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Central Control #1-2
Star Soldiers
Star Guard 1953. Dominant aliens allow humans to the stars only as mercenaries. Swordsman Kana and his comrades, betrayed by Central Command, march across hostile planet Fronn.
Star Rangers 1953, The Last Planet 1955. 4K years later, telepath Kartr and Patrollers crash on a beautiful unknown yet familiar world and seek the source of a beacon to safety.
Star Rangers 1953, The Last Planet 1955. 4K years later, telepath Kartr and Patrollers crash on a beautiful unknown yet familiar world and seek the source of a beacon to safety.
480 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2001
363 people are currently reading
1308 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
February 28, 2011
Star Soldiers by Andre Norton
Humanity’s aggressive nature causes them to be galactic mercenaries when they burst out of Sol’s gravity well. Molded into a strict regime by Galactic Central Control, man’s creative aspects are ignored as they bleed off their most courageous warriors.
ANDRE NORTON needs to be capitalized for her impact on the entire genre. This book was first printed in 1953 and loses nothing in the ensuing decades. It is a great space opera with extremely humane characters.
Norton does a wonderful job examining motivation and behavior. She paints honorable protagonists and sinister villains. She shows the evils of intolerance and the benefits of integration when racial inequities were still common place in our own nation.
This book follows the initial deployment of Kana Karr an Arch Swordsman. Earth’s mercenaries are divided into Mechs and Archs. Mechs use near state of the art technology while Archs are limited to Roman era weapons with the exception of very basic firearms.
Kana Karr is well characterized as a shiny, new, well trained novice. For military fans, think shiny new 2nd Lt. His growth into a veteran facing not only what he was trained to do but facing Central Control treachery forms the basis of the plot.
Norton always provides wonderful verbal scenery and characterizations. I have read her books for more than 50 years. Arrgghh! I’m old! Gasp!
I strongly recommend the book!
Humanity’s aggressive nature causes them to be galactic mercenaries when they burst out of Sol’s gravity well. Molded into a strict regime by Galactic Central Control, man’s creative aspects are ignored as they bleed off their most courageous warriors.
ANDRE NORTON needs to be capitalized for her impact on the entire genre. This book was first printed in 1953 and loses nothing in the ensuing decades. It is a great space opera with extremely humane characters.
Norton does a wonderful job examining motivation and behavior. She paints honorable protagonists and sinister villains. She shows the evils of intolerance and the benefits of integration when racial inequities were still common place in our own nation.
This book follows the initial deployment of Kana Karr an Arch Swordsman. Earth’s mercenaries are divided into Mechs and Archs. Mechs use near state of the art technology while Archs are limited to Roman era weapons with the exception of very basic firearms.
Kana Karr is well characterized as a shiny, new, well trained novice. For military fans, think shiny new 2nd Lt. His growth into a veteran facing not only what he was trained to do but facing Central Control treachery forms the basis of the plot.
Norton always provides wonderful verbal scenery and characterizations. I have read her books for more than 50 years. Arrgghh! I’m old! Gasp!
I strongly recommend the book!
March 1, 2013
I read several Andre Norton books when I was a kid. She wrote well over a hundred, mostly pulp space operas that were just what kids in the ‘space age’ wanted. Her tales of human space exploration, discovering other worlds, and meeting with strange aliens were simple but inspirational. We expected such tales to become a reality in the Twenty-First Century. Alas, things did not turn out so.
This Baen edition contains two of her earlier works: Star Guard (1955) and Star Rangers (1953).
Star Guard follows a platoon of “Archs,” human soldiers who serve as mercenaries in low-tech conflicts. They are hired to serve in a "police action" on a distant planet, which turns out to be much different than they expected, and they uncover secrets about humanity’s relationship with other galactic species and about human expansion to other worlds.
In Star Rangers (AKA The Last Planet), the multi-planet human empire is declining. Earth (Terra) is just a legend, its location forgotten. One of the last remaining Stellar Patrol ships crash lands on an unknown planet, and the survivors discover other castaways and the remnants of a lost civilization.
Although both stories were written over half a century ago, they stand up well. Some of the ‘high tech’ might seem antiquated to us now, but the characters remain believable and their adventures are still captivating (although serendipitous events do stretch one’s ability to suspend disbelief at times). With just a little rewriting, these would equal or surpass most of the popular science fiction adventure stories being published today.
What I tend to like about Norton’s books is that they often focus more on discovery than conflict, and they provide hopeful endings. These two stories do. Yes, things are bad, but there is hope for the future, and people can go on to do great things.
This is how many of us felt about the real world when these were written. The threat of nuclear annihilation hung over us, pollution clouded the skies of major cities, and there were fears of overpopulation and exhausting natural resources, but somehow we expected we’d overcome these challenges and go to the stars. Maybe we still will.
This free Baen edition for Kindle has some pretty sloppy editing, though. Both books have formatting issues and I noticed about half a dozen typos. There are so many well-written and well-edited free and low cost eBooks from indie authors, I find myself appalled when a traditional publisher cannot produce something with equally high quality.
Still, the stories are good, and I would recommend this compilation for all space opera fans. If you want to read more of Andre Norton’s books, several are available free from Project Gutenberg.
This Baen edition contains two of her earlier works: Star Guard (1955) and Star Rangers (1953).
Star Guard follows a platoon of “Archs,” human soldiers who serve as mercenaries in low-tech conflicts. They are hired to serve in a "police action" on a distant planet, which turns out to be much different than they expected, and they uncover secrets about humanity’s relationship with other galactic species and about human expansion to other worlds.
In Star Rangers (AKA The Last Planet), the multi-planet human empire is declining. Earth (Terra) is just a legend, its location forgotten. One of the last remaining Stellar Patrol ships crash lands on an unknown planet, and the survivors discover other castaways and the remnants of a lost civilization.
Although both stories were written over half a century ago, they stand up well. Some of the ‘high tech’ might seem antiquated to us now, but the characters remain believable and their adventures are still captivating (although serendipitous events do stretch one’s ability to suspend disbelief at times). With just a little rewriting, these would equal or surpass most of the popular science fiction adventure stories being published today.
What I tend to like about Norton’s books is that they often focus more on discovery than conflict, and they provide hopeful endings. These two stories do. Yes, things are bad, but there is hope for the future, and people can go on to do great things.
This is how many of us felt about the real world when these were written. The threat of nuclear annihilation hung over us, pollution clouded the skies of major cities, and there were fears of overpopulation and exhausting natural resources, but somehow we expected we’d overcome these challenges and go to the stars. Maybe we still will.
This free Baen edition for Kindle has some pretty sloppy editing, though. Both books have formatting issues and I noticed about half a dozen typos. There are so many well-written and well-edited free and low cost eBooks from indie authors, I find myself appalled when a traditional publisher cannot produce something with equally high quality.
Still, the stories are good, and I would recommend this compilation for all space opera fans. If you want to read more of Andre Norton’s books, several are available free from Project Gutenberg.
March 28, 2013
Star Soldiers is an "omnibus" of two Andre Norton pieces. Each of an approximate 200 pages in length, these novels are Star Guard and Star Rangers respectively. The author wrote them in such a similar fashion that they may be seen as set within the same "Universe" despite not truly being connected.
A few things stand out about these works. Firstly they were written in the 1950s, and do have a dash of a dated feel to them. This is not a problem in abundance due to the stark lack of any real depth of science fiction in the stories.
The first centers around a crew of soldier mercenaries who find themselves stranded on an alien planet, surrounded by hostiles and unknowns, with the goal of escape their primary intention. An interesting perspective that doesn't really feel 3rd person (perhaps 3rd person abstract), follows a central character but never immerses in that character enough to give a reader any real feel for who he is. The journey quickly begins to feel like a long series of events dictated to the reader rather than a story. The lack of character development and emotional attachment leaves a reader with a numb uncaring approach to handling deaths and tragedies along the way. Ultimately this piece begins to feel somewhat boring.
The second has basically the same setup. The crew of a ship of explorers crashes on a planet and is basically stranded, surrounded by danger, and hoping for survival. The thing that sets this book apart from the first is the clear development of a purpose underlying the story. The issue of race is addressed in what can only be called progressive for the time the piece was written. The crew is a mixed batch of humans and aliens and their interactions shine above anything else in the story. Ultimately the characters do still lack real development and quickly fall from memory when not focused on. This story has some interesting ideas that might be considered twist-like for some people, while others might find them rather predictable.
