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Eye of the Monster
Rees Naper had never trusted the reptillian Ishkurians, in spite of the fact that many of the Teraan colonists thought they had been wronged. His worst fears were realized when the Terran authorities decided to grant the Ishkurians self-government and withdrew their protective forces from the planet.It turned out that he was right - as soon as the last troops left the "crocs" went on a killing rampage.Cut off from the remaining fortified outposts by miles of jungle and armies of crocs, Rees knew that his only chance for survival was to outwit the cunning reptiles. He had to learn to think like a croc, feel like a croc...and see through the eye of the monster!
135 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
5 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
698 books1,390 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 30 reviews
April 30, 2022
A quick and very enjoyable read that introduced me to the writing style of Andre Norton, a popular and prolific SF author from the 1960s. The pacing is swift, the plot simple, the characters enjoyable.
The story is about a colonial Terran government giving power back to the people they are overseeing, but before they can pull out completely--they are punished hard. This was written before the Vietnam War, and, of course, well before America's Afghanistan pullout, but all I could think about was the potential for allegory.
Lots of fun. This won't be my last Norton. 3.5ish stars, but I had fun, so I'll round up.
The story is about a colonial Terran government giving power back to the people they are overseeing, but before they can pull out completely--they are punished hard. This was written before the Vietnam War, and, of course, well before America's Afghanistan pullout, but all I could think about was the potential for allegory.
Lots of fun. This won't be my last Norton. 3.5ish stars, but I had fun, so I'll round up.
July 28, 2021
I truly thought this book would redeem itself by the end. We have Rees Naper, an outright racist, who refuses to trust the native Ishkurians thanks to the prejudiced propaganda he absorbs during his training for whatever it is that he does that I cannot recall (he helps his scientist uncle, but that is only because his parents died and he was dragged away from his training by his uncle).
Turns out Rees’ dislike of the indigenous beings is well founded because as soon as the colonizing Terran government decides to leave the planet and allow the Iskurians to govern themselves, the Ishkurians set out to destroy the last remaining Terrans on the planet.
We are never given a reason for why the Iskurians randomly decide to attack. The entire book is set up as though Rees is actually wrong. All the evidence points to the Iskurians being at fault for all the destruction, but we never actually see them until the final chapter. It makes it seem as though the enemy is not who Rees believes it to be, but when we get to the end, he is correct and his racism goes unchallenged. Rees spends the whole book using the derogatory epithet “Croc” (a word repeatedly pointed out by one character as a “bad word”) to describe the saurian natives. I really believed through the entire book that Rees’ ignorance would be challenged at the end. Instead, we get a book with colonizers deciding to leave the indigenous beings alone and them turning out to be “evil” for no known reason.
Disappointing. This could have been so much more.
Turns out Rees’ dislike of the indigenous beings is well founded because as soon as the colonizing Terran government decides to leave the planet and allow the Iskurians to govern themselves, the Ishkurians set out to destroy the last remaining Terrans on the planet.
We are never given a reason for why the Iskurians randomly decide to attack. The entire book is set up as though Rees is actually wrong. All the evidence points to the Iskurians being at fault for all the destruction, but we never actually see them until the final chapter. It makes it seem as though the enemy is not who Rees believes it to be, but when we get to the end, he is correct and his racism goes unchallenged. Rees spends the whole book using the derogatory epithet “Croc” (a word repeatedly pointed out by one character as a “bad word”) to describe the saurian natives. I really believed through the entire book that Rees’ ignorance would be challenged at the end. Instead, we get a book with colonizers deciding to leave the indigenous beings alone and them turning out to be “evil” for no known reason.
Disappointing. This could have been so much more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2018
This early Andre Norton novel was actually the twentieth science fiction or fantasy novel she published. It is by far the strangest Andre Norton science fiction work I have read yet. I haven't done a word count, but I estimate it comes in at about 35,000 words, which would make this technically a novella, though it was marketed as a novel. That's an odd amount for Norton, who has stated that she is not really comfortable in forms less than novel length.
This book reads like a novel that has been stripped to its bare essentials. In fact, it reads a lot like her 1952 work, Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D. We have here a similarly aged protagonist who can't get adults to appreciate his point of view who finds himself with a small crew in a hostile world trying to survive as he strives to reach a safe destination. Throw in a feline or two and some unreliable advanced technology and you have the Norton formula.
I suspect, and this is pure conjecture on my part, that Norton wrote a complete or longer version of this novel in the early to mid 1950s, but didn't finish it, or finished it in a way that editors objected to. The story stayed in a drawer for five to ten years and then Norton pulls it back out in early 1962 wondering what can be done with it to make some money from it. She decides it's too wordy, that she spent too much time on other characters during the novel, that its Rees's story. So she decides to rewrite it, but this time strip away all the scenes that don't have Rees in them doing something to advance the plot. The result is this odd, yet very interesting, highly entertaining problem novel we have in front of us that is in need of one revision more to become a great novel.
The first problem with this book is it doesn't have an audience. She clearly wrote this book originally intending it to be for young adults. The protagonist is a rebellious adolescent who is right about something important, of course, while all the adults in his life are completely wrong. So he sets about proving himself right. This is a young adult archetypal plot structure. The problem is the theme is too dark and brutal, the stakes too high, the murder count off the charts, for it to work as a young adult novel. Another problem is that the world building is far too elaborate and more complicated than a young adult would want.
The way the world is revealed is also (because I think it was originally a novel now stripped down) done in too sophisticated a fashion for young adults to catch or fully appreciate. That's unfortunate because the world building is the best part of this novel. The way facets of this world are brought in to the story tangentially, only as need arises, works for me, but would not work for teenage me. I wouldn't have enough experiences with reading about other worlds to fill in the gaps. The world Norton envisions and draws on is as thoroughly thought out in Norton's mind as Herbert's in Dune, but it's brought in to the story so casually that only the most alert (that is, adult) reader would catch the depth of the background. There are several species meshing on this world, all with their rich cultures, histories, and societies. We get meaningful and consistent glimpses, but no involved explanations, on all of them. These glances, so rich in detail, hint at so much, all of which is off camera.
The theme is highly promising as well, but again it's something only an adult well-versed in world history could fully understand or appreciate. Norton premises that space exploration will be followed by space colonization and that this colonization will be much like what took place on our world. Enter the late 1940s through early 1960s when colonized peoples of Earth were throwing off their exploiting oppressors. Move this entire set-up to space, where we don't have Star Trek and its star fleet academy let's all get along with different species and sing kum bah yah as we explore strange new worlds together. Instead, we have Conrad's Heart of Darkness transferred to space as humans exploit the hell out of these backwards reptiles until we're done raping their planet of natural resources while expecting the natives to play friendly because we are so magnificent and powerful.
Conrad's world of darkest Africa exploitation is the very dark background to this kid's story Norton wants to tell. Our protagonist, Rees, is largely innocent of all this. He's too young to have set up the system, hasn't intentionally exploited anyone, but all of a sudden the natives rise up and overthrow the order, brutally and indiscriminately killing naive scientists, who thought they were being appreciated, along with governmental exploiters who mostly had the good sense to escape in time. But this isn't that story, it's Rees's one of survival. Rees escapes the initial attacks, finds two other innocent children, and then another marginal member of a feline race who was herself being exploited, and then has to figure out how they all survive on their few resources against the homicidal croc natives to reach safety.
This is a wonderful, exciting, thought-provoking tale of how Rees tries to accomplish this that would be five stars easily except for the problems. Negative features are the many characters introduced who are always off-screen, the fascinating world that we never quite see enough of, both of which get thrown at us like we have already been introduced, yet we haven't. The ending is also too sudden and inconclusive, taking less than a page, and the denouement is simply skipped. This elaborately constructed world with its rich, dark cultural theme of colonial exploitation and the fate of the innocents left to contend with the aftermath deserved better treatment than they are given here, but all due credit to Norton for raising the serious issues, raising them in a young adult story of all places!
Her early science fiction and fantasy works, if you would like a complete, no-nonsense list (only novels are numbered):
“Black Irish” (1939)
“The People of the Crater” (1947) aka "Garin of Tav" (1972)
“The Gifts of Asti” (1948)
1. Huon of the Horn (1951) [horrible, meaningless story; retelling of 13th century epic French Romance poem; wasn't intended as fantasy genre; skip it, you won't regret it]
2. Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D. (1952) aka Daybreak—2250 A.D. (1954)
“All Cats Are Gray” (1953)
3. Star Rangers (1953) aka The Last Planet (1953)
“Mousetrap” (1954)
4. The Stars Are Ours! (1954)
5. Sargasso of Space (1955)
6. Star Guard (1955)
7. Plague Ship (1956)
8. The Crossroads of Time (1956)
9. Sea Siege (1957)
10. Star Born (1957)
“By a Hair” (1958)
11. Star Gate (1958)
12. The Time Traders (1958)
“Voodoo Planet” (1959)
13. Galactic Derelict (1959)
14. Secret of the Lost Race (1959) aka Wolfshead (1977)
15. The Beast Master (1959)
16. Storm Over Warlock (1960)
17. The Sioux Spaceman (1960)
18. Star Hunter (1961)
19. Catseye (1961)
20. Eye of the Monster (1962)
21. Lord of Thunder (1962)
22. The Defiant Agents (1962)
23. Judgment on Janus (1963)
24. Key Out of Time (1963)
25. Witch World (1963)
26. Night of Masks (1964)
27. Ordeal in Otherwhere (1964)
28. Web of the Witch World (1964)
This book reads like a novel that has been stripped to its bare essentials. In fact, it reads a lot like her 1952 work, Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D. We have here a similarly aged protagonist who can't get adults to appreciate his point of view who finds himself with a small crew in a hostile world trying to survive as he strives to reach a safe destination. Throw in a feline or two and some unreliable advanced technology and you have the Norton formula.
I suspect, and this is pure conjecture on my part, that Norton wrote a complete or longer version of this novel in the early to mid 1950s, but didn't finish it, or finished it in a way that editors objected to. The story stayed in a drawer for five to ten years and then Norton pulls it back out in early 1962 wondering what can be done with it to make some money from it. She decides it's too wordy, that she spent too much time on other characters during the novel, that its Rees's story. So she decides to rewrite it, but this time strip away all the scenes that don't have Rees in them doing something to advance the plot. The result is this odd, yet very interesting, highly entertaining problem novel we have in front of us that is in need of one revision more to become a great novel.
The first problem with this book is it doesn't have an audience. She clearly wrote this book originally intending it to be for young adults. The protagonist is a rebellious adolescent who is right about something important, of course, while all the adults in his life are completely wrong. So he sets about proving himself right. This is a young adult archetypal plot structure. The problem is the theme is too dark and brutal, the stakes too high, the murder count off the charts, for it to work as a young adult novel. Another problem is that the world building is far too elaborate and more complicated than a young adult would want.
The way the world is revealed is also (because I think it was originally a novel now stripped down) done in too sophisticated a fashion for young adults to catch or fully appreciate. That's unfortunate because the world building is the best part of this novel. The way facets of this world are brought in to the story tangentially, only as need arises, works for me, but would not work for teenage me. I wouldn't have enough experiences with reading about other worlds to fill in the gaps. The world Norton envisions and draws on is as thoroughly thought out in Norton's mind as Herbert's in Dune, but it's brought in to the story so casually that only the most alert (that is, adult) reader would catch the depth of the background. There are several species meshing on this world, all with their rich cultures, histories, and societies. We get meaningful and consistent glimpses, but no involved explanations, on all of them. These glances, so rich in detail, hint at so much, all of which is off camera.
The theme is highly promising as well, but again it's something only an adult well-versed in world history could fully understand or appreciate. Norton premises that space exploration will be followed by space colonization and that this colonization will be much like what took place on our world. Enter the late 1940s through early 1960s when colonized peoples of Earth were throwing off their exploiting oppressors. Move this entire set-up to space, where we don't have Star Trek and its star fleet academy let's all get along with different species and sing kum bah yah as we explore strange new worlds together. Instead, we have Conrad's Heart of Darkness transferred to space as humans exploit the hell out of these backwards reptiles until we're done raping their planet of natural resources while expecting the natives to play friendly because we are so magnificent and powerful.
