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Star Gate
Remember the old Star Trek episode called *Mirror, Mirror,* in which four Enterprise crew cross to a parallel universe and find their exact physical duplicates are beings of total evil? Andre Norton had that plot many years previously. Hearken:
On a faraway world called Gorth, the "Star Lords" (transplanted Earthmen?) have decided to abandon the world to its natives. Instead of building spaceships, they pass through a shimmering gate to an alternate version of their adopted world. Exploration leads to discovery that the new Gorth is pretty much the old Gorth, with the same cast of characters, and the travelers find themselves battling their own evil selves-that-might-have been! Great Stuff!
190 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
12 people are currently reading
532 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
690 books1,392 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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March 19, 2009
Stargate by Andre Norton (1958)
Long before anyone has the idea for SG1 and Stargate series, a writer used the title and idea of gates through time and space. Andre Norton (1912-2005) is a writer whose work should be better known by a new generation of readers. She wrote over 200 works of science fiction and fantasy from the 40s to the end of the century, frequently blending the two in a unique way. You might wonder what a writer of that time would have to say to 21st century audience but Norton can reach across generations, as there is a timeless quality to her writing. This timelessness arises out of very basic themes. Andre Norton’s protagonists are often young people, alienated or disadvantaged on some basic level from the society that they are in, hunting for belonging and meaning in their worlds, living often on the edge of poverty or disaster.
Stargate was a gate for me in a personal way as it was the first book of Science fiction that I ever read and began my life long love affair with the genre. As with any other first love I may not be totally objective about it.
In Stargate we meet a young alien, Kincar s’Rud on the world of Gorth. Kincar is small humanoid, heir to an isolated mountain fortress. His life is that of a medieval warrior, hunting and bearing a sword in his guardian’s service. He has always known that he is somehow apart from his fellow Gorthians. This lonely existence has drawn him to his closest friends, a mord (fearsome combination of a hawk and a lizard) named Vorken and his larng a six legged, horse-like creature.
His world is in turmoil. Five centuries ago Terrans landed in their great ships. While it was they (called the Star Lords by the Gorthrians) who raised the native people from primitive savages, they have begun to realize that the native culture will never develop as it should while the Star Lords remain. They are withdrawing in their ships to launch off in hope of finding an uninhabited world.
Kincar learns to his surprise that he is a half-breed child of a Star Lord and a Gorthian woman. He has no place on Gorth and must leave with the others of his kind. Caught on the border between cultures and species he is literally a man without a world and is turned out of his uncle’s keep. He is torn between a fascination with the star-faring Terrans and the powers native to his own world. As a parting legacy from his uncle, Kincar bears a talisman of that Gorthian power, called a Tie, it’s an amulet from the prehistory of his species and in that odd blend of fantasy and SF that Norton practiced, it possesses real power. Whether this power is purely of magic or of some earlier technology from another race lost in time, we do not learn. Andre Norton’s loosely shared story-galaxy was once home to great and mysterious aliens referred to as the Forerunners, now vanished from the spaceways but whose implements sometimes survive in the lost corners of the universe. That history is absent from this story but the Tie is real and it is antithetical to the powers of the Star Lords.
But such a decision is never unanimous and factions break into open war as the Star Lords launch into space. Power abhors a vacuum and the Gorthians are drawn in as a rebel faction of Star Lords seek to retain power on Gorth. There is a second group that Kincar falls in with, who have a different objective. These Star Lords have grown to love Gorth and its world, following native ways and religions. They understand the need to leave their present Gorth to develop in its own way. This group of Star Lords and other “halflings” like Kincar will seek another Gorth in an alternate dimension in the multiverse where intelligent life did not develop.
Pursued by enemies, Kincar’s little band fights their way to an installation in the waste lands. A desperate holding action buys time while the gate between dimensions is prepared. The fight is carried even to the opening of the Stargate and the evil Starlord Herk dies under beamfire as Kincar’s party flees.
But the haste of their departure and firefight at the gate disrupt the interdimensional transit. They arrive in a Gorth very different from their own but not uninhabited. Perhaps it is a karmic demand of the universe but their new home is one where a native culture had arisen to greater heights than on Kincar’s birth world but fell to a greater depth when the Star lords of this universe attacked, enslaving the Gorthians and setting up a helot state.
Kincar’s allies are dismayed to find different versions of themselves as the warlords and oppressors and quickly are drawn into a rebellion. Given strength by the Tie Kincar befriends the locals and penetrates the Star Lord fortress, to face his enemies in a test of will and power.
The Pros: Kincar sS’Rud is us as a teenager, struggling to fit in, uncertain of himself and his world. He is alone, hoping for friendship and acceptance but afraid to try for it. His struggles are the outward aspect of our own at his age. Gradually by belief (in his heritage through the Tie) and by courage he moves from a swept-up refugee to a leader among the travelers. Andre Norton’s particular magic is to bring us to a universe of genuine danger and struggle in the company of people who we would face that danger and struggle with. In small and unexpected moments that are my favorite part of her writing she shows how even in the danger and the dark there are moments of beauty, perhaps made more so by that contrast.
The Cons: Andre Norton wrote for a young adult audience, though she did not do so in a condescending manner. The characters face death. This is not Hogwarts. Kincar’s ordeal in the arena of the evil Starlords is harrowing and could have taken place in a concentration camp. Norton is always circumspect about sex, and it is largely absent from this book. Generally in her work, sex is romantic, abstract and handled off-stage. So if you are looking for a book with a hot-blooded alien bounty hunter reminiscing about her last three way with a bargirl and a shapeshifter you can pass on Norton.
She has a tendency to hang an “er” on any bit of machinery: blaster, flitter, reader etc. This can get a little annoying at times. Kincar being a primitive has no idea how any of this works and as a naïve narrator can’t explain any of it to us. CJ Cherryh used the same device in Jewel of Ivrel with Morgaine and Vanye. To Vanye, the native swordsman, Morgaine is a witch, her sword magical, the gates she passes through, are demonic. But Morgaine is a scientist, she carriers a laser, the gates are mechanical transports through time and space and the sword possesses a gate opening in its tip. Fantasy or SF? It may be a matter of whose eyes you see it through.
In about the only passage where I found my suspension of disbelief, waning, Kincar and other natives take over the repair of a downed flitter from Star Lords Dillan and Bard. While I suspect American Airlines might do something similar, the idea of a couple of medieval swordsmen making repairs to a 737 is just a bit much.
In sum, Stargate is a sound adventure novel with a young man you will feel for and perhaps recognize.
By Edward McKeown
Long before anyone has the idea for SG1 and Stargate series, a writer used the title and idea of gates through time and space. Andre Norton (1912-2005) is a writer whose work should be better known by a new generation of readers. She wrote over 200 works of science fiction and fantasy from the 40s to the end of the century, frequently blending the two in a unique way. You might wonder what a writer of that time would have to say to 21st century audience but Norton can reach across generations, as there is a timeless quality to her writing. This timelessness arises out of very basic themes. Andre Norton’s protagonists are often young people, alienated or disadvantaged on some basic level from the society that they are in, hunting for belonging and meaning in their worlds, living often on the edge of poverty or disaster.
Stargate was a gate for me in a personal way as it was the first book of Science fiction that I ever read and began my life long love affair with the genre. As with any other first love I may not be totally objective about it.
In Stargate we meet a young alien, Kincar s’Rud on the world of Gorth. Kincar is small humanoid, heir to an isolated mountain fortress. His life is that of a medieval warrior, hunting and bearing a sword in his guardian’s service. He has always known that he is somehow apart from his fellow Gorthians. This lonely existence has drawn him to his closest friends, a mord (fearsome combination of a hawk and a lizard) named Vorken and his larng a six legged, horse-like creature.
His world is in turmoil. Five centuries ago Terrans landed in their great ships. While it was they (called the Star Lords by the Gorthrians) who raised the native people from primitive savages, they have begun to realize that the native culture will never develop as it should while the Star Lords remain. They are withdrawing in their ships to launch off in hope of finding an uninhabited world.
Kincar learns to his surprise that he is a half-breed child of a Star Lord and a Gorthian woman. He has no place on Gorth and must leave with the others of his kind. Caught on the border between cultures and species he is literally a man without a world and is turned out of his uncle’s keep. He is torn between a fascination with the star-faring Terrans and the powers native to his own world. As a parting legacy from his uncle, Kincar bears a talisman of that Gorthian power, called a Tie, it’s an amulet from the prehistory of his species and in that odd blend of fantasy and SF that Norton practiced, it possesses real power. Whether this power is purely of magic or of some earlier technology from another race lost in time, we do not learn. Andre Norton’s loosely shared story-galaxy was once home to great and mysterious aliens referred to as the Forerunners, now vanished from the spaceways but whose implements sometimes survive in the lost corners of the universe. That history is absent from this story but the Tie is real and it is antithetical to the powers of the Star Lords.
But such a decision is never unanimous and factions break into open war as the Star Lords launch into space. Power abhors a vacuum and the Gorthians are drawn in as a rebel faction of Star Lords seek to retain power on Gorth. There is a second group that Kincar falls in with, who have a different objective. These Star Lords have grown to love Gorth and its world, following native ways and religions. They understand the need to leave their present Gorth to develop in its own way. This group of Star Lords and other “halflings” like Kincar will seek another Gorth in an alternate dimension in the multiverse where intelligent life did not develop.
Pursued by enemies, Kincar’s little band fights their way to an installation in the waste lands. A desperate holding action buys time while the gate between dimensions is prepared. The fight is carried even to the opening of the Stargate and the evil Starlord Herk dies under beamfire as Kincar’s party flees.
But the haste of their departure and firefight at the gate disrupt the interdimensional transit. They arrive in a Gorth very different from their own but not uninhabited. Perhaps it is a karmic demand of the universe but their new home is one where a native culture had arisen to greater heights than on Kincar’s birth world but fell to a greater depth when the Star lords of this universe attacked, enslaving the Gorthians and setting up a helot state.
Kincar’s allies are dismayed to find different versions of themselves as the warlords and oppressors and quickly are drawn into a rebellion. Given strength by the Tie Kincar befriends the locals and penetrates the Star Lord fortress, to face his enemies in a test of will and power.
The Pros: Kincar sS’Rud is us as a teenager, struggling to fit in, uncertain of himself and his world. He is alone, hoping for friendship and acceptance but afraid to try for it. His struggles are the outward aspect of our own at his age. Gradually by belief (in his heritage through the Tie) and by courage he moves from a swept-up refugee to a leader among the travelers. Andre Norton’s particular magic is to bring us to a universe of genuine danger and struggle in the company of people who we would face that danger and struggle with. In small and unexpected moments that are my favorite part of her writing she shows how even in the danger and the dark there are moments of beauty, perhaps made more so by that contrast.
The Cons: Andre Norton wrote for a young adult audience, though she did not do so in a condescending manner. The characters face death. This is not Hogwarts. Kincar’s ordeal in the arena of the evil Starlords is harrowing and could have taken place in a concentration camp. Norton is always circumspect about sex, and it is largely absent from this book. Generally in her work, sex is romantic, abstract and handled off-stage. So if you are looking for a book with a hot-blooded alien bounty hunter reminiscing about her last three way with a bargirl and a shapeshifter you can pass on Norton.
She has a tendency to hang an “er” on any bit of machinery: blaster, flitter, reader etc. This can get a little annoying at times. Kincar being a primitive has no idea how any of this works and as a naïve narrator can’t explain any of it to us. CJ Cherryh used the same device in Jewel of Ivrel with Morgaine and Vanye. To Vanye, the native swordsman, Morgaine is a witch, her sword magical, the gates she passes through, are demonic. But Morgaine is a scientist, she carriers a laser, the gates are mechanical transports through time and space and the sword possesses a gate opening in its tip. Fantasy or SF? It may be a matter of whose eyes you see it through.
In about the only passage where I found my suspension of disbelief, waning, Kincar and other natives take over the repair of a downed flitter from Star Lords Dillan and Bard. While I suspect American Airlines might do something similar, the idea of a couple of medieval swordsmen making repairs to a 737 is just a bit much.
In sum, Stargate is a sound adventure novel with a young man you will feel for and perhaps recognize.
By Edward McKeown
June 15, 2025
Despite its age, it was first published in 1958, Star Gate still packs quite a powerful punch both as a YA science fiction adventure and a thoughtful futuristic novel. I always used to think Andre Norton's early SF novels represented a future history of humankind, though not published in any form of chronological order. I probably read that somewhere – it's not like me to be intuitive – and forget about divisions into Central Control, Astra and standalones. From Sea Siege (1957) and The Stars are Ours (1954) and the beginning of our downfall, through our primitive resurrection in Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D (1952), our re-entry into space in Star Born (1957), the beginning of human dominance in Star Guard (1955), the height of human control and its first wavering signs of degeneracy in Star Gate (1958), to the collapse of empire in Star Rangers (1953) it's very much the rise and fall of an historical empire repeated. For me Star Gate and probably Star Born stand out as the strongest.
Basically, on the planet Gorth highly technical and evolved human Star Lords arrived some time before the story begins and established a benign rule over the primitive Gorthians. When the story starts the majority of the Star Lords have decided the experiment is not working and have left the planet. Those that remain are divided between some who want control to remain in their hands and a few who have intermarried with the Gorthians to produce the start of a new human/Gorthian race. Our hero, Kincar s'Rud, is one of those young people.
The good Star Lords have developed a Star Gate which can transport people on to parallel Gorths and they hope to escape their enemies by travelling to a fertile version of Gorth on which humanoid life has not evolved. Unfortunately it goes wrong and they all end up on a Gorth inhabited by nasty versions of themselves who have enslaved the native people. Somehow they must put it all right and start again.
That is the adventure story. On top of that we have a rather topsy-turvy view of race relations. In so many of her books Andre Norton is very passionate about her views of racial equality and in this book the advanced Star Lords are described as dark skinned and the medieval Gorthians as pale. However, at the end when the bad Star Lords are expelled and the good ones want to have another try at the Star Gate and move on Norton insists that the natural leaders should be Gorthian, but only those Gorthians with mixed parentage. It comes as quite a surprise in a Norton novel. Maintaining the superior bloodline is not something that one expects to see, even if the skin colour is reversed from that on Earth.
A part of the reason given in the book is that it is not a decision made by any individuals. Kincar is the custodian of a sacred amulet called a Tie and at the end, when he decides that he does not want to be the leader, it is the Tie that transfers itself to a young man called Kathal whose Star Lord father just happens to have been the evil twin of Kincar's father. It's not prejudice after all. A higher power has demanded it to be.
The Gorthian religion itself is interesting. It involves its own Trinity and using the Tie of the Three to follow the Road of the Three. The Three being Lor, Loi and Lys. Lady Asgar points out to Kincar:
To each race there are certain beliefs granted... We, too, [that's the Star Lords] have our powers – though they may not take the same form for our worshiping. But all who follow Powers of Light give faith and belief where it should be.
I don't know if Andre Norton was pointing towards a universal religious faith among humanoids. If it was in her mind it didn't last to the final chapter. The Tie becomes like a magic gem activated by naming the Trinity and more at home in the workings of a comfortable fantasy.
The adventure is excellent within its YA limits, the hero is courageous and modest – sexually ambivalent, but that was the norm in early Norton stories – there are strong female characters among the Star Lords, and best of all it provides food for thought.
