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Denner's Wreck
Bredon the Hunter, one of the humans living on the planet Denner's Wreck, is determined to find out about the plans and powers of the mysterious aliens who have recently arrived
199 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 5, 2023
This is a light, well-done, entertaining short novel that reads like a cross between a good Andre Norton and the Lord of Light Zelazny. The setup is familiar: hi-tech immortal humans (the Powers) are lording it over lo-tech tribesmen. Here, the immortal Powers are, well, really, *really* powerful (see Zelazny), but bored, so a few of them went looking for a lost colony as a lark. They found the colonists, liked their world, and some of them found out they liked being Gods. But mostly they relaxed into a nice, slow, 400-year vacation. Until one of the oldest, meanest, weirdest immortals decides he'd really like to rule a galactic empire...
Fortunately the old weirdo is pretty dumb, and is brought to heel by a plucky tribesman and a sneaky immortal. One could quibble with some of the story logic, but that seems pointless in a book that so nicely accomplishes its goal of entertaining the reader for a few hours.
Anyway, if you like Norton & Zelazny, you should look for Denner's Wreck. Recommended.
Rereading in progress Jan. 2023. Unfortunately so far the book is just OK, so I'm putting it aside for now, as I'm over-loaded with library books that will be called back long before this one! It's fortunate that we have 2 libraries in our two-county system that have good SF collections, and never, ever throw anything away! Great for finding obscure older stuff. I'm not sure I'll be back for this one.
Closing out as DNF and downgrading to 3-stars based on liking it before. I suppose I'll keep my copy for now? Or was it a library copy. Too bad the Suck Fairy called. Happens!
Fortunately the old weirdo is pretty dumb, and is brought to heel by a plucky tribesman and a sneaky immortal. One could quibble with some of the story logic, but that seems pointless in a book that so nicely accomplishes its goal of entertaining the reader for a few hours.
Anyway, if you like Norton & Zelazny, you should look for Denner's Wreck. Recommended.
Rereading in progress Jan. 2023. Unfortunately so far the book is just OK, so I'm putting it aside for now, as I'm over-loaded with library books that will be called back long before this one! It's fortunate that we have 2 libraries in our two-county system that have good SF collections, and never, ever throw anything away! Great for finding obscure older stuff. I'm not sure I'll be back for this one.
Closing out as DNF and downgrading to 3-stars based on liking it before. I suppose I'll keep my copy for now? Or was it a library copy. Too bad the Suck Fairy called. Happens!
October 26, 2017
Bredon the hunter lived a good life, one of the best hunters of his village. When he runs into Geste the Trickster, one of the omnipotent Powers that roam the land, things change for Bredon. After being the butt of one of Geste's pranks, he decided he wants more from life to show he's not one to be idly played with by the gods. This sets into motion an adventure far beyond Bredon's imagination, moving him into the world run by the Powers, and learning that they may not be the deities everyone assumed.
Bredon gets caught up in a power struggle between the Powers themselves, and while often an observer only, his inquisitive mind helps him adapt to the strange circumstances he's in, and learns that the Powers might have mighty abilities which confound him, they still act like humans. Bredon applies his native intelligence and wit to become a pivotal figure in the struggle between gods, and in so doing, changes his world.
Another early story from Watt-Evans, which features his characteristic traits of a fish out of water character using logic and what he knows to apply to circumstances far outside of his experience. Entertaining and imaginative, he tells a story both mythic yet at its core a story about humans and how infinite power corrupts in different ways.
Bredon gets caught up in a power struggle between the Powers themselves, and while often an observer only, his inquisitive mind helps him adapt to the strange circumstances he's in, and learns that the Powers might have mighty abilities which confound him, they still act like humans. Bredon applies his native intelligence and wit to become a pivotal figure in the struggle between gods, and in so doing, changes his world.
Another early story from Watt-Evans, which features his characteristic traits of a fish out of water character using logic and what he knows to apply to circumstances far outside of his experience. Entertaining and imaginative, he tells a story both mythic yet at its core a story about humans and how infinite power corrupts in different ways.
August 7, 2020
There are some fun ideas in here...
I especially like the idea that the "gods" of the primitive world are just super advanced technological beings... that is a really concept, and there are some great ideas for technological advancements including the microbial warfare... as far as plot goes though, there really isn't any so I can't rate it super highly. There is a lot of talking and hypothesizing but not a lot of action. Overall, just okay.
I especially like the idea that the "gods" of the primitive world are just super advanced technological beings... that is a really concept, and there are some great ideas for technological advancements including the microbial warfare... as far as plot goes though, there really isn't any so I can't rate it super highly. There is a lot of talking and hypothesizing but not a lot of action. Overall, just okay.
December 28, 2016
Helped past the time and was mildly entertaining. At some parts it was interesting with the style of telling about characters. However, it was predominately a story that nothing really happened.
March 31, 2016
This was a fun book to read.
Chapters begin with fun little narratives of the perils of meeting one of the many "Powers," that exist on a primitive world. Each narrative has a little parable within it and some kind of life lesson of the people of the world.
Now comes the spoiler.
The "Powers" are actually much more advanced human's endowed with god like powers due to technology who actually came to this world almost on a lark to check out where a colonial effort had crashed and died long ago. There were surprised to find the colonial effort had not actually died but had survived as a primitive, yet robust, population.
The author then sets up a war between these "Powers"with one of the local natives being caught up in it.
The story could have easily become complex but instead it just keeps moving along, almost at breakneck speed with just a enough observances of bad deeds by the "Powers" to actually give what is almost a moral lesson.
Overall the writing is good, the characters are developed just enough for the story, and their actions make sense and are believable within the context of the story. The author places the story on an alien planet but does very little to make the world actually alien.
Chapters begin with fun little narratives of the perils of meeting one of the many "Powers," that exist on a primitive world. Each narrative has a little parable within it and some kind of life lesson of the people of the world.
Now comes the spoiler.
The "Powers" are actually much more advanced human's endowed with god like powers due to technology who actually came to this world almost on a lark to check out where a colonial effort had crashed and died long ago. There were surprised to find the colonial effort had not actually died but had survived as a primitive, yet robust, population.
The author then sets up a war between these "Powers"with one of the local natives being caught up in it.
The story could have easily become complex but instead it just keeps moving along, almost at breakneck speed with just a enough observances of bad deeds by the "Powers" to actually give what is almost a moral lesson.
Overall the writing is good, the characters are developed just enough for the story, and their actions make sense and are believable within the context of the story. The author places the story on an alien planet but does very little to make the world actually alien.
August 27, 2014
I read this story after reading The Unwilling Warlord after seeing Yudkowsky recommend them both in an old LessWrong post.
I enjoyed the book while reading it. The chapters are short and the plot stayed engaging. I enjoyed seeing how different powers chose to enjoy their power.
The story's noticbly similar to the Unwilling Warlord in that the protagonist is thrust into a new world run by people more powerful than he is and that he just has to influence events through cleverness. I suppose that's a (the most?) realistic situation.
I'm bothered by the ending because of how straight-forward and neat it is. The protagonist is able to control the ship with a backdoor and the trickster is able to sneak in a weapon so they win. I did like that the trickster tried multiple things that failed, and that even in failure he was smart (staying silent about how he snuck the weapon aboard) and that the protagonist wasn't an idiot - that he agreed to go live in paradise, but it still wasn't satisfying for things to finish so easily. Of course, maybe that's a realistic ending too. I guess struggles aren't always epic.
I enjoyed the book while reading it. The chapters are short and the plot stayed engaging. I enjoyed seeing how different powers chose to enjoy their power.
The story's noticbly similar to the Unwilling Warlord in that the protagonist is thrust into a new world run by people more powerful than he is and that he just has to influence events through cleverness. I suppose that's a (the most?) realistic situation.
I'm bothered by the ending because of how straight-forward and neat it is. The protagonist is able to control the ship with a backdoor and the trickster is able to sneak in a weapon so they win. I did like that the trickster tried multiple things that failed, and that even in failure he was smart (staying silent about how he snuck the weapon aboard) and that the protagonist wasn't an idiot - that he agreed to go live in paradise, but it still wasn't satisfying for things to finish so easily. Of course, maybe that's a realistic ending too. I guess struggles aren't always epic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2012
The beginning felt pretty juvenile -- Bredon is basically a teenager trying to establish himself as an adult, with immature behaviors and attitudes. Then things go pear-shaped for no particular reason, he turns out to be smart and flexible (he was already brave as an immature youth), and of course he gets a chance to save the day and evolve a bit.
August 2, 2011
Short but sweet novel. Worth your time to read.
January 23, 2016
Very good SiFi book, usually Watt-Evans is a fantasy writer I enjoy but this was a nice change of pace. Very recommended
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews