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The Overlords of War
Time-travel, aliens, war & why we fight it. George Corson, earthman, is sent on secret mission to end a long smoldering war with the birdlike inhabitants of the planet, Uria, 6000 years in the future, only to be used as a pawn by powerful god-like beings. Is there such a thing as the ultimate weapon? Can war be ended once & for all? Is the destruction of the universe necessary to achieve peace? Originally published in France under the title Les Seigneurs de la Guerre, this book is a novel of powerful imagery & scope whose concept of war as a monstrous self-perpetuating parasite fatterning off all intelligent life will arrest all who read it. Illustrated by Margo Herr.
186 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
6 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
About the author
Gérard Klein
130 books26 followersGérard Klein (born 1937), known also as Gilles , is a French science fiction writer with sociological entrenamiento.
He is the editor of the prestigious science fiction series Ailleurs et Demain published by Robert Laffont and of the Le Livre de Poche science-fiction imprint.
In his novella Les virus ne parlent pas ("The viruses do not speak"), he imagines that viruses have created all living beings in the same fashion that human beings have created computers, and for the same reason: to improve their efficiency.
Gérard Klein used the pseudonym "Gilles d'Argyre" for his novels published by Editions Fleuve Noir for their series Anticipation.
Several of his novels were published in translation by DAW Books in the United States.
He is the editor of the prestigious science fiction series Ailleurs et Demain published by Robert Laffont and of the Le Livre de Poche science-fiction imprint.
In his novella Les virus ne parlent pas ("The viruses do not speak"), he imagines that viruses have created all living beings in the same fashion that human beings have created computers, and for the same reason: to improve their efficiency.
Gérard Klein used the pseudonym "Gilles d'Argyre" for his novels published by Editions Fleuve Noir for their series Anticipation.
Several of his novels were published in translation by DAW Books in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
June 15, 2020
DAW Collectors #93)
Cover Artist: Karel Thole
Name: Klein, Gérard, Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France, May 27, 1937
Alternate Names: François Pagery , Mark Starr , Luc Vigan
The Solar Powers are at war with the planet Uria and its bird like creatures. One Earth soldier, George Corson, has been assigned to drop off a creature known as The Monster on Uria. It’s about to spawn eighteen thousand of its kind. The Monster is extremely dangerous and would kill Corson in an instant. Corson’s ship crashed and he’s in danger of dying. He’s rescued by a girl in an airship. She transports them six thousand years in the future.
The war has been over for so long no one remembers it. He meets a girl named Antonella who can see two minutes into the future with her cog talent. They’re attacked by a human army led by Colonel Veran. He and his men are riding Monsters but these are Pegasones and are tame and also have a time travel ability. Corson and Antonella end up on a planet called Aergistal. It’s located somewhere between space and time.
Everywhere he looks battles are being fought. Knights and American Indians are going at it. On the beach armies with muskets. Sea battles are raging and over the mountains it’s atomic war. They’re rescued by a former helicopter pilot with a balloon.
If inclined to investigate French Science Fiction and gain a different perspective, start here.
Cover Artist: Karel Thole
Name: Klein, Gérard, Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France, May 27, 1937
Alternate Names: François Pagery , Mark Starr , Luc Vigan
The Solar Powers are at war with the planet Uria and its bird like creatures. One Earth soldier, George Corson, has been assigned to drop off a creature known as The Monster on Uria. It’s about to spawn eighteen thousand of its kind. The Monster is extremely dangerous and would kill Corson in an instant. Corson’s ship crashed and he’s in danger of dying. He’s rescued by a girl in an airship. She transports them six thousand years in the future.
The war has been over for so long no one remembers it. He meets a girl named Antonella who can see two minutes into the future with her cog talent. They’re attacked by a human army led by Colonel Veran. He and his men are riding Monsters but these are Pegasones and are tame and also have a time travel ability. Corson and Antonella end up on a planet called Aergistal. It’s located somewhere between space and time.
Everywhere he looks battles are being fought. Knights and American Indians are going at it. On the beach armies with muskets. Sea battles are raging and over the mountains it’s atomic war. They’re rescued by a former helicopter pilot with a balloon.
If inclined to investigate French Science Fiction and gain a different perspective, start here.
June 15, 2016
sjećam se da sam je od 1981 pročitao barem još 2-3 put u brzom slijedu (unutar nekoliko godina)
no od tada niti jednom. Tko zna kako bi sada prošla ispit no tada mi je bila izvrsna: omiljene vremenske teme, kratko i malo uvrnuto.
zato i (ondašnja) petica
no od tada niti jednom. Tko zna kako bi sada prošla ispit no tada mi je bila izvrsna: omiljene vremenske teme, kratko i malo uvrnuto.
