when, at any moment, they could fall victim to hate and fear and anger? Emotion was insanity.”
And Earl is a solid protagonist: fast, clever, observant, ruthless, chivalrous, cynical, out of place in a normal city on a normal, developed world, and yet ever optimistic that one day he’ll find Earth.
And Tubb imagines plenty of cool science fiction artifacts and technology, like the QuickTime Earl is given to slow his metabolism so doctors can freeze him while they're looking for a way to detoxify him.
Anyway, though it’s not as thrilling, moving, or thought-provoking as other entries in the series so far, it’s short and fast, so I’m on (eventually) to the ninth book!
At the start of Veruchia (1973), the eighth entry in E. C. Tubb’s pulp space opera Dumarest of Terra series, Earl has come to Selend in search of the Original People religious sect, whose members believe they originated on Earth. But according to the holographic display in a museum he’s visiting, fifty-eight years ago, their supposed city on Selend was reduced in a momentary sublime pillar of fire to a molten-cooled mass of slag. And no records survived that destruction. So he’s been foiled yet again in his never-ending, galaxy-wide search for his homeworld, Earth.
The museum, by the way, is one of Tubb’s neat throw-away creations, a cathedral like structure housing, along with the display of the incinerated city, some scary extinct insectoid creatures and a “peculiar fabrication of metal,” which may be a machine, a work of art, or a spaceship part.
Leaving the museum, Earl senses he’s being followed, undoubtedly because he possesses the molecular codes that would enable the possessor to make an artificial symbiote called an “affinity twin,” a useful way to transfer one’s consciousness to various host bodies. Earl’s preternatural senses and reflexes give him just enough time after being shot with poison in the neck to gouge out his attacker’s eye before collapsing unconscious. (Tubb doesn’t shy from graphic violence.)
As the authorities dislike strangers who cause trouble, after healing Earl with two weeks of medical care which uses up the last of his money, they tell him he has to leave Selend asap on a ship of their choosing. Earl knocks out a careless guard (with one punch, Earl being quite the fighter), goes to the spaceshipyard to arrange transport on his own terms, and destroys the ruby containing the molecular codes he’s been wearing as a ring. Henceforth, the forces after the codes will have to take him alive.
We next find Earl on the planet Dradea, where he’s fighting for his life in an arena for the entertainment of a rabid audience (not for the first time in the series). It develops that “the Owner” (ruler) of Dradea has begun promoting blood sports as a means of invigorating his sleepy people, following the advice of his Cyclan advisor.
The Cyclan is a powerful culture of Cybers, “living machines totally lacking emotion” whose ultimate group goal is to rule the galaxy (because they know that normal human beings are too prey to irrational passions) and whose ultimate individual goal is to become an immortal, disembodied member of their Universal Gestalt (hive mind). Needless to say, anything the Cyclan advise is not in the best interests of humanity, and Earl is their bitter foe.
The compact novel’s title character Veruchia is in the crowd watching Earl fight, and her friend Selkas (who has seen Earl fight on another world) tells her to bet on the hero to win so as to cause maximum financial damage to her repugnant cousin Montarg. The overweight Owner of Dradea may not be long for this world, and the mutually hostile Veruchia and Montarg both have strong claims to inherit the Ownership. Earl becomes Veruchia’s bodyguard/advisor/lover, while Montarg relies on the representative of the Cyclan, Surat, a typically crimson-robed and skull-headed, creepy and manipulative Cyber.
Veruchia is another of Tubb’s beautiful, sexy, brave, vulnerable female leads we know Earl may hook up with for a time with but sure won’t end up with, cause, heck, there are still twenty-four more books in the series (!). Thus, as often happens in the series, the suspense here involves wondering how Tubb will prevent Earl and Veruchia from ending up together.
Veruchia is appealing. She’s an exotic beauty: tall, lithe, boy-shaped, soft-lipped, silver-haired, and touched by a mutation whereby her melanin is concentrated in a spider web of ebony beneath her white skin. Her eyes look bruised and wary, because, apart from the paternal friendship of Selkas, her mutation and lack of connections render her an outcast. She flushes when she and Earl touch palms in greeting. Yet she has a steely resolve to find proof of her superior ancestry to that of Montarg and thus to become the next Owner.
The novel is weaker than previous entries in the series. Selkas is interesting in his strange concern for Veruchia, but Montarg is a one-dimensional villain, Earl doesn’t do so much, the Cyclan representative plays the same role that Cybers do in previous books, and this story ends abruptly. And Tubb can’t write good romantic dialogue: “Earl! Earl, my darling!”
But—wait—there is a cool gladiator scene featuring Earl fighting a huge war-bird, and the scene where he rides the mind of a ten-tentacled leviathan of the deeps is impressive, and the theme as to whether it’s better for a civilization to promote education and arts and sciences or martial arts and violent entertainment is worthy.
And moments like the Cyber Surat observing Montarg throwing a tantrum are prime:
“A stupid, emotional gesture without logic or reason, typical of the man and typical of all those who were slaves to glandular secretions. How could such people hope to control the destiny of worlds? How could they formulate policies and determine actions when, at any moment, they could fall victim to hate and fear and anger? Emotion was insanity.”
And Earl is a solid protagonist: fast, clever, observant, ruthless, chivalrous, cynical, out of place in a normal city on a normal, developed world, and yet ever optimistic that one day he’ll find Earth.
And Tubb imagines plenty of cool science fiction artifacts and technology, like the QuickTime Earl is given to slow his metabolism so doctors can freeze him while they're looking for a way to detoxify him.
Anyway, though it’s not as thrilling, moving, or thought-provoking as other entries in the series so far, it’s short and fast, so I’m on (eventually) to the ninth book!
December 24, 2025
review of
E.C. Tubb's Veruchia
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 23, 2025
I've long since read or heard that old people revert to their childhood interests. I've always wanted to avoid such a regression. Nonetheless, now that I've found the writing of E.C. Tubb I feel like I might just have fallen into the trap. Reading Tubb reminds me of reading 17 Edgar Rice Burroughs novels when I was about 13. Tubb's writing style is so familiar that I border on feeling like I might've written it myself.
At the same time that I was reading this I was watching "The Lost City", a 12 part, 4 hr serial from 1935. When I 1st started checking it out I gave up very quickly, I was so put off by how ridiculous it was. I eventually grew to appreciate its over-the-top-ness. Of course, each cliff-hanger episode ending was predictably to be resolved in favor of the endangered protagonists. Some particularly ludicrous moments included a black man, ostensibly African, who begs the 'genius' scientist to turn him white. The scientist does & the newly-white man cavorts in glee at this 'wonderful' thing. The scientist is then told by the main hero something to the effect of: 'That's the greatest invention mankind has ever seen!' Later, a queen dooms a ne'er-do-well to probable death & one of the 'good guys', a woman, asks: 'You aren't going to kill him are you?' to wch the queen replies: 'This is Africa!'
ANYWAY, Veruchia has a similar sort of structure but not one quite so naive or racist or imperialistic. The hero, Dumarest of Terra, faces constant peril wch he manages to escape from in the most spectacular ways. The pace of this, just as an adventure story, is that of a freight train about to run over Pauline. &, of course, there's a very-special-woman for Dumarest to be involved w/. This was the 8th bk in the series, I hope I have the 9th but I haven't checked yet, I really want to know what happens next!
At the beginning, Dumarest is visiting a museum.
""The last of its species was destroyed over three centuries ago in the Tamar Hills. It was a carnivore and the largest insect ever known on this world: the result, apparently, of wild mutation. Its life cycle followed a standard pattern, the female sought out a suitable host and buried her eggs in the living flesh. See the sting? The venom paralyzed the selected creature which could do nothing as it was eaten alive by the hatching young. Note the long proboscis, the mandibles and the hooked legs.["]" - p 10
Ever had Scabies aka Mange? Don't. The eggs get laid under one's skin & the itching will drive. you. mad. Mange eggs don't even make a good breakfast.
Dumarest gets kicked off one planet only to end up on another, penniless & fighting in an arena as an unlikely contestant to win against a specially bred giant bird. There's a world ruler who oversees this blood-sport.
""My name is Veruchia. We do not use titles here. Only the Owner. On this world all tenants are equal."" - p 59
&, yes, there's romance. I've never read a Harlequin Romance, it's against my principles (n'at). But Veruchia is probably not that far from a Harlequin. The knight in shining armor saving the damsel in distress (n'at). But, what can I say? It's like a vagina - I get sucked right in. But, ladies, I'm letting you know up front: I'm not going to fight a giant bird for you.
""Hamane is suspicious. He insists on conducting an investigation into the Owner's death. What will be found?"