Basically, on the planet Gorth highly technical and evolved human Star Lords arrived some time before the story begins and established a benign rule over the primitive Gorthians. When the story starts the majority of the Star Lords have decided the experiment is not working and have left the planet. Those that remain are divided between some who want control to remain in their hands and a few who have intermarried with the Gorthians to produce the start of a new human/Gorthian race. Our hero, Kincar s'Rud, is one of those young people.
The good Star Lords have developed a Star Gate which can transport people on to parallel Gorths and they hope to escape their enemies by travelling to a fertile version of Gorth on which humanoid life has not evolved. Unfortunately it goes wrong and they all end up on a Gorth inhabited by nasty versions of themselves who have enslaved the native people. Somehow they must put it all right and start again.
That is the adventure story. On top of that we have a rather topsy-turvy view of race relations. In so many of her books Andre Norton is very passionate about her views of racial equality and in this book the advanced Star Lords are described as dark skinned and the medieval Gorthians as pale. However, at the end when the bad Star Lords are expelled and the good ones want to have another try at the Star Gate and move on Norton insists that the natural leaders should be Gorthian, but only those Gorthians with mixed parentage. It comes as quite a surprise in a Norton novel. Maintaining the superior bloodline is not something that one expects to see, even if the skin colour is reversed from that on Earth.
A part of the reason given in the book is that it is not a decision made by any individuals. Kincar is the custodian of a sacred amulet called a Tie and at the end, when he decides that he does not want to be the leader, it is the Tie that transfers itself to a young man called Kathal whose Star Lord father just happens to have been the evil twin of Kincar's father. It's not prejudice after all. A higher power has demanded it to be.
The Gorthian religion itself is interesting. It involves its own Trinity and using the Tie of the Three to follow the Road of the Three. The Three being Lor, Loi and Lys. Lady Asgar points out to Kincar:
To each race there are certain beliefs granted... We, too, [that's the Star Lords] have our powers – though they may not take the same form for our worshiping. But all who follow Powers of Light give faith and belief where it should be.
I don't know if Andre Norton was pointing towards a universal religious faith among humanoids. If it was in her mind it didn't last to the final chapter. The Tie becomes like a magic gem activated by naming the Trinity and more at home in the workings of a comfortable fantasy.
The adventure is excellent within its YA limits, the hero is courageous and modest – sexually ambivalent, but that was the norm in early Norton stories – there are strong female characters among the Star Lords, and best of all it provides food for thought.
April 9, 2016
Great writing, strong engaging story. I can see some key ideas for the future TV series "Stargate" in this book, published in 1958. I got it from the library, finished it today and promptly bought a copy from Amazon. Definitely a keeper.
December 10, 2014
It shares characteristics of both C J Cherryh's Morgaine saga--gates between worlds and the effects of an invading/interloping culture on natives--and of the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", slanting toward the latter in terms of a brisk and relatively simple tale. One could easily imagine this as a series, with the traveling contingent of Star Lords and half-Gorthians visiting interesting 'alternate world' permutations of possible relationships between the human and Gorthian populations. What of a world where the unprepared humans were overtaken and enslaved by the Gorthian savages? Or the one where a crash landing devastated much of the planetary surface, and the humans are reduced to the technology of the native inhabitants?
But no. There is only the one book, and this one tells its story fairly simply, with an abrupt and wrap-up ending.
The beginning of the story--before all this 'star gate' business--was strangely compelling in itself and I found myself wishing that it had gone on. The Star Lords, the benevolent technological overlords of Gorth, are departing the planet, leaving a power vacuum. Old resentments flare against those who had aligned with the offworlders, and there is the feeling that the political landscape was about to adjust violently. Abandoned Star Lord cities, and wilderness and borderland and outlawry and carefully-guarded strongholds of civilization. And so forth.
But no. There is only the one book, and this one tells its story fairly simply, with an abrupt and wrap-up ending.
The beginning of the story--before all this 'star gate' business--was strangely compelling in itself and I found myself wishing that it had gone on. The Star Lords, the benevolent technological overlords of Gorth, are departing the planet, leaving a power vacuum. Old resentments flare against those who had aligned with the offworlders, and there is the feeling that the political landscape was about to adjust violently. Abandoned Star Lord cities, and wilderness and borderland and outlawry and carefully-guarded strongholds of civilization. And so forth.
May 30, 2010
Kincar s'Rud is the heir to Styr, a noble house, but his Lord, his mohter's brother, who is on his death bed tells Kincar that to avoid a house war, he should seek out the Star Lord's who are his kindred. Unknown to Kincar, he is the son of a Star Lord, and his half brother will contest having a half-blood rule Styr. On his way to meet his kindred, Kincar discovers a Tie, a gem that is a communicator with his people's gods Lor, Loi, Lys. The holder of a Tie has a sacred trust to use the Tie as an emissary of the Gods.
Kincar rides forth accompanied by a Mord (a bird of prey that is Kincar's) and meets up with a group of Star Lords, and their kin, who are fighting a rear guard action against rebels and outlaws in the waste. Kincar helps in battle and finds that the Star Lords have decided to stay on Gorth but not on this Gorth. Instead they have built a Star Gate to take themselves to an alternative version of Gorth. These Star Lords are accompanied by their children who are of Gorth heritage. Duncan, one of the Star Lords tells Kincar that his people have left because they were influencing the Gorthian's progress as a people, but that he and the others had too much kin to just leave.
However, when they venture through the Star Gate, they find that in the new Gorth, the Star Lords who came were dictators, who ruled with fear and evil. Its up to Kincar and Duncan and the rest to battle the evil Star Lords for control of this new Gorth.
Good Norton. Good plot. The mord is another in a long line of bird and animals that Norton is able to effectively include in the plot.
Kincar rides forth accompanied by a Mord (a bird of prey that is Kincar's) and meets up with a group of Star Lords, and their kin, who are fighting a rear guard action against rebels and outlaws in the waste. Kincar helps in battle and finds that the Star Lords have decided to stay on Gorth but not on this Gorth. Instead they have built a Star Gate to take themselves to an alternative version of Gorth. These Star Lords are accompanied by their children who are of Gorth heritage. Duncan, one of the Star Lords tells Kincar that his people have left because they were influencing the Gorthian's progress as a people, but that he and the others had too much kin to just leave.
However, when they venture through the Star Gate, they find that in the new Gorth, the Star Lords who came were dictators, who ruled with fear and evil. Its up to Kincar and Duncan and the rest to battle the evil Star Lords for control of this new Gorth.
Good Norton. Good plot. The mord is another in a long line of bird and animals that Norton is able to effectively include in the plot.
March 11, 2018
Star Gate, by (Alice) Andre Norton, has nothing to do with the Stargate you’re familiar with—unless, of course, Star Gate by Andre Norton is the Star Gate you’re familiar with. The Stargate of television and film transports those who wander through it across the cosmos; the Star Gate of Andre Norton’s imagining transports people to the exact same location, albeit in a different dimension.
And dimensions are a big deal in this book. The premise—clearly and neatly laid out in a preface by an unknown narrator—is that from every significant decision made, a new dimension is spun off that correlates to the unchosen path. So, for example, if I’m debating between becoming a primatologist or a craft-brewer, and ultimately decide my passion lies more with apes than brew, another dimension is born in which I choose the path of beer.
Thankfully Star Gate does not cover the ramifications of that decision, rather, humans have reached a planet called Gorth and attempted to help the natives by granting them advanced technology and knowledge. Of course, this isn’t a great idea. And while it doesn’t plunge the world into an utter hellscape, the humans decide the Gorthians would be better off without their meddling. Thus, they decide to leave through a Star Gate to a dimension where Gorth is uninhabited.
Except—what if, by accident or some divine, cosmic will, instead of landing on a deserted Gorth, they step through the Star Gate to a Gorth where humans hold the Gorthians as slaves? Where the same loving, self-sacrificing humans from their own dimension are cruel and twisted?
If you’re anything like me, you’re right now wondering about net cosmic suffering across all dimensions. If these Good People™ are interested in reducing suffering, and it doesn’t matter to them which dimension this suffering resides in, and a new dimension will spin off with every good decision they make, and that new dimension will likely be the opposite of their good decision, you kind of start to wonder if their best path forward would be to take a hard-neutral stance and try to make no big decisions whatsoever.
As it stands now, in their original dimension they tried to do good, and instead hurt the Gorthians. And in an alternate dimension, where they intentionally tried to do harm, they also hurt the Gorthians, albeit on a much larger and more heinous scale.
I started typing out some math to prove how the Good Humans™ ‘good’ decisions and actions would only compound and that the limit of net cosmic suffering wouldn’t exist, but I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say, in the world of Star Gate, there’d be no possibility to truly right wrongs, because if in this dimension you put a tyrant to death, well, in another, you probably just reinforced his power tenfold.
Once I was finally able to bury the existentialism and endless loops of dimensional plotlines, and dear cod thanks to how my mind works that was a struggle, I found Star Gate to be an enjoyable, quick read. It was delightful to see what is now regularly considered kitschy written in earnest.
At one point a fellow fights with an evil version of himself! I think the last time I saw a serious attempt of that that was in Deep Space Nine* and even there the plot device was past its prime. These days the only place you could hope to see a man fighting an evil version of himself it is in something like Rick and Morty, and, well, the point there would be that there is no good or evil, and that everything is meaningless. So the plot device would have an entirely different point.
Anyway, the point is that Andre Norton could approach this plot-point with a sincerity and earnesty that can’t be matched today, or, well, most decades after the 1960s. And that is delightful. Also delightful was the writing, which has a certain quality often missing from modern fantasy and sci-fi.
“Time in the dark was not a matter of minutes and hours. It was a thing of cold, and growing hunger, and cramp in his pinioned arms, aches in his bruised body.”
Isn’t that great? It sets a tone like a mother, and is beautiful besides.
My favorite part of Star Gate, by and large, are the main character’s helpful animals. Vorken is, essentially, a falcon-like miniature pterodactyl, and Cim is, essentially, a battle-llama. They’re not a huge part of the story, either of them, but they are such a tremendous addition. They toed that perfect line of being just barely larger than life, while still representing what we tend to expect of domesticated animals.
I also love that in this book, published in 1958, the main character explicitly attributes intelligence to his animals and worries about their comfort and, especially, their pain. At one point he puts his life in jeopardy to save one of his beasts.
That might not sound revolutionary to you, but in 1958, “officially”, they didn’t even really believe that animals felt pain. Hell, vets up until very recently were taught that animals didn’t really feel pain, and were told to ignore signs of it in their patients. So, even though animals lovers have, since the dawn of animal companionship, realized that animals are valuable, sentient, and possess an inner world all their own, by the standard accepted ideas of 1958, this was pretty revolutionary. So props to both Andre Norton and her protagonist.
If you’ve noticed that, aside from the animals, I’ve haven’t used any character names. That’s not on accident—I’m having a damn hard time remembering them. Our protagonist, Kincar? I think that’s his name. Anyway, Kincar is unique only in the circumstances of his existence and his relationship to his animals. And the rest of the characters are so secondary that, at one point, when Kincar worries that one is missing, I didn’t know who he was talking about. The book is roughly 180 pages long, and I read it in about a week. I should remember these people.
Essentially, the characters feel like they exist to serve the plot. The plot doesn’t feel born out of the lives of the characters.
My other character-related complaint is that there is only one woman in the book, and she’s a standard mystic/healer sort. I mean, she’s pretty cool, but also pretty stereotypical. If she were one of many female characters, I wouldn’t think twice, but as-is, I worry the only reason she exists is because Andre Norton didn’t feel comfortable filling her role with a man.
I’m glad I read Star Gate, I genuinely enjoyed it, but, largely due to the missteps with the characters and characterizations, I don’t think it’ll stick with me like other novels do—which is fine.Star Gate is like really high-quality popcorn. I ain’t complaining.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
And dimensions are a big deal in this book. The premise—clearly and neatly laid out in a preface by an unknown narrator—is that from every significant decision made, a new dimension is spun off that correlates to the unchosen path. So, for example, if I’m debating between becoming a primatologist or a craft-brewer, and ultimately decide my passion lies more with apes than brew, another dimension is born in which I choose the path of beer.
Thankfully Star Gate does not cover the ramifications of that decision, rather, humans have reached a planet called Gorth and attempted to help the natives by granting them advanced technology and knowledge. Of course, this isn’t a great idea. And while it doesn’t plunge the world into an utter hellscape, the humans decide the Gorthians would be better off without their meddling. Thus, they decide to leave through a Star Gate to a dimension where Gorth is uninhabited.
Except—what if, by accident or some divine, cosmic will, instead of landing on a deserted Gorth, they step through the Star Gate to a Gorth where humans hold the Gorthians as slaves? Where the same loving, self-sacrificing humans from their own dimension are cruel and twisted?
If you’re anything like me, you’re right now wondering about net cosmic suffering across all dimensions. If these Good People™ are interested in reducing suffering, and it doesn’t matter to them which dimension this suffering resides in, and a new dimension will spin off with every good decision they make, and that new dimension will likely be the opposite of their good decision, you kind of start to wonder if their best path forward would be to take a hard-neutral stance and try to make no big decisions whatsoever.
As it stands now, in their original dimension they tried to do good, and instead hurt the Gorthians. And in an alternate dimension, where they intentionally tried to do harm, they also hurt the Gorthians, albeit on a much larger and more heinous scale.
I started typing out some math to prove how the Good Humans™ ‘good’ decisions and actions would only compound and that the limit of net cosmic suffering wouldn’t exist, but I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say, in the world of Star Gate, there’d be no possibility to truly right wrongs, because if in this dimension you put a tyrant to death, well, in another, you probably just reinforced his power tenfold.
Once I was finally able to bury the existentialism and endless loops of dimensional plotlines, and dear cod thanks to how my mind works that was a struggle, I found Star Gate to be an enjoyable, quick read. It was delightful to see what is now regularly considered kitschy written in earnest.
At one point a fellow fights with an evil version of himself! I think the last time I saw a serious attempt of that that was in Deep Space Nine* and even there the plot device was past its prime. These days the only place you could hope to see a man fighting an evil version of himself it is in something like Rick and Morty, and, well, the point there would be that there is no good or evil, and that everything is meaningless. So the plot device would have an entirely different point.
Anyway, the point is that Andre Norton could approach this plot-point with a sincerity and earnesty that can’t be matched today, or, well, most decades after the 1960s. And that is delightful. Also delightful was the writing, which has a certain quality often missing from modern fantasy and sci-fi.
“Time in the dark was not a matter of minutes and hours. It was a thing of cold, and growing hunger, and cramp in his pinioned arms, aches in his bruised body.”
Isn’t that great? It sets a tone like a mother, and is beautiful besides.
My favorite part of Star Gate, by and large, are the main character’s helpful animals. Vorken is, essentially, a falcon-like miniature pterodactyl, and Cim is, essentially, a battle-llama. They’re not a huge part of the story, either of them, but they are such a tremendous addition. They toed that perfect line of being just barely larger than life, while still representing what we tend to expect of domesticated animals.
I also love that in this book, published in 1958, the main character explicitly attributes intelligence to his animals and worries about their comfort and, especially, their pain. At one point he puts his life in jeopardy to save one of his beasts.