Conrad's world of darkest Africa exploitation is the very dark background to this kid's story Norton wants to tell. Our protagonist, Rees, is largely innocent of all this. He's too young to have set up the system, hasn't intentionally exploited anyone, but all of a sudden the natives rise up and overthrow the order, brutally and indiscriminately killing naive scientists, who thought they were being appreciated, along with governmental exploiters who mostly had the good sense to escape in time. But this isn't that story, it's Rees's one of survival. Rees escapes the initial attacks, finds two other innocent children, and then another marginal member of a feline race who was herself being exploited, and then has to figure out how they all survive on their few resources against the homicidal croc natives to reach safety.
This is a wonderful, exciting, thought-provoking tale of how Rees tries to accomplish this that would be five stars easily except for the problems. Negative features are the many characters introduced who are always off-screen, the fascinating world that we never quite see enough of, both of which get thrown at us like we have already been introduced, yet we haven't. The ending is also too sudden and inconclusive, taking less than a page, and the denouement is simply skipped. This elaborately constructed world with its rich, dark cultural theme of colonial exploitation and the fate of the innocents left to contend with the aftermath deserved better treatment than they are given here, but all due credit to Norton for raising the serious issues, raising them in a young adult story of all places!
Her early science fiction and fantasy works, if you would like a complete, no-nonsense list (only novels are numbered):
“Black Irish” (1939)
“The People of the Crater” (1947) aka "Garin of Tav" (1972)
“The Gifts of Asti” (1948)
1. Huon of the Horn (1951) [horrible, meaningless story; retelling of 13th century epic French Romance poem; wasn't intended as fantasy genre; skip it, you won't regret it]
2. Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D. (1952) aka Daybreak—2250 A.D. (1954)
“All Cats Are Gray” (1953)
3. Star Rangers (1953) aka The Last Planet (1953)
“Mousetrap” (1954)
4. The Stars Are Ours! (1954)
5. Sargasso of Space (1955)
6. Star Guard (1955)
7. Plague Ship (1956)
8. The Crossroads of Time (1956)
9. Sea Siege (1957)
10. Star Born (1957)
“By a Hair” (1958)
11. Star Gate (1958)
12. The Time Traders (1958)
“Voodoo Planet” (1959)
13. Galactic Derelict (1959)
14. Secret of the Lost Race (1959) aka Wolfshead (1977)
15. The Beast Master (1959)
16. Storm Over Warlock (1960)
17. The Sioux Spaceman (1960)
18. Star Hunter (1961)
19. Catseye (1961)
20. Eye of the Monster (1962)
21. Lord of Thunder (1962)
22. The Defiant Agents (1962)
23. Judgment on Janus (1963)
24. Key Out of Time (1963)
25. Witch World (1963)
26. Night of Masks (1964)
27. Ordeal in Otherwhere (1964)
28. Web of the Witch World (1964)
December 24, 2011
I read this in its entirety in a two-plus-hour period, which is a testament to either my reading stamina or Andre Norton's skill at drawing in the reader. It could also be that my edition is a 130-page novella with ridiculously large print for a paperback. Norton is kind of a legend in the golden age of science fiction. She is perhaps best known for her Witchworld fantasy/sf series, of which she wrote numerous books. "Eye of the Monster" is not part of that series. It's a pretty straightforward sci-fi action/adventure about a human named Rees Naper on a Terran colony that is under attack by a revolting native population of reptilian hominids derogatorily called "Crocs". He, an orphaned human child, and two other alien natives, must survive swampland and dragon-infested forests to reach a Terran outpost. It's a quick read that has its moments but, overall, not a superb example of Norton's writing.
June 1, 2024
Well that wasn’t great. A quick read other planet adventure that turned out to be more difficult than expected as I found the text didn’t flow at all.
I was also constantly skipping back to see if I’d missed some major development as I didn’t know what was going on … nope … I hadn’t missed it .. random things just happened which were not addressed or explained. Who is that person? They died? What is that place mentioned ? They have that technology which does .. oh wait not explained.
In the end I’m not even sure what happened .. it was only fast paced as every second sentence seemed missing.
Some hints of interesting ideas particularly around flora of all things, that gave hope but were gone moments after being mentioned.
I was also constantly skipping back to see if I’d missed some major development as I didn’t know what was going on … nope … I hadn’t missed it .. random things just happened which were not addressed or explained. Who is that person? They died? What is that place mentioned ? They have that technology which does .. oh wait not explained.
In the end I’m not even sure what happened .. it was only fast paced as every second sentence seemed missing.
Some hints of interesting ideas particularly around flora of all things, that gave hope but were gone moments after being mentioned.
February 17, 2021
I can’t be objective; it’s Andre Norton. What I can say, is that I may be older than many of the other reviewers, which makes a difference in one’s expectations and experience. For instance— the length. I don’t know if the storytelling is “stripped down”, but this general length was pretty common. Ace Doubles, very popular then, were not long plush novels, and I own a fairly large number of books of about this size, from that general time period. That was what was sold, in sci-fi, in Westerns, and so on. One important point was *they fit in your pocket*! Paperbacks were pocketbooks, and a quick, easy read. We didn’t have cell phones. You carried them in your pants, or your coat pocket, or your little handbag, everywhere. Too thick a book would not fit, and was not as easy to set aside when you needed to. There was a lot of waiting for, and riding on, buses and such, or just waiting places.
November 4, 2015
Nice SiFi read by one of the old masters of the genre. Recommended
March 14, 2020
I picked this up wandering bookstores in Raleigh, North Carolina, figuring I’d read it on the plane back to Texas. It was short enough, and tense enough, that I read it completely that night.
The Terran authorities withdraw their military from Ishkur, and the once-friendly natives go on a killing spree against the Terrans and Salariki. The book focuses on three young survivors. Rees is an older teen responsible for two very young kids who don’t understand what’s going on, or what happened to their parents. Rees needs to guide the two younger kids to hoped-for, but not certain, safety.
Ishkurian words are often used without explanation, in full Campbellian fashion. This makes the many typos that Ace Books let it go to print with worse, although the typos don’t usually, as far as I know, happen in the alien words. But then, how would I know? I don’t know Ishkurian. The poor editing definitely harms the English words, for example when the young boy in Rees’s care reprimands Rees for calling the Ishkurians “crocs”:
I’m fairly certain that the term “degrade name” is meant to highlight the difference between Gordy’s mission training and Rees’s more military-like survey training by introducing a term of art; but it could just be a typo for “degrading name”.
The Terran authorities withdraw their military from Ishkur, and the once-friendly natives go on a killing spree against the Terrans and Salariki. The book focuses on three young survivors. Rees is an older teen responsible for two very young kids who don’t understand what’s going on, or what happened to their parents. Rees needs to guide the two younger kids to hoped-for, but not certain, safety.
Ishkurian words are often used without explanation, in full Campbellian fashion. This makes the many typos that Ace Books let it go to print with worse, although the typos don’t usually, as far as I know, happen in the alien words. But then, how would I know? I don’t know Ishkurian. The poor editing definitely harms the English words, for example when the young boy in Rees’s care reprimands Rees for calling the Ishkurians “crocs”:
You mustn’t call them ‘Crocs’,” Gordy corrected him. “That’s a degrade name.”
I’m fairly certain that the term “degrade name” is meant to highlight the difference between Gordy’s mission training and Rees’s more military-like survey training by introducing a term of art; but it could just be a typo for “degrading name”.
July 25, 2024
i read this out loud to a dear friend. the grammatical errors and sentence structure and word choice made it 100x more difficult.
and WHY such an abrupt end?! come on andre. (will try another and see how it goes.)
and WHY such an abrupt end?! come on andre. (will try another and see how it goes.)
November 17, 2019
Sentient crocodiles that despise you and want you dead. How fun is that!
May 29, 2021
This is my first Andre Norton book, which I picked up due to some familiarity with the author as one cited in Gary Gygaxs' appendix N. The only other science fiction story I have read is Dune.
I have mixed feelings on the book. The most glaring being the political stances the book posits; the titular reptilian "monsters" are the native people of the setting, who have been oppressed by an ever expanding human empire. There is a movement in the empire to reverse the effects of colonization, and these activists are shown as being bleeding hearts with no common sense. The protagonist is highly xenophobic towards the reptilian natives, continuously referring to them by a term identified as derogatory in universe (crocs) and being equal parts terrified and disgusted by them, seeing it as no surprise when the "primitive" race turns violent against the humans (nevermind the fact that these humans took control of the reptilian homeworld and made many of them indentured servants). Its so on the nose that I cant help but wonder if this is meant to be satire.
Beyond my issues with the political implications of the story, it felt like chunks of text were missing, at least with my particular copy. The sample text on the first page involves the main protagonist discovering the dead body of an important character; as far as I can tell, this particular excerpt doesnt exist within the story, and the discovery of the body happens almost offhandedly, in a totally different way. Along with this, there doesnt seem to be a direct run in with the reptiles, which I found disapointing. They are rarely "in frame" and when they are, they do almost nothing exciting.
However, when they are out if frame they are very effective. Their cunning intelligence and their methods are slowly pieced together through environmental evidence, which I thought was very neat. They end up feeling like a pervasive threat that could leap out at any moment, but never really do. For the most part their lingering scent and the havoc they reek are all we see of them until the very end. I just wish we could have gotten more direct engagements with them, because I love lizard people!
Overall this book is very good at getting your imagination going. Flora, fauna, and exotic technology are given little to no description beyond a evocative name ("Ghost Wing" for a transluscent bird/insect creature). This works, and leaves alot of space for the reader to develop their own mental image of these things. Ask some artists to illustrate them and they would all come out wildly different. The book is also a super quick read, a good little summer escapade. I think young readers would get a kick out of this book, but some discussion on the themes involving irrational hatred towards whole races would probably be a good idea.
I have mixed feelings on the book. The most glaring being the political stances the book posits; the titular reptilian "monsters" are the native people of the setting, who have been oppressed by an ever expanding human empire. There is a movement in the empire to reverse the effects of colonization, and these activists are shown as being bleeding hearts with no common sense. The protagonist is highly xenophobic towards the reptilian natives, continuously referring to them by a term identified as derogatory in universe (crocs) and being equal parts terrified and disgusted by them, seeing it as no surprise when the "primitive" race turns violent against the humans (nevermind the fact that these humans took control of the reptilian homeworld and made many of them indentured servants). Its so on the nose that I cant help but wonder if this is meant to be satire.
Beyond my issues with the political implications of the story, it felt like chunks of text were missing, at least with my particular copy. The sample text on the first page involves the main protagonist discovering the dead body of an important character; as far as I can tell, this particular excerpt doesnt exist within the story, and the discovery of the body happens almost offhandedly, in a totally different way. Along with this, there doesnt seem to be a direct run in with the reptiles, which I found disapointing. They are rarely "in frame" and when they are, they do almost nothing exciting.
However, when they are out if frame they are very effective. Their cunning intelligence and their methods are slowly pieced together through environmental evidence, which I thought was very neat. They end up feeling like a pervasive threat that could leap out at any moment, but never really do. For the most part their lingering scent and the havoc they reek are all we see of them until the very end. I just wish we could have gotten more direct engagements with them, because I love lizard people!
Overall this book is very good at getting your imagination going. Flora, fauna, and exotic technology are given little to no description beyond a evocative name ("Ghost Wing" for a transluscent bird/insect creature). This works, and leaves alot of space for the reader to develop their own mental image of these things. Ask some artists to illustrate them and they would all come out wildly different. The book is also a super quick read, a good little summer escapade. I think young readers would get a kick out of this book, but some discussion on the themes involving irrational hatred towards whole races would probably be a good idea.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2025
A silly foray into what space and species colonization through '60s sci-fi. I couldn't figure out what was happening for the first 20 pages and kept going back thinking it must be a series. Of which, it is not. Once accepting im only aiming to understans 60% of it, then its a fun little avdenture if we dont think too deeply into the time period this was written and what was happening with colonization globally.
It was interesting to see what sci-fi themes have held over the the 60 passing years and wonder why the ideas of beams seem antiquated. I would like to meet a Salakaria and I wouldn't have saved Gordy. Keep the kid, Crocs.
It was interesting to see what sci-fi themes have held over the the 60 passing years and wonder why the ideas of beams seem antiquated. I would like to meet a Salakaria and I wouldn't have saved Gordy. Keep the kid, Crocs.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2021
This cover of this book just screams “fun pulp action” and it’s not lying. The story lasts under 48 hours and follows a group of humans and catlike aliens fleeing a revolution by the reptilian inhabitants of the planet.
Although a fun read, one glaring issue stuck out to me from the very beginning. This is a much less progressive story than you often see in science fiction. In a genre that has always been socially ahead of its time in condemning racism, this is a novella about a “primitive” race rising up against colonizers where they’re portrayed as the villains for doing so. This wouldn’t be too bad if this hadn’t been brought up and then just handwaived away. I’m not sure if it was just my copy, but there were a lot of spelling errors as well.
So long as you don’t read into the likely unintended racial politics of this 1960s novella, it is an exciting sci-fi action story. I think it would have benefited from a longer length giving it room to better explore the relationship between the humans and Ishkurians though.
Although a fun read, one glaring issue stuck out to me from the very beginning. This is a much less progressive story than you often see in science fiction. In a genre that has always been socially ahead of its time in condemning racism, this is a novella about a “primitive” race rising up against colonizers where they’re portrayed as the villains for doing so. This wouldn’t be too bad if this hadn’t been brought up and then just handwaived away. I’m not sure if it was just my copy, but there were a lot of spelling errors as well.
So long as you don’t read into the likely unintended racial politics of this 1960s novella, it is an exciting sci-fi action story. I think it would have benefited from a longer length giving it room to better explore the relationship between the humans and Ishkurians though.
July 9, 2023
Gotta love a shithead kid named Gordy. Otherwise this book is bizarrely pro-colonialism. The main character uses what is explicitly a slur throughout the whole book, and then his prejudices are… right? Weird. Was really expecting a twist here.
September 12, 2023
Very exiting, but odd. It's like someone took a NORMAL Andre Norton book, removed all BUT the action scenes, and published it. Intense, about 30 pages too short. A little short on non-violent scenes. Did get my heart rate up.
October 6, 2023
Written 20+ years before Orson Scott Card's work; a possible inspiration for 'Speaker for the Dead.'
Overall, intriguing, but too brief to go into the implications of two off-world humanoid species colonizing a planet as merchants and scientists to the point of angering the natives
Overall, intriguing, but too brief to go into the implications of two off-world humanoid species colonizing a planet as merchants and scientists to the point of angering the natives
December 18, 2017
Jungle planet adventure recommended for those who want to the point,lean stories
April 24, 2020
This one does not hold up as well. More on next book if you care.
April 26, 2021
This is probably my favorite Andre Norton out of all I've read so far.
March 14, 2024
A short and action filled sci fi, a good fast read with space creatures.
July 25, 2024
What a grammatical nightmare this book is. Had I read it on my own, it would’ve gotten 1 star. Having it read to me by my best friend earned the other. 1/10 story, 100/10 narration.
November 10, 2025
Entertaining, but not my favorite.
August 31, 2021
Early years of this genre tended to be short books with swift paced action, little cerebral but honest, thoughtful and diverse populations, which this book exemplifies.
I would suggest that this book could have been improved by expanding the characters such as the little Salarika girl found, and mention a little more about the atrocities committed by the marauding natives.
In the end, my takeaway is the moral lesson, which should be applied to the world we live in - for answers, don't just look inward - look around you and try to see things as others see them.
I would suggest that this book could have been improved by expanding the characters such as the little Salarika girl found, and mention a little more about the atrocities committed by the marauding natives.
In the end, my takeaway is the moral lesson, which should be applied to the world we live in - for answers, don't just look inward - look around you and try to see things as others see them.
July 21, 2008
I read this a long time ago and I remember it being the first Andre Norton book that I was ever a bit disappointed with. It just seemed very slight. If you're a Norton fan you will probably enjoy it. I did at some level, but it didn't match up against Galactic Derelict, or The Zero Stone, or Breed to Come.
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April 5, 2010I'd like to say that this is the worst book Norton ever wrote. I can't, however. The most I CAN say is that the first few chapters are the worst of her work--after that, I gave up in disgust, and sold my copy. Maybe it improves further in--but I'll never know.
October 28, 2010
Very, very, very short. Most of the elements of the author's usual wonderful sci fi adventures are present, but there is hardly space to explore any of them. Not sure what happened here, but still worth reading to me as I adore all the author's books.
May 11, 2015
Fun, quick read, but definitely one of those types of scifi novels of the post-war that would later be criticized for thinking the future in colonial terms.
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July 26, 2015Same cover, publication date, pages, but published by Ace Books
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June 22, 2016Fun read, but it was over a little too quickly.
October 24, 2016
Ok. Not great. Lots of typos. Slow, boring plot. Flat characters.
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