""The prediction that he will discover traces of assassination is of a probability factor of sixty-eight point seven. He will be swayed by his own inability to account for the unexpected relapse and eager to shift the blame. The evidence will be insufficient to convince others."" - pp 78-79
Not long after I finished this I started watching the last season of "The Borgias" on DVD. This one starts off w/ the Borgia Pope, played by the excellent Jeremy Irons, getting poisoned but being saved by the brilliance of his daughter, Lucretia. The Owner wasn't so lucky.
One of the recurring types of characters locks himself in his guarded chambers so that he can mind-merge w/ those others of his order. It's the following description that made me think about what a great movie this wd make. There's so much over-the-top chain-jerking that the movie wd be great for fight scenes, love scenes, AND psychedelia:
"It was place of shifting rainbows, a wonderous kaleidoscope of varying colors, crystalline, splintering into new and entrancing formations. He seemed to move through a maze of brilliance, shafts and spears and arching lines of the purest color reaching endlessly to all sides." - p 84
Well, if you thought that fighting a giant bird was too much (Greek myth or not), wait until you reach the underwater parts of this. It's so successful for what it is that all my sophistication just slides away & reveals me in my naked adolescence.
E.C. Tubb's Veruchia
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 23, 2025
I've long since read or heard that old people revert to their childhood interests. I've always wanted to avoid such a regression. Nonetheless, now that I've found the writing of E.C. Tubb I feel like I might just have fallen into the trap. Reading Tubb reminds me of reading 17 Edgar Rice Burroughs novels when I was about 13. Tubb's writing style is so familiar that I border on feeling like I might've written it myself.
At the same time that I was reading this I was watching "The Lost City", a 12 part, 4 hr serial from 1935. When I 1st started checking it out I gave up very quickly, I was so put off by how ridiculous it was. I eventually grew to appreciate its over-the-top-ness. Of course, each cliff-hanger episode ending was predictably to be resolved in favor of the endangered protagonists. Some particularly ludicrous moments included a black man, ostensibly African, who begs the 'genius' scientist to turn him white. The scientist does & the newly-white man cavorts in glee at this 'wonderful' thing. The scientist is then told by the main hero something to the effect of: 'That's the greatest invention mankind has ever seen!' Later, a queen dooms a ne'er-do-well to probable death & one of the 'good guys', a woman, asks: 'You aren't going to kill him are you?' to wch the queen replies: 'This is Africa!'
ANYWAY, Veruchia has a similar sort of structure but not one quite so naive or racist or imperialistic. The hero, Dumarest of Terra, faces constant peril wch he manages to escape from in the most spectacular ways. The pace of this, just as an adventure story, is that of a freight train about to run over Pauline. &, of course, there's a very-special-woman for Dumarest to be involved w/. This was the 8th bk in the series, I hope I have the 9th but I haven't checked yet, I really want to know what happens next!
At the beginning, Dumarest is visiting a museum.
""The last of its species was destroyed over three centuries ago in the Tamar Hills. It was a carnivore and the largest insect ever known on this world: the result, apparently, of wild mutation. Its life cycle followed a standard pattern, the female sought out a suitable host and buried her eggs in the living flesh. See the sting? The venom paralyzed the selected creature which could do nothing as it was eaten alive by the hatching young. Note the long proboscis, the mandibles and the hooked legs.["]" - p 10
Ever had Scabies aka Mange? Don't. The eggs get laid under one's skin & the itching will drive. you. mad. Mange eggs don't even make a good breakfast.
Dumarest gets kicked off one planet only to end up on another, penniless & fighting in an arena as an unlikely contestant to win against a specially bred giant bird. There's a world ruler who oversees this blood-sport.
""My name is Veruchia. We do not use titles here. Only the Owner. On this world all tenants are equal."" - p 59
&, yes, there's romance. I've never read a Harlequin Romance, it's against my principles (n'at). But Veruchia is probably not that far from a Harlequin. The knight in shining armor saving the damsel in distress (n'at). But, what can I say? It's like a vagina - I get sucked right in. But, ladies, I'm letting you know up front: I'm not going to fight a giant bird for you.
""Hamane is suspicious. He insists on conducting an investigation into the Owner's death. What will be found?"
""The prediction that he will discover traces of assassination is of a probability factor of sixty-eight point seven. He will be swayed by his own inability to account for the unexpected relapse and eager to shift the blame. The evidence will be insufficient to convince others."" - pp 78-79
Not long after I finished this I started watching the last season of "The Borgias" on DVD. This one starts off w/ the Borgia Pope, played by the excellent Jeremy Irons, getting poisoned but being saved by the brilliance of his daughter, Lucretia. The Owner wasn't so lucky.