That might not sound revolutionary to you, but in 1958, “officially”, they didn’t even really believe that animals felt pain. Hell, vets up until very recently were taught that animals didn’t really feel pain, and were told to ignore signs of it in their patients. So, even though animals lovers have, since the dawn of animal companionship, realized that animals are valuable, sentient, and possess an inner world all their own, by the standard accepted ideas of 1958, this was pretty revolutionary. So props to both Andre Norton and her protagonist.
If you’ve noticed that, aside from the animals, I’ve haven’t used any character names. That’s not on accident—I’m having a damn hard time remembering them. Our protagonist, Kincar? I think that’s his name. Anyway, Kincar is unique only in the circumstances of his existence and his relationship to his animals. And the rest of the characters are so secondary that, at one point, when Kincar worries that one is missing, I didn’t know who he was talking about. The book is roughly 180 pages long, and I read it in about a week. I should remember these people.
Essentially, the characters feel like they exist to serve the plot. The plot doesn’t feel born out of the lives of the characters.
My other character-related complaint is that there is only one woman in the book, and she’s a standard mystic/healer sort. I mean, she’s pretty cool, but also pretty stereotypical. If she were one of many female characters, I wouldn’t think twice, but as-is, I worry the only reason she exists is because Andre Norton didn’t feel comfortable filling her role with a man.
I’m glad I read Star Gate, I genuinely enjoyed it, but, largely due to the missteps with the characters and characterizations, I don’t think it’ll stick with me like other novels do—which is fine.Star Gate is like really high-quality popcorn. I ain’t complaining.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
sony-or-android
September 1, 2019kinda sorta like one of the themes common in time travel, but w/ a different gimmick and most assuredly a different treatment...?
February 15, 2008
This was probably the first novel I ever willingly read on my own. A sophomore in high school, and not much of a reader, I consumed this book as well as another by the same author in rapid succession. Although I didn't know it at the time, Andre Norton was the pen name of Alice Mary Norton ( http://www.andre-norton.org/anorton/a... ), who wrote more than 130 novels during her lifetime.
July 27, 2010
A good one. I don't know if the much later movie of this name was based on Norton's work in this book. Could be.
Read
May 8, 2022Quoting from http://www.avemariasongs.org/forerunn...
"A lost colony story, stand-alone read
The Star Lords had come from a dying Earth and settled on Earth-like Gorth where they found a primitive society and helped the inhabitants to rise to civilization. But now the native folk of Gorth have grown resentful and jealous of the Star Lords, who have refused to share their secrets of (apparent) immortality and their powerful weapons-technology which led to the loss of Earth."
Boy, she was prolific then! This one sounds vaguely familiar, but the cover art isn't, so I probably missed it.
"A lost colony story, stand-alone read
The Star Lords had come from a dying Earth and settled on Earth-like Gorth where they found a primitive society and helped the inhabitants to rise to civilization. But now the native folk of Gorth have grown resentful and jealous of the Star Lords, who have refused to share their secrets of (apparent) immortality and their powerful weapons-technology which led to the loss of Earth."
Boy, she was prolific then! This one sounds vaguely familiar, but the cover art isn't, so I probably missed it.
February 19, 2020
Interesting blend of sword and sandals (swords and sorcery? Low fantasy?) and science fiction, it took me a while to get into but once I did I generally liked it. The third Andre Norton book I have read, I found this one to be the slowest going to get into but in the end had the most interesting premise (the other two I have read of hers being _The Stars Are Ours!_ and _Star Born_).
The author just throws the reader into an alien world, not populated by humans but near humans, the world called Gorth. Those on Gorth have a medieval level of technology with armor, swords, bows and arrows, castles, and feudalism. They don’t ride horses but instead ride four-eyed (not glasses wearing mind you) mounts called larngs and some have intelligent (but non speaking) pterosaur-like companions called mords, bigger and more powerful than any falcon on Earth, not just useful for hunting but for scouting and in combat.
The main character is a native of Gorth, Kincar s’Rud, a warrior going into exile with his faithful larng Cim and his very valuable mord companion Vorken. Also he is entrusted with a strange magical artifact called a Tie, really an amulet on a chain he wears around his neck and under his clothing and armor and figures into the plot later on. While out in the wilds, away from his former home, he comes across and helps in combat a strange party of travelers, one comprised of a Star Lord and various half Star Lord/half Gorthians. His help invaluable, they gladly accept Kincar into the group.
Oh what’s a Star Lord? They are a race of either immortal or extremely long-lived (but otherwise mortal) alien beings who are I gather basically human beings at a very high level of technology. They arrived from the stars in gleaming silver rocket ships ages ago and raised the natives of Gorth into a medieval level of civilization. Most Star Lords have left Gorth and Kincar happened to come across several Star Lords on their way off of Gorth (other Star Lords join the party after the battle). Their legacy the higher level of technology and civilization on Gorth, legends and tales, and a number of cross-breeds (Kincar numbers among these cross-breeds), they seek a new world to call their own and wish to stop interfering on Gorth.
This Gorth that is. The group flees through a titular Star Gate, only unlike in a certain movie or TV series, this Star Gate takes those that journey through it not to an alien world exactly, but a parallel world, another Gorth, one that took a different path.
Without going into too much more, Kincar and the Star Lords find friends on this Gorth and also quickly develop enemies, namely a group called the Dark Ones, this parallel universe/alternate timeline’s version of the Star Lords. Not benevolent beings, they are tyrannical and cruel and have enslaved the natives, though to the surprise of at least Kincar, several are “Mirror, Mirror” universe evil dopplegangers of Star Lords that are good from his universe that he has comes to know and trust.
The remainder of the book is a series of adventures fighting the Dark Ones, freeing a number of the slaves they hold (all Gartians, who are seen basically as animals by the Dark Ones), all while Kincar comes to wrap his brain around the idea of an alternate timeline and his Star Lord friends ponder leaving this alternate Gorth and/or intervening in it. There is a good amount of combat and chase scenes in the last half of the book or so, with the evil of the Dark Ones being very clear cut. Having the point of view character be Kincar (who does develop some understanding of Star Lord and Dark Ones technology) was a good trick that obviated the need for the author to explain a lot of the technology. Some parts of the book wouldn’t have been out of place in a Conan or Red Sonja story, others felt like they belonged in a Barsoomian planetary romance novel, stills others felt like Golden Age “gee whiz, marvel at the technology and the inscrutable superior aliens” type fiction. An interesting blend, and adding the alternate timeline aspect was very unusual.
I thought the combat scenes were generally well-written (except maybe the initial combat that was Kincar’s initiation into the Star Lords; it felt entirely too brief). The nature of the Tie amulet was never quite clear to me other than Magic. I liked how Vorken had a real personality and some of the Dark Ones, while still evil, had some nuances in personality and action. I loved how decisive everyone could be, not a lot of sitting around and pondering morality or possibilities, just forming a plan, maybe some scouting, and then Going and Doing. Not a great deal of time is spent in Kincar’s head, but maybe this is because to Think is to Do. It was interesting that just as in _Star Born_, the evil civilization’s women are sort of almost in harems, out of sight, not taking part in the action, and really aren’t characters in the story, but at least peripherally the good civilization’s women have some sort of support role and might even have names (this book had a Lady Asgar, a healer among the Star Lords). Andre Norton can sure describe a cold, mountainous wilderness well (she did a great job also in _The Stars Are Ours!_ as well).
The author just throws the reader into an alien world, not populated by humans but near humans, the world called Gorth. Those on Gorth have a medieval level of technology with armor, swords, bows and arrows, castles, and feudalism. They don’t ride horses but instead ride four-eyed (not glasses wearing mind you) mounts called larngs and some have intelligent (but non speaking) pterosaur-like companions called mords, bigger and more powerful than any falcon on Earth, not just useful for hunting but for scouting and in combat.
The main character is a native of Gorth, Kincar s’Rud, a warrior going into exile with his faithful larng Cim and his very valuable mord companion Vorken. Also he is entrusted with a strange magical artifact called a Tie, really an amulet on a chain he wears around his neck and under his clothing and armor and figures into the plot later on. While out in the wilds, away from his former home, he comes across and helps in combat a strange party of travelers, one comprised of a Star Lord and various half Star Lord/half Gorthians. His help invaluable, they gladly accept Kincar into the group.
Oh what’s a Star Lord? They are a race of either immortal or extremely long-lived (but otherwise mortal) alien beings who are I gather basically human beings at a very high level of technology. They arrived from the stars in gleaming silver rocket ships ages ago and raised the natives of Gorth into a medieval level of civilization. Most Star Lords have left Gorth and Kincar happened to come across several Star Lords on their way off of Gorth (other Star Lords join the party after the battle). Their legacy the higher level of technology and civilization on Gorth, legends and tales, and a number of cross-breeds (Kincar numbers among these cross-breeds), they seek a new world to call their own and wish to stop interfering on Gorth.
This Gorth that is. The group flees through a titular Star Gate, only unlike in a certain movie or TV series, this Star Gate takes those that journey through it not to an alien world exactly, but a parallel world, another Gorth, one that took a different path.
Without going into too much more, Kincar and the Star Lords find friends on this Gorth and also quickly develop enemies, namely a group called the Dark Ones, this parallel universe/alternate timeline’s version of the Star Lords. Not benevolent beings, they are tyrannical and cruel and have enslaved the natives, though to the surprise of at least Kincar, several are “Mirror, Mirror” universe evil dopplegangers of Star Lords that are good from his universe that he has comes to know and trust.
The remainder of the book is a series of adventures fighting the Dark Ones, freeing a number of the slaves they hold (all Gartians, who are seen basically as animals by the Dark Ones), all while Kincar comes to wrap his brain around the idea of an alternate timeline and his Star Lord friends ponder leaving this alternate Gorth and/or intervening in it. There is a good amount of combat and chase scenes in the last half of the book or so, with the evil of the Dark Ones being very clear cut. Having the point of view character be Kincar (who does develop some understanding of Star Lord and Dark Ones technology) was a good trick that obviated the need for the author to explain a lot of the technology. Some parts of the book wouldn’t have been out of place in a Conan or Red Sonja story, others felt like they belonged in a Barsoomian planetary romance novel, stills others felt like Golden Age “gee whiz, marvel at the technology and the inscrutable superior aliens” type fiction. An interesting blend, and adding the alternate timeline aspect was very unusual.
I thought the combat scenes were generally well-written (except maybe the initial combat that was Kincar’s initiation into the Star Lords; it felt entirely too brief). The nature of the Tie amulet was never quite clear to me other than Magic. I liked how Vorken had a real personality and some of the Dark Ones, while still evil, had some nuances in personality and action. I loved how decisive everyone could be, not a lot of sitting around and pondering morality or possibilities, just forming a plan, maybe some scouting, and then Going and Doing. Not a great deal of time is spent in Kincar’s head, but maybe this is because to Think is to Do. It was interesting that just as in _Star Born_, the evil civilization’s women are sort of almost in harems, out of sight, not taking part in the action, and really aren’t characters in the story, but at least peripherally the good civilization’s women have some sort of support role and might even have names (this book had a Lady Asgar, a healer among the Star Lords). Andre Norton can sure describe a cold, mountainous wilderness well (she did a great job also in _The Stars Are Ours!_ as well).
December 3, 2023
Giving 3 stars because in my opinion the books was cut too short, some scenes / events deserved some more fleshing out. It was overall a good read about possible parallel universes and the world was an interesting one.
August 10, 2021
Will review at Fantasy Literature.
Read
July 7, 2010If you were thinking of the tv show, stop that at ONCE!
One of the main characters of this world is the planet of Gorth. Gorthians are humanoid but not human. They have blue hair in short curls (turning black with age, and only on their heads), six fingers, ivory skin, and they're only about half the size of Earth humans. Yet they're interfertile with Earth humans. Go figure.
The planet seems to be largely boreal forest and steppe, with mountains. Low numbers of species, high numbers of individuals per species. The Earth-human overlords 'civilized' (ie raised to a feudal level) people who were 'savage' (meaning forest-dwelling?) nomads. The Gorthians have few domestic animals: The falcon-like 'mords', the
quasi-equine 'larngs' (four-eyed, with inner transparent eyes). No apparent equivalent to canines or felines. No obvious rodent types. Not much evidence of domestic cattle, poultry, etc.
The titular star gate is created by the Earth-human Star Lords (who seem to have become nearly immortal during their passage to Gorth, though nobody's quite sure why), because while most of them have decided to leave Gorth to its own devices, some (many of whom have Gorthian families) can't bear to leave via starship--so they stay on Gorth, but try to go to an alternate Gorth (preferably one with no native humanoids). Their elbows are jostled at the time of their departure, and they enter into a Gorth where the Star Lords came as tyrants and slaveholders. This Gorth had a different history in other ways, too: apparently the native Gorthians had a 'civilized' (and very warlike) culture, and the legendary 'hill people' are very physically present.
Note that the concept of inherent evil is even more severely strained here than in other books. Two of the main villains are dopplegangers of the half-Gorthian Kinkar's uncle and father. If they're inherently evil, why weren't their counterparts in 'our' Gorth also evil?
One of the main characters of this world is the planet of Gorth. Gorthians are humanoid but not human. They have blue hair in short curls (turning black with age, and only on their heads), six fingers, ivory skin, and they're only about half the size of Earth humans. Yet they're interfertile with Earth humans. Go figure.
The planet seems to be largely boreal forest and steppe, with mountains. Low numbers of species, high numbers of individuals per species. The Earth-human overlords 'civilized' (ie raised to a feudal level) people who were 'savage' (meaning forest-dwelling?) nomads. The Gorthians have few domestic animals: The falcon-like 'mords', the
quasi-equine 'larngs' (four-eyed, with inner transparent eyes). No apparent equivalent to canines or felines. No obvious rodent types. Not much evidence of domestic cattle, poultry, etc.
The titular star gate is created by the Earth-human Star Lords (who seem to have become nearly immortal during their passage to Gorth, though nobody's quite sure why), because while most of them have decided to leave Gorth to its own devices, some (many of whom have Gorthian families) can't bear to leave via starship--so they stay on Gorth, but try to go to an alternate Gorth (preferably one with no native humanoids). Their elbows are jostled at the time of their departure, and they enter into a Gorth where the Star Lords came as tyrants and slaveholders. This Gorth had a different history in other ways, too: apparently the native Gorthians had a 'civilized' (and very warlike) culture, and the legendary 'hill people' are very physically present.
Note that the concept of inherent evil is even more severely strained here than in other books. Two of the main villains are dopplegangers of the half-Gorthian Kinkar's uncle and father. If they're inherently evil, why weren't their counterparts in 'our' Gorth also evil?
July 8, 2012
(As posted on my blog, see "Book Blog" dated July 8, 2011)
In Star Gate by Andre Norton (and if you're thinking of the Stargate franchise... you had to wonder where they got the idea for the very first Stargate movie; I still like SG-1 and Atlantis all the same), Terrans/Star Lords had already affected and influenced Gorthian society. However, feeling that they adversely affected the Gorthians, the Star Lords leave. Kincar is of mixed Gorthian and Star Lord blood. Due to some power struggle, his Gorthian grandfather hands him some Star Lord objects and tells Kincar to leave before he is killed. Kincar escapes and meets up with some Star Lords who happen to be leaving Gorth through a gate. Having passed through the gate, Kincar and the Star Lords (his new friends) find themselves on a different Gorth, a Gorth that came to be based on different decisions that were made in the past. To the Star Lords' dismay, they find that the Star Lords on this Gorth were cruel to the Gorthians. The Star Lords that have just arrived decide to rectify matters for this Gorth and Kincar finds himself a key player in achieving this goal.
Unlike in the Stargate franchise, the gate in Star Gate is not part of a system of gates, but rather it is technology that the Terrans have. Terrans are able to create gates wherever they are so long as they have the means to do so. Norton does not explain how gates are made/formed. This is soft science fiction, and in any case, the main plot of the story is what Kincar and the Star Lords do after they get through the gate.
Again, Norton has written a novel that is enjoyable to read. Excellent writing, good pacing, and of course a quandary for the main character. I should also note that Norton does a wonderful job writing the bird-like Mord creatures. I kind of want one, but it's a fictional creature. Phooey.
In Star Gate by Andre Norton (and if you're thinking of the Stargate franchise... you had to wonder where they got the idea for the very first Stargate movie; I still like SG-1 and Atlantis all the same), Terrans/Star Lords had already affected and influenced Gorthian society. However, feeling that they adversely affected the Gorthians, the Star Lords leave. Kincar is of mixed Gorthian and Star Lord blood. Due to some power struggle, his Gorthian grandfather hands him some Star Lord objects and tells Kincar to leave before he is killed. Kincar escapes and meets up with some Star Lords who happen to be leaving Gorth through a gate. Having passed through the gate, Kincar and the Star Lords (his new friends) find themselves on a different Gorth, a Gorth that came to be based on different decisions that were made in the past. To the Star Lords' dismay, they find that the Star Lords on this Gorth were cruel to the Gorthians. The Star Lords that have just arrived decide to rectify matters for this Gorth and Kincar finds himself a key player in achieving this goal.
Unlike in the Stargate franchise, the gate in Star Gate is not part of a system of gates, but rather it is technology that the Terrans have. Terrans are able to create gates wherever they are so long as they have the means to do so. Norton does not explain how gates are made/formed. This is soft science fiction, and in any case, the main plot of the story is what Kincar and the Star Lords do after they get through the gate.
Again, Norton has written a novel that is enjoyable to read. Excellent writing, good pacing, and of course a quandary for the main character. I should also note that Norton does a wonderful job writing the bird-like Mord creatures. I kind of want one, but it's a fictional creature. Phooey.
September 4, 2017
I was about to open with "This is nothing like the movie Star Gate so don't read it with that in mind" but actually it has one thing in common.
Rather than a story about a space-hopping gate that allows people to walk to other planets, it's an alternate-worlds-hopping gate that lets you walk to a different version of the planet you are on. And, like in Star Gate, the world the main characters go to is one where aliens have set themselves up as local gods and oppressed the population.
Difference here is - the "alien gods" are humans. Yay humans! Heh I mean, it's not stated outright, but there is heavy indication that at least the aliens are MORE like us than the natives they subjugate.
Further twist - the good guy aliens who build the gate and go through it must fight their own alternate-universe selves to free the planet.
It's good, pulpy fun with a strong sword-and-sorcery feel.
Rather than a story about a space-hopping gate that allows people to walk to other planets, it's an alternate-worlds-hopping gate that lets you walk to a different version of the planet you are on. And, like in Star Gate, the world the main characters go to is one where aliens have set themselves up as local gods and oppressed the population.
Difference here is - the "alien gods" are humans. Yay humans! Heh I mean, it's not stated outright, but there is heavy indication that at least the aliens are MORE like us than the natives they subjugate.
Further twist - the good guy aliens who build the gate and go through it must fight their own alternate-universe selves to free the planet.
It's good, pulpy fun with a strong sword-and-sorcery feel.
August 16, 2010
Well, I enjoyed this book. But, I expect more than just pleasure from a science fiction novel. I want something that wows me. This was just an alternate universe thing. The fact that it took place on a different planet wasn't impressive.
The characters(really there was only focus on one) were nothing special.
The plot was basically a coup d'etat, but it took a while to get there.
The characters(really there was only focus on one) were nothing special.
The plot was basically a coup d'etat, but it took a while to get there.
April 19, 2013
This was the book that started my love of Science Fiction. I was 8 years old and it was perhaps a little too mature for me but I remember reading it over and over again and marveling at how real this world I knew wasn't real seemed in my minds eye. Not sure how it would stack up if I read it today, but for the joyful memories it awakens I have to give it 5 out of 5.
September 5, 2017
The first two chapters of this sci-fi novel are almost incomprehensible, but then as learning occurs, this books turns into a grand adventure. The idea of millions of parallel universes is difficult to understand at first, but just go with it. After all space is almost infinite. Highly recommended to science fiction fans.
January 28, 2015
An interesting book though something a little too easily put down for my taste. I do like the concept of the gate and parallel realities and the morality of decisions we make when coming into contact with people that either have less or can do less.
October 19, 2009
My copy of this book is an ex-library copy, and is therefore liberally stamped with the phrase "DISCARD." This is a more accurate and succinct review than I can possibly hope to write on my own.
September 22, 2019
This was a very fun book. I do not usually read older Sci-Fi, and was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this one because of that, but this ended up being a very enjoyable sci-fi/fantasy mash up that I would describe as “silly action-oriented fun.” There is almost no character development whatsoever, and the plot is entirely circumstance driven, but it works in the way classic adventure stories should.
The story centers around Kincar S’rud, a native of the primitive planet Gorth who is driven from his kingdom inheritance by virtue of the fact that he is a half Gorth and half alien--I think the aliens in the book are supposed to be from Earth, but this novel doesn’t go into it much as it wasn’t relevant to the plot. On Gorth, these aliens have nurtured the planet to the best of their ability, but eventually come to the realization that their interference is only going to hold the Gorthians back, and so they have gradually withdrawn from the world. Kincar becomes a traveller with the last group of “Star Lords” as they leave his native realm for another--this novel is based on the “many worlds” hypthothesis, and so they soon find themselves on a different Gorth--one in which the Star Lords are hated and evil. The rest of the book details their fight to defeat the evil “Dark Ones,” as the natives of this new dimension have named them.
The prose is quaint and a bit dated, and there are few female characters who do anything of note, but I enjoyed this story in spite of all of those things. I was also especially fond of the animal characters who accompany Kincar, and the way he treats them. One functions as his mount, and the other, a sort of vicious pterodactly/hawk thing that he uses as a hunter. They share a very symbiotic relationship and towards the end of the novel are hinted at as having their own sort of intelligence--not inferior to that of humans and humanoids, but different and somehow fundamentally incomprehensible.
I’m glad I finally read this one; it was different than I expected it to be, and not the sort of book I usually pick up, but I have a new author to check out now and that’s never a bad thing.
The story centers around Kincar S’rud, a native of the primitive planet Gorth who is driven from his kingdom inheritance by virtue of the fact that he is a half Gorth and half alien--I think the aliens in the book are supposed to be from Earth, but this novel doesn’t go into it much as it wasn’t relevant to the plot. On Gorth, these aliens have nurtured the planet to the best of their ability, but eventually come to the realization that their interference is only going to hold the Gorthians back, and so they have gradually withdrawn from the world. Kincar becomes a traveller with the last group of “Star Lords” as they leave his native realm for another--this novel is based on the “many worlds” hypthothesis, and so they soon find themselves on a different Gorth--one in which the Star Lords are hated and evil. The rest of the book details their fight to defeat the evil “Dark Ones,” as the natives of this new dimension have named them.
The prose is quaint and a bit dated, and there are few female characters who do anything of note, but I enjoyed this story in spite of all of those things. I was also especially fond of the animal characters who accompany Kincar, and the way he treats them. One functions as his mount, and the other, a sort of vicious pterodactly/hawk thing that he uses as a hunter. They share a very symbiotic relationship and towards the end of the novel are hinted at as having their own sort of intelligence--not inferior to that of humans and humanoids, but different and somehow fundamentally incomprehensible.
I’m glad I finally read this one; it was different than I expected it to be, and not the sort of book I usually pick up, but I have a new author to check out now and that’s never a bad thing.
October 25, 2018
A nice, self-contained adventure from Andre (Alice) Norton. She was big on world-building and exploring the societies she created, so the action in this novel is rare and rushed. That's OK, because she gives you a lot of other things to think about: colonialism, religion, alternate worlds, the impact of technology, slavery, and more.
Kincar is your average sci-fi hero, a sword-wielding type who winds up in the company of advanced "Star men." These guys (all guys) stayed behind when their race, which had colonized another planet, realized the damage they'd done to the inhabitants and their potential, and decided to leave.
A Star gate (not the one James Spader took) sends Kincar and his new Star buds to another, alternate "Gorth" (ha ha, not Earth, Gorth!) where the Star men are less enlightened. Adventures ensue, and Kincar proves relatively helpful as the good Star men battle the bad (who are different versions of each individual!).
It's all still a bit paternalistic, as even the good Star men call Kincar "boy" despite his being full grown (though much smaller). And somehow Norton decides to refer to the "bad" Star men as "Dark ones." Perhaps ironically. Either way, the implication is that the good colonizers must get get rid of the bad ones, with very little input from the natives.
Despite all that, it's a good story with some interesting twists, and Norton's usual, hasty conclusion (I suspect she had a hard word count from the publisher).
Star gate is a cut above the usual pulp sci-fi novel, as are most of Norton's works. And I paid $1 for it in Ogden, Utah, so there's that.
Wait! Wait! I almost forgot to mention the best two characters, Kincar's mount (a four-eyed panther horse!) and his flying friend/hunter (a four-legged falcon-vulture!) They are cool, and Norton obviously put a lot of thought into what they are and how they behave. Read it for them, if nothing else.
Kincar is your average sci-fi hero, a sword-wielding type who winds up in the company of advanced "Star men." These guys (all guys) stayed behind when their race, which had colonized another planet, realized the damage they'd done to the inhabitants and their potential, and decided to leave.
A Star gate (not the one James Spader took) sends Kincar and his new Star buds to another, alternate "Gorth" (ha ha, not Earth, Gorth!) where the Star men are less enlightened. Adventures ensue, and Kincar proves relatively helpful as the good Star men battle the bad (who are different versions of each individual!).
It's all still a bit paternalistic, as even the good Star men call Kincar "boy" despite his being full grown (though much smaller). And somehow Norton decides to refer to the "bad" Star men as "Dark ones." Perhaps ironically. Either way, the implication is that the good colonizers must get get rid of the bad ones, with very little input from the natives.
Despite all that, it's a good story with some interesting twists, and Norton's usual, hasty conclusion (I suspect she had a hard word count from the publisher).
Star gate is a cut above the usual pulp sci-fi novel, as are most of Norton's works. And I paid $1 for it in Ogden, Utah, so there's that.
Wait! Wait! I almost forgot to mention the best two characters, Kincar's mount (a four-eyed panther horse!) and his flying friend/hunter (a four-legged falcon-vulture!) They are cool, and Norton obviously put a lot of thought into what they are and how they behave. Read it for them, if nothing else.
April 20, 2020
OK so I forgot to read an Andre Norton from my collection last month, so am planning to do a number this month to make up. First up is this stand-a-lone novel that like Quest Crosstime features time travel-to be specific time travel in parallel universes. Kincar goes from being the heir to a hold on Gorth to the discovery that he is a half blood and his father of an alien race that had arrived and settled on Gorth raising up a primitive native race with their tools and knowledge but now facing that this was an error and the solution is to withdraw from the planet to let the Gorthians develop at their own rate. But a small number of the Star Lords are too tied to the planet, due to family members and other reasons. So they decide to leave another way, by crossing a barrier to an alternate Gorth hoping to find one without a native race where they can settle. Kincar with little choice becomes one with this party but this Gorth too is inhabited, and by more than the native race.
An interesting and well told story--an adventure yes, but also a look at choices, good and bad and their results.
An interesting and well told story--an adventure yes, but also a look at choices, good and bad and their results.
August 12, 2019
Not the best book, but just what I needed at that moment.
Apparently Norton predicted the many worlds hypothesis and this is one of a couple books playing with the idea.
It's written as a fantasy book, in that it's told from the perspective of a character raised as an indigenous alien on a planet that's been visited by benevolent "Star Lords," who may or may not be from Earth originally -- names, technology, and other points of reference are all so vague it is hard to tell. The protagonist's understanding of the world is medieval, with the technology of the Star Lords understood as magic.
There's a lot of exposition, and forced pseudo-epic language of the sort that makes The Lord of the Rings unreadable if you're older than thirteen. (Come at me.)
But it scratched a real itch to read this again.
Apparently Norton predicted the many worlds hypothesis and this is one of a couple books playing with the idea.
It's written as a fantasy book, in that it's told from the perspective of a character raised as an indigenous alien on a planet that's been visited by benevolent "Star Lords," who may or may not be from Earth originally -- names, technology, and other points of reference are all so vague it is hard to tell. The protagonist's understanding of the world is medieval, with the technology of the Star Lords understood as magic.
There's a lot of exposition, and forced pseudo-epic language of the sort that makes The Lord of the Rings unreadable if you're older than thirteen. (Come at me.)
But it scratched a real itch to read this again.
April 25, 2021
This novel uses the multiverse theories as the basis of the tale it wants to tell. Although the title is close to the tv show "Stargate" it has no connection to that story. In a way this story is more science-fantasy like because it deals with different kinds of creatures than humans and has a bit of 'magic' going on in it. Although what makes it science fiction as well is that it is based on the premise that sufficient developed technology is like magic in the eyes of the beholder that doesn't understand how the technology works. Which is exactly what is done in this novel that is seen through the eyes of a half-breed that doesn't understand the technology of the Star Lords. Personally I thought the story could've been better had it been somewhat longer so that Norton could explain some things of her universe better. If I could give half start, it would've gotten 3.5 stars from me.
December 12, 2018
Man, Marvel comics owes Andre Norton a huge debt. That whole "WHAT IF?" idea that they've been milking for years? Norton basically invented it with this book. And SLIDERS. And QUANTUM LEAP. AND MICHAEL MOORCOCK and . . . basically, any book, tv-show or movie where an advanced civilization has a "Star Gate" that allows people who pass through it to visit alternate timelines that split off when major decisions are made. Yep, Norton wrote about it in 1958.
So, as usual, Norton's book is strong on plot. There's a bit more characterization here than in her last few books, but it's mostly all action, all the time.
For some reason, this one took me much longer to get into than most of the other Norton I've read. In fact, I put it down several times to read other books. By the time I got about 1/4 in, though, it clicked better for me and I got through it quickly.
There's a lot of cool ideas here, but it didn't seem to "gel" like some of her earlier books. Still, it's well worth reading.
So, as usual, Norton's book is strong on plot. There's a bit more characterization here than in her last few books, but it's mostly all action, all the time.
For some reason, this one took me much longer to get into than most of the other Norton I've read. In fact, I put it down several times to read other books. By the time I got about 1/4 in, though, it clicked better for me and I got through it quickly.
There's a lot of cool ideas here, but it didn't seem to "gel" like some of her earlier books. Still, it's well worth reading.
May 13, 2021
This is the kind of book that throws you into the middle of an unfamiliar world without any kind of life-jacket, and expects you to swim. Lots of words and ideas given with zero explanation, letting readers figure it out on their own. No handholding whatsoever. It was refreshing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
August 5, 2017
A good late 1950's Sci-Fi story from the Queen of her era.
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