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Look Back to Earth
William Byrne had only dreamed of destroying the Imperial Earth Fleet - that is, until he stumbled onto a lost planet full of advanced warships abandoned by the Master Race when their sun collapsed. Now, Byrne, son of the free planet Myriad, could rescue his hostage family and topple the greed-rotten Empire in one fell swoop.
With Talia, the golden girl, at his side, Byrne readied the last Myriad fleet. The final computer-run battle would span a million miles of space and kill a hundred thousand men. But the fate of fifty worlds hung in the balance. As Byrne prepared for that ultimate star war, he vowed to end the degenerate rule of Imperial Earth. Forever!
With Talia, the golden girl, at his side, Byrne readied the last Myriad fleet. The final computer-run battle would span a million miles of space and kill a hundred thousand men. But the fate of fifty worlds hung in the balance. As Byrne prepared for that ultimate star war, he vowed to end the degenerate rule of Imperial Earth. Forever!
- GenresScience Fiction
235 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 17, 2026
With this third Donald Pfeil book, I’ve now read nearly everything that this relatively obscure author published. I can say this final novel is probably his best. That still doesn’t mean it’s very good, but it’s marginally better than either of the other two. (I haven’t gotten to his Planet of the Apes entry but that was under a pen name.) And as I try to do for lesser-read books, let me write a full review.
There’s a formula to his books. Skilled, muscly, spacefaring macho-man has command of a ship and engages in some conflict that involves a primitive planet and a hot lady. There will be skinny dipping, sex, fighting, and probably some pseudo-clever bullshit involving a ship’s computer. At the end there will be a weird power-hungry turn.
This book follows that formula much the same as his others, but it does do it better. The cast of characters feels a little better in terms of their motivations and their actions, and we actually do kind of get to know them as people rather than just tools to further action scenes or plot twists. The plot itself felt relatively sane. The hot lady had a shred of agency and real personality before the insta-love hit and tossed that out the window. Plus there was some stuff that felt surprisingly authentic or creative. The protag has casual sex with a genderless alien and that was actually kind of cool? The drama between the three main crew members was an interesting, somewhat unique dynamic? The worldbuilding felt fairly complete and grounded?
The end result is something I did find entertaining, though it cannot be overstated that this book is still very pulpy and has most of the usual pulp flaws. The insta-love is EXTREMELY instant and makes no sense. The plot events, while mostly coherent, get increasingly frantic and tenuous as things progress. The title and tagline have almost nothing to do with the story. Plus it still has the weird imperialist heel-turn at the end that Don Pfeil always seems to throw in and that’s super sus.
Still, I think if you’d read any of his other books and then read this one, I think you’d probably agree that this is a bit better. Alas we’ll never know if the improvement would have continued, as this is his last published work.
There’s a formula to his books. Skilled, muscly, spacefaring macho-man has command of a ship and engages in some conflict that involves a primitive planet and a hot lady. There will be skinny dipping, sex, fighting, and probably some pseudo-clever bullshit involving a ship’s computer. At the end there will be a weird power-hungry turn.
This book follows that formula much the same as his others, but it does do it better. The cast of characters feels a little better in terms of their motivations and their actions, and we actually do kind of get to know them as people rather than just tools to further action scenes or plot twists. The plot itself felt relatively sane. The hot lady had a shred of agency and real personality before the insta-love hit and tossed that out the window. Plus there was some stuff that felt surprisingly authentic or creative. The protag has casual sex with a genderless alien and that was actually kind of cool? The drama between the three main crew members was an interesting, somewhat unique dynamic? The worldbuilding felt fairly complete and grounded?
The end result is something I did find entertaining, though it cannot be overstated that this book is still very pulpy and has most of the usual pulp flaws. The insta-love is EXTREMELY instant and makes no sense. The plot events, while mostly coherent, get increasingly frantic and tenuous as things progress. The title and tagline have almost nothing to do with the story. Plus it still has the weird imperialist heel-turn at the end that Don Pfeil always seems to throw in and that’s super sus.
Still, I think if you’d read any of his other books and then read this one, I think you’d probably agree that this is a bit better. Alas we’ll never know if the improvement would have continued, as this is his last published work.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review