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Star Hunter
Star Hunter is the thrilling account of an other-worldly game of hide-and-seek between a man who does not know all his own powers -- and an interstellar safari that seeks something no man has a right to find. . . .
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
129 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
696 books1,389 followersAndre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
November 10, 2015
Amazon freebie novella here, about 100 pages, pretty decent if you like classic science fiction and don't mind if it focuses more on action and adventure than introspection.
Ras Hume, a spaceship pilot now sunk to interplanetary hunting safari guide, discovers a long-lost spaceship crashed on an unexplored planet (no survivors) and has a bright idea. He visits a Mafia-type crime lord and proposes a huge scam: take an orphaned and aimless young man, illegally brain-wipe him so he believes he's the shipwrecked heir to a huge fortune, drop him on this empty planet (with some careful preparation so it looks like he's been there for a few years, since the ship crashed), and then "discover" him. Fortunes made! (Okay, DNA testing was about 20 years in the future when this was written, but still, this plan seems like a long shot. And I don't think the story ever explained how exactly getting their young man accepted as a missing heir was going to redound to Hume's and the crime lord's financial benefit. But moving along ...)
So everything goes great with this scheme, until suddenly it doesn't. Their young man isn't as completely brain-wiped as he was supposed to be, and something intelligent, malignant and deadly on the planet has plans of its own.
This was written by Andre Norton in 1961 and it's very much of its time. I was a little surprised that Norton, a woman, made all of the characters in this story men, but again: 1960s SF. I know Alice "Andre" Norton deliberately adopted a masculine-sounding name so her stories would appeal more to boys, and that's who most SF was written for back then. (She once told a reporter that there were only about five women writing SF in the fifties, and ALL of them adopted male pseudonyms--it's what you had to do to succeed in the SF market back then.) It's not a deep or particularly meaningful story, and it doesn't give you all of the answers, but it's kind of a fun retro tale.
Ras Hume, a spaceship pilot now sunk to interplanetary hunting safari guide, discovers a long-lost spaceship crashed on an unexplored planet (no survivors) and has a bright idea. He visits a Mafia-type crime lord and proposes a huge scam: take an orphaned and aimless young man, illegally brain-wipe him so he believes he's the shipwrecked heir to a huge fortune, drop him on this empty planet (with some careful preparation so it looks like he's been there for a few years, since the ship crashed), and then "discover" him. Fortunes made! (Okay, DNA testing was about 20 years in the future when this was written, but still, this plan seems like a long shot. And I don't think the story ever explained how exactly getting their young man accepted as a missing heir was going to redound to Hume's and the crime lord's financial benefit. But moving along ...)
So everything goes great with this scheme, until suddenly it doesn't. Their young man isn't as completely brain-wiped as he was supposed to be, and something intelligent, malignant and deadly on the planet has plans of its own.
This was written by Andre Norton in 1961 and it's very much of its time. I was a little surprised that Norton, a woman, made all of the characters in this story men, but again: 1960s SF. I know Alice "Andre" Norton deliberately adopted a masculine-sounding name so her stories would appeal more to boys, and that's who most SF was written for back then. (She once told a reporter that there were only about five women writing SF in the fifties, and ALL of them adopted male pseudonyms--it's what you had to do to succeed in the SF market back then.) It's not a deep or particularly meaningful story, and it doesn't give you all of the answers, but it's kind of a fun retro tale.
March 10, 2022
Star Hunter was first published in 1961 as half of one of the wonderful Ace Double books, bound back-to-back and opposite in orientation to another Norton novel, The Beast Master. I believe I first read it while in grade school but didn't remember much about it at all, so I enjoyed revisiting by listening to this reading via the fine folks from Librivox. It's a nice old-fashioned adventure involving interstellar pursuit, hunting, and stolen identity. There's not much in the way of character development but it's captivating. The ending is a bit abrupt, probably because of the length limitation imposed by the initial double format, but it's appropriate and it all comes together satisfactorily. Norton was one of the most popular YA authors in the genre long before the phrase was ever invented.
February 15, 2025
A lacklustre Andre Norton science fiction story. Milfors Wass is a very wealthy man with most of his wealth accumulated dishonestly. He is approached by Ras Hume, a one handed planetary explorer and big game hunter, with an intriguing deal. On the planet Jumala Hume had made an unusual find. The wreck of a spaceship's lifeboat, which he identified as coming from a lost ship that had been carrying the owners of the fabulously rich Kogan estate. No survivors from that ship had ever been found. If one could be found, perhaps the young son of the family, Rynch Brodie, the rewards would be financially extensive. And Hume has found the very boy to impersonate Rynch, Vye Lansor, given some modifications to the boy's memory.
Vye is the typical young Norton hero: wily rather than particularly intelligent, wiry rather than athletic and, essentially, parentless. Ideal material to be whipped away for adventures on an alien world. Hume abducts him and hands him over to Wass' henchmen. How Vye has his memory changed and how he is transported to Jumala to wake up as Rynch Brodie is all missing from the narrative. The reader must accept it has all happened without any difficulty. Meanwhile, Hume has taken charge of a group of wealthy gentlemen to take them on safari to Jumala.
He reassures the men that he is confident the planet has been cleared by the authorities as not being the home of any particularly dangerous inhabitants and certainly no intelligent species. Things should go as planned. Find the boy, accidentally, identify him as the missing heir - with independent witnesses available - and get him back to Wass and great riches. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is, almost everything.
Vye's brainwashing doesn't work, and he remembers who he is. It turns out Jumala is teeming with angry and hungry life which resents intruders, and holds the remains of an ancient civilization's formidable defences. Hume and Vye must team up to survive as they wander through Jumala's hostile terrain. It sounds as if it should be an exciting enough scenario. However, it is all too rushed and squeezed into only 96 pages. Very little is really developed and, for anyone familiar with Norton SF stories, they know what is going to happen next - even down to the ending. It is an OK story, but you need to like Andre Norton to like Star Hunter.
Vye is the typical young Norton hero: wily rather than particularly intelligent, wiry rather than athletic and, essentially, parentless. Ideal material to be whipped away for adventures on an alien world. Hume abducts him and hands him over to Wass' henchmen. How Vye has his memory changed and how he is transported to Jumala to wake up as Rynch Brodie is all missing from the narrative. The reader must accept it has all happened without any difficulty. Meanwhile, Hume has taken charge of a group of wealthy gentlemen to take them on safari to Jumala.
He reassures the men that he is confident the planet has been cleared by the authorities as not being the home of any particularly dangerous inhabitants and certainly no intelligent species. Things should go as planned. Find the boy, accidentally, identify him as the missing heir - with independent witnesses available - and get him back to Wass and great riches. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is, almost everything.
Vye's brainwashing doesn't work, and he remembers who he is. It turns out Jumala is teeming with angry and hungry life which resents intruders, and holds the remains of an ancient civilization's formidable defences. Hume and Vye must team up to survive as they wander through Jumala's hostile terrain. It sounds as if it should be an exciting enough scenario. However, it is all too rushed and squeezed into only 96 pages. Very little is really developed and, for anyone familiar with Norton SF stories, they know what is going to happen next - even down to the ending. It is an OK story, but you need to like Andre Norton to like Star Hunter.
August 2, 2016
Ovo je bilo malo iznenađenje, Andre Norton, kakav Andre Norton?
Opet neki pseudoniom wannabe domaćeg autora(ice)???
Ma kakvi, malo Wiki kopanja i ispalo je kako se radi o ženi (Alice Mary Norton, 1912-2005), legendi fantasy i SF literature (prekopajte i sami).
Ovo je iz 1961. i odmah mora biti jasno što treba očekivati - jedan zabavan SF trash/pulp.
I zabavno je bilo ukoliko možete podesiti vremenski preklopnik na "gama cijevi" i "igličaste pištolje"
Kratko i baš simpa za malo starije nostalgičare i pulp ljubitelje.
Veseli prijevod ove ikone žanra, vjerojatno je razlog bio niska cijena prava no opet veseli da upoznamo komadić povijesti.
preporuka
Opet neki pseudoniom wannabe domaćeg autora(ice)???
Ma kakvi, malo Wiki kopanja i ispalo je kako se radi o ženi (Alice Mary Norton, 1912-2005), legendi fantasy i SF literature (prekopajte i sami).
Ovo je iz 1961. i odmah mora biti jasno što treba očekivati - jedan zabavan SF trash/pulp.
I zabavno je bilo ukoliko možete podesiti vremenski preklopnik na "gama cijevi" i "igličaste pištolje"
Kratko i baš simpa za malo starije nostalgičare i pulp ljubitelje.
Veseli prijevod ove ikone žanra, vjerojatno je razlog bio niska cijena prava no opet veseli da upoznamo komadić povijesti.
preporuka
February 19, 2024
Ugh, how to waste a great concept? Take something that should be a great reveal and spell it out at the very beginning. Then, keep reminding us of it every now and then. Give us characters we don't care about, with plenty of headhopping between them, made all the more confusing due to the chaotic structure of the book. Add some senseless conficts that we don't care about and completely uniniteresting aliens. Make the motivations of all the other characters extremely flat. End the thing with a plot twist that isn't bad, but falls flat, since by this point the reader doesn't really care. Voila!
July 17, 2018
Norton always give you a nice SiFi read. quick and easy but interesting. Recommended
October 24, 2017
Great ride, interesting twists and turns keep coming
This is my first Andre Norton book, and I really liked it. A seemingly straight forward partnership launches the tale, Hume wants a little payback, and Wass wants a reasonable, if illegal, profit. As they set their plan in motion, and the story unfolds, all of the characters are reminded of the many perils of new frontiers.
Vye was an intriguing character, as he wrestles with the situation June and Wass' plot places him in. He comes to learn a lot about himself on this adventure, and so much of it is shown beautifully to us as readers. We have the chance to watch him make tough calls, and grow as a character. By the time the book was coming to a close I was hoping Hume and The would have another adventure / book.
This is my first Andre Norton book, and I really liked it. A seemingly straight forward partnership launches the tale, Hume wants a little payback, and Wass wants a reasonable, if illegal, profit. As they set their plan in motion, and the story unfolds, all of the characters are reminded of the many perils of new frontiers.
Vye was an intriguing character, as he wrestles with the situation June and Wass' plot places him in. He comes to learn a lot about himself on this adventure, and so much of it is shown beautifully to us as readers. We have the chance to watch him make tough calls, and grow as a character. By the time the book was coming to a close I was hoping Hume and The would have another adventure / book.
May 3, 2015
(LibriVox Recording) The story line involves an antihero who finds that he has someone's memories as well as his own, an egotistical antagonist, and an antagonist turned friend on an alien world with dangerous fauna. There are some exciting chase sequences but the story falls apart near the end. This is not the best of Andre Norton's stories. The recording is good and made a good companion while on a long drive.
I had read this story in the early 1960's so this was my getting re-acquainted with some light science fiction.
I had read this story in the early 1960's so this was my getting re-acquainted with some light science fiction.
January 22, 2018
I listened to the audiobook of this book published in 1961.
This was an enjoyable book. A disgruntled guild spacer discovered the crash sight of a family who owned billions of credits and property. He approaches a criminal mind to make arrangements to present some older teenager as the lost son to obtain some of those billions.
Jim Roberts, who narrated the book, is not an actor. I'm so accustomed to actors narrating books, that it took a couple of chapters to get used to someone who does straight narration. He does an excellent job, has a nice voice and good cadence.
This book focuses on action. If you are into in depth characterization or cerebral sci fi, this is not the book for you. This is just over novella length, so a short book.
This was an enjoyable book. A disgruntled guild spacer discovered the crash sight of a family who owned billions of credits and property. He approaches a criminal mind to make arrangements to present some older teenager as the lost son to obtain some of those billions.
Jim Roberts, who narrated the book, is not an actor. I'm so accustomed to actors narrating books, that it took a couple of chapters to get used to someone who does straight narration. He does an excellent job, has a nice voice and good cadence.
This book focuses on action. If you are into in depth characterization or cerebral sci fi, this is not the book for you. This is just over novella length, so a short book.
February 25, 2019
It's Andre Norton, so you know what you're getting: exotic adventure, vintage sci-fi, rockets and ray guns. A short paperback (I think it was originally published serially or as part of a two-book paperback) that took about an hour to read. Norton always feels like the quiet master (Mistress?) of the genre, and nothing here challenges that sentiment. Chose to read it because it was a comp from Amazon and I needed to dig on something from my kindle while windstorms knocked the power out (and me, too lazy to find a candle). Great starting point for Norton if you've never read her and you have an affinity for the classics.
December 19, 2018
This was another fun Andre Norton adventure, but I didn't like it quite as much as some of the others. The ending was a little abrupt and could have been hinted at earlier, almost like she hadn't planned to end it that way when she started; that's probably not true, but that's what it felt like to me. The mystery part was interesting, though, and made me want to keep reading. I'd recommend it to a Norton fan, but it's not on my "must read" list.
December 1, 2024
I wanted a light read after my last book, and the blurb on this old sci-fi sounded interesting. It was fast paced and action packed, but wanting in description. I couldn’t picture the aliens in my head from their brief description and was confused half the time by the action. Nothing was adequately described. Also, Vye turned out to be a rather dull main character that did not live up to the promise of the blurb, but rather was pushed about by the plot.
June 27, 2025
An interesting tale. It's an interesting style Andre seems to have. The story is in third person, but we only know what the characters know.
it's not my favorite perspective. To skip time because a character was dazed and come to consciousness with them without actually being in their head is jarring and strange.
Still overall I enjoyed the setting, characters, and plot of the story. so tis a worthwhile read.
it's not my favorite perspective. To skip time because a character was dazed and come to consciousness with them without actually being in their head is jarring and strange.
Still overall I enjoyed the setting, characters, and plot of the story. so tis a worthwhile read.
May 31, 2019
Fraud
A good story with twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Criminals, memory manipulation, hidden agendas, and a young man seeking a better life all come together on a planet containing an alien life that was hidden during the planetary survey.
I fully enjoyed read an Andre Norton book I had missed as a teen reader of her work.
A good story with twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Criminals, memory manipulation, hidden agendas, and a young man seeking a better life all come together on a planet containing an alien life that was hidden during the planetary survey.
I fully enjoyed read an Andre Norton book I had missed as a teen reader of her work.
October 14, 2021
My first SF were Andre Norton books, and I've been re-reading some. But this is one that I don't remember.
It is interesting that one technology that she seems to use a lot is "tapes". Everything's recorded on tapes. Something that is pretty much obsolete already.
I expect people will read Norton for the same reason I do, to see what SF was like in my Golden Age.
It is interesting that one technology that she seems to use a lot is "tapes". Everything's recorded on tapes. Something that is pretty much obsolete already.
I expect people will read Norton for the same reason I do, to see what SF was like in my Golden Age.
March 30, 2019
I'm not big on sci-fi. This story wasn't bad but it wasn't anything great either. It left a lot of questions in its midst. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it nor would I dissuade anyone that wants to read it.
July 13, 2017
Great
One of Norton best even if it is one of her oldest. I enjoyed reading it. Missed this one years ago
One of Norton best even if it is one of her oldest. I enjoyed reading it. Missed this one years ago
December 11, 2017
About 50 pages too long
January 16, 2018
not a bad story.
I still have some trouble understanding some of the terminology seeing as I haven't read a lot of the other works but otherwise a decent book with some mind boggling twists.
I still have some trouble understanding some of the terminology seeing as I haven't read a lot of the other works but otherwise a decent book with some mind boggling twists.
August 5, 2018
Classic, although minor, Andre Norton.
April 5, 2019
Fun, great narrator.
August 16, 2019
Solid worldbuilding, interesting concepts. Dated, but not badly.
September 30, 2019
RECOMMENDED
"Star Hunter" is Classic Science Fiction by Andre Norton
A Master of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. It
is as good today as it was then.
"Star Hunter" is Classic Science Fiction by Andre Norton
A Master of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. It
is as good today as it was then.
November 11, 2019
Very dated and I didn't really care for the characters. The story was interesting, and great planet.
January 14, 2020
Not the best Norton, but still a good story.
September 21, 2020
Possibly a four star if I’d read it. A bit too confusing to begin with and with audio you can’t just flick back to clarify.
June 24, 2021
Star Hunter
A will written Sci-Fi novella 2012
A will written Sci-Fi novella 2012
October 24, 2023
Captivating.
Captivating page tuner. As with all Andre Nortons books you find your self invested in the characters and their lives.
Captivating page tuner. As with all Andre Nortons books you find your self invested in the characters and their lives.
April 16, 2024
One of her weaker novels. The set-up is a bit forced, there's kind of a distraction with making the "bad guy" a main character, and several sci-fi elements aren't as well-described as normal.
July 7, 2025
Quite good. An exciting space adventure.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews