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Judgment Night
The Lens of Death was the most dreadful weapon of history. Control of this infernal machine meant man's only chance at survival if the cosmos was hurled into fiery oblivion on Judgment Night.
Which of these aliens and humans would survive?
Juille: a beautiful Amazon, heiress to the ruling galaxy, risks the destruction of the universe to outwit the arrogant masculinity of the man who could be her lover—or her killer.
Egide: The godlike warrior from an alien, savage world torn between his love for Juille and his vow to obliterate her people from the galaxy.
Jair: Brutal, incredibly cunning, with a sinister power no mere human could subdue.
The Envoy From Dunnar: A mysterious being shadowed by the weird intelligent creature called Ilar. Does he already know the decision of Judgment Night?
Which of these aliens and humans would survive?
Juille: a beautiful Amazon, heiress to the ruling galaxy, risks the destruction of the universe to outwit the arrogant masculinity of the man who could be her lover—or her killer.
Egide: The godlike warrior from an alien, savage world torn between his love for Juille and his vow to obliterate her people from the galaxy.
Jair: Brutal, incredibly cunning, with a sinister power no mere human could subdue.
The Envoy From Dunnar: A mysterious being shadowed by the weird intelligent creature called Ilar. Does he already know the decision of Judgment Night?
156 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published October 1, 1965
About the author
C.L. Moore
343 books225 followersExcerpted from Wikipedia:
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction.
Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter (mistakenly thinking that "C. L. Moore" was a man), and they married in 1940.
Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written in collaboration under various pseudonyms, most commonly Lewis Padgett (another pseudonym, one Moore often employed for works that involved little or no collaboration, was Lawrence O'Donnell).
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction.
Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter (mistakenly thinking that "C. L. Moore" was a man), and they married in 1940.
Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written in collaboration under various pseudonyms, most commonly Lewis Padgett (another pseudonym, one Moore often employed for works that involved little or no collaboration, was Lawrence O'Donnell).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 28, 2017
I started having problems with this book from the very beginning. Despite an interstellar war with the H'vani, Princess Juille travels to the pleasure world of Cyrille, there to cavort with the mysterious Egide, and while this is necessary from a plot standpoint--the two characters need to have a history in order for their conflict to make sense--her motivations for actually wandering out there in the first place are undeveloped at best. Her moment of departure for Cyrille comes off as brattish pique at her father, and this is my main issue with the book. Despite attention and rather exaggerated detail paid to her Amazon ways and denial of her feminine self, and the supposed warrior training and discipline, she certainly falls into her man's arms quite readily and loses battles to him at every opportunity. It makes her character seem weak, and since the story is told largely from her perspective, the reader is a forced witness to her being batted around.
There is raw power in the almost delirious prose (to the point where the story's thread may become lost), and a number of wonderful set pieces, between the buried city ruins of the previous ruling civilizations of planet Ericon (and the servitor people dwelling secretly there and plotting revolution) and also in Juille's mad destructive spree through Cyrille with a chain lightning gun, madly blowing apart the decadent and deviant pleasure rooms and shattering the mechanics and structure of the place.
There is raw power in the almost delirious prose (to the point where the story's thread may become lost), and a number of wonderful set pieces, between the buried city ruins of the previous ruling civilizations of planet Ericon (and the servitor people dwelling secretly there and plotting revolution) and also in Juille's mad destructive spree through Cyrille with a chain lightning gun, madly blowing apart the decadent and deviant pleasure rooms and shattering the mechanics and structure of the place.
December 25, 2012
My copy has just the one story, Judgment Night, from 1942.
The first thing I liked was the strong female lead character, written by a female author. Moore plays with 1940's expectations and designs two conflicting worlds for her main character, Juille: the world of the strong amazonian warrior princess and the world of emotion. Having had a lifetime of training for the former and absolutely no knowledge of the later, Juille heads to a pleasure world to experience love. But even here, she is caught in her destiny, and is ensnared in a conspiracy to topple her dynasty - which sounds rather standard, I suppose, but plays out in unexpected ways.
Secondly, I really loved Moore's descriptions of place. She rivals my all time favorite, Jack Vance, in some of her vividly imagined imagery. "Ericon is so much a world of rain that all its architecture is designed to take advantage of rain's beauty, much like solariums on other worlds." Juille later ends up back on the pleasure world, and runs through it on a destructive spree unlike any I've ever read.
Finally, Moore has something to say about war and humanity. The final solution doesn't reinforce mankind's violent tendencies - this battle for galactic domination is one not to be won with weapons.
The first thing I liked was the strong female lead character, written by a female author. Moore plays with 1940's expectations and designs two conflicting worlds for her main character, Juille: the world of the strong amazonian warrior princess and the world of emotion. Having had a lifetime of training for the former and absolutely no knowledge of the later, Juille heads to a pleasure world to experience love. But even here, she is caught in her destiny, and is ensnared in a conspiracy to topple her dynasty - which sounds rather standard, I suppose, but plays out in unexpected ways.
Secondly, I really loved Moore's descriptions of place. She rivals my all time favorite, Jack Vance, in some of her vividly imagined imagery. "Ericon is so much a world of rain that all its architecture is designed to take advantage of rain's beauty, much like solariums on other worlds." Juille later ends up back on the pleasure world, and runs through it on a destructive spree unlike any I've ever read.
Finally, Moore has something to say about war and humanity. The final solution doesn't reinforce mankind's violent tendencies - this battle for galactic domination is one not to be won with weapons.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews