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Voodoo Planet / Star Hunter
STAR HUNTER: Somewhere on the jungle world of Jumala hid a man who mind had been reconditioned with another's brain pattern. There was a fabulous reward out for him - and so began an other-worldly game of hide-and-seek, between a man who did not know his own powers and an interstellar safari that sought something no man had a right to find.
VOODOO PLANET: Dane Thorson of the space trader Solar Queen found himself caught in the middle of a desperate battle of minds - the rational science of the spaceways vs. the hypnotic witchcraft of the mental wizards of Khatka.
VOODOO PLANET: Dane Thorson of the space trader Solar Queen found himself caught in the middle of a desperate battle of minds - the rational science of the spaceways vs. the hypnotic witchcraft of the mental wizards of Khatka.
159 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
3 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
696 books1,387 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 11, 2025
This was some straight action adventure classic SF half Tarzan half Star Wars, “star hunter” had a rushed ending but “voodoo planet” made up for it
January 30, 2017
2 stories. Voodoo Planet involves the Traders series. While waiting for another ship to show up, 3 members of the crew are invited to a planet that makes a living by running hunting tours. There is a problem with a medicine man who is causing an uproar. The crews helps defeat him. Star Hunter involves a man who can no longer pilot a spaceship because of an injury. He works as a guide for the Hunters guild. He comes up with a plan to trap a criminal. The unwitting person he chooses does not react as expected for instead of a memory replacement, he has his own memory. The planet turns out to be very dangerous and they must win out over the planet and defeat the criminal. Enjoyed both.
September 26, 2019
While advertised as two novels, it's really a novella and a short story. Star Hunter is one of the earlier stories that has a down and out youngster as a protagonist. Norton uses this theme more successfully in later full-length novels. The ending is also a bit too neat and tidy.
Voodoo Planet is a fun little short that looks at psychic powers in a fairly realistic fashion with a nasty villain that has the tables turned on him. Both combined are a decent read, they age a bit better than some of their contemporaries.
Voodoo Planet is a fun little short that looks at psychic powers in a fairly realistic fashion with a nasty villain that has the tables turned on him. Both combined are a decent read, they age a bit better than some of their contemporaries.
November 7, 2017
Two Norton science fiction books in one package should really get a 3.5 star rating; 4 for Star Hunter & 3 for Voodoo Planet. In Star Hunter young man is mind-melded to help a gangster run a scam, but of course things don't work out right. Voodoo Planet could have been written by Edgar Rice Burroughs for a space travelin' Tarzan. Really voodoo planet is rather juvenile. But if you like science fiction and Andre Norton I would pick this one up.
February 2, 2018
I used to really like andre Norton - when I was in 6th grade. My first science fiction book ever was "Galactic Derelict", by Norton, and I"ve been hooked ever since.
However, my reading tastes have changed over the decades, and this book is quite dated. I read the first story, 'Star Hunter', and found it so poor that I did not read the second, Voodoo Planet.
Maybe her more recent books are better?
However, my reading tastes have changed over the decades, and this book is quite dated. I read the first story, 'Star Hunter', and found it so poor that I did not read the second, Voodoo Planet.
Maybe her more recent books are better?
October 17, 2020
I don't remember reading this book 50-60 years ago.
I just read the e-book version of Voodoo Planet, not the second novel Star Hunter. I don't know how to correct my mistake in GoodReads.
A planet was settled by Africans and makes money with big game hunters. Some off-planet poachers worked with a voodoo expert to stop the Free Trader protagonists.
I just read the e-book version of Voodoo Planet, not the second novel Star Hunter. I don't know how to correct my mistake in GoodReads.
A planet was settled by Africans and makes money with big game hunters. Some off-planet poachers worked with a voodoo expert to stop the Free Trader protagonists.
November 15, 2025
BRO WTH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT “Darfu??” “Jamala??” “Glowing orbs are attacking you??” I genuinely had no idea wtf was going on but I genuinely wanted to.
Ugh sad to give a woman in a man’s field a 1 but I hate sci-fi so far
DNF at Ch 8
Ugh sad to give a woman in a man’s field a 1 but I hate sci-fi so far
DNF at Ch 8
June 16, 2025
Fun pulp fiction. Both stories a little too short to be of much substance.
4/10
4/10
August 22, 2011
This book collects two of Andre Norton's novellas in one package. Both have to do with planets where safaris are conducted for the pleasure of wealthy offworlders, and both leave the reader wanting more in terms of either explanation or detail.
The first, "Star Hunter" (1961), is the better of the two. In this one, the safari leader on the planet Jumala has cooked up a scheme whereby he can exact revenge on the space syndicate that has done him dirty. His scheme involves planting a young man on the planet with a set of conditioned memories, and passing the young man off as a lost heir. The scheme goes awry when unsuspected native life on the planet rises up and starts setting traps for the safari men. The story certainly moves quickly, and there is no dearth of action and monsters and color. But in the end, there is also no explanation for any of the mysteries we have witnessed--only a vague hinting at best--and this reader was left extremely disappointed. Rather than being left with that "wonder of space" and the mystery-of-the-cosmos feeling that Norton might have been trying to convey, all that most readers will be left with, I feel, is a sense of being gypped.
"Voodoo Planet" (1959), at 62 pages, might not even be considered a novella; more like a long short story. This tale constitutes the third installment of the Dane Thorson/Solar Queen series, and is a rather weak entry in this otherwise terrific bunch of books. Here, Dane, Captain Jellico, and Medic Tau are stranded on Khatka, a planet that had been settled many years ago by Africans after the Second Atomic War. Our boys fight off many alien creatures in the wilds of Khatka--the fight with the rock apes is a highlight of the story--and help conquer the evil witch doctor who is trying to overthrow the legitimate government. Magic is thrown about left and right with only a superficial, mumbo-jumbo explanation of how things are done; something about ancestral memories. When all is said and done, the reader has enjoyed the sequences with the alien monsters but is left shaking his/her head at the implausibility of the magical elements. What might have worked in a tale of the "Witch World" somehow doesn't fly in this tale of hard sci-fi survival.
And let's not even go into how Norton makes up words such as "discordinate," constantly uses the word "turgid" instead of "turbid" (as in "the water was turgid"), and constantly uses expressions such as [the other figure was] "still very still." Her early works certainly did lack polish, but even here, in some of her lesser early work, the Norton flair for telling an exciting tale with color and drive comes through.
The first, "Star Hunter" (1961), is the better of the two. In this one, the safari leader on the planet Jumala has cooked up a scheme whereby he can exact revenge on the space syndicate that has done him dirty. His scheme involves planting a young man on the planet with a set of conditioned memories, and passing the young man off as a lost heir. The scheme goes awry when unsuspected native life on the planet rises up and starts setting traps for the safari men. The story certainly moves quickly, and there is no dearth of action and monsters and color. But in the end, there is also no explanation for any of the mysteries we have witnessed--only a vague hinting at best--and this reader was left extremely disappointed. Rather than being left with that "wonder of space" and the mystery-of-the-cosmos feeling that Norton might have been trying to convey, all that most readers will be left with, I feel, is a sense of being gypped.
"Voodoo Planet" (1959), at 62 pages, might not even be considered a novella; more like a long short story. This tale constitutes the third installment of the Dane Thorson/Solar Queen series, and is a rather weak entry in this otherwise terrific bunch of books. Here, Dane, Captain Jellico, and Medic Tau are stranded on Khatka, a planet that had been settled many years ago by Africans after the Second Atomic War. Our boys fight off many alien creatures in the wilds of Khatka--the fight with the rock apes is a highlight of the story--and help conquer the evil witch doctor who is trying to overthrow the legitimate government. Magic is thrown about left and right with only a superficial, mumbo-jumbo explanation of how things are done; something about ancestral memories. When all is said and done, the reader has enjoyed the sequences with the alien monsters but is left shaking his/her head at the implausibility of the magical elements. What might have worked in a tale of the "Witch World" somehow doesn't fly in this tale of hard sci-fi survival.
And let's not even go into how Norton makes up words such as "discordinate," constantly uses the word "turgid" instead of "turbid" (as in "the water was turgid"), and constantly uses expressions such as [the other figure was] "still very still." Her early works certainly did lack polish, but even here, in some of her lesser early work, the Norton flair for telling an exciting tale with color and drive comes through.
May 1, 2008
Recently I'm buying and reading all the Andre Norton space books written from the 50s to the 70s that I have not read before. They are all written up to her high standards but man, are they stereotypical of their time. All the men are men, the women are non-existent(except as weak side-kicks), and the aliens are nervous. Just kidding. Only not really. I grew up on Andre Norton's Witch World novels and these Solar Queen novels and Voodoo Planet (where the voodoo is never satisfactorily explained) are so different!
In these space westerns (they aren't really westerns but have that flavor) stereotypes abound. The good guys, Terran and X-Tee, are all smart and strong and heroic. I picture them with flinty eyes, strong jaws and squared shoulders. The villainous Veeps are usually either weaselly or grossly fat (think Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet). Sometimes the baddies are TOO goodlooking and charming. I am trying to decide if that is 50s code for "gay."
I am still enjoying them because Andre Norton really did know how to spin a good yarn.
In these space westerns (they aren't really westerns but have that flavor) stereotypes abound. The good guys, Terran and X-Tee, are all smart and strong and heroic. I picture them with flinty eyes, strong jaws and squared shoulders. The villainous Veeps are usually either weaselly or grossly fat (think Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet). Sometimes the baddies are TOO goodlooking and charming. I am trying to decide if that is 50s code for "gay."
I am still enjoying them because Andre Norton really did know how to spin a good yarn.
May 18, 2020
This one I have read multiple times.
Two entertaining novellas.
The first, Voodoo Planet stars a young man named Dane Thorson, who is trying to escape into space, and has to settle for a berth on a Free Trader ship, the "Solar Queen." They are heading for a rim planet, hoping to make money and not limp home a failure. They get entangled in a native's bid for power, and the greed of some nearly undo all.
The second, Star Hunter, tells of two men who are working together in search of knowledge about a strange alien device. The two are not friends, nor even friendly, but have to work together to survive the challenges of the alien worlds.
Neither are particularly engrossing, but mild entertainment.
Two entertaining novellas.
The first, Voodoo Planet stars a young man named Dane Thorson, who is trying to escape into space, and has to settle for a berth on a Free Trader ship, the "Solar Queen." They are heading for a rim planet, hoping to make money and not limp home a failure. They get entangled in a native's bid for power, and the greed of some nearly undo all.
The second, Star Hunter, tells of two men who are working together in search of knowledge about a strange alien device. The two are not friends, nor even friendly, but have to work together to survive the challenges of the alien worlds.
Neither are particularly engrossing, but mild entertainment.
Read
November 17, 2009I'm not reading Star Hunter. I don't think I ever have, but I'm not doing so now, anyway. Voodoo Planet, on the other hand, is the third story in the Solar Queen Series, sandwiched between Plague Ship and Postmarked The Stars. It's not particularly characteristic of the series, but more like Android at Arms and Dread Companion.
June 6, 2011
Skipped Star Hunter as I wanted to read Voodoo Planet. As a sequel to Sargasso of Space and Plague Ship I thought it might be fun. But it was mildly disappointing. Characters were woefully two dimensional and, even for the 1950s, there was more ethnocentrism than I could enjoy. Oh, well At least it was short.
August 8, 2008
Two novellas published together.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews