Voodoo Planet

Solar Queen #3

by Andre Norton

A gripping story of otherworldly mystery and magic from an acclaimed Grand Master of Fantasy.

When Captain Jellico and the crew of the interstellar tramp freighter Solar Queen are invited to visit the planet Khatka by Chief Ranger Asaki, they anticipate a brief respite from the boredom of their mail route. But there is more danger on the verdant jungle world than they know.
 
Founded as a refuge by Earth Africans, Khatka is a global safari where hunters pay big money to pursue the biggest game. But lately Asaki’s battle against ruthless poachers has been undermined by a vicious witch doctor, Lumbrilo, who takes a mortal dislike to the captain and his men.
 
And when their craft crashes while over wild country, Jellico, Asaki and their friends soon find themselves not only hunted by Khatka’s lethal fauna, but by Lumbrilo, who sees his chance to get rid of his enemies once and for all . . .

Voodoo Planet is the third book in the Solar Queen Series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Ebooks, Space Opera

90 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Andre 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.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in Norton's young adult space opera series from the 1950's that followed the adventures of young Dane Thorson and his friends, the free traders who crewed an interstellar freighter named The Solar Queen. It was first published in 1959 as part of one of Ace Books double volumes, paired with a reprint of the preceding book in the series, Plague Ship. It's also shorter, probably due to the format requirement. (Note that Plague Ship as well as the first book in the series, Sargasso of Space, were originally published by Gnome Press under the pseudonym of Andrew North, because it was believed that young science fiction readers would not purchase a book that had been written by a female!) It's different than the preceding books, being set primarily on the planet of Khatka as a jungle adventure, rather than in space. Norton draws heavily on African influences, which she treats with understanding and respect, another atypical facet that helps mark how far ahead of her time she was. There's a bit of an element that can be interpreted either as mystical or as psi-powered, depending on whether you're in the mood for fantasy or science fiction. It's a fun and fast-paced adventure, as were almost all of the Norton books I read way back in the day, and I found that I remembered almost nothing about it now as I enjoyed this very well done Librivox reading.

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5* of five

A novella really, and a weird cross between science fiction (space travel, other planets) and fantasy (magic, telepathy). A true old-fashioned one-sitting read.

Dane Thorsen, Free Trader of the ship Solar Queen, returns to your screens as a tag-along to Captain Jellico's eagerly anticipated vacation to Khatka. He has corresponded for some time with Asaki, a Ranger of very high status on Khatka, in his other-hatness of xenobiologist. Asaki has headed up the creation of a no-kill big game reserve on his homeworld, which happens to be in the same system as the Solar Queen's penalty planet of Xencho. (In Plague Ship, the Solar Queen was "sentenced" to spend two years as a mail carrying ship for one of the huge trading corporations, Combine.)

Since space travel takes extended amounts of time, all spacers have hobbies; Jellico, a long-time spacer, has become a renowned xenobiologist due to massive time to study and experiment aboard ship as well as freedom to explore many different planets as a trader. The Khatkans are descended of African Terran roots (they sound like Maasai to me) and happen to land their colony ships on a planet with very African climate and geography. Keep in mind this book was published in 1959 by a white librarian lady. This was some avant garde stuff!

Add in Grand Master Norton's already extant Negro (in the parlance of the times) characters, explicitly stated to be normal members of the Solar Queen and Spacers' Guild crews, and you have jaw-droppingly ahead of her time thinking evident here. Asaki is explicitly stated to be Jellico's equal. He is regularly deferred to by the Queen white and Asian crew members. There are 21st-century authors who don't do as well as Grand Master Norton does in this sixty-year-old tale.

The story, well, the story is the story and it's creaky. No notion of satellite mapping, no personal computing power, etc etc blah blah blah. The plot seems to be a bit, well, slapdash; are we fighting a sorceror, a crafty mind-gamer, an interplanetary smuggling ring, our PoV characters' personal nightmares? Sorta kinda alla the above. In just over 100pp, that is way too much to handle effectively.

But hellfire, y'all, it's not like stuff coming from mighty modern pens is perfect, and this lady was born 106 years ago, so what say we smile for the fun turns of phrase (particularly love her regular use of "Not so!" for the much less sparkly "No.") and the amazing inclusiveness of her vision? Let's carp less and crow's-foot some smile, hmm?

[Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voodoo Planet was the last of Andre Norton's (or Andrew North's) Solar Queen adventures. It was written at a time when science fiction was for boys, or grown up boys, so don't expect to find any girls getting in the way. Having said that, the author does not meekly submit to the literary views of her time, particularly not the racial views prevalent in 1950s America. The planet Khatka is ruled and populated by the descendants of African space voyagers, who left Terra to escape the racist persecution that followed Terra's nuclear wars and they live a sophisticated, technological life on their new world. The crew of the Solar Queen have great respect for the Khatkans. However, as is often the case, no matter how liberal or enlightened the writer may in truth be, there is always a residue left by whatever prejudiced and racist views were driven home during the author's education and younger days.

In Voodoo Planet the Khatkans, despite their abilities, have turned their world into a giant jungle safari park – presumably it is a planet without exploitable mineral or agricultural products – filled with ferocious beasts likened to elephants, lions and apes, and a myriad of creeping, crawling things that are ready to bite, pierce, poison, scratch or burrow into any passing human. By doing so the Khatkans have preserved what seems to be seen as their “natural” ways as hunters and trackers fearful of strange magic, and witch doctors ready to exploit that fear for their own ends. The witch doctor's spells are driven by rhythmic drumbeats - Edgar Wallace's Sanders of the River might have done more with that.

Ultimately, when the good guys win, it is the Solar Queen's white crew (Captain Jellico, Medic Tau and Dane Thorson) who bring about the victory. One telling sentence comes when Nymani, an experienced and very able flitter pilot, has panicked and run in terror from the hallucinations dredged up by the witch doctor, Lumbrilo. When his boss, the Chief Ranger Asaki, brings him back to camp, Jellico says to the others: “Here comes Asaki with his wandering boy.”

All of this is a long way of saying that Voodoo Planet is what used to be called in the UK a ripping yarn for boys of all ages – one has keep an open mind and remember that the 1950s was a different world.

[Наталья · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

К сожалению, в этой истории не было ни космических приключений, ни необычной торговли. Только далекая планета, необычные животные, местные колдуны и экипаж "Королевы Солнца", пытающийся выжить в борьбе с упомянутыми животными и колдунами.

Было интересно, но хорошо, что новелла. Прочиталась быстро.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good classic SiFi story my one of the masters of the Genre. Recommended

[Filipa Maia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was... just ok. It does not add anything new to the genre and, honesty, the mix between different genres it's weird and unnecessary.

But it was a fast read and worked to take my mind from the last book I've read and make it a blank canvas for my next read.

[Pretentia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warning: the "voodoo" in the title is not metaphorical. This is literally "The Solar Queen Goes to Africa Planet" complete with wild game roughly analogous to elephants and lions and a witch doctor who hypnotizes people into seeing things that aren't there ... until one of the earth men beats him at his own game.

Yikes.

That aside, it's a quick read, they never stop moving forward. The "natives" do show superior knowledge of local herb craft and survival at least?

[Squeaky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of weird, with the magic going ons, but an exciting tale.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummm... yeah. Sometimes a writer of fantastic stories can go a bit too far into Saturday morning cartoon territory. The third entry of the Solar Queen series has the working-class interplanetary tradesmen ending up on a jungle planet where the powers of voodoo are very real and they get caught up in a battle between two wizards. Whereas the first two stories were grounded in solid mystery, technological speculation, and space exploration, this one felt like an episode of He-man.

All of the Solar Queen stories are written to be enjoyed by young and old as escapist entertainment, so don't expect science fiction grounded in reality, or believable but unknowable cosmic horrors, or any deep allegory behind the fantastic facade. This is Golden-Age pulp at its finest. But this one somehow crosses the line to feel like something purely for prepubescent boys. It really would have made a great Filmation or Hanna-Barbera series in the late 70s and early 80s.