One of the recurring types of characters locks himself in his guarded chambers so that he can mind-merge w/ those others of his order. It's the following description that made me think about what a great movie this wd make. There's so much over-the-top chain-jerking that the movie wd be great for fight scenes, love scenes, AND psychedelia:
"It was place of shifting rainbows, a wonderous kaleidoscope of varying colors, crystalline, splintering into new and entrancing formations. He seemed to move through a maze of brilliance, shafts and spears and arching lines of the purest color reaching endlessly to all sides." - p 84
Well, if you thought that fighting a giant bird was too much (Greek myth or not), wait until you reach the underwater parts of this. It's so successful for what it is that all my sophistication just slides away & reveals me in my naked adolescence.
September 4, 2024
“Veruchia” by E. C. Tubb (1973)
Overall Rating 8/10 – Vroom Vroom!
Plot
Our protagonist, Earl Dumarest, finds himself escorting a beautiful, potential heiress to the world he has found himself on. The trouble is, can the heiress prove her title before time runs out? (And can the two of them stay out of bed for more than 5 minutes?)
Writing Style
Easy, flowing sentences. An occasional spattering of obscure words. Very modern style. Quite easy to watch the film unfold in your head as you read the words.
Point of View/Voice
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)
Critique
This is the third E. C. Tubb novel I have read and it was very similar to the last one, being from the same series (The Dumarest Saga). I was again offered a very modern writing style (no longer a surprise as I had experienced it previously) and that was all to the good. Whereas, I previously struggled to stay focused, with this book I remained transfixed and followed the plot with ease. That said, the plot was fairly simplistic and quite thin. Not a bad thing though, it was akin to reading an Adult version of the Famous Five but out in space instead of on Aunt Fanny’s farm. Add to that, a slice of cheesiness and you have an accurate picture. Call it a bit of guilty pleasure.
The book is part of a series where the protagonist is on an adventure to find Earth. I obviously have not read the last book in the series and don’t know if the poor bugger actually makes it or not. This was the eighth novel (out of 33), and it did not harm to read it out of sequence.
I will definitely be reading some more of the series and definitely more of the author.
Overall Rating 8/10 – Vroom Vroom!
Plot
Our protagonist, Earl Dumarest, finds himself escorting a beautiful, potential heiress to the world he has found himself on. The trouble is, can the heiress prove her title before time runs out? (And can the two of them stay out of bed for more than 5 minutes?)
Writing Style
Easy, flowing sentences. An occasional spattering of obscure words. Very modern style. Quite easy to watch the film unfold in your head as you read the words.
Point of View/Voice
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)
Critique
This is the third E. C. Tubb novel I have read and it was very similar to the last one, being from the same series (The Dumarest Saga). I was again offered a very modern writing style (no longer a surprise as I had experienced it previously) and that was all to the good. Whereas, I previously struggled to stay focused, with this book I remained transfixed and followed the plot with ease. That said, the plot was fairly simplistic and quite thin. Not a bad thing though, it was akin to reading an Adult version of the Famous Five but out in space instead of on Aunt Fanny’s farm. Add to that, a slice of cheesiness and you have an accurate picture. Call it a bit of guilty pleasure.
The book is part of a series where the protagonist is on an adventure to find Earth. I obviously have not read the last book in the series and don’t know if the poor bugger actually makes it or not. This was the eighth novel (out of 33), and it did not harm to read it out of sequence.
I will definitely be reading some more of the series and definitely more of the author.
April 20, 2018
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1Q0...
It's book 8 and the tropes and cliches are all in place.
Earl Dumarest is still looking for clues to the location of lost Earth. A forced random choice brings him to the planet Dradea, where, out of money, Earl has to fight with the giant avian Crell in the arena. Crell's are fast and fearsome and the weapon that Crell fighters are given are inadequate. The purpose of the game is to restore vitality to the people of Dradea.
Veruchia, one of the two heirs to the Owner of Dradea, is in the audience. At the behest of her mentor Selkas, who has seen Dumarest fight when Dumarest was younger, urges Veruchia to enter into a sizeable bet with her cousin, the other heir to the planet. Dumarest wins, of course, but that attracts the interest of the local Cyclan representative.
The Owner dies and Veruchia is induced to hire Dumarest as a bodyguard. Veruchia is told that her claim will be denied if she cannot find the long-lost first ship that brought the original settlers to Dradea. But the Cyclan are giving false clues and the location of the ship is guarded by the monsters of Dradea.
Will Veruchia will find the ship? Will Dumarest finds clues to Earth? Will he kill the Cyclan after being captured? Will someone refer to how fast Dumarest is? Will Dumarest show again and again that he is most macho man on the planet?
There are thirty more books to go in this series.
It's book 8 and the tropes and cliches are all in place.
Earl Dumarest is still looking for clues to the location of lost Earth. A forced random choice brings him to the planet Dradea, where, out of money, Earl has to fight with the giant avian Crell in the arena. Crell's are fast and fearsome and the weapon that Crell fighters are given are inadequate. The purpose of the game is to restore vitality to the people of Dradea.
Veruchia, one of the two heirs to the Owner of Dradea, is in the audience. At the behest of her mentor Selkas, who has seen Dumarest fight when Dumarest was younger, urges Veruchia to enter into a sizeable bet with her cousin, the other heir to the planet. Dumarest wins, of course, but that attracts the interest of the local Cyclan representative.
The Owner dies and Veruchia is induced to hire Dumarest as a bodyguard. Veruchia is told that her claim will be denied if she cannot find the long-lost first ship that brought the original settlers to Dradea. But the Cyclan are giving false clues and the location of the ship is guarded by the monsters of Dradea.
Will Veruchia will find the ship? Will Dumarest finds clues to Earth? Will he kill the Cyclan after being captured? Will someone refer to how fast Dumarest is? Will Dumarest show again and again that he is most macho man on the planet?
There are thirty more books to go in this series.
January 22, 2022
It's been a minute since my last Dumarest book. I'm relieved that Veruchia is a step up from Technos. That last volume was a bit of a coincidence-laden disappointment. This book follows the formula of Dumarest's quest intersecting with another world's politics, but here his search for Earth and the titular character's search for her past line up in a way that hasn't happened in the series so far. Dumarest and Veruchia both explore questions that may provide answers for them both.
I'm concerned that Dumarest himself is becoming less of an everyman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, and is falling more into the "indomitable superman" role. If that trend continues, he'll become less interesting of a character. This book, however, ends in a peculiar place. I wouldn't call it a cliffhanger exactly, but it comes to a pause in such a way that Dumarest's quest appears to be in jeopardy, and I'm curious to see what happens next.
I'm concerned that Dumarest himself is becoming less of an everyman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, and is falling more into the "indomitable superman" role. If that trend continues, he'll become less interesting of a character. This book, however, ends in a peculiar place. I wouldn't call it a cliffhanger exactly, but it comes to a pause in such a way that Dumarest's quest appears to be in jeopardy, and I'm curious to see what happens next.
May 13, 2020
My favorite write is Vance. Especially his stories about space-travelers are enjoyed. But Tubb also has a good knack of writing in this genre. This series is about Dumarest, a space traveler going from planet to planet to find his original home, planet Earth. I like the descriptions of the planets, cultures and habits he encounters. All imaginations of Tubb.
In #8 (of 32), he is on Dreadea where he wins the love of Veruchia, a woman with a tainted body but a possible heir to the rule the world. But for that, proof must be found and they have to go on adventure and he gets to use the affinity twin for the first time. I see similarities with Vance's Blue World and found this volume very entertaining. Therefore a higher rating than before.
In #8 (of 32), he is on Dreadea where he wins the love of Veruchia, a woman with a tainted body but a possible heir to the rule the world. But for that, proof must be found and they have to go on adventure and he gets to use the affinity twin for the first time. I see similarities with Vance's Blue World and found this volume very entertaining. Therefore a higher rating than before.
September 29, 2023
It was great to finally get my hands on this one! Going back to #8 In the Dumarest saga was interesting, this is after the Cyclan become aware of him, but before they focus their full force on finding him. It is early enough in the series to include the themes of naming a book after the female love interest of that volume (which didn't last) and for Earl Dumarest to rely on combat to survive.
I have already read up into the high 20's of this series, but I had to skip this one, which I only just got my hands on. It is a great adventure, including a marine rescue scene and underwater elements. Really enjoyed this one and reviewed it on YouTube also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNEjg...
I have already read up into the high 20's of this series, but I had to skip this one, which I only just got my hands on. It is a great adventure, including a marine rescue scene and underwater elements. Really enjoyed this one and reviewed it on YouTube also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNEjg...