zato i (ondašnja) petica
February 23, 2019
Zanimljivu ideju upropastilo je početničko pripovedanje i katastrofalan prevod.Ovde je falio jedan dobar urednik originala sa bejzbol palicom, da bije pisca po glavi svaki put kad ispiše poglavlje i pun sebe ga pročita.I viče mu na uvo---PONOVO!NE VALJA!.I prevodilac koji ne otaljava prevod ovako.E onda bi tek mogli da pričamo o porukama koje je pisac hteo da nam predoči.Besomučno ponavljanje junakovog imena, po 5do 8 puta, ponekad i više, na svakoj stranici teksta, ne samo da ubija želju za čitanjem, nego vas pretvara u nekontroliano klupko nasilja i besa....Šteta...a moglo je da bude dobro
September 5, 2017
This French science-fiction novel from the 1970s presents Klein's literary answer to a problem he wrote about concerning American science fiction of the times. As Klein saw it, science-fiction had become too narrowly focused on what he called "pseudo-maturity," basically dystopian near-future stories too imitative of mainstream literary models. With "The Overlords of War," Klein takes the reader back to the big stage, to the great wide universe, and a perspective of skeptical optimism. Nevertheless, Klein does not abandon the 1960s and 1970s sense that science fiction offers the writer opportunities to get philosophical in a way that other kinds of fiction do not. Thus, the novel is a curious mixture of A.E. van Vogt and Philip K. Dick, an approach to the question: What would happen if PK Dick wrote space opera? The resulting novel is not entirely successful, for reasons discussed shortly, but is a wild ride through time and space in the van Vogt mold.
The story concerns veteran military engineer George Corson, stranded on the planet Uria, homeworld to the avian species at war with humans. Corson brought with him the ultimate weapon to end the war, the Monster, an alien beast that kills mercilessly, can jump in time a few minutes to protect itself, and produces thousands of spores that will grow to become more monsters. The basic survivalist scenario for military-oriented science fiction of the Gordon Dickson/Mack Reynolds/Keith Laumer variety gets the novel going. Only a few pages in, though, Klein shifts gears. Corson's arrival has been anticipated and soon he is whisked off into the future of Uria, dumped on a floating city where humans and Urians live harmoniously together, and thus gets unknowingly recruited in a complex plan to end war. Corson must travel across thousands of years of time (perhaps millions or billions), visit Uria in multiple stages of its history, become his own guide through time in a way similar to Heinlein's "All You Zombies...", unlearn everything he thinks he knows, and come to question the meaning of his existence. Klein decidedly thinks big.
Klein's novel plays out in some respects as a critique of American military science fiction. The officer-hero of so much of that fiction finds that he is most ways unprepared to live outside of a war zone, and is thus a deficient human being. He meets an extreme version of his military side in the avaricious mercenary leader Veran, another type so often a hero of military science fiction. Klein shows Veran to be thuggish rather than heroic, untrusting, foolishly ambitious, and ultimately self-destructive. Klein also gives Corson an alternative view of war on the large scale in his visit to Aergistal, a planet operated by the Overlords of War on which battles of just about every kind are staged in perpetuity, the soldiers repeatedly brought back to life to fight again and again in battles that have no meaning or objective. Yet, Klein does not take the easy "war is bad" route with this. Corson never becomes a willing crusader against war. He is always, from the beginning, coerced into arranging for the end of war, at least on Uria. To fulfill this obligation, Corson must resort to morally dubious plans, and come to realize that he was never in much control of his life. At the level of critiquing military science fiction, Klein's novel works quite well.
The novel does have problems, which are mostly in the way the story works. First, Corson is not a particularly interesting protagonist. This reader, at any rate, found it difficult to sympathize with him as he goes through his troubles. The novel is also rather sexist, a trait from military science fiction that Klein opts not to critique. Female characters are there to support the protagonist and provide him with sex. Otherwise, their functions in the story are strictly limited. Klein also seems to accept the view that war is men's work and that women just aren't soldier material. In the novel's structure, often there is a shift in time and/or place from one chapter to the next and the explanation of how Corson arrived wherever he is remains opaque at best. The end of the novel feels rushed, with much narrative exposition.
The final judgment: bold in conception, flawed in execution.
The story concerns veteran military engineer George Corson, stranded on the planet Uria, homeworld to the avian species at war with humans. Corson brought with him the ultimate weapon to end the war, the Monster, an alien beast that kills mercilessly, can jump in time a few minutes to protect itself, and produces thousands of spores that will grow to become more monsters. The basic survivalist scenario for military-oriented science fiction of the Gordon Dickson/Mack Reynolds/Keith Laumer variety gets the novel going. Only a few pages in, though, Klein shifts gears. Corson's arrival has been anticipated and soon he is whisked off into the future of Uria, dumped on a floating city where humans and Urians live harmoniously together, and thus gets unknowingly recruited in a complex plan to end war. Corson must travel across thousands of years of time (perhaps millions or billions), visit Uria in multiple stages of its history, become his own guide through time in a way similar to Heinlein's "All You Zombies...", unlearn everything he thinks he knows, and come to question the meaning of his existence. Klein decidedly thinks big.
Klein's novel plays out in some respects as a critique of American military science fiction. The officer-hero of so much of that fiction finds that he is most ways unprepared to live outside of a war zone, and is thus a deficient human being. He meets an extreme version of his military side in the avaricious mercenary leader Veran, another type so often a hero of military science fiction. Klein shows Veran to be thuggish rather than heroic, untrusting, foolishly ambitious, and ultimately self-destructive. Klein also gives Corson an alternative view of war on the large scale in his visit to Aergistal, a planet operated by the Overlords of War on which battles of just about every kind are staged in perpetuity, the soldiers repeatedly brought back to life to fight again and again in battles that have no meaning or objective. Yet, Klein does not take the easy "war is bad" route with this. Corson never becomes a willing crusader against war. He is always, from the beginning, coerced into arranging for the end of war, at least on Uria. To fulfill this obligation, Corson must resort to morally dubious plans, and come to realize that he was never in much control of his life. At the level of critiquing military science fiction, Klein's novel works quite well.
The novel does have problems, which are mostly in the way the story works. First, Corson is not a particularly interesting protagonist. This reader, at any rate, found it difficult to sympathize with him as he goes through his troubles. The novel is also rather sexist, a trait from military science fiction that Klein opts not to critique. Female characters are there to support the protagonist and provide him with sex. Otherwise, their functions in the story are strictly limited. Klein also seems to accept the view that war is men's work and that women just aren't soldier material. In the novel's structure, often there is a shift in time and/or place from one chapter to the next and the explanation of how Corson arrived wherever he is remains opaque at best. The end of the novel feels rushed, with much narrative exposition.
The final judgment: bold in conception, flawed in execution.
May 28, 2017
Solid book about time travel, war conflicts, eternals and space. The story of a derelict man stranded in a planet out of his time trying to get back home or at least to make the most out of it while an impending monster is approaching. Not everything is quite what it looks like on this book. Will keep you engaged since the beginning.
The author is quite different to US born writers, so it has a different perspective and does not go a lot into time paradoxes, quite refreshing because many authors just want to talk about what would happen if you go back in time "to kill Hitler" or "to fall in love with your grand grand mother".
The author is quite different to US born writers, so it has a different perspective and does not go a lot into time paradoxes, quite refreshing because many authors just want to talk about what would happen if you go back in time "to kill Hitler" or "to fall in love with your grand grand mother".
June 15, 2016
This might be THE most boring SF book I've ever read...
April 5, 2020
Мојој радости и срећи није било краја кад се Жорж Корсон, једини преживјели војник у сурвавању некаквог војног свемирског брода, нашао сам на потпуно непознатој планети, праћен огромним и језивим чудовиштем које је било не само огромно и језиво, већ је имало шест или не знам ти ни ја колко руку, небројено много очију, било је високо три или четири метра и при томе још могло да предвиди будућност и да се у складу с тим склони на вријеме ако неко на њега замахне шаком или не дај Боже оклагијом. Ево коначно квалитетног но нонсенсе милитари СФ-а! рекох ја себи. Шта има љепше од квалитетног милитари СФ-а? Океј, реално, ја, кад боље размислим, никад у животу нисам читао милитари СФ, квалитетан ор адрвајз, али према ономе како сам ЗАМИШЉАО да то треба да изгледа, то је било то.
Авај, пријатна неизвјесност врло брзо се истопила у мору компликација у којима се, између осталог, испоставило да ово на крају крајева заправо ипак није војнички СФ већ... па мајку му, не знам ни ја заправо шта је тачно, али то што није то што сам ја мислио да јесте, то му је још и понајмањи проблем.
Прво, испоставило се да су чудовиште заправо послали сами Земљани својим бродом, да би потрло непријатеље отјелотворене у виду нечега за шта ће се касније испоставити да су језиве хуманоидне кокошке, да би се затим такође испоставило да је Корсон, поред тога што је преживио пад брода, некако завршио хиљадама година у будућности, па се онда још и појавио некакав непријатељски брод за који се испоставило да заправо ипак није непријатељски и да се на њему налази само нека женска, која га је онда одвела до неког пирамидалног града који лебди у ваздуху, гдје се испоставило да нико живи појма нема ни о каквом рату и тамо се онда појавила још нека женска, па онда нека паравојна формација неког лудака који прича о некаквом изгубљеном рату и... ако мислите да претјерано спојлујем, немајте бриге, све ово се дешава на првих неколико страна књиге и тај темпо не посустаје до самог краја.
И у томе је, заправо, и њен кључни проблем. Добро, ДРУГИ кључни проблем, по значају одмах након чињенице да све то што се дешава није нешто посебно занимљиво. Тај кључни проблем је што нашег хероја константно пребацују ко Бајро матер, и то не само с једног на други крај свемира, већ и тамо-амо хиљадама година напријед или назад кроз прошлост и стално набасава на неке нове ситуације и амбијенте и ликове, при чему су ликови апсолутно и потпуно незанимљиви, као и сам Корсон, праве храстове цјепанице, да будем великодушан (да НИСАМ хтио да будем великодушан, рекао бих да подсјећају на ликове из књига Артура Кларка), а амбијенти и ситуације би можда у теорији и могли да буду занимљиви (нпр. Ержистал, свијет на коме се паралелно води гомилетина бесмислених ратова, гдје се не зна ни ко пије ни ко плаћа и онда повремено сви рикну и онда наставе да живе у другим улогама или тако некако, а ту је и крај свемира и томе сличне ствари) да им је аутор посветио мало пажње при описивању. Али како, молим вас лијепо, да посвети имало пажње иједној од ствари, кад мора да опише петсто осамдесет милиона ствари?
И ту онда имате гомилу истих ликова који летају кроз простор и кроз вријеме ко кад ви и ја скокнемо до продавнице да купимо бурек или питу зељаницу, е тако се они шеткају кроз вријеме и нико се ни најмање не узбуђује кад се појави лик који је дошао из шест хиљада година далеке прошлости (или будућности) или са сасвим другог краја свемира, а да и не причамо да се кроз сва те силне просторне и временске размаке сви савршено добро разумију. За Жерара Клајна Вавилонска кула као да је нешто што се десило другим људима.
И мислим на крају крајева да нико не може да ми замјери што сам у једном тренутку једноставно престао да се трудим да схватим ко ту коме шта. Али у основним цртама, без претјерано спојловања, замислите Повратак у будућност на широј просторно-временској скали, са ратним сукобима и потпуним непостојањем интересантних ликова и имате ову књигу. Можда неком другом сједне више него мени, шта ја знам.
Авај, пријатна неизвјесност врло брзо се истопила у мору компликација у којима се, између осталог, испоставило да ово на крају крајева заправо ипак није војнички СФ већ... па мајку му, не знам ни ја заправо шта је тачно, али то што није то што сам ја мислио да јесте, то му је још и понајмањи проблем.
Прво, испоставило се да су чудовиште заправо послали сами Земљани својим бродом, да би потрло непријатеље отјелотворене у виду нечега за шта ће се касније испоставити да су језиве хуманоидне кокошке, да би се затим такође испоставило да је Корсон, поред тога што је преживио пад брода, некако завршио хиљадама година у будућности, па се онда још и појавио некакав непријатељски брод за који се испоставило да заправо ипак није непријатељски и да се на њему налази само нека женска, која га је онда одвела до неког пирамидалног града који лебди у ваздуху, гдје се испоставило да нико живи појма нема ни о каквом рату и тамо се онда појавила још нека женска, па онда нека паравојна формација неког лудака који прича о некаквом изгубљеном рату и... ако мислите да претјерано спојлујем, немајте бриге, све ово се дешава на првих неколико страна књиге и тај темпо не посустаје до самог краја.
И у томе је, заправо, и њен кључни проблем. Добро, ДРУГИ кључни проблем, по значају одмах након чињенице да све то што се дешава није нешто посебно занимљиво. Тај кључни проблем је што нашег хероја константно пребацују ко Бајро матер, и то не само с једног на други крај свемира, већ и тамо-амо хиљадама година напријед или назад кроз прошлост и стално набасава на неке нове ситуације и амбијенте и ликове, при чему су ликови апсолутно и потпуно незанимљиви, као и сам Корсон, праве храстове цјепанице, да будем великодушан (да НИСАМ хтио да будем великодушан, рекао бих да подсјећају на ликове из књига Артура Кларка), а амбијенти и ситуације би можда у теорији и могли да буду занимљиви (нпр. Ержистал, свијет на коме се паралелно води гомилетина бесмислених ратова, гдје се не зна ни ко пије ни ко плаћа и онда повремено сви рикну и онда наставе да живе у другим улогама или тако некако, а ту је и крај свемира и томе сличне ствари) да им је аутор посветио мало пажње при описивању. Али како, молим вас лијепо, да посвети имало пажње иједној од ствари, кад мора да опише петсто осамдесет милиона ствари?
И ту онда имате гомилу истих ликова који летају кроз простор и кроз вријеме ко кад ви и ја скокнемо до продавнице да купимо бурек или питу зељаницу, е тако се они шеткају кроз вријеме и нико се ни најмање не узбуђује кад се појави лик који је дошао из шест хиљада година далеке прошлости (или будућности) или са сасвим другог краја свемира, а да и не причамо да се кроз сва те силне просторне и временске размаке сви савршено добро разумију. За Жерара Клајна Вавилонска кула као да је нешто што се десило другим људима.
И мислим на крају крајева да нико не може да ми замјери што сам у једном тренутку једноставно престао да се трудим да схватим ко ту коме шта. Али у основним цртама, без претјерано спојловања, замислите Повратак у будућност на широј просторно-временској скали, са ратним сукобима и потпуним непостојањем интересантних ликова и имате ову књигу. Можда неком другом сједне више него мени, шта ја знам.
April 17, 2016
I would love to see this novel turned into a movie: it has a lot of interesting visuals that would be perfect for special effects. There is a lot of action and the gradual increase of tension is well balanced. The time travelling theme combined with the prescience one are the main coordinates around which the novel is built. Written in 1971, i consider that it was quite modern for the time. I was quite intrigued by the idea of the anarchic society that does not have leaders and tight control systems, but that functions very well in these conditions. I wanted this to be developed more, but the focus of this book was not that much on describing the different worlds through which the main character travels. This is the main drawback of this book, from my point of view. I guess the author intended to offer glimpses of the worlds, while focusing on the hero; the hero himself does not succeed to understand these worlds very well; his understanding increases as he moves back and forth through time, but we never get a full picture. However, i enjoyed the story very much, the peace was alert and judging the novel in the context when it was written i appreciate it is a 5* reading.
July 2, 2025
Time-Patrol hijinks were certainly au courant in the early 70s DAW offices, given the general similarities with Laumer’s DINOSAUR BEACH here. And it’s funny, because, despite the intimation of adventure and espionage (and the lowish-common-denominator DAW imprimatur), these are some of the least audience-friendly premises and narratives of the period, overstuffed with incident and dislocation, and told with an often alienating degree of narrative obfuscation (both intentional and hack-induced) occasioned by the “temporal paradox” through lines.
June 18, 2013
Time-travel, aliens, war & why we fight it. George Corson, earthman, is sent on secret mission to end a long smoldering war with the birdlike inhabitants of the planet, Uria, 6,000 years in the future, only to be used as a pawn by powerful god-like beings. Is there such a thing as the ultimate weapon? Can war be ended once & for all? Is the destruction of the universe necessary to achieve peace? Originally published in France under the title Les Seigneurs de la Guerre, this book is a novel of powerful imagery & scope whose concept of war as a monstrous self-perpetuating parasite fatterning off all intelligent life will arrest all who read it. Illustrated by Margo Herr.
May 11, 2023
I didn't enjoy the book.
I really don't enjoy time travelling stuff and I don't why I got two books in a row... and I grab a third one and it's also a time travel stuff.. oh my...
One one side you've got Solar Powers, the other planet Uria and so they are going to drop a creature called "Monster" and in six month it will spawn thousands upon thousands of identical battle ready spawn. They are truly awful and could win the tide. The problem, the ship crashed and he was saved a girl that takes him into the future (several thousands years). The war at that time has been over and no one remembers history. At this moment, peace reigns and evil stuff is almost unheard. Humans riding this monsters (which now are tame and not berserk kind of stuff). There is some jumps and such and by the end I didn't care about the characters and what was happening. Could not enjoy.
I really don't enjoy time travelling stuff and I don't why I got two books in a row... and I grab a third one and it's also a time travel stuff.. oh my...
One one side you've got Solar Powers, the other planet Uria and so they are going to drop a creature called "Monster" and in six month it will spawn thousands upon thousands of identical battle ready spawn. They are truly awful and could win the tide. The problem, the ship crashed and he was saved a girl that takes him into the future (several thousands years). The war at that time has been over and no one remembers history. At this moment, peace reigns and evil stuff is almost unheard. Humans riding this monsters (which now are tame and not berserk kind of stuff). There is some jumps and such and by the end I didn't care about the characters and what was happening. Could not enjoy.
August 15, 2016
Trudi sam se da nadjem razloge da dam ovoj knjizi cetiri zvezdice, sto mozda u neku ruku i zasluzuje, ali ne mogu da oprostim piscu sto ovako dobru ideju nije razvio jos barem malo. Kao sto rekoh odlicna ali odlicna ideja, korektan stil pisanja ali praznjikavo.
December 23, 2008
Unmemorable French science fiction picked up in a local junk shop in Chicago.
March 3, 2014
That book is my ABC of sci-fi literaturi, is the best book of G. Klaine, must read !
December 29, 2019
My first time travel story. Blew my mind away.
November 9, 2025
*Overlords of War* has been advertised to me as "Military SF that's thoughtful enough to please people who don't like Military SF." I don't mind a good bit of military science fiction now and then, but a work trying to surpass the boundaries of its subgenre is always going to be interesting to me, and the fact that this is translated fiction (it originally came out in French), made me even more interested in seeing what this book was like. Sadly, I didn't find that it lived up to those advertisements - its plot is pretty contrived and most of its interesting ideas seem useless by the end. But before I complain too much, I'll write down what it was about for my future self, because Lord knows I'll need some help remembering all of it...
*The Overlords of War* is about Corson, a man who starts the book on a mission to drop a quickly-reproducing, all-consuming Monster on the planet of Uria, which is inhabited by a species of sentient birds that humanity is at war with. Sadly, something has gone awry on the mission and the dropship seems to have blown up, leaving only Corson and the Monster alive. There's a tense bit on the surface before Corson is rescued by a land-ship piloted by a beautiful human, and he quickly realizes that he was transferred six thousand years into the future. The Monsters were always able to make little jumps back or forth in time when hunting or being hunted, but... 6000 years? Crazy stuff. He escapes the woman but finds himself a bit lost in the city of Dyoto, inhabited by humans because apparently somewhere along the line they made peace with the Urians and started using money again? Corson's then approached by a woman named Antonella, who he might fall in love with. She tells him how he's a war criminal because he participated in one in the past (war's a very naughty word now) and will be killed if he tries to leave the planet. Then they're more or less captured by a man named Veran, who has a small army of his own and pretends to be their friend while really keeping them under guard. Then in the middle of the night some mysterious Hell breaks loose and they're rescued by a mysterious suited man who steals one of the army's "pegasones," domesticated Monsters who take their riders on trips throughout space and time...
Corson and Antonella end up on a planet housing one big mausoleum-like structure of women hung up in floating cages, and then they're mysteriously brought to this world where endless wars happen between various combatants all the time. They fall in with a black zeppelin-operator (Klein lets you know he's black) and end up at the edge of the world, where Corson has this visitation with the mental construct of the entity which runs this pocket world to "preserve war" and "teach us to how exterminate it" or some crap like that. Then Corson is herked and jerked throughout a couple more situations by means I can't care to remember such as serving as military advisor to a Urian leader on how to defeat the humans in their war. He enlists the nearby army of Veran's, and then Veran discovers that the Urian king is king because he hatched from a blue shell so he uses time travel to travel back in time and make it look like the egg was only painted, which lets him take control of everything and whatnot. Then Corson has a visitation with the "Council" that leads a thousands-of-year-long time period of Uria's history and they tell him what they must do and he finds out the Antonella was just a shell used to manipulate him into completing some destiny and then he retraces steps throughout his own timeline, going back to the mausoleum-world and programming all the women like robots and then letting them into Veran's camp, causing all the commotion and then he physically frees his younger self as that suited man riding a pegasone. He even sets up the explosion that disables his dropship at the very beginning, setting up a really big bootstrap paradox. The implication is he's going to become part of the super-council or something in the far future of Uria, but really... I can't say that I care.
On the surface of it, I should've loved this book. Time travel is one of the devices that got me into science fiction, mainly thanks to the Doctor Who TV series and Wells' seminal *The Time Machine*. I like a good paradox as much as all the next guys (and I really like a good short story like Walter Jon Williams' "The Bad Twin"), but I just felt like this plot was completely contrived, and that any character-centric or philosophical points to the story were lost in the mess of murkiness about where Corson's ending up and why. It felt like I was reading a van Vogt story, which usually feel formless and purposeless to me. Maybe this is a Darnoc-problem because all the right people really like van Vogt, but the whole "putting the pieces of the early story together together through time travel" seemed boring and devoid of mystery. Some things were really predictable like which always landed flat, but when the things that I didn't expect to happen happened, namely , it felt both morally iffy and like Klein was trying way too hard to be clever. I don't know if he wrote the earlier scene before the later justification or visa versa, but I could this rickety construction working in either direction. Either way, the plotting did not engage me.
At least the book was engaging me at the very start; Klein dropping us into an act of subterfuge at the beginning of the book was a good way to kick things off, and it took a while for things to start going off the rails. I didn't fall for our characters never knowing what was going on (I was always too busy feeling whiplash that disengaged me from the story to care about, say, Corson), but I know Klein couldn't have given us a more coherent plot and still done his whole paradox manifesto deal. Still, maybe the manifesto would've been more effective if I'd liked Corson a little bit more. He just wasn't a very engaging main character. We get a little glimpse into his militaristic past with an Earth flashback, but that one sequence is pretty much all you get, and besides him unravelling the paradox, he doesn't grow as a person at all throughout this book. That's no fun... it is kind of cool to watch him deal with the one Urian king and , so I guess I did genuinely like that one plot thread, but... it's too little, too late.
The other thing that could've redeemed this book was some actual philosophy on the nature of war and all that. This book does seem to be a bit more thoughtful when it comes to armed conflict that most time-travel-tinged-military-SF, but it still seems to gloss over a lot of the big questions it could've brought up. Like, there's this whole ; the attempts at ascribing importance to war or overall human nature end up just as murky and hand-waving as the book's plot. Maybe there was something lost in translation, but... I just don't think you're going to get very far when you ...
I wish I would've liked this book a lot because its French origin and time travel conceits are technically cool, and I did like one or two of the plot spindles, but it just wasn't meant to be; I couldn't bring myself to care, and the back half of the book felt like kind of a slog. I'll give it a 5.5/10 and leave it in the rearview mirror. I'm sure this isn't the last book like this I'll explore, but hopefully the next one engages with me more - you can find out here on the ol' Goodreads. May the next book you read engage with you more than this, and may your next armed conflict prove bountiful...
*The Overlords of War* is about Corson, a man who starts the book on a mission to drop a quickly-reproducing, all-consuming Monster on the planet of Uria, which is inhabited by a species of sentient birds that humanity is at war with. Sadly, something has gone awry on the mission and the dropship seems to have blown up, leaving only Corson and the Monster alive. There's a tense bit on the surface before Corson is rescued by a land-ship piloted by a beautiful human, and he quickly realizes that he was transferred six thousand years into the future. The Monsters were always able to make little jumps back or forth in time when hunting or being hunted, but... 6000 years? Crazy stuff. He escapes the woman but finds himself a bit lost in the city of Dyoto, inhabited by humans because apparently somewhere along the line they made peace with the Urians and started using money again? Corson's then approached by a woman named Antonella, who he might fall in love with. She tells him how he's a war criminal because he participated in one in the past (war's a very naughty word now) and will be killed if he tries to leave the planet. Then they're more or less captured by a man named Veran, who has a small army of his own and pretends to be their friend while really keeping them under guard. Then in the middle of the night some mysterious Hell breaks loose and they're rescued by a mysterious suited man who steals one of the army's "pegasones," domesticated Monsters who take their riders on trips throughout space and time...
Corson and Antonella end up on a planet housing one big mausoleum-like structure of women hung up in floating cages, and then they're mysteriously brought to this world where endless wars happen between various combatants all the time. They fall in with a black zeppelin-operator (Klein lets you know he's black) and end up at the edge of the world, where Corson has this visitation with the mental construct of the entity which runs this pocket world to "preserve war" and "teach us to how exterminate it" or some crap like that. Then Corson is herked and jerked throughout a couple more situations by means I can't care to remember such as serving as military advisor to a Urian leader on how to defeat the humans in their war. He enlists the nearby army of Veran's, and then Veran discovers that the Urian king is king because he hatched from a blue shell so he uses time travel to travel back in time and make it look like the egg was only painted, which lets him take control of everything and whatnot. Then Corson has a visitation with the "Council" that leads a thousands-of-year-long time period of Uria's history and they tell him what they must do and he finds out the Antonella was just a shell used to manipulate him into completing some destiny and then he retraces steps throughout his own timeline, going back to the mausoleum-world and programming all the women like robots and then letting them into Veran's camp, causing all the commotion and then he physically frees his younger self as that suited man riding a pegasone. He even sets up the explosion that disables his dropship at the very beginning, setting up a really big bootstrap paradox. The implication is he's going to become part of the super-council or something in the far future of Uria, but really... I can't say that I care.
On the surface of it, I should've loved this book. Time travel is one of the devices that got me into science fiction, mainly thanks to the Doctor Who TV series and Wells' seminal *The Time Machine*. I like a good paradox as much as all the next guys (and I really like a good short story like Walter Jon Williams' "The Bad Twin"), but I just felt like this plot was completely contrived, and that any character-centric or philosophical points to the story were lost in the mess of murkiness about where Corson's ending up and why. It felt like I was reading a van Vogt story, which usually feel formless and purposeless to me. Maybe this is a Darnoc-problem because all the right people really like van Vogt, but the whole "putting the pieces of the early story together together through time travel" seemed boring and devoid of mystery. Some things were really predictable like which always landed flat, but when the things that I didn't expect to happen happened, namely , it felt both morally iffy and like Klein was trying way too hard to be clever. I don't know if he wrote the earlier scene before the later justification or visa versa, but I could this rickety construction working in either direction. Either way, the plotting did not engage me.
At least the book was engaging me at the very start; Klein dropping us into an act of subterfuge at the beginning of the book was a good way to kick things off, and it took a while for things to start going off the rails. I didn't fall for our characters never knowing what was going on (I was always too busy feeling whiplash that disengaged me from the story to care about, say, Corson), but I know Klein couldn't have given us a more coherent plot and still done his whole paradox manifesto deal. Still, maybe the manifesto would've been more effective if I'd liked Corson a little bit more. He just wasn't a very engaging main character. We get a little glimpse into his militaristic past with an Earth flashback, but that one sequence is pretty much all you get, and besides him unravelling the paradox, he doesn't grow as a person at all throughout this book. That's no fun... it is kind of cool to watch him deal with the one Urian king and , so I guess I did genuinely like that one plot thread, but... it's too little, too late.
The other thing that could've redeemed this book was some actual philosophy on the nature of war and all that. This book does seem to be a bit more thoughtful when it comes to armed conflict that most time-travel-tinged-military-SF, but it still seems to gloss over a lot of the big questions it could've brought up. Like, there's this whole ; the attempts at ascribing importance to war or overall human nature end up just as murky and hand-waving as the book's plot. Maybe there was something lost in translation, but... I just don't think you're going to get very far when you ...
I wish I would've liked this book a lot because its French origin and time travel conceits are technically cool, and I did like one or two of the plot spindles, but it just wasn't meant to be; I couldn't bring myself to care, and the back half of the book felt like kind of a slog. I'll give it a 5.5/10 and leave it in the rearview mirror. I'm sure this isn't the last book like this I'll explore, but hopefully the next one engages with me more - you can find out here on the ol' Goodreads. May the next book you read engage with you more than this, and may your next armed conflict prove bountiful...
February 13, 2024
Fast paced! Seems like alot of sci fi has to do with time travel or maybe this guy influenced the projects after 1974. I think it would have been better with more detail and description but it does leave a lot to your own imagination. This book really emphasizes the cycles or seasons of history and civilization which I find pretty interesting. 4.5/5
July 15, 2023
This is the first time I’ve read French SF. As this was an old book in my father’s library, I picked up when I was around 12 years old and couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Reading it now was however a true pleasure.
Although the writing style is not easy, the topic is unique and opens up a lot of questions. I cannot say more because of the spoilers but I will underline that it is a joy to read it!
Reading it now was however a true pleasure.
Although the writing style is not easy, the topic is unique and opens up a lot of questions. I cannot say more because of the spoilers but I will underline that it is a joy to read it!
March 29, 2014
Though it has been 10 years since I read the book, it still holds a certain appeal.
The book though revolves around the main character George Corson, it reveals to the reader a journey through time and space, a powerful irony of the fate, the once warrior turns into a peacekeeper by setting a balance and preparing it backwards to be achieved.
The story is fascinating and provides a wide range of perspectives, and insight on a way of seeing the universe, and keeping its balance through actions.
The thing I fancied most was the idea of creating a place where all war should be waged, and contained, also the fact that once a war is started it feeds on the substance and energy of those involved, and that's a fact, far from fiction I believe.
The book though revolves around the main character George Corson, it reveals to the reader a journey through time and space, a powerful irony of the fate, the once warrior turns into a peacekeeper by setting a balance and preparing it backwards to be achieved.
The story is fascinating and provides a wide range of perspectives, and insight on a way of seeing the universe, and keeping its balance through actions.
The thing I fancied most was the idea of creating a place where all war should be waged, and contained, also the fact that once a war is started it feeds on the substance and energy of those involved, and that's a fact, far from fiction I believe.
Read
March 16, 2008 It took a couple pager to get sucked in, but the ideas are pretty unique. My biggest problem with it is that it shows it's date (1971) in its females characters. They are reminiscent of the James Bond women of the same era.
The basic gist of the story is that a soldier, George Corson,is on a secret mission transporting a Monster to a planet.
Actually i started the review before finishing the book and now I have to say I recommend keeping away. It is decidedly sexist and the use of zombie women as a weapon of seduction at the end is just too much to handle. It is a waste of time.
The basic gist of the story is that a soldier, George Corson,is on a secret mission transporting a Monster to a planet.
Actually i started the review before finishing the book and now I have to say I recommend keeping away. It is decidedly sexist and the use of zombie women as a weapon of seduction at the end is just too much to handle. It is a waste of time.
March 16, 2010
John Brunner's translation into English of Gerald Klein's novel. A competently written time-travel space opera. It follows the protagonist, George Corson, as he follows himself through space and time. The story begins as Corson, a specialist in the species called simply "Monsters" is shipwrecked on the enemy planet of the Urians with one of these creatures. In typical space opera fashion, the protagonist overcomes incredible challenges, transforming himself and the universe around him in the process.
Recommended for teen+, no harsh language, indirect sexual references.
Recommended for teen+, no harsh language, indirect sexual references.
November 24, 2015
It took me a little while to get really into reading this book, but about a third of the way through I picked up momentum. I'm a time travel fan, so when the story gets into the meat of the theoretical mechanics of the world, I didn't want to stop reading. it culminated well at the end and actually has a pretty deep moral underneath of the wacky spacetime hijinx.
July 21, 2018
This was an odd one. Appropriate amount of sexism given when it was written, but come on! Less time spent on the inept woman front and more focus on time travel and alien creatures, please. Also, my biased humanities brain could have benefitted from more detailed descriptions and fewer technical details (that ultimately did nothing for plot development).
July 16, 2013
One of the first SF books I've read, in my teens, recommended by my mother... time travel, unforgettable imagery, delightful depiction of how the evolved human race looks and behaves, "happiness for everybody" (Roadside Picnic) message.
July 25, 2013
Great, highly imaginative science fiction. Klein really takes flight here! The sheer scope of this book is staggering, yet it's completely accessible in a 1960's sci-fi vein. What a gem! Thanks to Alan for this book, gonna look hard for a copy of my own.
August 9, 2018
Une science-fiction très années 70 qui a terriblement vieilli. Tendance au cours magistral sans intérêt. La place des femmes/potiches n'est vraiment plus supportable. Psychologie des personnages à la ramasse.
January 31, 2016
A must for all SF fans.
December 5, 2014
1986 grade D
May 25, 2016
Not really my cup of tea when it comes to genre.
February 11, 2017
Really thought-provoking, it manages to keep you interested. It has more plot-twists than expected, but it still feels really cursive
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