Overall the book is readable. Nothing difficult or challenging. Light science fiction at best and clean for any young adult or developed child to read either piece. What is found lacking in luster and feeling is mostly made up for in a steady flow and pacing.
A few things stand out about these works. Firstly they were written in the 1950s, and do have a dash of a dated feel to them. This is not a problem in abundance due to the stark lack of any real depth of science fiction in the stories.
The first centers around a crew of soldier mercenaries who find themselves stranded on an alien planet, surrounded by hostiles and unknowns, with the goal of escape their primary intention. An interesting perspective that doesn't really feel 3rd person (perhaps 3rd person abstract), follows a central character but never immerses in that character enough to give a reader any real feel for who he is. The journey quickly begins to feel like a long series of events dictated to the reader rather than a story. The lack of character development and emotional attachment leaves a reader with a numb uncaring approach to handling deaths and tragedies along the way. Ultimately this piece begins to feel somewhat boring.
The second has basically the same setup. The crew of a ship of explorers crashes on a planet and is basically stranded, surrounded by danger, and hoping for survival. The thing that sets this book apart from the first is the clear development of a purpose underlying the story. The issue of race is addressed in what can only be called progressive for the time the piece was written. The crew is a mixed batch of humans and aliens and their interactions shine above anything else in the story. Ultimately the characters do still lack real development and quickly fall from memory when not focused on. This story has some interesting ideas that might be considered twist-like for some people, while others might find them rather predictable.
Overall the book is readable. Nothing difficult or challenging. Light science fiction at best and clean for any young adult or developed child to read either piece. What is found lacking in luster and feeling is mostly made up for in a steady flow and pacing.
December 14, 2013
What did I think? I think that's two Norton books,and I give up. This was an incredibly dull book from start to utterly anti-climatic finish. That woman can't write an ending to save her life. Or compelling characters for that matter. The ideas are decent, but they need to be given over to a much more skilled author.
March 9, 2014
I read the first volume. (this is a twofer.) It was good. Enjoyable, but not good enough that I wanted to read the second. A low three stars.
March 10, 2025
Classic science fiction from one of the great authors is a refreshing read with most current writers writing either about the end of the world or writing fantasy. This is two books in one. In the first, Earth has entered into space flight and met with more developed species and Earth has become the source of mercenaries. One group is trapped on a far planet by treachery from some in the central government. They must escape and meet many interesting species in their escape. The other book occurs further in the future where the whereabouts of Terra are unknown. A group of space rangers are trapped on an unknown planet and are confronted by humans, some who were also shipwrecked but others native to the planet. What surprises me is that Norton uses some of theories expressed by Ibn Kaldun who believed states become more civilized then collapse and are replaced by barbarians and the cycle starts again. Great reading. This is the author who first hooked me on science fiction.
April 19, 2024
Two stories from the grand dame of sci fi aimed at a younger audience that don’t quite hit the “enjoyable by any age” category, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The first story (Star Guard) is essentially about space knight mercenaries being betrayed by hi tech mercenaries and having to fight their way off the planet. And somehow it’s BORING!!!! The setup is great and looks to be action packed but a lot of this is just meandering through the woods. In line with this I think this would be a fun story to read camping as much of it takes place in the wild. There’s also a pretty good fugitive esque segment as the finale. Overall not particularly bad but definitely doesn’t live up to its potential.
The second story (Star Rangers) is still flawed but I much preferred it. A group of the galactic patrol crash land and have to battle the elements, the inhabitants of an abandoned city, and each other! That sounds much more intense than it actually is but roughly sums up the plot. There are cool aliens in this, telepathic characters, robots, and laser guns. The plot kind of just goes from one thing to another but that’s par for the course for this era. Plus there is great anti-racism allegory in this. Reading it I think Ms. Norton took some inspiration from Doc Smith’s lensmen works and the foundation trilogy. I think if you want to read a story with an old school sci fi feel, this fits the bill.
These stories sort of share a setting. In Star Guard humans are part of a massive empire but are only allowed to go to the stars as mercenaries. Thousands of years later in Star Rangers, humanity controls central control but it’s empire is collapsing and aliens are second class citizens. I would really enjoy seeing more of the world of both stories and I think these novels would spark a young readers imagination.
Overall I think this is a good choice for young sci fi readers but adults should only read if you enjoy classic/pulp sci fi
The first story (Star Guard) is essentially about space knight mercenaries being betrayed by hi tech mercenaries and having to fight their way off the planet. And somehow it’s BORING!!!! The setup is great and looks to be action packed but a lot of this is just meandering through the woods. In line with this I think this would be a fun story to read camping as much of it takes place in the wild. There’s also a pretty good fugitive esque segment as the finale. Overall not particularly bad but definitely doesn’t live up to its potential.
The second story (Star Rangers) is still flawed but I much preferred it. A group of the galactic patrol crash land and have to battle the elements, the inhabitants of an abandoned city, and each other! That sounds much more intense than it actually is but roughly sums up the plot. There are cool aliens in this, telepathic characters, robots, and laser guns. The plot kind of just goes from one thing to another but that’s par for the course for this era. Plus there is great anti-racism allegory in this. Reading it I think Ms. Norton took some inspiration from Doc Smith’s lensmen works and the foundation trilogy. I think if you want to read a story with an old school sci fi feel, this fits the bill.
These stories sort of share a setting. In Star Guard humans are part of a massive empire but are only allowed to go to the stars as mercenaries. Thousands of years later in Star Rangers, humanity controls central control but it’s empire is collapsing and aliens are second class citizens. I would really enjoy seeing more of the world of both stories and I think these novels would spark a young readers imagination.
Overall I think this is a good choice for young sci fi readers but adults should only read if you enjoy classic/pulp sci fi
March 29, 2015
Two fairly good, short novels. The main topics of both are mankind's exodus from Earth. Independently, each is a fun story of one character facing the complete change of the world he has previously known. Both characters, though being widely different in age, experience, background, etc, share the common trait of not only being prepared for the change they experience but desirous of it. This discontentedness manifests itself in reluctance to assume mantles which are thrust upon them (more so in the second story admittedly).
As I said, in general I liked the stories, but I wish they had not been tied together. Except for the names of some political groups and species, the two books have no connection. Even one portion where it seems like a connection might be formed seems to instead allow the second to contradict the first (detracting from both).
Separately, I would recommend the first story to those who enjoyed Jerry Pournelle's "The Prince" series. The second I would suggest to those who enjoy Asimov's Foundation trilogy. I would NOT suggest reading them back to back.
As I said, in general I liked the stories, but I wish they had not been tied together. Except for the names of some political groups and species, the two books have no connection. Even one portion where it seems like a connection might be formed seems to instead allow the second to contradict the first (detracting from both).
Separately, I would recommend the first story to those who enjoyed Jerry Pournelle's "The Prince" series. The second I would suggest to those who enjoy Asimov's Foundation trilogy. I would NOT suggest reading them back to back.
June 22, 2015
This edition collects two shorter novels into one volume. The two individual titles are 'Star Guard' and 'Star Rangers'.
The first is about a unit of mercenaries who find themselves betrayed on an alien planet. Although this ended pretty well. most of the story was hard going. Some of it just made no sense at all. If everyone has guns, why use ranks like Swordsman Third Class and Sword Master?? Just seemed totally lame to me. ** two stars.
The second follows the adventures of a small group of Rangers and ships crew who crash on an unknown planet. They are way off the well traveled star charts and with no communications have little chance of rescue. They quickly discover they are are not alone and the planet itself has some mysteries too. A better story *** three stars.
The two stories have nothing to do with each other so I am not really sure why these were put together. I really got bogged down in the first story and would have thought better overall if I had just read the second.
The first is about a unit of mercenaries who find themselves betrayed on an alien planet. Although this ended pretty well. most of the story was hard going. Some of it just made no sense at all. If everyone has guns, why use ranks like Swordsman Third Class and Sword Master?? Just seemed totally lame to me. ** two stars.
The second follows the adventures of a small group of Rangers and ships crew who crash on an unknown planet. They are way off the well traveled star charts and with no communications have little chance of rescue. They quickly discover they are are not alone and the planet itself has some mysteries too. A better story *** three stars.
The two stories have nothing to do with each other so I am not really sure why these were put together. I really got bogged down in the first story and would have thought better overall if I had just read the second.
February 5, 2013
This is a collection of Norton's two Central Control novels, Star Guard (1955) and Star Rangers (1953). It's currently a free download on Amazon so I decided to give it a try. I only read Star Guard so far, and it's a pretty good old fashioned military sf yarn. Nothing terribly original, but it gets the job done. Standard plot: plucky rookie ends up helping save the world. Some of the plot - an Earth hemmed in by hostile aliens, people can only go to space through military channels - reminded me a lot of Old Man's War by John Scalzi, and I'd be surprised it this was not an inspiration. The rest of it is straight from Xenophon's Anabasis.
June 9, 2010
Interesting combination of two novels, one set at the beginning of human activity in the galaxy, the other at the end of that huge empire. Dated, sure, but by a master of the genre. If you like that sort of retro SF, then you should pick this one up.
June 7, 2014
Two stars for the first book as it had a really bad ending, and three stars for the second, which was more of an essay in race relations.
I am a big fan of Andre Norton, and this was free from Amazon, so I thought I would give it a try, but cannot really recommend it.
I am a big fan of Andre Norton, and this was free from Amazon, so I thought I would give it a try, but cannot really recommend it.
October 29, 2021
This is an omnibus of two of Norton's science fiction adventure stories. They tell the stories of the start of human space travel and interaction with established, intelligent, alien civilization, in Star Guard (1953), and, four thousand years later, a story that reflects the spreading collapse of that same galactic civilization in Star Rangers (1953), later reprinted under the title The Last Planet (1955).
In Star Guard, humans have achieved star flight, but found an exiting multispecies polity in which the government, "Central Control," deems humans too aggressive for full membership, and assigns them the role serving as mercenaries in the on-planet conflicts of other species. For more technologically advanced cultures, Terra provides "Mech" units, using things we'd recognize as really advanced tanks, airplanes, missiles, and energy weapons. For lower-tech cultures, they provide "Arch" units, using swords, spears, nothing more advanced than rifles, and some form of radio communication between units. Kana Karr, Swordsman Third Class, arrives at Prime to enlist for his first assignment off world. The first assignment offered him is allegedly a simple police action, a good way to get some basic experience without jumping in the deep end. It's on a planet called Fronn, and it's apparently his somewhat eccentric choice to take all the course he can on X-Tee, Alien Liaison service.
When he joins up with his unit, he soon learns that it includes an improbably high number of highly experienced, highly ranked Arch soldiers than there should ordinarily be any reason for on a simple police action. When Kana and his unit arrive on Fronn, at first things seem to be going fairly well, despite the fact that they've learned they're in fact supporting one side an dynastic struggle. Then strange things start to go wrong, and they find they are opposed not just by native troops or another Arch unit, but by a Mech unit, which legally shouldn't be on a planet like Fronn at all.
There's a dark conspiracy, or perhaps just a malicious plan, to slowly reduce the "problem" of these "aggressive" humans. That plan seems to be inside Central Control And perhaps there's a counter-conspiracy, if they can connect with it.
In Star Rangers, the previous great civilization is decaying. There have been sector wars, and some planets burnt to cinders, and the Galactic Patrol is underfunded and increasingly crippled. One particular Patrol ship is given the somewhat suspect order to go explore a particular, rather remote sector, with the supposed goal of reinvigorating the Patrol and its government. After the ship makes some rather challenging stops on its mission of reconnaissance, the reach a planet clearly habitable by humans and the few non-humans, or "Bemmys," who are part of the crew. They land, but part of their landing gear collapses, turning the landing into a crippling crash.
The ship's complement is composed of Patrol crewmen, and Patrol Rangers. The crew consider themselves the real Patrol, many of them from longtime Patrol families. They are the command staff, the pilots, engineers, other technical specialists, as well as the armed security. The Rangers, on the other hand, do their job when they reach a new planet that needs to be explored and assessed. They have different skills, on planet survival skills and related specialties, and one in particular, Ranger Sergeant Kartr, is a sensitive, a telepath. Kartr and Rolth, from a dimly lit planet where humans have developed exceptional night vision while being very vulnerable to the full daylight of most worlds, are human. The other two Rangers are "Bemmys," non-humans. Fyhl is of a species descended from birdlike ancestors, while Zinga is of reptilian ancestry.
We soon learn that there's real hostility among the Patrol crew toward Rangers in general, and Bemmys in particular.
They soon find that this planet is perfectly habitable for humans and their environmentally-compatible Bemmy Rangers, yet there are, at first, no signs of civilization. This doesn't last, of course, and they find themselves confronting an offshoot of the sector wars, and a stranded sector lord and the passengers and crew of the passenger ship that stranded him here. He's got plans of making himself the absolute ruler, with the hidden, surviving technology of this apparently abandoned plan et to make him powerful and his life comfortable.
In both stories, there's solid adventure and interesting characters, and also Norton's values of decency, honor, fairness, equality, and equity. She doesn't shun violence; she does dislike unnecessary violence, cruelty, and oppression. We don't see many women in her writing from this period, because she chose not to portray women in the way considered commercially viable in sf at the time. That changed later.
I love Norton's fiction, and have since I first discovered her in the local library. And in rereading her work recently, I'm finding that it still holds up.
Recommended.
I bought both the audiobook and the ebook, and flipped back and forth between the two based on convenience for this reread.
In Star Guard, humans have achieved star flight, but found an exiting multispecies polity in which the government, "Central Control," deems humans too aggressive for full membership, and assigns them the role serving as mercenaries in the on-planet conflicts of other species. For more technologically advanced cultures, Terra provides "Mech" units, using things we'd recognize as really advanced tanks, airplanes, missiles, and energy weapons. For lower-tech cultures, they provide "Arch" units, using swords, spears, nothing more advanced than rifles, and some form of radio communication between units. Kana Karr, Swordsman Third Class, arrives at Prime to enlist for his first assignment off world. The first assignment offered him is allegedly a simple police action, a good way to get some basic experience without jumping in the deep end. It's on a planet called Fronn, and it's apparently his somewhat eccentric choice to take all the course he can on X-Tee, Alien Liaison service.
When he joins up with his unit, he soon learns that it includes an improbably high number of highly experienced, highly ranked Arch soldiers than there should ordinarily be any reason for on a simple police action. When Kana and his unit arrive on Fronn, at first things seem to be going fairly well, despite the fact that they've learned they're in fact supporting one side an dynastic struggle. Then strange things start to go wrong, and they find they are opposed not just by native troops or another Arch unit, but by a Mech unit, which legally shouldn't be on a planet like Fronn at all.
There's a dark conspiracy, or perhaps just a malicious plan, to slowly reduce the "problem" of these "aggressive" humans. That plan seems to be inside Central Control And perhaps there's a counter-conspiracy, if they can connect with it.
In Star Rangers, the previous great civilization is decaying. There have been sector wars, and some planets burnt to cinders, and the Galactic Patrol is underfunded and increasingly crippled. One particular Patrol ship is given the somewhat suspect order to go explore a particular, rather remote sector, with the supposed goal of reinvigorating the Patrol and its government. After the ship makes some rather challenging stops on its mission of reconnaissance, the reach a planet clearly habitable by humans and the few non-humans, or "Bemmys," who are part of the crew. They land, but part of their landing gear collapses, turning the landing into a crippling crash.
The ship's complement is composed of Patrol crewmen, and Patrol Rangers. The crew consider themselves the real Patrol, many of them from longtime Patrol families. They are the command staff, the pilots, engineers, other technical specialists, as well as the armed security. The Rangers, on the other hand, do their job when they reach a new planet that needs to be explored and assessed. They have different skills, on planet survival skills and related specialties, and one in particular, Ranger Sergeant Kartr, is a sensitive, a telepath. Kartr and Rolth, from a dimly lit planet where humans have developed exceptional night vision while being very vulnerable to the full daylight of most worlds, are human. The other two Rangers are "Bemmys," non-humans. Fyhl is of a species descended from birdlike ancestors, while Zinga is of reptilian ancestry.
We soon learn that there's real hostility among the Patrol crew toward Rangers in general, and Bemmys in particular.
They soon find that this planet is perfectly habitable for humans and their environmentally-compatible Bemmy Rangers, yet there are, at first, no signs of civilization. This doesn't last, of course, and they find themselves confronting an offshoot of the sector wars, and a stranded sector lord and the passengers and crew of the passenger ship that stranded him here. He's got plans of making himself the absolute ruler, with the hidden, surviving technology of this apparently abandoned plan et to make him powerful and his life comfortable.
In both stories, there's solid adventure and interesting characters, and also Norton's values of decency, honor, fairness, equality, and equity. She doesn't shun violence; she does dislike unnecessary violence, cruelty, and oppression. We don't see many women in her writing from this period, because she chose not to portray women in the way considered commercially viable in sf at the time. That changed later.
I love Norton's fiction, and have since I first discovered her in the local library. And in rereading her work recently, I'm finding that it still holds up.
Recommended.
I bought both the audiobook and the ebook, and flipped back and forth between the two based on convenience for this reread.
October 30, 2021
This is an omnibus of two of Norton's science fiction adventure stories. They tell the stories of the start of human space travel and interaction with established, intelligent, alien civilization, in Star Guard (1953), and, four thousand years later, a story that reflects the spreading collapse of that same galactic civilization in Star Rangers (1953), later reprinted under the title The Last Planet (1955).
In Star Guard, humans have achieved star flight, but found an exiting multispecies polity in which the government, "Central Control," deems humans too aggressive for full membership, and assigns them the role serving as mercenaries in the on-planet conflicts of other species. For more technologically advanced cultures, Terra provides "Mech" units, using things we'd recognize as really advanced tanks, airplanes, missiles, and energy weapons. For lower-tech cultures, they provide "Arch" units, using swords, spears, nothing more advanced than rifles, and some form of radio communication between units. Kana Karr, Swordsman Third Class, arrives at Prime to enlist for his first assignment off world. The first assignment offered him is allegedly a simple police action, a good way to get some basic experience without jumping in the deep end. It's on a planet called Fronn, and it's apparently his somewhat eccentric choice to take all the course he can on X-Tee, Alien Liaison service.
When he joins up with his unit, he soon learns that it includes an improbably high number of highly experienced, highly ranked Arch soldiers than there should ordinarily be any reason for on a simple police action. When Kana and his unit arrive on Fronn, at first things seem to be going fairly well, despite the fact that they've learned they're in fact supporting one side an dynastic struggle. Then strange things start to go wrong, and they find they are opposed not just by native troops or another Arch unit, but by a Mech unit, which legally shouldn't be on a planet like Fronn at all.
There's a dark conspiracy, or perhaps just a malicious plan, to slowly reduce the "problem" of these "aggressive" humans. That plan seems to be inside Central Control And perhaps there's a counter-conspiracy, if they can connect with it.
In Star Rangers, the previous great civilization is decaying. There have been sector wars, and some planets burnt to cinders, and the Galactic Patrol is underfunded and increasingly crippled. One particular Patrol ship is given the somewhat suspect order to go explore a particular, rather remote sector, with the supposed goal of reinvigorating the Patrol and its government. After the ship makes some rather challenging stops on its mission of reconnaissance, the reach a planet clearly habitable by humans and the few non-humans, or "Bemmys," who are part of the crew. They land, but part of their landing gear collapses, turning the landing into a crippling crash.
The ship's complement is composed of Patrol crewmen, and Patrol Rangers. The crew consider themselves the real Patrol, many of them from longtime Patrol families. They are the command staff, the pilots, engineers, other technical specialists, as well as the armed security. The Rangers, on the other hand, do their job when they reach a new planet that needs to be explored and assessed. They have different skills, on planet survival skills and related specialties, and one in particular, Ranger Sergeant Kartr, is a sensitive, a telepath. Kartr and Rolth, from a dimly lit planet where humans have developed exceptional night vision while being very vulnerable to the full daylight of most worlds, are human. The other two Rangers are "Bemmys," non-humans. Fyhl is of a species descended from birdlike ancestors, while Zinga is of reptilian ancestry.
We soon learn that there's real hostility among the Patrol crew toward Rangers in general, and Bemmys in particular.
They soon find that this planet is perfectly habitable for humans and their environmentally-compatible Bemmy Rangers, yet there are, at first, no signs of civilization. This doesn't last, of course, and they find themselves confronting an offshoot of the sector wars, and a stranded sector lord and the passengers and crew of the passenger ship that stranded him here. He's got plans of making himself the absolute ruler, with the hidden, surviving technology of this apparently abandoned plan et to make him powerful and his life comfortable.
In both stories, there's solid adventure and interesting characters, and also Norton's values of decency, honor, fairness, equality, and equity. She doesn't shun violence; she does dislike unnecessary violence, cruelty, and oppression. We don't see many women in her writing from this period, because she chose not to portray women in the way considered commercially viable in sf at the time. That changed later.
I love Norton's fiction, and have since I first discovered her in the local library. And in rereading her work recently, I'm finding that it still holds up.
Recommended.
I bought both the audiobook and the ebook, and flipped back and forth between the two based on convenience for this reread.
In Star Guard, humans have achieved star flight, but found an exiting multispecies polity in which the government, "Central Control," deems humans too aggressive for full membership, and assigns them the role serving as mercenaries in the on-planet conflicts of other species. For more technologically advanced cultures, Terra provides "Mech" units, using things we'd recognize as really advanced tanks, airplanes, missiles, and energy weapons. For lower-tech cultures, they provide "Arch" units, using swords, spears, nothing more advanced than rifles, and some form of radio communication between units. Kana Karr, Swordsman Third Class, arrives at Prime to enlist for his first assignment off world. The first assignment offered him is allegedly a simple police action, a good way to get some basic experience without jumping in the deep end. It's on a planet called Fronn, and it's apparently his somewhat eccentric choice to take all the course he can on X-Tee, Alien Liaison service.
When he joins up with his unit, he soon learns that it includes an improbably high number of highly experienced, highly ranked Arch soldiers than there should ordinarily be any reason for on a simple police action. When Kana and his unit arrive on Fronn, at first things seem to be going fairly well, despite the fact that they've learned they're in fact supporting one side an dynastic struggle. Then strange things start to go wrong, and they find they are opposed not just by native troops or another Arch unit, but by a Mech unit, which legally shouldn't be on a planet like Fronn at all.
There's a dark conspiracy, or perhaps just a malicious plan, to slowly reduce the "problem" of these "aggressive" humans. That plan seems to be inside Central Control And perhaps there's a counter-conspiracy, if they can connect with it.
In Star Rangers, the previous great civilization is decaying. There have been sector wars, and some planets burnt to cinders, and the Galactic Patrol is underfunded and increasingly crippled. One particular Patrol ship is given the somewhat suspect order to go explore a particular, rather remote sector, with the supposed goal of reinvigorating the Patrol and its government. After the ship makes some rather challenging stops on its mission of reconnaissance, the reach a planet clearly habitable by humans and the few non-humans, or "Bemmys," who are part of the crew. They land, but part of their landing gear collapses, turning the landing into a crippling crash.
The ship's complement is composed of Patrol crewmen, and Patrol Rangers. The crew consider themselves the real Patrol, many of them from longtime Patrol families. They are the command staff, the pilots, engineers, other technical specialists, as well as the armed security. The Rangers, on the other hand, do their job when they reach a new planet that needs to be explored and assessed. They have different skills, on planet survival skills and related specialties, and one in particular, Ranger Sergeant Kartr, is a sensitive, a telepath. Kartr and Rolth, from a dimly lit planet where humans have developed exceptional night vision while being very vulnerable to the full daylight of most worlds, are human. The other two Rangers are "Bemmys," non-humans. Fyhl is of a species descended from birdlike ancestors, while Zinga is of reptilian ancestry.
We soon learn that there's real hostility among the Patrol crew toward Rangers in general, and Bemmys in particular.
They soon find that this planet is perfectly habitable for humans and their environmentally-compatible Bemmy Rangers, yet there are, at first, no signs of civilization. This doesn't last, of course, and they find themselves confronting an offshoot of the sector wars, and a stranded sector lord and the passengers and crew of the passenger ship that stranded him here. He's got plans of making himself the absolute ruler, with the hidden, surviving technology of this apparently abandoned plan et to make him powerful and his life comfortable.
In both stories, there's solid adventure and interesting characters, and also Norton's values of decency, honor, fairness, equality, and equity. She doesn't shun violence; she does dislike unnecessary violence, cruelty, and oppression. We don't see many women in her writing from this period, because she chose not to portray women in the way considered commercially viable in sf at the time. That changed later.
I love Norton's fiction, and have since I first discovered her in the local library. And in rereading her work recently, I'm finding that it still holds up.
Recommended.
I bought both the audiobook and the ebook, and flipped back and forth between the two based on convenience for this reread.
October 3, 2014
I enjoyed this book and found it to be a relatively fast read. Star Soldiers is actually an omnibus of two books set in the same universe -- Star Guard and Star Rangers.
The first book is set some time after Earth has ventured into space and made contact with the rest of the galaxy. It turns out that Earth is somewhat late to the party – space is already populated by a diverse population of space-traveling aliens, and things are fairly civilized with rules in place to help keep it that way. The agency in charge deems humans to be too disruptive and aggressive to be given free rein in space, so the only way they’re permitted to travel into space is as mercenaries for hire by other planets to help them fight wars.
This premise was questionable to me. After all, if these other races needed mercenaries, then they clearly weren’t very peaceful either, right? Maybe the idea was that the hiring races were also barbaric and aggressive and not part of the inner circle of aliens allowed to travel space freely. However, I'm pretty sure we were told that humans were one of the few species being restricted in this manner. This basic premise was covered within the first couple of pages and was never fleshed out to my satisfaction.
Nevertheless, this was a pretty fun story if you can overlook the poorly-fleshed-out premise and the lack of a detailed setup for the current political situation. We’re reading from the perspective of a single character, Kana, who is a new recruit on his first mission as a mercenary. His team was hired by rebels on a remote planet about which little is known. Naturally, things go horribly wrong, but the threat isn’t what you might expect. I found Kana to be a pretty likeable character, as were several of his teammates. The story was an entertaining adventure that started off with a bit of a mystery as to just what was going on and why. There’s some military action, and the characters struggle to survive in harsh terrain with enemies hot on their tail. There are also several previously-unknown native threats which take them by surprise on the unfamiliar planet.
I enjoyed the story all the way through, but I started to get even more caught up in it toward the end. As the true nature of what was going on became apparent, I grew increasingly eager to learn about just how things would turn out. The story wrapped up the main action, but it left a lot of questions at the end about what would happen next. Additionally, I didn’t think the details were fleshed out well. There was a lot of action, but not much in the way of world-building. We’re told things are a certain way, and we just have to accept it without knowing why. I like to understand the motivation and history behind things, so this lack of detail bothered me. I was hopeful that the second story would answer my questions about what happened next and perhaps flesh out some of the details. I had the naïve expectation that the second book would follow up where the first book left off.
As it turned out, the second book took place 4000 years later and the universe had changed a great deal. There was a very brief prologue that summarized the current state of affairs in general terms, but the immediate aftermath of the first story wasn’t discussed. Things do kind of tie back to the first book eventually, but this second story had a completely different and separate plot.
Despite my initial frustration, I became interested in the second story pretty quickly and soon relinquished my frustration over not seeing the first story continued. The second story is also told from the perspective of a single character, Kartr, who is one of a handful of survivors from a crash landing on an unknown and distant planet. The story begins immediately after the crash. This book had the more interesting characters out of the two stories, I thought. The crew of the starship consisted of people from a variety of planets and there was more interaction and banter between the characters. This made the second book more enjoyable for me even though I also thought it was the weaker of the two in terms of logic and consistency. The conclusion of the story was pretty satisfactory, if excessively coincidental and convenient, and it served as a nice wrap-up for the entire omnibus.
The second book, however, did have some significant flaws. Some of the characters were telepathic, but there weren’t any clear and definite rules about how the telepathy could be used. It seemed to me like the telepathic abilities evolved throughout the story to meet whatever the current situation was. It was constantly being used in some new way, and its usage was not always consistent even when taking into account that different characters had different levels of telepathic skill. I also thought that, in both books, there were aspects of the stories that weren’t fleshed out or explained in a very believable way. In general, it seemed like the author freely introduced things as a convenience to move the story in the desired direction and didn’t pay too terribly much attention to whether or not they were consistent or logical. Most of these instances were small, niggling things that I might have been able to overlook if there were only one or two. But they accumulated until I was feeling rather frustrated with it by the end of the omnibus.
Another issue I found, especially in the second book, was with explanations that were provided in a wishy-washy manner. When the characters were trying to figure out why something had happened, they would throw out different ideas until suddenly the main character in whose head we were living would be certain that the most recent speculation “felt right”. From this point, future events or discoveries built on the assumption that this speculation was in fact true even though there wasn’t any concrete evidence to prove it true. In the real world, sometimes people think things “feel right” (or “feel wrong”) but they’re often proven completely wrong when the facts are uncovered. In this fictional world, the main character apparently possessed an omniscient gut.
Due to some of its flaws, I think the rating this book really deserves is 3.5 stars rather than 4, but I enjoyed it enough that I don't want to drop it down to 3 stars.
The first book is set some time after Earth has ventured into space and made contact with the rest of the galaxy. It turns out that Earth is somewhat late to the party – space is already populated by a diverse population of space-traveling aliens, and things are fairly civilized with rules in place to help keep it that way. The agency in charge deems humans to be too disruptive and aggressive to be given free rein in space, so the only way they’re permitted to travel into space is as mercenaries for hire by other planets to help them fight wars.
This premise was questionable to me. After all, if these other races needed mercenaries, then they clearly weren’t very peaceful either, right? Maybe the idea was that the hiring races were also barbaric and aggressive and not part of the inner circle of aliens allowed to travel space freely. However, I'm pretty sure we were told that humans were one of the few species being restricted in this manner. This basic premise was covered within the first couple of pages and was never fleshed out to my satisfaction.
Nevertheless, this was a pretty fun story if you can overlook the poorly-fleshed-out premise and the lack of a detailed setup for the current political situation. We’re reading from the perspective of a single character, Kana, who is a new recruit on his first mission as a mercenary. His team was hired by rebels on a remote planet about which little is known. Naturally, things go horribly wrong, but the threat isn’t what you might expect. I found Kana to be a pretty likeable character, as were several of his teammates. The story was an entertaining adventure that started off with a bit of a mystery as to just what was going on and why. There’s some military action, and the characters struggle to survive in harsh terrain with enemies hot on their tail. There are also several previously-unknown native threats which take them by surprise on the unfamiliar planet.
I enjoyed the story all the way through, but I started to get even more caught up in it toward the end. As the true nature of what was going on became apparent, I grew increasingly eager to learn about just how things would turn out. The story wrapped up the main action, but it left a lot of questions at the end about what would happen next. Additionally, I didn’t think the details were fleshed out well. There was a lot of action, but not much in the way of world-building. We’re told things are a certain way, and we just have to accept it without knowing why. I like to understand the motivation and history behind things, so this lack of detail bothered me. I was hopeful that the second story would answer my questions about what happened next and perhaps flesh out some of the details. I had the naïve expectation that the second book would follow up where the first book left off.
As it turned out, the second book took place 4000 years later and the universe had changed a great deal. There was a very brief prologue that summarized the current state of affairs in general terms, but the immediate aftermath of the first story wasn’t discussed. Things do kind of tie back to the first book eventually, but this second story had a completely different and separate plot.
Despite my initial frustration, I became interested in the second story pretty quickly and soon relinquished my frustration over not seeing the first story continued. The second story is also told from the perspective of a single character, Kartr, who is one of a handful of survivors from a crash landing on an unknown and distant planet. The story begins immediately after the crash. This book had the more interesting characters out of the two stories, I thought. The crew of the starship consisted of people from a variety of planets and there was more interaction and banter between the characters. This made the second book more enjoyable for me even though I also thought it was the weaker of the two in terms of logic and consistency. The conclusion of the story was pretty satisfactory, if excessively coincidental and convenient, and it served as a nice wrap-up for the entire omnibus.
The second book, however, did have some significant flaws. Some of the characters were telepathic, but there weren’t any clear and definite rules about how the telepathy could be used. It seemed to me like the telepathic abilities evolved throughout the story to meet whatever the current situation was. It was constantly being used in some new way, and its usage was not always consistent even when taking into account that different characters had different levels of telepathic skill. I also thought that, in both books, there were aspects of the stories that weren’t fleshed out or explained in a very believable way. In general, it seemed like the author freely introduced things as a convenience to move the story in the desired direction and didn’t pay too terribly much attention to whether or not they were consistent or logical. Most of these instances were small, niggling things that I might have been able to overlook if there were only one or two. But they accumulated until I was feeling rather frustrated with it by the end of the omnibus.
Another issue I found, especially in the second book, was with explanations that were provided in a wishy-washy manner. When the characters were trying to figure out why something had happened, they would throw out different ideas until suddenly the main character in whose head we were living would be certain that the most recent speculation “felt right”. From this point, future events or discoveries built on the assumption that this speculation was in fact true even though there wasn’t any concrete evidence to prove it true. In the real world, sometimes people think things “feel right” (or “feel wrong”) but they’re often proven completely wrong when the facts are uncovered. In this fictional world, the main character apparently possessed an omniscient gut.
Due to some of its flaws, I think the rating this book really deserves is 3.5 stars rather than 4, but I enjoyed it enough that I don't want to drop it down to 3 stars.
August 9, 2020
An omnibus edition of Star Guard and Star Rangers!
Two novels of the Central Control series, Star Guard and Star Rangers, by Andre Norton (and author on the Appendix N list by Gary Gygax of the authors and works that inspired the creation of D&D and thus Indirectly all RPGs). The first was a novel I read and enjoyed many times as a child, and only as an adult did I realize it was simply the story of Xenophon's Anabasis set in outer space. The second is a story set 4000 years after the first, as Galactic civilization - Central Command - is breaking down. A crew of space rangers crashes on an uncharted world and that once harbored civilization and struggle to both survive and unravel the planet's mysteries. Cool sci-fi from a classic era!
Two novels of the Central Control series, Star Guard and Star Rangers, by Andre Norton (and author on the Appendix N list by Gary Gygax of the authors and works that inspired the creation of D&D and thus Indirectly all RPGs). The first was a novel I read and enjoyed many times as a child, and only as an adult did I realize it was simply the story of Xenophon's Anabasis set in outer space. The second is a story set 4000 years after the first, as Galactic civilization - Central Command - is breaking down. A crew of space rangers crashes on an uncharted world and that once harbored civilization and struggle to both survive and unravel the planet's mysteries. Cool sci-fi from a classic era!
July 18, 2024
An omnibus edition of 2 novels (Star Guard and Star Ranger) counting as a stand alone military scifi 😜— both were hopeful and obvious trend setters in the genre but a little more predictable now than I want.
First story had better world building, in a far flung future where earth is just a memory- huamns have met and been bested by central control, which deems humans only fit to be mercenaries for other species or else they are not allowed to travel. We follow one soldier, Karr, who was forced to join to travel the stars going to planet Fronn and the inevitable adventure and conspiracy that gets unraveled there.
Second story, star rangers also known as the last planet—was much better character work following Kartr and Rolth whose ship crash landed on mysterious planet, where they are not as alone as they thought and answers abound….
First story had better world building, in a far flung future where earth is just a memory- huamns have met and been bested by central control, which deems humans only fit to be mercenaries for other species or else they are not allowed to travel. We follow one soldier, Karr, who was forced to join to travel the stars going to planet Fronn and the inevitable adventure and conspiracy that gets unraveled there.
Second story, star rangers also known as the last planet—was much better character work following Kartr and Rolth whose ship crash landed on mysterious planet, where they are not as alone as they thought and answers abound….
March 5, 2017
Star Soldiers is an Omnibus Edition of the Central Control series by Andre Norton.
A free copy can be found here
Star Guard
Star Rangers (aka The Last Planet)
A free copy can be found here
Star Guard
When the human race finally began to explore interstellar space, they found that they were not alone. They also found that they were outclassed by a very old Galactic Empire. They were forced to be part of the Empire and given a role that was deemed best suited to their temperament... Mercenaries. As a human, the only way to visit the stars was to do so as a warrior for hire.
Kana Karr has trained all his life to become a Arch Swordsman, one who fights on a more primitive level than the high tech Mech soldiers. He signs up for his first tour and finds himself on the planet Fronn, where conditions are harsh. Surviving that may end up being the easy part, as the rules that Central Control has put in place to govern the hiring and employ of soldiers seems to have been betrayed.
The main premise is one I have seen before. Written in 1953, I am assuming it must have been an influence for several other books I've read... Old Man's War by Scalzi, The Stars Came Back by Rolf Nelson, maybe even the Uplift series by David Brin. It's hard to find truly new ideas in Sci-Fi.
The story itself, at least the part that takes place on the planet Fronn, is apparently a retelling of Xenophon's Anabasis on an alien world. I didn't know this when I began, but I looked it up after and realized I had just read a history lesson.
I enjoyed the novel. It kept me interested, and the pace was steady. The imagined world of Fronn was very creative and the political intrigue led me forward by the nose to sniff out the ending. That, unfortunately was too soft for me.
Overall, the book was good, and I can recommend it to anyone looking for a nice Action Adventure Sci-Fi with a twist of Space Opera. I give it 3.5 stars and call it a Good Read.
Star Rangers (aka The Last Planet)
The second installment (first written, but second chronologically) takes place some four thousand years after the events of Star Guard. It is now the final years of the mighty Galaxy spanning empire whose decadence and spread have brought it to collapse. A fanatically loyal group of Space Corp personnel are sent on one last useless and poorly supplied mission into the ancient outskirts of the empire. There, they crashland on a verdant planet where the Rangers, whose job it is to explore the wilds, must convince the strident Corpsmen that the ship and the space-faring way of life is done. An adventure begins that explores the changing of mindsets. Survival in the wilderness, integration of different species, and the acceptance of differences in abilities are wrapped in an unfolding mystery of the planet that is both unknown, but hauntingly familiar.
I was kept entertained by this book the whole way through. It changes pace several times, and has varied sub-plots that should interest anyone with an action adventure or sci-fi taste. If you are looking for a shoot-'em-up, this is not it. It is more heavily lent to intrigue and sporadic action than that. It is a good book, with a good story and a hopeful ending. I give it 3 stars and call it a Worthwhile Read.
November 10, 2013
Heroes have one-dimension, courage. Opposition includes hostile nature and fellow humans. Aliens are friends and foes. Different struggles united by common theme, brave soldiers get optimistic endings/ futures.
Star Guard 1955
Kana 18, fresh from training, joins mercenary troops, the only way alien rulers Central Control, allow humans to travel space. Leaders are shot in the back, flamed to a crisp, except for dying warning. Hansu leads survivors across hostile planet Fronn, fighting, then negotiating off-planet with hooded alien Venturi. Why decommission the first flamer they find when they might need it later p 47 and toss away sharp Grace knife used for fatally wounded?
As X-Tee extra-terrestrial specialist, Kana assembles kits for first contact: "food, adornment" p 75 - easy when fighters carry wealth as jewels on armor. Frequent reminders of Maori-Malay-Hawaii heritage distract - explains courage and fortitude as genetic? Term Horde for good guys misleads, suggesting overpowering number of Mongol warriors. His first two pals, Mic and Rey, stay supportive. Human Zapan Bogate is personally a bully, but professionally a competent colleague.
Detecting enemies, furry Llor and greasy woolly Cos, by "ominous reek" p 99 could be done more often. Cos natives loose rock fall and floods. Alien creatures are lion-like ttsors, and carnivorous frog-like tif, ancestors of Ventur race. The great number of illegal weapons and soldiers means Central has to know, so returning to Prime on Earth just puts Kana and Hansu back in their enemy power.
Questions:
If Mechs are soldiers trained in mechanical weapons, where does hand and sword combat abbreviation Archs come from? What does it mean?
Why have Ventur p 136 and Venturi mean the same?
Star Rangers 1953
Rangers are Patrollers, but specialists who explore and "use the products of any strange world" p 231. Kartr is a telepathic human Bemmy-lover, and Zinga, Fylh, and Rolth are aliens "Bemmies", the only chances for survival when scoutship Starfire crashes on a new world. A beacon directs them to a re-awakened city, another crashed shipload of refugees under the control of arrogant xenophobic aristocrat Cummi, who projects mind control through a slave Can-hound ("Canine"?). Kartr and team escape through underground tunnels and hidden lifts to find the legendary Hall of Leave-Taking.
The big reveal, planet identity, had too many hints, no surprise. Chance at Hall, right place right time is too convenient. Nevertheless clever play on natural genetic self-selection, explorers are prime samples.
Definitions
p 83 sear is sere, scorched
p 227 rilled - flow in narrow channels
Star Guard 1955
Kana 18, fresh from training, joins mercenary troops, the only way alien rulers Central Control, allow humans to travel space. Leaders are shot in the back, flamed to a crisp, except for dying warning. Hansu leads survivors across hostile planet Fronn, fighting, then negotiating off-planet with hooded alien Venturi. Why decommission the first flamer they find when they might need it later p 47 and toss away sharp Grace knife used for fatally wounded?
As X-Tee extra-terrestrial specialist, Kana assembles kits for first contact: "food, adornment" p 75 - easy when fighters carry wealth as jewels on armor. Frequent reminders of Maori-Malay-Hawaii heritage distract - explains courage and fortitude as genetic? Term Horde for good guys misleads, suggesting overpowering number of Mongol warriors. His first two pals, Mic and Rey, stay supportive. Human Zapan Bogate is personally a bully, but professionally a competent colleague.
Detecting enemies, furry Llor and greasy woolly Cos, by "ominous reek" p 99 could be done more often. Cos natives loose rock fall and floods. Alien creatures are lion-like ttsors, and carnivorous frog-like tif, ancestors of Ventur race. The great number of illegal weapons and soldiers means Central has to know, so returning to Prime on Earth just puts Kana and Hansu back in their enemy power.
Questions:
If Mechs are soldiers trained in mechanical weapons, where does hand and sword combat abbreviation Archs come from? What does it mean?
Why have Ventur p 136 and Venturi mean the same?
Star Rangers 1953
Rangers are Patrollers, but specialists who explore and "use the products of any strange world" p 231. Kartr is a telepathic human Bemmy-lover, and Zinga, Fylh, and Rolth are aliens "Bemmies", the only chances for survival when scoutship Starfire crashes on a new world. A beacon directs them to a re-awakened city, another crashed shipload of refugees under the control of arrogant xenophobic aristocrat Cummi, who projects mind control through a slave Can-hound ("Canine"?). Kartr and team escape through underground tunnels and hidden lifts to find the legendary Hall of Leave-Taking.
The big reveal, planet identity, had too many hints, no surprise. Chance at Hall, right place right time is too convenient. Nevertheless clever play on natural genetic self-selection, explorers are prime samples.
Definitions
p 83 sear is sere, scorched
p 227 rilled - flow in narrow channels
March 5, 2015
I’ve enjoyed a lot of Andre Norton’s stories during my lifetime. I wish this were one of them. Or two of them, I guess.
This is an omnibus edition of Star Guard and Star Rangers, two novels set in the same universe but with several thousand years separating them.
The first book, Star Guard, is theoretically Military SF, with humans only allowed in space as mercenaries to keep us locked off from the galaxy at large and from becoming a threat to galactic culture. And I say theoretically, because the story starts that way. It just doesn’t stay there.
Along with a reminder of her lifelong theme of tolerance and acceptance which runs through her work, the writing is solid and the universe well realized but both books in this omnibus were published in the early 50s, it shows. Not just in its presented technology, but in the forgettable nature of Star Guard. It’s a bland and boring story, which saddens me to say about anyone’s work. Star Guard is a book I keep waiting for an ending in, partly because it tries to be too many things. It’s Military Action Adventure SF, first on a primitive world, then in space, then on Earth, with situations and species introduced and gone too quickly. Too much happening, and too much of it easily resolved without much, or often any, character development. But my real issue is that the POV seems to just be along for the ride while stuff happens to and around him, and more competent people take care of whatever comes up. He only makes a couple of small contributions to the events going on.
I power through to the end, with some difficulty, but Star Guard didn’t rate very high for me at all, and I hoped for a better second act with Star Rangers.
Which I got, in the form of a more or less straight forward adventure story, ostensibly in the same setting but a few thousand years later. Far off the frontier, a poorly equipped scout ship crash lands for the last time, and the survivors of the (beset by problems since it launched) vessel have to continue to survive and adapt. It turns out there’s another, civilian, ship marooned here from a previous mishap, and that group of people has somehow let itself fall into a small scale totalitarian state and the adventure now becomes about corrupt leadership and race relations (between humans and bemmies, i.e. aliens). This is a better story than the first, but still drags in places and many of the characters are fairly static.
Overall rating: 2 Stars. A lot of Ms. Norton’s work stands up really well from a storytelling perspective, but I’m glad Star Soldiers was a free download. I’d throw my recommendation behind Breed to Come as one of the best entry points to her work. Post-apocalyptic in a way, but with a long term positive outlook and some cool takes on future evolution in our absence. Or Crossroads of Time, an early exploration of alternate worlds and history.
This is an omnibus edition of Star Guard and Star Rangers, two novels set in the same universe but with several thousand years separating them.
The first book, Star Guard, is theoretically Military SF, with humans only allowed in space as mercenaries to keep us locked off from the galaxy at large and from becoming a threat to galactic culture. And I say theoretically, because the story starts that way. It just doesn’t stay there.
Along with a reminder of her lifelong theme of tolerance and acceptance which runs through her work, the writing is solid and the universe well realized but both books in this omnibus were published in the early 50s, it shows. Not just in its presented technology, but in the forgettable nature of Star Guard. It’s a bland and boring story, which saddens me to say about anyone’s work. Star Guard is a book I keep waiting for an ending in, partly because it tries to be too many things. It’s Military Action Adventure SF, first on a primitive world, then in space, then on Earth, with situations and species introduced and gone too quickly. Too much happening, and too much of it easily resolved without much, or often any, character development. But my real issue is that the POV seems to just be along for the ride while stuff happens to and around him, and more competent people take care of whatever comes up. He only makes a couple of small contributions to the events going on.
I power through to the end, with some difficulty, but Star Guard didn’t rate very high for me at all, and I hoped for a better second act with Star Rangers.
Which I got, in the form of a more or less straight forward adventure story, ostensibly in the same setting but a few thousand years later. Far off the frontier, a poorly equipped scout ship crash lands for the last time, and the survivors of the (beset by problems since it launched) vessel have to continue to survive and adapt. It turns out there’s another, civilian, ship marooned here from a previous mishap, and that group of people has somehow let itself fall into a small scale totalitarian state and the adventure now becomes about corrupt leadership and race relations (between humans and bemmies, i.e. aliens). This is a better story than the first, but still drags in places and many of the characters are fairly static.
Overall rating: 2 Stars. A lot of Ms. Norton’s work stands up really well from a storytelling perspective, but I’m glad Star Soldiers was a free download. I’d throw my recommendation behind Breed to Come as one of the best entry points to her work. Post-apocalyptic in a way, but with a long term positive outlook and some cool takes on future evolution in our absence. Or Crossroads of Time, an early exploration of alternate worlds and history.
May 7, 2018
more later
May 5, 2018
Brings back memories
I first read stories by Norton in the 60’s and enjoyed the yarns she spun. The stories have a strong central character that matches the timeline. The outcome is hopeful.
I first read stories by Norton in the 60’s and enjoyed the yarns she spun. The stories have a strong central character that matches the timeline. The outcome is hopeful.
July 4, 2011
Enjoyable book. Old school science fiction. Nothing objectionable. No female characters at all actually (except for a few minor background characters at the very end). Which sort of got me thinking... This book has humans and lots of different alien races, but no female characters, which is pretty common for old sci fi. It's a humans-the-explorers-and-adventure-seekers type story (again as is a lot of older sci fi), which I guess does tend to generally be more guys' than girls' personalities. But not always. So I guess I find it odd/strange/interesting that the author (who is female?) can write stories with multiple races, but didn't write a story with multiple genders. It almost gives the impression that females just have no part in adventure/gung hu/exploring stories or that aliens from another planet would be more similar to men in terms of thoughts/motivations/etc*. On the other hand, I think a decent amount of newer science fiction, which does have female characters, tends to be a little raunchy. So I think I'll stick with complete lack of female characters.
*I'm not arguing that there aren't differences, just that we're not completely different races.
Disclaimer: I've had ~6 hours sleep in the last 2 days, due to being on shift in Argentina. I make no claims of coherent-ness or good-ness of the above.
*I'm not arguing that there aren't differences, just that we're not completely different races.
Disclaimer: I've had ~6 hours sleep in the last 2 days, due to being on shift in Argentina. I make no claims of coherent-ness or good-ness of the above.
January 27, 2014
This book is comprised of two separate novels, Star Guard and Star Rangers. Star Guard was a decent old-school story about a group of soldiers who were stranded on a hostile planet after their war came to an abrupt end. The story has well imagined military action but to me it went a little too long and the ending was a little flat. I would have rated this story a 3 if it was by itself.
However, Star Rangers, the second novel included in the book, was one of my favorite Andre Norton stories. She is a old school writer who puts her characters into space and on the surface of alien worlds and this is a very good example of that genre. In addition to the realistic adventure scenes, I really enjoyed the moral and ethical issues that were raised in this book. It starts with the question of leadership when the captain is obviously impaired when the Patrol ship crash lands far from any known civilization. Kartyr, the ranger who is the main character, is not the next in command but his intelligence, training and strong moral voice inevitably draw the others to follow his lead. When their small group encounters others on the planet they have to deal with questions concerning racial intolerance, the ethics of mind probes, and the conflict of technology vs. nature. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in the golden age of classic sci fi.
However, Star Rangers, the second novel included in the book, was one of my favorite Andre Norton stories. She is a old school writer who puts her characters into space and on the surface of alien worlds and this is a very good example of that genre. In addition to the realistic adventure scenes, I really enjoyed the moral and ethical issues that were raised in this book. It starts with the question of leadership when the captain is obviously impaired when the Patrol ship crash lands far from any known civilization. Kartyr, the ranger who is the main character, is not the next in command but his intelligence, training and strong moral voice inevitably draw the others to follow his lead. When their small group encounters others on the planet they have to deal with questions concerning racial intolerance, the ethics of mind probes, and the conflict of technology vs. nature. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in the golden age of classic sci fi.
October 4, 2017
I didn't know this was two stories in one when I started it (I read the eBook version), I was pretty disappointed to find the story wrapping up when the book was only half-done. I was especially engrossed in Star Guard because of the futurist medieval-ism, a theme which I always enjoy, and so I was even more disappointed to find the second story is completely different. Besides being Scienec-Fiction they are honestly completely different Genres. I even considered putting the book down - a thing I rarely do - but I soldiered on and, in the end, I'm glad I did.
In short: This is a perfectly good example of early sci-fi adventure stories. It's probably better than most from the period. The writing can be clunky, the pacing can be erratic, the endings are fairly abrupt and seem disconnected from the rest of the story, but all that is pretty much normal in early sci-fi. I think for me the problem is that its ideas and themes don't make up for its plot and pacing, and vice-versa. Especially in this day when Science Fiction and Fantasy rival any other genre in the quality of their writing, their characterization, and their pacing.
In short: This is a perfectly good example of early sci-fi adventure stories. It's probably better than most from the period. The writing can be clunky, the pacing can be erratic, the endings are fairly abrupt and seem disconnected from the rest of the story, but all that is pretty much normal in early sci-fi. I think for me the problem is that its ideas and themes don't make up for its plot and pacing, and vice-versa. Especially in this day when Science Fiction and Fantasy rival any other genre in the quality of their writing, their characterization, and their pacing.
February 15, 2013
This "book" is actually made up of two books which do not have anything to do with each other, really, except terminology.
"Central Control" in the first is just at the height of it's heyday and is about to decline. In the second, CC and the Star Patrol are pretty much obsolete. It's not clear if the first CC and the second CC are the same entity.
I liked this book (or I should say "these books"), but I should warn you that it has not aged well in spots. There are few female characters, none of which are major, even though Norton is at pains to point out that discrimination based on looks/species/whatever is rare and frowned upon (I did notice she didn't say "gender.")
I did like the political intrigue and the "simple, common man" getting mixed up in it and changing everything. I think political intrigue as easily explained as in these stories is not as common these days.
Still, it was fun to read a "blast from the past" when things were much simpler and could be explained in a page or two of exposition from one of the characters.
"Central Control" in the first is just at the height of it's heyday and is about to decline. In the second, CC and the Star Patrol are pretty much obsolete. It's not clear if the first CC and the second CC are the same entity.
I liked this book (or I should say "these books"), but I should warn you that it has not aged well in spots. There are few female characters, none of which are major, even though Norton is at pains to point out that discrimination based on looks/species/whatever is rare and frowned upon (I did notice she didn't say "gender.")
I did like the political intrigue and the "simple, common man" getting mixed up in it and changing everything. I think political intrigue as easily explained as in these stories is not as common these days.
Still, it was fun to read a "blast from the past" when things were much simpler and could be explained in a page or two of exposition from one of the characters.
February 14, 2014
Este libro se compone de dos novelas que trazan el inicio y el ocaso de una civilización galáctica, desde el momento en que la Tierra sale al espacio y se encuentra con un imperio que establece unas limitaciones a las opciones de los terrestres, convirtiéndolos en ciudadanos de segunda solo aptos para ser los mercenarios de las guerras en la frontera. En el segundo, totalmente independiente, la Humanidad ocupa un papel central en el imperio que se desintegra y los últimos servidores de una socuieda que se desmorona se enfrentan a un futuro lleno de incógnitas.
Son dos relatos de acción, sin tramas amorosas, en los que no hay grandes novedades dentro de los esquemas del género. Si bien el final de Star Rangers (la segunda novela) tiene un giro sorprendente y que abre las puertas a muchas posibles lineas de continuación.
Por lo demás la novela se lee bien para un nivel medio de inglés, sin demasiada jerga ni palabras inventadas/adaptadas para crear el ambiente espacial.
Un libro entretenido.
Son dos relatos de acción, sin tramas amorosas, en los que no hay grandes novedades dentro de los esquemas del género. Si bien el final de Star Rangers (la segunda novela) tiene un giro sorprendente y que abre las puertas a muchas posibles lineas de continuación.
Por lo demás la novela se lee bien para un nivel medio de inglés, sin demasiada jerga ni palabras inventadas/adaptadas para crear el ambiente espacial.
Un libro entretenido.
December 3, 2017
free Ebook offert par BAEN
contenant deux livres écrits dans les années 50 (cela se sent) mais l'histoire de Kana Karr (STAR GARD) et celle du sergent télépathe KARTZ (STAR RANGER) restent intéressantes par les mondes imaginés (à peine évoqués mais cela les rend encore plus merveilleux) par la variété des ET (qui pour une fois ne sont pas tous des méchants...) Pas de scènes détaillées dans le gore, pas non plus de romance, des personnages bien droits dans leurs bottes qui maintiennent envers et contre tous, leur foi en la liberté, la fraternité et la tolérance
Deux récits à des millénaires de distance mais distrayants à souhaits qui arrivent à boucler la boucle sans prise de tête
En résumé, un bon moment de lecture
contenant deux livres écrits dans les années 50 (cela se sent) mais l'histoire de Kana Karr (STAR GARD) et celle du sergent télépathe KARTZ (STAR RANGER) restent intéressantes par les mondes imaginés (à peine évoqués mais cela les rend encore plus merveilleux) par la variété des ET (qui pour une fois ne sont pas tous des méchants...) Pas de scènes détaillées dans le gore, pas non plus de romance, des personnages bien droits dans leurs bottes qui maintiennent envers et contre tous, leur foi en la liberté, la fraternité et la tolérance
Deux récits à des millénaires de distance mais distrayants à souhaits qui arrivent à boucler la boucle sans prise de tête
En résumé, un bon moment de lecture
February 5, 2017
Interesting
I usually love Andre Norton and if I had read this as a young man I probably would have but as a middle aged reader it is very dated while still a worthy read it doesn't hit my scale for a great book
I usually love Andre Norton and if I had read this as a young man I probably would have but as a middle aged reader it is very dated while still a worthy read it doesn't hit my scale for a great book
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