December 19, 2023
A fine space opera novel that only disappoints me due to how much I enjoyed the other books in the series that I've read so far. We get a lot of noble houses squabbling in a way that doesn't really feel like Dune, but I assume the prevalence of those themes around this time is connected to the success of Dune. What it reminds me of more than anything is Wolfling by Gordon Dickson which I just finished the other day. I think it suffers slightly in the comparison. Our hero's quest is clearly tire-spinning since it has to sustain a 30-book series, and the sci-fi concept at the heart of the book isn't as strong as it can be when Tubb is firing on all cylinders. Still, it's a brisk and pleasantly-prosed adventure that I don't have any regrets about dipping into.
April 15, 2021
Another breathless (pun recognised as I typed it) adventure for Dumarest. This one has a bit plot point that bypassed me, but these are, essentially, pulp novels that don't necessarily represent the pinnacle of plotting, or even writing.
Still really like them, though.
Still really like them, though.
June 8, 2025
This book might signal a change in the Dumarest saga. It's a step away from a series of separated books and closer to a great whole of related stories. I remember the ending well, the suspense is great and it leaves you with a bittersweet feeling of love
January 10, 2026
Veruchia - E C Tubb
The Earl Dumarest saga is a classic science fiction potboiler! Earl is in search of his home world, a forgotten place called Earth. Good old fashioned action and intrigue as told well by a sci-fi master EC Tubb.
The Earl Dumarest saga is a classic science fiction potboiler! Earl is in search of his home world, a forgotten place called Earth. Good old fashioned action and intrigue as told well by a sci-fi master EC Tubb.
July 22, 2020
I loved this Dumarest adventure... it was a bit different, having a large part of the book set underwater. Fast paced, action packed as always. A good yarn and fun to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2014
I'm making it my mission to get through the whole of the Dumarest Saga at some point. There are plenty of reviews for the earlier books, but of course they tail off as you get further through the series. That and I don't have any review notes for previous books.
Dumarest arrives at the planet Selend, having heard some rumour of an ancient city that may help him on his quest to find Earth. During a storm, he visits a museum to take cover and learns that the city is in fact real. It was discovered 60 years ago, having been completely destroyed. He asks a few too many questions and is attacked after leaving the museum. He is treated in hospital where they use his savings to pay for treatment. Destitute, and being thrown off the planet, he escapes onto a ship.
He next reaches Dradea and once again enters the Arena in order to fight for money. The fights are messy and he has to fight against the Crell - a huge bird specially bred over generations for its violence and strength. Dumarest becomes an instant celebrity on Dradea and is then employed to guard Veruchia, the heir to Dradea. When the Owner dies she stands to rule but must first prove her claim is more worthy than that of Montarg. She believes she can find the ship that first bought their ancestors to the planet, proving her claim.
Of course, though, Montarg won't stand by and the ever present Cyclans always have their own agenda.
I do kind of wish I had started my reviews from the first book - there is just so much of this universe being built that jumping in part way through can be a little confusing. As always, there are a few threads that continue to run through this book. The Cyclans and their plots and plans, Dumarests travels and his on going search for Earth. Humanity spread through the Galaxy long, long ago and have forgotten their original world.
The books are starting to get a little formulaic. Dumarest travels to a world, asks about Earth, faces peril and changes the world. But they're just so much fun to read! The over reaching plot is building. We are starting to see the information about the Affinity Twin that the Cyclans are so interested in and we learn a lot more about what it is and how it works.
The Cyclans were an interesting plot device, but now they all just seem to be the same character but with a different name. There are copy pasted passages about the Cyclans that are getting a little tiring. That's by Book 8, there are 32 in this series (and yes, I'm going to read them all but I'm still going to complain about it!).
The general sexism has been on the back burner through this series and I can generally leave it without comment when I consider the women in his series are in positions of power or they have important abilities that drive the story. This time our lead woman is told she's not allowed to go deep sea diving because she's a woman and it's "not safe", despite her being the only one with extensive diving experience.
The world building in the Dumarest series has been surprisingly good considering how few pages each book has. I have been left with a clear picture of the planets and their differences in the past. I've been impressed so far how many cultures we've been able to peek into, despite each book only reaching 130 pages or so. This one doesn't quite have so much of the world building. I suspect that it's because this book is so much more plot driven than others so far. A lot happens in this one, Tubb packs a lot of happening into not many pages.
Dumarest himself has been an interesting character. In the past he's been a bit too capable. But this time he seemed oddly vulnerable and a little detached from the people he was interacting with.
I still have a long way to go until the end of this series.
Dumarest arrives at the planet Selend, having heard some rumour of an ancient city that may help him on his quest to find Earth. During a storm, he visits a museum to take cover and learns that the city is in fact real. It was discovered 60 years ago, having been completely destroyed. He asks a few too many questions and is attacked after leaving the museum. He is treated in hospital where they use his savings to pay for treatment. Destitute, and being thrown off the planet, he escapes onto a ship.
He next reaches Dradea and once again enters the Arena in order to fight for money. The fights are messy and he has to fight against the Crell - a huge bird specially bred over generations for its violence and strength. Dumarest becomes an instant celebrity on Dradea and is then employed to guard Veruchia, the heir to Dradea. When the Owner dies she stands to rule but must first prove her claim is more worthy than that of Montarg. She believes she can find the ship that first bought their ancestors to the planet, proving her claim.
Of course, though, Montarg won't stand by and the ever present Cyclans always have their own agenda.
I do kind of wish I had started my reviews from the first book - there is just so much of this universe being built that jumping in part way through can be a little confusing. As always, there are a few threads that continue to run through this book. The Cyclans and their plots and plans, Dumarests travels and his on going search for Earth. Humanity spread through the Galaxy long, long ago and have forgotten their original world.
The books are starting to get a little formulaic. Dumarest travels to a world, asks about Earth, faces peril and changes the world. But they're just so much fun to read! The over reaching plot is building. We are starting to see the information about the Affinity Twin that the Cyclans are so interested in and we learn a lot more about what it is and how it works.
The Cyclans were an interesting plot device, but now they all just seem to be the same character but with a different name. There are copy pasted passages about the Cyclans that are getting a little tiring. That's by Book 8, there are 32 in this series (and yes, I'm going to read them all but I'm still going to complain about it!).
The general sexism has been on the back burner through this series and I can generally leave it without comment when I consider the women in his series are in positions of power or they have important abilities that drive the story. This time our lead woman is told she's not allowed to go deep sea diving because she's a woman and it's "not safe", despite her being the only one with extensive diving experience.
The world building in the Dumarest series has been surprisingly good considering how few pages each book has. I have been left with a clear picture of the planets and their differences in the past. I've been impressed so far how many cultures we've been able to peek into, despite each book only reaching 130 pages or so. This one doesn't quite have so much of the world building. I suspect that it's because this book is so much more plot driven than others so far. A lot happens in this one, Tubb packs a lot of happening into not many pages.
Dumarest himself has been an interesting character. In the past he's been a bit too capable. But this time he seemed oddly vulnerable and a little detached from the people he was interacting with.
I still have a long way to go until the end of this series.
November 15, 2014
‘Earl Dumarest, trans-galactic soldier of fortune, is still seeking his birthplace, the fabled planet Earth…
But then, on the distant, decadent planet Dradea, he meets the mysterious, mutant woman Veruchia. She selected him from the gladiators’ arena to become her servant… and more.
Soon, Dumarest discovers that she too is engaged in a quest – and that the fate of her planet hangs in the balance. Fascinated, compelled, he agrees to help her.
But then he must face bizarre perils which make the gladiatorial area seem a haven of safety…’
Blurb from the 1977 Arrow paperback edition.
For me, at least initially, this book didn’t seem to have been written in Tubb’s usual style. Dumarest, still searching for clues to the location of Earth finds a planet where a hidden underground city was destroyed by atomic weaponry some fifty years previously.
No one on the planet knew that the city was even there, or who destroyed it, although Dumarest suspects it might have been one of the hidden habitations of The Original People.
Soon afterwards, Dumarest is attacked with a drugged dart but manages to disable his attacker who later dies in suspicious circumstances.
Dumarest wakes up in hospital and realises that the Cyclan must be after him. The authorities fear that this incident is part of a wider interplanetary war of intelligence agents and insist that Dumarest leave the planet, which he does, but not by the expected route.
he thus ends up on Dradea, competing in a bizarre form of gladiatorial games. He is spotted by an elderly retainer of the ruling family and recruited to protect Veruchia, one of the heirs to planetary rule.
The ruler subsequently dies and Veruchia must prove that she is a descendant of the owner of the ship that colonised the planet in order to succeed to the title.
Her rival, however, has hired the services of the Cyclan who are aware that Dumarest is on the planet and that they must thwart Veruchia’s plans to find the original ship to stake her claim.
So, there’s a race against time to find the ship before the deadline, which they do, with the help of Dumarest’s affinity twin symbiote thing.
There’s a final fight with Veruchia’s rival and the cyber, and Dumarest finds archaic coordinates in the ship’s log which could help him pinpoint the location of Earth.
Once more the cover artist (ignoring for the moment the blatant female sexual pose, looking terrified in a porn pose sort of way and being protected by Dumarest from a giant turkey when, in the text, she was in the audience and in no danger whatsoever) has blatantly stolen designs from Roger Dean. Even for 1977, this is a very cheap trick to play
But then, on the distant, decadent planet Dradea, he meets the mysterious, mutant woman Veruchia. She selected him from the gladiators’ arena to become her servant… and more.
Soon, Dumarest discovers that she too is engaged in a quest – and that the fate of her planet hangs in the balance. Fascinated, compelled, he agrees to help her.
But then he must face bizarre perils which make the gladiatorial area seem a haven of safety…’
Blurb from the 1977 Arrow paperback edition.
For me, at least initially, this book didn’t seem to have been written in Tubb’s usual style. Dumarest, still searching for clues to the location of Earth finds a planet where a hidden underground city was destroyed by atomic weaponry some fifty years previously.
No one on the planet knew that the city was even there, or who destroyed it, although Dumarest suspects it might have been one of the hidden habitations of The Original People.
Soon afterwards, Dumarest is attacked with a drugged dart but manages to disable his attacker who later dies in suspicious circumstances.
Dumarest wakes up in hospital and realises that the Cyclan must be after him. The authorities fear that this incident is part of a wider interplanetary war of intelligence agents and insist that Dumarest leave the planet, which he does, but not by the expected route.
he thus ends up on Dradea, competing in a bizarre form of gladiatorial games. He is spotted by an elderly retainer of the ruling family and recruited to protect Veruchia, one of the heirs to planetary rule.
The ruler subsequently dies and Veruchia must prove that she is a descendant of the owner of the ship that colonised the planet in order to succeed to the title.
Her rival, however, has hired the services of the Cyclan who are aware that Dumarest is on the planet and that they must thwart Veruchia’s plans to find the original ship to stake her claim.
So, there’s a race against time to find the ship before the deadline, which they do, with the help of Dumarest’s affinity twin symbiote thing.
There’s a final fight with Veruchia’s rival and the cyber, and Dumarest finds archaic coordinates in the ship’s log which could help him pinpoint the location of Earth.
Once more the cover artist (ignoring for the moment the blatant female sexual pose, looking terrified in a porn pose sort of way and being protected by Dumarest from a giant turkey when, in the text, she was in the audience and in no danger whatsoever) has blatantly stolen designs from Roger Dean. Even for 1977, this is a very cheap trick to play
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2012
Another splendid tale from one of Britain's premier science fiction writers. Why, oh why, are these books not in print? I cannot go past a second-hand bookshop without ducking inside to look for Dumarest Saga volumes to complete my set.
Nice use of the affinity-twin by Dumarest.
Nice use of the affinity-twin by Dumarest.
February 3, 2011
Earl Dumarest continues to follow clues leading hin to Earth.
Sicence fiction adventure at it's best.
Sicence fiction adventure at it's best.
May 23, 2020
Another book I had not read for over twenty years. Not a bad read but nothing special.
September 25, 2018
Another solid Dumarest offering, with quick-moving action and interesting characters.
March 30, 2016
So pleased to find I am still enjoying the series. People change and so do their tastes and what I loved at 30 might not please me at 70 but I find it still does.
June 25, 2015
This is #8 in the Dumarest series. Usual plot: he fights in the arena, kills bad guys and monsters, and rescues the girl, all the while searching for clues to get back home to Earth.
May 25, 2015
1978 grade B
Dumarest book 8
Dumarest book 8
Read
July 21, 2018Read 'The Winds of Gath' - the first 'Dumarest' novel. It's gripping and intelligent. Then maybe the third, 'Toyman.' Give the rest a miss, as they're all pretty much the same. A pity Tubb was talked out of writing the coherent, developing trilogy or quartet, with a clear end in sight - which is what he seems to have had in mind as he was writing 'Gath' - and opted instead for the interminable, going-nowhere plod through a decadent universe that the series became. He was a competent writer who could have given himself a more substantial legacy.
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