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The Star Fox
An intergalactic privateer resolves to rescue a human space colony taken captive by alien aggressors An outpost located at the edge of the galaxy, New Europe has been overrun by the Aleriona, a hostile alien race that resents humanity’s incursion into deep space. Fearing a wider war, the World Federation on Earth is hesitant to respond to the outrage, especially since the invaders claim the colonists have already been killed. But ex–navy captain Gunnar Heim refuses to believe there’s no one left—and he’s convinced that what happened to New Europe is only the beginning of the Aleriona’s intergalactic aggression. The cowardly Terran government refusing to act, Gunnar takes matters into his own hands. Assembling a crew of able volunteers, he prepares to pilot the spaceship Star Fox and confront a relentless foe light years from Earth. Nominated for the Nebula Award, The Star Fox is a magnificent space opera adventure that confirms Poul Anderson’s standing as one of the premier science fiction authors of the twentieth century—not only a contemporary of such luminaries as Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and Clarke, but every bit their equal.
281 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 26, 1965
128 people are currently reading
633 people want to read
About the author
Poul Anderson
1,621 books1,107 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
January 29, 2020
I have written hundreds of Goodreads reviews now and besides this one, I have never commented upon a book’s cover.
Here, I must.
I read The Star Fox by Poul Anderson from a 1965 edition paperback I picked up at a used bookstore in Kentucky. The cover art is so dumb I almost did not buy the thing, except that I was on a mission to read all I could of Anderson and many of his earlier works are hard to find.
Having commented upon the unfortunate artwork to begin with, let me say now that the old maxim that you cannot judge a book by its cover is in full form here, as Anderson has written a sci-fi gem.
The Star Fox is good, well-explained and inventive hard science fiction with a humanist flair, and the author tells a damn fine adventure story to boot. A little dated, yes, and sexist, and it drags a bit in the middle, but a good story all the same. Heinlein would have been proud to produce this. Good enough to be nominated for a Nebula Award but lost to Dune.
Here, I must.
I read The Star Fox by Poul Anderson from a 1965 edition paperback I picked up at a used bookstore in Kentucky. The cover art is so dumb I almost did not buy the thing, except that I was on a mission to read all I could of Anderson and many of his earlier works are hard to find.
Having commented upon the unfortunate artwork to begin with, let me say now that the old maxim that you cannot judge a book by its cover is in full form here, as Anderson has written a sci-fi gem.
The Star Fox is good, well-explained and inventive hard science fiction with a humanist flair, and the author tells a damn fine adventure story to boot. A little dated, yes, and sexist, and it drags a bit in the middle, but a good story all the same. Heinlein would have been proud to produce this. Good enough to be nominated for a Nebula Award but lost to Dune.
August 11, 2012
Dear dear dear..........
I'll try to be nice. But. The mysogyny.... it's bad even for the 60's! And the book is quite dated. I nearly choked from chuckling when he just wanted to get back to 'his pipe and slippers.'
But let's get to the beat here.
The Star Fox has, at the least, on the base an interesting story, that maybe could be done differently. Earth's first (? but it seems highly likely) extrasolar colony (founded by France - Vietnam??) is raided by aliens who claim it too close to their system. Officially, the aliens, a cat-like race that seems brittle as glass, slightly shorter than humans, socially collective and communicate tonally (Chinese, anyone?), claim that they were attacked, retaliated and in the crossfires the planet was nuked, and there were no survivors. Desperate for peace (DAMN HIPPIES), the Earth Federation (Euroamerican race) tries to pacify the invaders.
But only Gunhar Heim, former STAR FOX Captain knows the truth: the colonists were attacked by the aliens and the survivors taken prisoner. So Heim must raise arms as a privateer to convince Earth that War is the Answer.
So it seems Anderson wanted this to represent the Vietnam War, and why we should fight. There's even a passage in there where the alien admiral (or whatever he's supposed to be) explains why manifest destiny is not really the greatest thing ever, for the other societies. See. Earth society (European), though much younger than the aliens (Asians), grew, mechanically and industrially much faster than them, and soon took over as much space as they could; now crouching over dangerously near the alien's territory with no sign of stopping. Think about it in the context of Indochina and how much the natives love imperialism. He's of course, a hippie jerk who must die because as we all know, the universe is made for humans (Europeans). MANIFEST DESTINY!
Oh. And now let's talk about the writing style. Yes, it's pulp. I think maybe, this is the first pulp book I've read in a long time, if ever. The minstrel character, he doesn't do jack squat but sing old folk songs, that everybody somehow still knows even though most of them are unknown in 2012, lots in untranslated French or Hungarian. And the random quips in different languages! It looks like my first year in college where I would put random Latin words in essays so I'll look smart. It doesn't make you look smart, it makes you look pompous. Sacré bleu!
I'll try to be nice. But. The mysogyny.... it's bad even for the 60's! And the book is quite dated. I nearly choked from chuckling when he just wanted to get back to 'his pipe and slippers.'
But let's get to the beat here.
The Star Fox has, at the least, on the base an interesting story, that maybe could be done differently. Earth's first (? but it seems highly likely) extrasolar colony (founded by France - Vietnam??) is raided by aliens who claim it too close to their system. Officially, the aliens, a cat-like race that seems brittle as glass, slightly shorter than humans, socially collective and communicate tonally (Chinese, anyone?), claim that they were attacked, retaliated and in the crossfires the planet was nuked, and there were no survivors. Desperate for peace (DAMN HIPPIES), the Earth Federation (Euroamerican race) tries to pacify the invaders.
But only Gunhar Heim, former STAR FOX Captain knows the truth: the colonists were attacked by the aliens and the survivors taken prisoner. So Heim must raise arms as a privateer to convince Earth that War is the Answer.
So it seems Anderson wanted this to represent the Vietnam War, and why we should fight. There's even a passage in there where the alien admiral (or whatever he's supposed to be) explains why manifest destiny is not really the greatest thing ever, for the other societies. See. Earth society (European), though much younger than the aliens (Asians), grew, mechanically and industrially much faster than them, and soon took over as much space as they could; now crouching over dangerously near the alien's territory with no sign of stopping. Think about it in the context of Indochina and how much the natives love imperialism. He's of course, a hippie jerk who must die because as we all know, the universe is made for humans (Europeans). MANIFEST DESTINY!
Oh. And now let's talk about the writing style. Yes, it's pulp. I think maybe, this is the first pulp book I've read in a long time, if ever. The minstrel character, he doesn't do jack squat but sing old folk songs, that everybody somehow still knows even though most of them are unknown in 2012, lots in untranslated French or Hungarian. And the random quips in different languages! It looks like my first year in college where I would put random Latin words in essays so I'll look smart. It doesn't make you look smart, it makes you look pompous. Sacré bleu!
July 29, 2023
1.5 stars
I had a great deal of enthusiasm and high hope for my very first Poul Anderson read. I also wanted to read more Prometheus Award winners, for I wanted to explore Libertarian science fiction some more. Unfortunately, this book did not deliver. It did not deliver as a Libertarian champion, as a good plot, as good world creation, nor with fleshing out characters. The characters in this book are so one-dimensional and as thin as paper that you do not get a strong sense as to who they are.
This book follows Gunnar Heim, who is looking is bring freedom to New Europe, which the Alerionia people are looking to claim. Instead of giving us a solid ground as to where we begin following the story, though, this book felt like the equivalent to attending a gathering in the middle of everything and not having a clear idea as to the people in attendance or the surroundings.
In addition to one-dimensional characters, there was so much that was wrong with this book!!! Gunnar's relationship with his daughter, Lisa, was very hard to believe. She was kidnapped and yet her interaction with her father through the screen was not realistic. I would imagine there would be more panic than there actually was. Lisa's demeanor felt like a generic checklist in fulfilling the stereotypical, melodramatic, entitled female teenager. Perhaps the greatest flaw was the inconsistency of Uthg-a-K'thag and his "accent." They simply swapped out letters to make it look like he was speaking with an accent.
It is probably a book like this, which did not last the test of time, that is reason for a fellow contemporary to this book, Dune by Frank Herbert, saw greater success in the long run.
I am willing to give Poul Anderson another chance or so, but this book is a dud.
I had a great deal of enthusiasm and high hope for my very first Poul Anderson read. I also wanted to read more Prometheus Award winners, for I wanted to explore Libertarian science fiction some more. Unfortunately, this book did not deliver. It did not deliver as a Libertarian champion, as a good plot, as good world creation, nor with fleshing out characters. The characters in this book are so one-dimensional and as thin as paper that you do not get a strong sense as to who they are.
This book follows Gunnar Heim, who is looking is bring freedom to New Europe, which the Alerionia people are looking to claim. Instead of giving us a solid ground as to where we begin following the story, though, this book felt like the equivalent to attending a gathering in the middle of everything and not having a clear idea as to the people in attendance or the surroundings.
In addition to one-dimensional characters, there was so much that was wrong with this book!!! Gunnar's relationship with his daughter, Lisa, was very hard to believe. She was kidnapped and yet her interaction with her father through the screen was not realistic. I would imagine there would be more panic than there actually was. Lisa's demeanor felt like a generic checklist in fulfilling the stereotypical, melodramatic, entitled female teenager. Perhaps the greatest flaw was the inconsistency of Uthg-a-K'thag and his "accent." They simply swapped out letters to make it look like he was speaking with an accent.
It is probably a book like this, which did not last the test of time, that is reason for a fellow contemporary to this book, Dune by Frank Herbert, saw greater success in the long run.
I am willing to give Poul Anderson another chance or so, but this book is a dud.
November 28, 2022
ENGLISH: I read this book for the first time in 1975, the second in 2007, and the third now. The first two readings had left me a very faint idea of what the book is about. I only remembered there was an interstellar war against an extraterrestrial intelligence, and little more. I have decided to keep the two stars, for there are things I don't like.
The three parts of the novel are practically independent. The first shows a political situation in a future Earth, where something similar to the Prague collusion is about to happen. The second is an adventure story in an extraterrestrial planet, with walking trees and slaughter machines. The third is a story about interstellar war.
ESPAÑOL: Leí este libro por primera vez en 1975, la segunda en 2007, y la tercera ahora. Las dos primeras lecturas me dejaron una idea muy vaga sobre el libro. Sólo recordaba que había una guerra interestelar contra una inteligencia extraterrestre, y poco más. Decidí mantener la calificación de dos estrellas, porque hay cosas que no me gustan.
Las tres partes de la novela son prácticamente independientes. La primera muestra una situación política en la Tierra futura, donde está a punto de suceder algo parecido al contubernio de Praga. La segunda es un relato de aventuras en un planeta extraterrestre, con árboles que caminan y máquinas asesinas. La tercera es un relato sobre una guerra interestelar.