I still enjoyed it, but this is one I'm not likely to check out again, and it ended my streak of reading Solar Queen adventures.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a pointless story, and there was no point in finishing. What can you expect from a book about the "hypnotic witchcraft of the mental wizard that ruled the "Voodoo Planet."

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining, quick, vintage sci fi.

There are less than a handful of crew on the Solar Queen as it starts a demoted trek from trade to international a mail carrier. Before their route begins, they are visited by a chief ranger seeking help on his home planet Khatka. Khatka is a colony planet inhabited by descendants of people from Africa who escaped from Earth. The people have developed special skills and developed a combined clan effort to promote a successful luxury hunting vacation to the wealthy in the universe. But there appears to be a new problem with poachers and one of the clan families is becoming unstable.

Chief Ranger, Kort Asaki, asks the Captain to come with his Medic Tau to observe and, if needed, intervene to challenge an unstable ‘witch’ doctor. Dale, the Queen’s “general errand boy” is fortunate to get to travel on the unexpected safari.

The investigative team arrives at a game park to be greeted with a frightening display of a hypnotic dance that resembles voodoo rituals (thus the title Voodoo Planet). They set off on a journey over the mountains where teams have gone but never returned. Can they survive the natural dangers, the hallucinations and the threats of human enemies?

This read fine as a stand-alone although it is apparently a sequel. The story is told in third person with a good blend of dialogue and narrative. There is plenty of action and intrigue. I liked the ironic trick that was used to face the magic. I enjoy reading Andre Norton especially when I realize that she is a female author who wrote in 1950s.

Audio Notes: Mark Nelson does a nice job narrating this as a public domain work. Although he doesn't focus on voice characters, he still gives energy to the story. I am glad I listened to this on audio.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 1 out of 5]

This will be my last Andre Norton book; I am unable to endure these illogical, unscientific, nonsensical novels anymore. I read her book, Daybreak 2250 AD, as a preadolescent in the 1960s, and it was somewhat enjoyable, but I read it again as an adult, and it was horrendous. The confusing plot lines, shallow characters, glaring loopholes and non-science (where magic, voodoo, and sorcery are accepted as valid and real phenomena) may be easily accepted by juveniles, but adults will not be able to endure. Over the years I accumulated almost all of Andre Norton's books, and I read many of them, but I am going to stop; what good is it to read a book if it is a negative experience which evokes unhappiness, anger and frustration? I had thought that the "Andrew North" (her pseudonym) books would be different, but they are the same. In Voodoo Planet, two rivals, a medical doctor and a native witch doctor, fight it out using voodoo, drugs and hallucinations for reasons unknown. This book is not nearly as bad as Key out of Time and Huon of the Horn, both by Andre Norton - two of the worst books I have ever read - but it is enough to make me quit Andre Norton forever.

[Nick Brough · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a young teenager, this book was impossible to find in the UK. I first read it as an adult, much much later, when I bought it in hard back (and Captain Jellico went by another namer - although I have no idea why or how).

I didn't really like on first read, I think because I found the world and society of Katcha somewhat unbelievable. This is also really a much extended short story rather than a full novel. In case it is Dane, Captain Jeillico and Medic Craig Tau that have the adventure rather than the normal three apprentices.

I suppose what I disliked most was Khatka being an ethnically pure society, when the future should see less of such thinking. However, its something that you have to accept.

Khatka is a well described society in parts, but mostly lacks detail. The wild life hunting/imaging reserves, the landscape, the major animals are also well realised, as is the Magic elements of the story line.

Overall, I think its the weakest (as well as the shortest) of the three initial novels, but it is still well above average for 1950s sci-fi. I

[Mick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best in the series. Diction is great but the story, well it is just so 1950s. :) Okay while the first two in the series showed their age, they were still great stories that involved interesting characters. No so much here. It is extremely short, which to me seemed to hinder Norton's ability to further develop the characters. It was over even before it started.

The idea behind this is "let me write a sci-fi book with dueling sorcerers". Sounds a bit on the cheesy side right? Well it is. And the details are sketchy as well. Just to say this might have been a great idea when this novel was published, but even if it was, it didn't develop well at the end.

I want more from this series in the next book. Let's get back to sci-fi and leave the fantasy behind.

[Fred Katterjohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy Andre Norton. She's a good story teller. The Solar Queen series is pure AN the early years, An idependant trading spceship with a steady crew you get to know better with each offering.
Voodoo planet is plagued with a shaman type charachter that is scaring away the tourists and authorities in order to carry out poaching and various other illegal activities.

If you want a quick read with mundane SciFi supporting the story, give Voodoo Planet a try.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andre Norton was my favorite author back in the 70s. Has it really been that long?
Sci-fi psycho-thriller.
Ross and most of the crew find themselves in the middle of a struggle for power over an alien planet. Only Tau, the Solar Queen's doctor, can unlock the mystery that places people under the spell of the evil witch doctor.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book three of the solar queen trilogy.

A good entry in the trilogy. Can be read without reading the previous novels. Andrea norton is a grand master of sci-fi . These stories are too notch. This time the crew leaves the tramp freighter behind to go on a sort of Alex quartermain style adventure.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, a work of its time (the 1950s) and some people might find the way it shows the culture of the planet Khatka as culturally insensitive but I think the author was trying to give their culture (and the ones it originated from) a fair shake though you can judge for yourself how well they did. Interesting mix of planetary survival, politics and "magic".

[Katrina McCollough · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a little bit different for sci-fi, I loved the setting and the old-school anthropology feel to the introduction of the African-like world. And the very obvious 'how silly to think skin color makes a difference' bit at the beginning was a nice touch :) especially considering the subject of the book this could have totally gone in another direction.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

VOODOO VENGENCE

An oldie but still wonderfully entertaining. Andre Norton was a giant among sci-fi authors. Her imagination drove her writing to places still fresh more than half a century later! This tale has SO much to recommend it: spaceships, another world, strange critters, good guys VS bad ones, blasters, needlers, and MAGIC. Don't miss it!

[Virginia Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exraordinary!

Still another exciting adventure in another exotic world, with its own unique culture.

You can see the basis for the society, but the extrapolation into the future brings it beauty and nobility.

A short story effectively drawn with broad stokes. Making a world come to life.

[Vickie Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short interesting read. The author imagines a planet that ‘two rocket ships’ escaped to in the heat of a race war.
The new colonists had to adapt. Magic became part of their lives. Magic that could be used by evil
as well.
The author imagines a planet that can be inhospitable, even deadly, but can also be nurturing.
Short read. Creative imagination.

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this one. There is some good messaging in it and it's nice to know Andre felt that way, but the adventure never really brings you in. It suffers from the same name confusion as the second book, (I've not read the first). It focuses a lot on plot and very little on character, and I just really didn't enjoy the plot.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. It ended up not being as cringy as I thought it would when I started reading it, which I guess is not terribly high praise. But I did end up enjoying parts of it (I apparently love it when people do stupid things in the wildnerness). I did not enjoy any of the magic-y parts.

[K. Counihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Story short-Solar Queen #3

This wraps up the series and sets the crew up on their new job hauling mail cargo. My review for book 2 was vaporized by the Amazon kindle update service twice. So I will give up the fight.

[Alicia Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read!

I always enjoy a book where the good win in the end! Even more so when the story flows in a pattern which keeps my attention, while allowing my mind to full in surrounding details. Andre Norton has consistently done I over the decades!

[Dr susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent sci fi adventure

It's a Solar Queen book....I shouldn't need to say more. I read it in kindle because my dead tree copy is too old to abuse. I'd forgotten how much I loved Dane, Craig, and Jellicoe.

[Dave McAlister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the previous books but, given its size, I imagine it was a short story published elsewhere. It's not a bad story but I feel it suffered a little due to the small number of characters from the Solar Queen who were involved.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather short entry in the series. Also kind of dated, with planet settled by Afro-Americans before that term was used. Interesting treatment of witch doctor mythos and quite good read. Recommended, with caution.