The three parts of the novel are practically independent. The first shows a political situation in a future Earth, where something similar to the Prague collusion is about to happen. The second is an adventure story in an extraterrestrial planet, with walking trees and slaughter machines. The third is a story about interstellar war.
ESPAÑOL: Leí este libro por primera vez en 1975, la segunda en 2007, y la tercera ahora. Las dos primeras lecturas me dejaron una idea muy vaga sobre el libro. Sólo recordaba que había una guerra interestelar contra una inteligencia extraterrestre, y poco más. Decidí mantener la calificación de dos estrellas, porque hay cosas que no me gustan.
Las tres partes de la novela son prácticamente independientes. La primera muestra una situación política en la Tierra futura, donde está a punto de suceder algo parecido al contubernio de Praga. La segunda es un relato de aventuras en un planeta extraterrestre, con árboles que caminan y máquinas asesinas. La tercera es un relato sobre una guerra interestelar.
November 30, 2010
This, like many of Anderson's novels, is basically political science fiction. Later, after learning of Anderson's strong support for U.S. involvement in Vietnam, I became disenchanted with him and his Cold War attitudes.
March 19, 2015
This is a fix-up of three short stories -- in rapid succession, developing the plot straightforwardly.
There was armed conflict over a planet called New Europe. The aliens -- the Aleriona -- claim an accidental conflct erupted into violence that killed all the colonists. But Gunnar Heim, having old ties to the planet, meets up with Endre Vadasz, who claims to have escaped and have proof that many of them are still alive.
No one will listen to him, or to Heim either, except France (most of the colonists having been French), but judicious exploitation of loopholes reveals that Heim can send forth a privateer, properly commissioned with letters of marque and reprisal. . . .
It involves an alien world where nuclear attacks aren't a big deal, scurvy, moving trees, a kidnapping, violent attacks by peace militants, the Aleriona not living in groups so much that Earth must give them separate residence or insult them, and much more.
There was armed conflict over a planet called New Europe. The aliens -- the Aleriona -- claim an accidental conflct erupted into violence that killed all the colonists. But Gunnar Heim, having old ties to the planet, meets up with Endre Vadasz, who claims to have escaped and have proof that many of them are still alive.
No one will listen to him, or to Heim either, except France (most of the colonists having been French), but judicious exploitation of loopholes reveals that Heim can send forth a privateer, properly commissioned with letters of marque and reprisal. . . .
It involves an alien world where nuclear attacks aren't a big deal, scurvy, moving trees, a kidnapping, violent attacks by peace militants, the Aleriona not living in groups so much that Earth must give them separate residence or insult them, and much more.
February 16, 2016
A first rate, if a little dated, read by Poul Anderson. Gunnar Heim cannot allow the Federation to do nothing about the potential slaughter of half a million people on New Europe by the Alerionians. Even when presented with proof, he can find few who are willing to act. He stakes his life's work and fortune to become a privateer in hopes that the people will be unable to ignore what is happening and take up a call to act. The book is short and fast-paced with a great human element to the characters.
May 17, 2024
The reason it took a while for this read to get finished is because I was following a joint-reading on YouTube that divided up this novel into five parts. If not for that I'd've probably finished this one quite quickly because I thought it was a cracking story. It features Gunnar Heim and his Margyan friend Vadasz who find out the benevolent appearing aliens, the Aleriona, aren't the peaceful loving persons they appear to be. The colony of the humans of New Europe, a distant planet, are in trouble and Heim is going to do everything within his powers to help them out. I thought the Gollancz commentary on this one was right and it's a classic, enjoyed it very much!
May 26, 2023
Excellent
This book is not a space opera but more of an adventure in space and about the people who make a difference in society. There is conflict here but it is related to more to overcoming obstacles and bettering ones self physically, mentally, and emotionally. This is an excellent book, I have read it at least 4 to 5 times and I still enjoy it.
This book is not a space opera but more of an adventure in space and about the people who make a difference in society. There is conflict here but it is related to more to overcoming obstacles and bettering ones self physically, mentally, and emotionally. This is an excellent book, I have read it at least 4 to 5 times and I still enjoy it.
April 29, 2018
A fix-up of three long stories, but it's coherent as a novel. If you're one of these millennials with a five-minute attention span, you may find the formality and density of the prose daunting, but rest assured: as with everything else, you're wrong.
Bonus points for what may be, despite a degree of ambiguity, SF literature's first gay alien.
Bonus points for what may be, despite a degree of ambiguity, SF literature's first gay alien.
June 30, 2018
Aliens who speak bad English
This is a Star Trek type adventure with the usual tropes. Aye aye captain. Bridge to engine. AND so on. This must also be one of the worst written books ever. The English feels like it’s been translated from bad French. The aliens speak like a half-literate Yoda. The fight scenes are laughable.
This is a Star Trek type adventure with the usual tropes. Aye aye captain. Bridge to engine. AND so on. This must also be one of the worst written books ever. The English feels like it’s been translated from bad French. The aliens speak like a half-literate Yoda. The fight scenes are laughable.
September 30, 2020
Rumor has it that the New Europe outpost has been destroyed but the alien Intellect Master knows differently. Gunnar Heim is trying to preserve the freedom of the outpost against the World Federation against a slaughter machine.
March 17, 2022
Pretty weak SF adventure in which a rich human becomes a space privateer to help a human colony invaded by a super-sexy catlike humanoid alien race.
August 17, 2023
This is the second book of his I’ve dropped halfway through. Use of language apparently appeals to others but it’s just too convoluted for me.
June 8, 2024
It amazes me that this book, which was once considered a competitor to the *Dune* (in terms of the ballot for the 1965 Nebula Award for Best Novel), has almost completely vanished from relevance today; Case in point, I'm a huge SF nut, and I've never seen anything about this book outside of searches I've run myself since I found and bought a jacketless Book Club hardcover of it while junking with my family. There's a good reason for its absence from contemporary discourse - this book is forgettable - but it's not without it's merits, and it's an okay, if not especially inspiring, first Anderson novel for me.
*The Star Fox* begins with Gunnar Heim, military-spaceship-captain-turned-industrialist, stumbling across a drunken minstrel named Endre Vadasz who explains that he's a refuge from New Europe, a human colony which has recently been taken over and reportedly purged of human life by the hostile Alerionan race. Vadasz tells Heim that most of the human settlers had actually survived and fled into the mountains to wait for human assistance; now he's dismayed that no rescue efforts are being made, and his appearances on TV to support the cause have only gotten him labeled as a crackpot. Heim, disgusted that human politicians are getting ready to cede New Europe's inhabitants to the Alerionans in an attempt to stave off future conflict, takes Vadasz's story to his old politician friends and even Cynbe ru Taren, the Alerionian ambassador on Earth, in order to drum up support for the survivors before they die of starvation and mineral deficiency. Authorities fail to support him in favor of preventing further theoretical conflict with the aliens, so he teams up with a French diplomat and forges a plan to send .
All of that happens in the first part of the book, "Marque and Reprisal." The next part, "Arsenal Port," (first published in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy like the other three parts), shows us .
Many of my fellow Goodreads reviewers complain about this book's crappy characters or structural cohesion or even its sexism, but I largely disagree with those complaints. For example, I don't feel like I lost out on any part of the narrative because of its relatively simple, honest, straight-laced characters like Vadasz the ever-present bard or . As far as our main character goes, Gunnar Heim is a noble, yearning bachelor who definitely feels cut from the same pro-war that 60s' Anderson was cut from (more on that in a couple paragraphs), but the fact that characters aren't usually written like that anymore endears him to me. I find readers' "sexism" claims a little more grounded - there aren't that many female characters present, and those that are are usually there to fulfill some of Heim's whims, - but this is a rather wholesome depiction of the "patriarchy," and it's interesting that this is now what we find sexist as a society. I was not bothered by it, but knowing Goodreads readers, I think you might be. On a more positive side, I think that Anderon's writing when removed from the quality of characters or dialogue (which was always competent, if not too enlightening) was good and rather subtle in some ways, such as in the way he slyly slides technological ideas into different sequences; when Gunnar's on the phone, he decides it's not the time to "play" a recording of his deceased wife which I believe acts as a holographic recording. The Alerionan aliens and New Europe's biosphere don't seem to be very well thought out, but in the confines of this story, that didn't really bother me either.
I think that, literarily, *The Star Fox* (despite occasionally cool turn of phrase and the whole subtle worldbuilding I already mentioned) really only stands out for how good of a fix-up novel it is. There's no choppiness, just natural pauses and time-skips which an unknowing reader would probably assume are there to prevent Anderson from writing and us from reading unimportant events. It's a relatively easy book to read, and the division between "Marque and Reprisal," "Arsenal Port," and "Admiralty" helps in that regard. It does almost make me wonder if it would be more fitting to drop the "fix-up" label and classify those three stories as parts of a serial, but I have not read them in their original Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction form so I can't really argue that in good faith.
Otherwise, I found the most interesting element of this book to be the moral and political assumptions behind both Gunnar Heim and the World Militants for Peace, especially since it was published towards the beginning of America's involvement in Vietnam in 1965. There's a great graphic out there from the June 1968 issue of Galaxy that shows which science fiction writers which were for and which were against America's stake in the Vietnam War, and Poul Anderon's name is 2nd to appear in the "Pro" column. This makes me think that the soiling of the World Militants' character as kidnappers of children is a direct response to those who opposed the Vietnam War. That, combined with Heim's station in life and the overall militaristic bombast of the subtext, makes this a relatively "conservative" science fiction novel in the way that only 60s/70s work can be. There's also a rather pro-human bent to it; the Aleronians only started . It's very of-its-time, which may turn you off. If you don't think it will, well, why not find out?
That all being said, after the book's had a little while to settle with me, it really stuck out that much. I haven't had much reason to think about it besides reading the follow-up novel *FireTime*, and it was easy to get lost in the big-picture plot when combat actually started happening. It just wasn't very impactful, and while it definitely served its purpose and provided a good story, the work as a whole just felt thin to me.
I mean, you don't have a whole lot to gain from reading this novel - it's never discussed, and there are certainly more popular and better-written Anderson books out there - but you don't have much to lose, either, unless you view reading outdated mores and varying viewpoints as a hinderance upon your time usage. I'm giving it a 7/10. I will be reading a 1974 novel that features Gunnar Heim in just a few weeks/a couple months, though, so that's exciting enough. Check back in if you want to hear if that novel (which was nominated for the '75 Hugo) is any better than this fixup; till then, have a good one, no matter your thoughts on one of America's least justifiable military conflicts, or their science fictional parodies, may be....
*The Star Fox* begins with Gunnar Heim, military-spaceship-captain-turned-industrialist, stumbling across a drunken minstrel named Endre Vadasz who explains that he's a refuge from New Europe, a human colony which has recently been taken over and reportedly purged of human life by the hostile Alerionan race. Vadasz tells Heim that most of the human settlers had actually survived and fled into the mountains to wait for human assistance; now he's dismayed that no rescue efforts are being made, and his appearances on TV to support the cause have only gotten him labeled as a crackpot. Heim, disgusted that human politicians are getting ready to cede New Europe's inhabitants to the Alerionans in an attempt to stave off future conflict, takes Vadasz's story to his old politician friends and even Cynbe ru Taren, the Alerionian ambassador on Earth, in order to drum up support for the survivors before they die of starvation and mineral deficiency. Authorities fail to support him in favor of preventing further theoretical conflict with the aliens, so he teams up with a French diplomat and forges a plan to send .
All of that happens in the first part of the book, "Marque and Reprisal." The next part, "Arsenal Port," (first published in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy like the other three parts), shows us .
Many of my fellow Goodreads reviewers complain about this book's crappy characters or structural cohesion or even its sexism, but I largely disagree with those complaints. For example, I don't feel like I lost out on any part of the narrative because of its relatively simple, honest, straight-laced characters like Vadasz the ever-present bard or . As far as our main character goes, Gunnar Heim is a noble, yearning bachelor who definitely feels cut from the same pro-war that 60s' Anderson was cut from (more on that in a couple paragraphs), but the fact that characters aren't usually written like that anymore endears him to me. I find readers' "sexism" claims a little more grounded - there aren't that many female characters present, and those that are are usually there to fulfill some of Heim's whims, - but this is a rather wholesome depiction of the "patriarchy," and it's interesting that this is now what we find sexist as a society. I was not bothered by it, but knowing Goodreads readers, I think you might be. On a more positive side, I think that Anderon's writing when removed from the quality of characters or dialogue (which was always competent, if not too enlightening) was good and rather subtle in some ways, such as in the way he slyly slides technological ideas into different sequences; when Gunnar's on the phone, he decides it's not the time to "play" a recording of his deceased wife which I believe acts as a holographic recording. The Alerionan aliens and New Europe's biosphere don't seem to be very well thought out, but in the confines of this story, that didn't really bother me either.
I think that, literarily, *The Star Fox* (despite occasionally cool turn of phrase and the whole subtle worldbuilding I already mentioned) really only stands out for how good of a fix-up novel it is. There's no choppiness, just natural pauses and time-skips which an unknowing reader would probably assume are there to prevent Anderson from writing and us from reading unimportant events. It's a relatively easy book to read, and the division between "Marque and Reprisal," "Arsenal Port," and "Admiralty" helps in that regard. It does almost make me wonder if it would be more fitting to drop the "fix-up" label and classify those three stories as parts of a serial, but I have not read them in their original Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction form so I can't really argue that in good faith.
Otherwise, I found the most interesting element of this book to be the moral and political assumptions behind both Gunnar Heim and the World Militants for Peace, especially since it was published towards the beginning of America's involvement in Vietnam in 1965. There's a great graphic out there from the June 1968 issue of Galaxy that shows which science fiction writers which were for and which were against America's stake in the Vietnam War, and Poul Anderon's name is 2nd to appear in the "Pro" column. This makes me think that the soiling of the World Militants' character as kidnappers of children is a direct response to those who opposed the Vietnam War. That, combined with Heim's station in life and the overall militaristic bombast of the subtext, makes this a relatively "conservative" science fiction novel in the way that only 60s/70s work can be. There's also a rather pro-human bent to it; the Aleronians only started . It's very of-its-time, which may turn you off. If you don't think it will, well, why not find out?
That all being said, after the book's had a little while to settle with me, it really stuck out that much. I haven't had much reason to think about it besides reading the follow-up novel *FireTime*, and it was easy to get lost in the big-picture plot when combat actually started happening. It just wasn't very impactful, and while it definitely served its purpose and provided a good story, the work as a whole just felt thin to me.
I mean, you don't have a whole lot to gain from reading this novel - it's never discussed, and there are certainly more popular and better-written Anderson books out there - but you don't have much to lose, either, unless you view reading outdated mores and varying viewpoints as a hinderance upon your time usage. I'm giving it a 7/10. I will be reading a 1974 novel that features Gunnar Heim in just a few weeks/a couple months, though, so that's exciting enough. Check back in if you want to hear if that novel (which was nominated for the '75 Hugo) is any better than this fixup; till then, have a good one, no matter your thoughts on one of America's least justifiable military conflicts, or their science fictional parodies, may be....
June 3, 2023
Found this to be a pretty middling sci-fi pulp that didn't really meet my expectations. The expectations were tainted, I admit, by the game *Star Fox* and my desire to read about space ships fighting each other - which there is virtually if not literally none of in this.
The start of the book had some genuinely interesting world building with a federation, aliens, political intrigue, the promise of privateering, etc. The middle of the book diverts into a long planet-based survival that felt a tad boring. The final part promised some genuine starship combat, but we never see any. We rejoin the crew months later after several successful raids, and we depart the crew as soon as they are about the face their greatest challenge in the deep of space.
After, we rejoin our protagonist (who has some rather revolting approaches to women in this book, more on that later) acting out his own little George Washington fantasy on New Europe. It was fine.
Re: Heim and women. At the start of the book, Heim is mourning his deceased wife, who he seems to have cheated on with a character named Jos. Later, we meet Jos, and they entertain the idea of renewing their affair - Jos even graciously says outright she wouldn't mind if he fooled around with other women (how kind). Along the story, we find that Heim's main (?) purpose in his privateering is to save/see an old flame again. When he gets to the planet, her weight is commented upon alongside that she's married. Then they meet and he is INSTANTLY more interested in the woman's daughter than he is his old love herself. To make it even better, Heim points out *to the daughter* that she is *his* daughter's age, and gets all pissy when another character (more age-appropriate, maybe ? I don't think we know) swoops in and starts flirting. Yuck.
I'd have left out the middle, left out the daughter and old love story, kept Jos but left out the misogeny, and brought in more space ships and more space fighting.
The next book club book is 700 pages long so I, even now, am denied reading the book I want to (Warbreaker) because I don't think I can squeeze it in. So, I am fleeing to one of my all-time favorites The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to cleanse my palette of this before starting in on Perdido Street Station.
The start of the book had some genuinely interesting world building with a federation, aliens, political intrigue, the promise of privateering, etc. The middle of the book diverts into a long planet-based survival that felt a tad boring. The final part promised some genuine starship combat, but we never see any. We rejoin the crew months later after several successful raids, and we depart the crew as soon as they are about the face their greatest challenge in the deep of space.
After, we rejoin our protagonist (who has some rather revolting approaches to women in this book, more on that later) acting out his own little George Washington fantasy on New Europe. It was fine.
Re: Heim and women. At the start of the book, Heim is mourning his deceased wife, who he seems to have cheated on with a character named Jos. Later, we meet Jos, and they entertain the idea of renewing their affair - Jos even graciously says outright she wouldn't mind if he fooled around with other women (how kind). Along the story, we find that Heim's main (?) purpose in his privateering is to save/see an old flame again. When he gets to the planet, her weight is commented upon alongside that she's married. Then they meet and he is INSTANTLY more interested in the woman's daughter than he is his old love herself. To make it even better, Heim points out *to the daughter* that she is *his* daughter's age, and gets all pissy when another character (more age-appropriate, maybe ? I don't think we know) swoops in and starts flirting. Yuck.
I'd have left out the middle, left out the daughter and old love story, kept Jos but left out the misogeny, and brought in more space ships and more space fighting.
The next book club book is 700 pages long so I, even now, am denied reading the book I want to (Warbreaker) because I don't think I can squeeze it in. So, I am fleeing to one of my all-time favorites The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to cleanse my palette of this before starting in on Perdido Street Station.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2025
Some sci-fi, mostly pulp. One of Earth’s colonies was invaded by an alien race called the Alerions. New Europe, it’s called. There is evidence the colony was attacked, but the government is calling it a cultural misunderstanding. There is also evidence of survivors, but rather than avenging their deaths, or mounting a rescue, the government of Earth chooses to let the Alerions have New Europe, no harm done, to thaw relations between their people.
Gunnar Heim won’t have any of it. He’ll go there himself and make things right. His plan is to buy a ship, raid the Alerion supply ships and starve the defense fleet around New Europe. This will weaken the forces occupying the planet and give Earth a chance to retake what was wrongfully stolen from them and rescue the survivors.
First, what a dumb plan. He’s not going to go to New Europe and try to rescue anyone? He’s not going to liberate the planet himself? His plan is to weaken the Alerion forces by raiding supply ships, one by one, and hope that Earth realizes this and grows a backbone and declares war on Alerion? He had no faith in those spineless politicians before, but his plan is to rely on them to do the noble thing? Stupid.
His plan is to become a privateer? Does he really think one ship raiding supply vessels and the like will make a dent in whatever forces are around New Europe?
Second, the story takes forever to get started. I was halfway through the book and not a single thing had happened yet. Heim was preparing for things to happen, buying weapons, recruiting his crew, talking to politicians, etc. Very boring.
Third, the Aleriona are described as foxlike, but the fur ends at the neck, and on their faces is, instead, a beautiful woman’s face. Even the males all look like women from the neck up. Uhh... That’s really dumb.
Pulpy, boring space opera that’s pretty damn illogical.
[December 2021: reviewers on Goodreads pointed out this is basically a commentary on the Vietnam War, complete with allusions to France and her beautiful language. Yeah, I can see that. The US government is cowardly and doesn’t recognize the glorious territory we lost to these aliens, and what about the POWs and Earth citizens we left behind?? So... Become a privateer and somehow a single ship will turn the tide of war... Fuck this book.]
Gunnar Heim won’t have any of it. He’ll go there himself and make things right. His plan is to buy a ship, raid the Alerion supply ships and starve the defense fleet around New Europe. This will weaken the forces occupying the planet and give Earth a chance to retake what was wrongfully stolen from them and rescue the survivors.
First, what a dumb plan. He’s not going to go to New Europe and try to rescue anyone? He’s not going to liberate the planet himself? His plan is to weaken the Alerion forces by raiding supply ships, one by one, and hope that Earth realizes this and grows a backbone and declares war on Alerion? He had no faith in those spineless politicians before, but his plan is to rely on them to do the noble thing? Stupid.
His plan is to become a privateer? Does he really think one ship raiding supply vessels and the like will make a dent in whatever forces are around New Europe?
Second, the story takes forever to get started. I was halfway through the book and not a single thing had happened yet. Heim was preparing for things to happen, buying weapons, recruiting his crew, talking to politicians, etc. Very boring.
Third, the Aleriona are described as foxlike, but the fur ends at the neck, and on their faces is, instead, a beautiful woman’s face. Even the males all look like women from the neck up. Uhh... That’s really dumb.
Pulpy, boring space opera that’s pretty damn illogical.
[December 2021: reviewers on Goodreads pointed out this is basically a commentary on the Vietnam War, complete with allusions to France and her beautiful language. Yeah, I can see that. The US government is cowardly and doesn’t recognize the glorious territory we lost to these aliens, and what about the POWs and Earth citizens we left behind?? So... Become a privateer and somehow a single ship will turn the tide of war... Fuck this book.]
July 31, 2022
A very weak fixup betrayed by its serial origins. There are three equal parts here. The first is easily the best. It efficiently sets up a grand sweeping universe, some realpolitik, and an interesting conflict. Then, about halfway through, the first part swerves into irredeemable stupidity. The main character is a Mary Sue (2 m tall, Scandinavian, so desirable his now-dead wife was totally fine with him sleeping around), and agrees to give his 14-year-old daughter to a man twice her age. But then the daughter is kidnapped, so the entire save-the-(new)-planet plot gets put on hold for the rest of the first part.
The second part is even worse. Where the treatment and actions of the female character in the first part were cringey, in part two they are unbearable. The female character this time is an old flame for the Mary Sue. She is written in that skin-crawling way that 60s authors wrote women, glimmering with mysterious cupidity but in no way and interesting or believable character. Anyway, she's not the worst thing about the second part - the worst thing is that the events it describes have absolutely no bearing on the overall plot introduced in the first part. So, skip the second part.
The third part builds up to what promises to be an exciting climax, a showdown between our Mary Sue and his vaguely feline alien nemesis. The two meet, marshal their forces, prepare their mighty capital ships for battle - and then the story cuts away to several months later so some milquetoast politicians can gloomily exposit the fallout.
This is an unmitigated disaster whose only silver lining is Anderson's fun and engaging alien designs/psychologies. Everything else is in this stinker is intolerable. 1.5/5.
The second part is even worse. Where the treatment and actions of the female character in the first part were cringey, in part two they are unbearable. The female character this time is an old flame for the Mary Sue. She is written in that skin-crawling way that 60s authors wrote women, glimmering with mysterious cupidity but in no way and interesting or believable character. Anyway, she's not the worst thing about the second part - the worst thing is that the events it describes have absolutely no bearing on the overall plot introduced in the first part. So, skip the second part.
The third part builds up to what promises to be an exciting climax, a showdown between our Mary Sue and his vaguely feline alien nemesis. The two meet, marshal their forces, prepare their mighty capital ships for battle - and then the story cuts away to several months later so some milquetoast politicians can gloomily exposit the fallout.
This is an unmitigated disaster whose only silver lining is Anderson's fun and engaging alien designs/psychologies. Everything else is in this stinker is intolerable. 1.5/5.
November 15, 2022
Like the other Silver Age sci-fi I've read, this's a good, fun, and short adventure story. When aliens have conquered a distant human-settled colony planet, the over-optimistic Earth government refuses to go to war. But, our protagonist - through legal loopholes - gets commissioned as a privateer against the aliens.
I loved the legal maneuvering early on, but sadly that drops out in favor of mostly-planetary adventure, first against goverment agents trying to haul our protagonist home and then against the aliens themselves. This mostly reads as a light adventure story, but Anderson reminds us several times he's aware of the deeper emotions there - whether with a alien philosopher who serves as a nice foil for our action-oriented protagonist, or our protagonist's own relationship with his wife and daughter.
I loved the legal maneuvering early on, but sadly that drops out in favor of mostly-planetary adventure, first against goverment agents trying to haul our protagonist home and then against the aliens themselves. This mostly reads as a light adventure story, but Anderson reminds us several times he's aware of the deeper emotions there - whether with a alien philosopher who serves as a nice foil for our action-oriented protagonist, or our protagonist's own relationship with his wife and daughter.
May 31, 2025
It starts like a Space Op and ends like a Planet Op. This is very good Anderson. A novel like only he knows how to create, with a typically Andersonian plot and characters.
The action takes place during a period of conflict between humanity and an alien planet called Aleriona; in particular, the conflict between the cunning Gunnar Heim and his Alerionian adversary, Cynbe ru Taren, the "Master Intellectual of the Garden of War." The Alerionians claim New Europe, a planet populated almost exclusively by French people. Heim is the only one who rises to face this threat, waging a one-man war against Aleriona that ultimately forces Earth into conflict. Throughout the novel, Heim and Cynbe develop a grudging respect for each other's skills.
Oh yes, there are plenty of French words in the text. Anderson is a Francophile. He rises in my esteem (even though he was already very high). 😁
The action takes place during a period of conflict between humanity and an alien planet called Aleriona; in particular, the conflict between the cunning Gunnar Heim and his Alerionian adversary, Cynbe ru Taren, the "Master Intellectual of the Garden of War." The Alerionians claim New Europe, a planet populated almost exclusively by French people. Heim is the only one who rises to face this threat, waging a one-man war against Aleriona that ultimately forces Earth into conflict. Throughout the novel, Heim and Cynbe develop a grudging respect for each other's skills.
Oh yes, there are plenty of French words in the text. Anderson is a Francophile. He rises in my esteem (even though he was already very high). 😁
August 11, 2024
I had a lot of trouble getting into this book, something that it shares with many classics that I’ve read in recent years. The book is written in three semi-independent parts, which makes the story very disjointed. The writing itself was a little difficult, and many passages required rereading to figure out what happened. I haven’t seen books written with so much of a second language. The German was lost to me, but I can read French fluently, so I didn’t miss anything from that untranslated dialog. The first part jumps around through several plots, from trying to drum up support for a rescue mission to a kidnapping, and held little interest. The second part, though, as they traipse across the alien planet, was very boring, despite the mild obstacles and deaths they faced. As with Ringworld, the world itself wasn’t interesting enough to hold my interest. The third part was better, and raised my estimation of the book, in the infiltration and especially the twist near the end. Unfortunately, the ending jumps over most of the resolution, which left me feeling rather flat about the whole book.
August 16, 2020
A good read but definitely showing its age not in technology so much as socialital attitudes being very stuff in the early 10960s there.
The basic story arc remains solid, the critique of peace at any price politics is still interesting and the action is mostly fun and exciting.
But it is very manly men doing masculine things to protect women and families. The women in the book lack agency and none of the crew of the starships are woman and, within the framework of the book, could not even be conceived of being roles filled by women which is very disappointing.
The basic story arc remains solid, the critique of peace at any price politics is still interesting and the action is mostly fun and exciting.
But it is very manly men doing masculine things to protect women and families. The women in the book lack agency and none of the crew of the starships are woman and, within the framework of the book, could not even be conceived of being roles filled by women which is very disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2021
Fairly short and to the point, I think this was originally three short stories arranged end-to-end, which stick together well. (Same characters, same story arc, both really quite good.) It is difficult to lay my finger on anything that was not at least "good", so I am going to settle on length (too short) as why I would not give this five stars. I am really not a big fan of short novels, and there was no spectacular idea anywhere here that would make of these a special short story or a special novel.
August 26, 2020
When the appeasers and Libertarians in the World Federation abandoned the French colony world of New Europe to a hostile alien empire, a Hungarian troubadour and a Norwegian industrialist team up to become interstellar privateers fighting a lonely battle for France and its lost colony.
The love side-plot here was clunky, even by the standards of 1960s scifi, but otherwise a fun read. The most unbelievable plot point was the Libertarians having power in the US Senate and world government.
The love side-plot here was clunky, even by the standards of 1960s scifi, but otherwise a fun read. The most unbelievable plot point was the Libertarians having power in the US Senate and world government.
June 5, 2023
So, writing-wise, an absolute marvel, deserving of awards, etc. Solid hard sci-fi with a lot of intriguing plot.
But... what that plot does, the themes, and moral center of this book? Pretty disturbing, pro-war, and at times seemingly racist. Learning that it was written in the context of the Vietnam War makes that theming seem all the worse.
But... what that plot does, the themes, and moral center of this book? Pretty disturbing, pro-war, and at times seemingly racist. Learning that it was written in the context of the Vietnam War makes that theming seem all the worse.
September 15, 2025
I found an old paperback copy of this novel in a used bookstore for very cheap. I know you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I immediately loved the cover art and the aged feel of the book! I really enjoyed the aesthetic experience of flipping through the yellowed pages and that old book smell.
As for the story, it is pretty solid. It's not groundbreaking or mind-blowing, but it was a nice little escape for a while. Basically, an French ex-Navy man is fed up with Earth's lack of resolve in fighting against an alien civilization that threatens some of its colonies. So, he decides to go rogue and become like a privateer, or an old school pirate, and engage in guerilla raids on the alien ships to disrupt their supply lines. Of course, he runs into many obstacles along the way, not only from the aliens but also from other humans who see his actions as hurting the peace negotiations.
I've never read anything from Poul Anderson before but apparently he was quite prolific. His writing is pretty good for the time period. The only drawback is that it was originally written in French and at least in my version some small portions of dialogue and songs were left in French untranslated. But it was not a big deal. I could still read around those parts fine.
As for the story, it is pretty solid. It's not groundbreaking or mind-blowing, but it was a nice little escape for a while. Basically, an French ex-Navy man is fed up with Earth's lack of resolve in fighting against an alien civilization that threatens some of its colonies. So, he decides to go rogue and become like a privateer, or an old school pirate, and engage in guerilla raids on the alien ships to disrupt their supply lines. Of course, he runs into many obstacles along the way, not only from the aliens but also from other humans who see his actions as hurting the peace negotiations.
I've never read anything from Poul Anderson before but apparently he was quite prolific. His writing is pretty good for the time period. The only drawback is that it was originally written in French and at least in my version some small portions of dialogue and songs were left in French untranslated. But it was not a big deal. I could still read around those parts fine.
November 28, 2020
I actually forgot that I didn’t update this. Not the worst book I’ve ever read but I was bored throughout. I can’t remember the last time it took me that long to read such a short book. Wasn’t a fan of the writer’s dialogue either so I guess it just wasn’t my kind of book all around.
December 15, 2022
It started slow
I really enjoyed this book. Poul Anderson books are more about people than anything else. His middle aged hero is larger than life, but struggles with problems that I can identify with.
I really enjoyed this book. Poul Anderson books are more about people than anything else. His middle aged hero is larger than life, but struggles with problems that I can identify with.
April 21, 2023
Pretty good.
A bit weak on action, plotting is decent, characters ok. kept my attention at least.
It was somewhat different than more modern sci fi, perhaps a slight whiff of sophistication that elevates it beyond just another read.
A bit weak on action, plotting is decent, characters ok. kept my attention at least.
It was somewhat different than more modern sci fi, perhaps a slight whiff of sophistication that elevates it beyond just another read.
October 24, 2023
Surprisingly modern in many respects, with premonitions of Hyperion (to my mind, anyway). I appreciated the mostly-understated action and interesting visions of interstellar politics, and the main cast were generally strong as well.
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