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Sea Siege
After surviving the nuclear holocaust of World War III, the inhabitants of a West Indies island realize they are imperiled both by fall-out and by the sea
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
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248 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
691 books1,396 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 32 reviews
June 23, 2025
A novel that is just one volcano and a sea serpent away from being a great little story. As far as I know it was Andre Norton's only story set during a nuclear holocaust rather than describing life in the post-apocalyptic aftermath and, on the whole, it works very well despite the constraints of a boys' adventure tale.
Young Griff Gunston, a fine name for an American all action teenage hero – he could have been a pal of the Hardy Boys with such a name - is living on a lonely Caribbean island somewhere south of Florida and west of the Bahamas with his marine biologist father and a small scientific team. The island is poor in resources, though the author is confusing over that. At one point it is little more than slabs of coral limestone jutting out of the sea with an old salt works, scrubby dry vegetation, and a British consul keeping the flag flying, and later it has a population of about a thousand men, women and children, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, a herd of cattle, and a mob of scrawny wild pigs. The scientists are investigating strange underwater developments, possibly species mutations brought on by a spate of undersea nuclear weapons testing; the locals are afraid to go out fishing as too many boats have been disappearing along with their crews; and then the body of a sea serpent – or perhaps a prehistoric aquatic creature brought back into existence – is washed up on the beach.
Added to that, Griff starts to notice the unusually large number of octopuses making their homes around the island and is disturbed by what seems to be their intelligent observation of him as he goes scuba diving. As a background to all of this is the news on the radio of the gradual build up in tension between America and the Soviet Union and their allies as peace talks begin to fail. It is what makes the story work: the big world outside is going to war while the little world of San Isidore is facing those hostile and predatory cephalopods.
After a team of American Seabees arrives to build a secret naval base the world erupts leaving the islanders to face a harsh present and a desperate future. They hear news that the war has begun. Cape Town in South Africa suddenly no longer exists. Then the radio stations in the United States and Europe go off air followed by much of the rest of the world. On the island Griff's father is badly injured and flown back to what they hope is still Florida for treatment. The rain of nuclear explosions triggers some kind of tectonic shift in the seabed submerging one part of the island while lifting up another as new dry land. A volcano begins erupting where geologically there should not be a volcano. A great storm sweeps down for days on end and everyone is fearful of fallout. When it all passes and the sun shines once more the islanders must come to terms with the beginning of a new world and the knowledge, which becomes increasingly obvious, that the few humans left are no longer the only intelligent species on the Earth and octopuses really don't like us at all.
As I suggested at the start the volcano is not really necessary and the sea serpents fizzle out a little – they are controlled telepathically by the octopuses but being such large targets guns and grenades effectively deal with them. Waving, coiling tentacles and slithery skeleton-free molluscs with a cunning and devious plan are far more scary. Some may find the author's decision to spell out the local islanders' Caribbean dialogue phonetically a little annoying but the people are shown to be true survivors and genuine heroes who are being pushed into a nightmare made by outsiders. Griff is a boy hero and acts heroically at all times. Sadly there do not appear to be any girls on the island so I suppose he entertains himself when the urge comes upon him – it's either that or the octopuses.
Thankfully there isn't a happy ending. San Isidore is alone and one day soon the army base's food supply will run out and there are always the clouds of nuclear fallout which could blow their way. But then the middle of a nuclear holocaust is hardly the place for optimism. The story probably was never meant to have a sequel. If it does then Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D comes closest, in which the world of humankind is rising again and one can guess from their absence that San Isidore and crafty octopuses did not survive.
Young Griff Gunston, a fine name for an American all action teenage hero – he could have been a pal of the Hardy Boys with such a name - is living on a lonely Caribbean island somewhere south of Florida and west of the Bahamas with his marine biologist father and a small scientific team. The island is poor in resources, though the author is confusing over that. At one point it is little more than slabs of coral limestone jutting out of the sea with an old salt works, scrubby dry vegetation, and a British consul keeping the flag flying, and later it has a population of about a thousand men, women and children, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, a herd of cattle, and a mob of scrawny wild pigs. The scientists are investigating strange underwater developments, possibly species mutations brought on by a spate of undersea nuclear weapons testing; the locals are afraid to go out fishing as too many boats have been disappearing along with their crews; and then the body of a sea serpent – or perhaps a prehistoric aquatic creature brought back into existence – is washed up on the beach.
Added to that, Griff starts to notice the unusually large number of octopuses making their homes around the island and is disturbed by what seems to be their intelligent observation of him as he goes scuba diving. As a background to all of this is the news on the radio of the gradual build up in tension between America and the Soviet Union and their allies as peace talks begin to fail. It is what makes the story work: the big world outside is going to war while the little world of San Isidore is facing those hostile and predatory cephalopods.
After a team of American Seabees arrives to build a secret naval base the world erupts leaving the islanders to face a harsh present and a desperate future. They hear news that the war has begun. Cape Town in South Africa suddenly no longer exists. Then the radio stations in the United States and Europe go off air followed by much of the rest of the world. On the island Griff's father is badly injured and flown back to what they hope is still Florida for treatment. The rain of nuclear explosions triggers some kind of tectonic shift in the seabed submerging one part of the island while lifting up another as new dry land. A volcano begins erupting where geologically there should not be a volcano. A great storm sweeps down for days on end and everyone is fearful of fallout. When it all passes and the sun shines once more the islanders must come to terms with the beginning of a new world and the knowledge, which becomes increasingly obvious, that the few humans left are no longer the only intelligent species on the Earth and octopuses really don't like us at all.
As I suggested at the start the volcano is not really necessary and the sea serpents fizzle out a little – they are controlled telepathically by the octopuses but being such large targets guns and grenades effectively deal with them. Waving, coiling tentacles and slithery skeleton-free molluscs with a cunning and devious plan are far more scary. Some may find the author's decision to spell out the local islanders' Caribbean dialogue phonetically a little annoying but the people are shown to be true survivors and genuine heroes who are being pushed into a nightmare made by outsiders. Griff is a boy hero and acts heroically at all times. Sadly there do not appear to be any girls on the island so I suppose he entertains himself when the urge comes upon him – it's either that or the octopuses.
Thankfully there isn't a happy ending. San Isidore is alone and one day soon the army base's food supply will run out and there are always the clouds of nuclear fallout which could blow their way. But then the middle of a nuclear holocaust is hardly the place for optimism. The story probably was never meant to have a sequel. If it does then Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D comes closest, in which the world of humankind is rising again and one can guess from their absence that San Isidore and crafty octopuses did not survive.
October 15, 2021
I first read this when I was in junior high (that surely dates me!) and I was really creeped out. Sea monsters, nuclear mutations, the horrors that live in the deep, and, especially, that baby octopus with "intelligent" eyes! Yech! Despite the cool modern reviews of SEA SIEGE, I enjoyed it the second time decades later, finding it amazingly modern and just as creepy. Forget JAWS, read SEA SIEGE.
October 9, 2009
This was a nice little adventure from Norton that mixed several genres. Diving/Caribbean stories were very popular in the mid-twentieth century. Hence, the popularity of Flipper, the Bond books and movies that always had some bit of the Caribbean in them, and even those LLoyd Bridges movies with spear-guns behind every coral reef. Sea Siege takes some of that, mixed with the obligatory Island Voodoo, and ramps up the story with that other mid-century obsession--Nuclear War and Radiation-infused mutant wildlife. In this case, Octopi are the altered beings, with honest-to-goodness Sea Serpents thrown in for wonderful over-the-top thrills. Sure, Norton is seen primarily as a young adult fiction author, but I enjoyed it a great deal, and I am no young adult. But this does have a nostalgic element that certainly swayed my interest. And that's a good thing. I could picture most of this as a low-budget black and white drive-in movie, though at times I liked to imagine it in that new and amazing Technicolor!
January 1, 2026
Oceanic, Marine science fiction! My favourite flavour.
This was a fantastic adventure story and in many ways quite unlike what one might expect from Andre Norton who is often thought of one of the early, formative female writers in classic science fiction and fantasy.
We start with Griff a young man just out of (school? uni?) and has gone out to join his scientist/marine biology father on a remote Atlantic island. Caribbean vibes but very isolated. Poor Griff is forced to hang around scuba diving filming underwater, hanging out with the locals in the inter-island sailing boats, while pining to return to America and join the air force academy.
Griff's father doe not seem to want him to and that might have something to do with the very mildly described international political tensions. There are vague mentions of ineffectual 'peace talks' but far more vivid and exciting descriptions of diving with octopus and night dives and scuba (aqualung) diving on tropical reefs.
That is the first part of the book and I loved it! Pure fiction adventure.
Then, the second part of the book starts; it is unapologetically apocalyptic, a volcano emerges off shore, boats go missing, chaos and alarms. As floods envelope the only town on the island Griff looks back and can't believe his eyes... he thought he saw huge octopus riding into the flooding town on the backs of massive sea serpents....
But that vision is wiped from his attention as he reaches the governors house and finds out the two way reported wide scale bombing before going completely silent. Has the rest of the world been hit with nuclear bombs? Does humanity even still exist?
Next is an exciting trip across the island to the US navy base (seebees?) on the other side of the island without going near the sea, which has now become instantly and terrifyingly fatal to approach.
Again, excellent adventure novel - with Russian Submarines, terrors from the deep and an ongoing exciting story that I absolutly loved. Is this book perfect? Far from it, there are inconsistencies in characters, writing and narratives that will put many people off. It is not character rich and the writing could be considered dry by younger, modern readers. The end is absolutly abrupt and just.... stops...
Despite the flaws, this was one of my top reads in the last few months for the fantasic adventure element and the marine connection.
Very atypical Norton, but I loved it.
This was a fantastic adventure story and in many ways quite unlike what one might expect from Andre Norton who is often thought of one of the early, formative female writers in classic science fiction and fantasy.
We start with Griff a young man just out of (school? uni?) and has gone out to join his scientist/marine biology father on a remote Atlantic island. Caribbean vibes but very isolated. Poor Griff is forced to hang around scuba diving filming underwater, hanging out with the locals in the inter-island sailing boats, while pining to return to America and join the air force academy.
Griff's father doe not seem to want him to and that might have something to do with the very mildly described international political tensions. There are vague mentions of ineffectual 'peace talks' but far more vivid and exciting descriptions of diving with octopus and night dives and scuba (aqualung) diving on tropical reefs.
That is the first part of the book and I loved it! Pure fiction adventure.
Then, the second part of the book starts; it is unapologetically apocalyptic, a volcano emerges off shore, boats go missing, chaos and alarms. As floods envelope the only town on the island Griff looks back and can't believe his eyes... he thought he saw huge octopus riding into the flooding town on the backs of massive sea serpents....
But that vision is wiped from his attention as he reaches the governors house and finds out the two way reported wide scale bombing before going completely silent. Has the rest of the world been hit with nuclear bombs? Does humanity even still exist?
Next is an exciting trip across the island to the US navy base (seebees?) on the other side of the island without going near the sea, which has now become instantly and terrifyingly fatal to approach.
Again, excellent adventure novel - with Russian Submarines, terrors from the deep and an ongoing exciting story that I absolutly loved. Is this book perfect? Far from it, there are inconsistencies in characters, writing and narratives that will put many people off. It is not character rich and the writing could be considered dry by younger, modern readers. The end is absolutly abrupt and just.... stops...
Despite the flaws, this was one of my top reads in the last few months for the fantasic adventure element and the marine connection.
Very atypical Norton, but I loved it.
February 27, 2012
Sea Siege is divided into two halves, which makes the book somewhat disjointed. The first deals with Griff Gunston, son of a scientist who’s relocated to San Isadore in the West Indies to study aquatic wildlife. Griff wants to be a jet pilot; his dad refuses to let him leave the island because he’s immature (or something). There’s a strange plague of radioactive red algae that’s killing lots of fish, and Dr. Dad is busy working on that. Set 20-25 years after World War II, there’s a Red Menace subplot about a mysterious Soviet submarine, boat disappearances and missing crews, and footnotes about the sorry state of world affairs.
Most of this half involves Griff wandering around, introducing us to the island’s inhabitants (with more than a little casual racism thrown in, thank you 1950s). He also goes exploring, and finds a group of nearby octopi, and bumps into a group of Navy Seabees who showed up to start construction of a naval base. Not a whole lot happens but setup, and the most “science fiction” is when the Seabees use robots in their construction duties. (We all know how pervasive Combat Construction Robots were in the ’70s.) I know there was a big boom in scuba diving, nautical research and the Caribbean at the time, but I’m not sure the novel uses this to its full potential.
The second half picks up the pace: the world is blown up in a fiery apocalypse, causing great upheaval, volcanoes and earthquakes and changing landmasses. It’s also when the sea monsters show up, but we never get a good look at one: it’s always “resembling the sea serpents of yore” or “it was like an octopus, but smarter.” Herein lies the rub: by dividing the book in half, there’s a distinct difference between the halves. Most of the characters we met in the first half are gone, which eliminates some of the plots we’d been following. Instead, things focus on survival: collecting refugees and fighting back the strange new sea creatures which emerge.
Sea Siege is a book suffering from severe balance issues. It has a lot of interesting plot threads, which are undeveloped. At one point I had the realization that since the book was almost over, the plots weren’t going to work themselves out. Norton doesn’t do anything to make the book stick out… a shame, because any novel about post-apocalyptic Cold War sea monsters should stick out damn well. While it’s not a bad adventure tale, Sea Siege isn’t something to go out of your way for. It’s fun for its unique scuba diving sea monster Cold War apocalypse blend, but it isn’t overly impressive. The writing is good, the ideas are slick, but the end result isn’t tied together very well.
(Full review found here.)
Most of this half involves Griff wandering around, introducing us to the island’s inhabitants (with more than a little casual racism thrown in, thank you 1950s). He also goes exploring, and finds a group of nearby octopi, and bumps into a group of Navy Seabees who showed up to start construction of a naval base. Not a whole lot happens but setup, and the most “science fiction” is when the Seabees use robots in their construction duties. (We all know how pervasive Combat Construction Robots were in the ’70s.) I know there was a big boom in scuba diving, nautical research and the Caribbean at the time, but I’m not sure the novel uses this to its full potential.
The second half picks up the pace: the world is blown up in a fiery apocalypse, causing great upheaval, volcanoes and earthquakes and changing landmasses. It’s also when the sea monsters show up, but we never get a good look at one: it’s always “resembling the sea serpents of yore” or “it was like an octopus, but smarter.” Herein lies the rub: by dividing the book in half, there’s a distinct difference between the halves. Most of the characters we met in the first half are gone, which eliminates some of the plots we’d been following. Instead, things focus on survival: collecting refugees and fighting back the strange new sea creatures which emerge.
Sea Siege is a book suffering from severe balance issues. It has a lot of interesting plot threads, which are undeveloped. At one point I had the realization that since the book was almost over, the plots weren’t going to work themselves out. Norton doesn’t do anything to make the book stick out… a shame, because any novel about post-apocalyptic Cold War sea monsters should stick out damn well. While it’s not a bad adventure tale, Sea Siege isn’t something to go out of your way for. It’s fun for its unique scuba diving sea monster Cold War apocalypse blend, but it isn’t overly impressive. The writing is good, the ideas are slick, but the end result isn’t tied together very well.
(Full review found here.)
June 13, 2023
A very involving read for a short length novel published in 1957. Andre Norton is a very literate writer of Sf, and always offers up an engaging thoughtful read while keeping the action stirring. This novel engages bio-sea horror, mutant sea creatures, all amidst the serious concern of the era of atomic weaponry, and of its fall out recupercussions.
Somewhat drawn out at times, but an engaging and still very relevant story for our times.
Somewhat drawn out at times, but an engaging and still very relevant story for our times.
September 3, 2015
One of my early favorite science fiction authors. Sea monsters try to take over the Earth after the nuclear war.
July 20, 2020
I literally found this book in a box in the attic. Old favorites I had saved from way back. Quite honestly I could not remember anything about it, but since it had gone into the limited space of the "must read again someday" box I felt I had to read it again.
The cover promised a post-apolcalyptic novel with a seagoing-storyline, something different than the typical Mad-Max wastelanders in their dune buggys. But by the time I was 100 pags in of the 200 page book and no war yet, it was apparent that this was going in a different direction than I had expected.
Grif Gunston is a pretty typical teenager. He dreams of joining the Air Force and flying fighter jets. He swims and fishes in the waters of the boring sleepy little island he is stuck on while his scientist father researches fish. The only excitement came when the Navy showed up on the opposite side of the island and started building a base.
It wasn't until a strange giant fish washed up on the beach that things started happening and when war finally did come it was far away and disconnected, of much less importance than what was happening locally as the sea-menace started showing up.
Without much to do, Grif is mostly an observer of all the events but as the Navy sets off to search for missing ships, Grif finally gets the chance to prove himself to both them and himself
But, despite all that, its pretty good. Makes a quick read, not a lot of tech-heavy dialog which helps it to keep from being outdated. I am glad I (re)read it but I don't think I will put it back in the box.
The cover promised a post-apolcalyptic novel with a seagoing-storyline, something different than the typical Mad-Max wastelanders in their dune buggys. But by the time I was 100 pags in of the 200 page book and no war yet, it was apparent that this was going in a different direction than I had expected.
Grif Gunston is a pretty typical teenager. He dreams of joining the Air Force and flying fighter jets. He swims and fishes in the waters of the boring sleepy little island he is stuck on while his scientist father researches fish. The only excitement came when the Navy showed up on the opposite side of the island and started building a base.
It wasn't until a strange giant fish washed up on the beach that things started happening and when war finally did come it was far away and disconnected, of much less importance than what was happening locally as the sea-menace started showing up.
Without much to do, Grif is mostly an observer of all the events but as the Navy sets off to search for missing ships, Grif finally gets the chance to prove himself to both them and himself
But, despite all that, its pretty good. Makes a quick read, not a lot of tech-heavy dialog which helps it to keep from being outdated. I am glad I (re)read it but I don't think I will put it back in the box.
September 22, 2017
Published in 1957, this is the first of Norton's books to feature a setting that is fairly contemporary. Previous novels have always been in the distant past (her historical novels, obviously) or far flung future (the fantasy and sci-fi novels, again, obviously.) Here, the date seems to be only decades in the future, and the only "sci-fi" element seems to be working atomic power.
SEA SIEGE starts as a fast-moving adventure book, featuring diving accidents and close calls, then slowly moves into "sci-fi" territory and strange things begin to creep from the depths. (I don't think that's a spoiler -- it's in the title.) The second half of the book moves more into "sci-fi" territory, but to say too much more would spoil the plot.
I thought the book lost some steam in the second half, largely because I thought Norton's adventure-packed first half was so strong. She also dips a bit into some Lovecraftian prose at times, which is fun to read because it's so different from her usual prose.
A bit of an oddity in the Norton canon, but very worth seeking out.
SEA SIEGE starts as a fast-moving adventure book, featuring diving accidents and close calls, then slowly moves into "sci-fi" territory and strange things begin to creep from the depths. (I don't think that's a spoiler -- it's in the title.) The second half of the book moves more into "sci-fi" territory, but to say too much more would spoil the plot.
I thought the book lost some steam in the second half, largely because I thought Norton's adventure-packed first half was so strong. She also dips a bit into some Lovecraftian prose at times, which is fun to read because it's so different from her usual prose.
A bit of an oddity in the Norton canon, but very worth seeking out.
November 1, 2017
This is the story of a young college graduate named Griffith Gunston, son of a world renown scientist sent to a remote island to study why a red algae is destroying the coral reef, and the fishing. While there strange creatures from the sea are found, and then the a major atomic war takes place, which cuts them off from all communication with the rest of the world. Are they the only living humans left on earth? Now the sea creatures attack mankind, guided by large intelligent octopi, and a prehistoric long necked creature they ride to the attacks on the remaining human population. This is about Griffith's survival, along with a select group of others in the last days of earth.
December 5, 2012
In Sea Siege, we are introduced to a group of scientists, busy trying to create a military outpost in the middle of the oceans, and then the book breaks to a completely different view. This break makes for an unbalanced book, which is difficult to read. It does have several interesting plot threads, some of which were picked up in later books, but this book just does not have the completeness and smooth endings familiar to many readers of Andre Norton.
May 11, 2019
Bit of a disappointment. I kept waiting for it to get going, and then it just stopped, practically in the middle of a conversation. No resolutions or explanations. An odd one. It leaves every plot thread unresolved, including what is going on and who’s doing it. What happened to the guy’s dad? What was the secret base for? What’s up with the octopi? Has the entire world really been destroyed? We’ll never know!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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October 16, 2009This book was fantastic, as Andre Norton always does make her books fantastic. But this one was even cooler because it had earth people in it, and it was on earth, not to mention all the cool water stuff.I definitely recommend this boook.
December 24, 2007
read 08.22.84
July 26, 2010
A solid entry from Norton. Lots of action and adventure and her trademark eerie and exotic environments.
December 16, 2017
Islanders deal with nuclear catastrophe,giant ocean beasts.
December 12, 2017
In a word - meh.
September 24, 2019
Page Turner.
i was 10 years old when this title was published. need I say I am older than that now. Old Man by Neil Young comes to mind.
Andre Norton you are missed.
i was 10 years old when this title was published. need I say I am older than that now. Old Man by Neil Young comes to mind.
Andre Norton you are missed.
March 30, 2021
For a book about sea monsters, there wasn’t a lot of sea monsters. Still nice though!
February 2, 2026
For those of you who have never read Andre Norton - she was a master storyteller. She wrote everything from Science Fiction through Fantasy to history and espionage! Writing from the 1950's through 2000, her books are always exciting and well-written! Sea Siege is the story of a young, restless man who was suddenly faced with life in a catastrophic, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic world. I really liked this book when I first read it 60 some years ago, and I liked it again when I read it just now !!
November 8, 2023
More sociologically and politically complex than most of her Cold War novels. Superior landscape writing. Racist in parts ("You must understand, they are a simple people etc".), but even the minor characters are, for Norton, unusually well-drawn. Overall, there was a better novel lurking in this, spoiled by some of her usual tropes, as if she wanted to transcend her usual genre stuff, but just couldn't figure out how, or didn't want to alarm her editors. Still, very much worth reading.
August 27, 2025
A book with too many ideas, the biggest of which buries the others, the result being a story that feels like it wasn't about anything at all. This could have been a great read had it stuck to mystery/horror threads it launches with instead of the nuclear apocalypse it finishes with. And the ending felt like Norton just gave up. Shame, I loved the first half of the book.
July 11, 2022
Sea Siege
What do you do when you are an American teenage boy stranded on a native island when intelligent, possibly sentient, cephalopods start hunting fishermen? Grow up and survive!
What do you do when you are an American teenage boy stranded on a native island when intelligent, possibly sentient, cephalopods start hunting fishermen? Grow up and survive!
June 5, 2025
An early entry in Andre Norton's sci-fi fantasy novels. It still holds up fairly well. Aimed at the young readers (12-15) it is enjoyable to adults who are tired of convoluted plots. It's more an action and coming of age story. Definitely echoes themes of pollution leading to the destruction of nature, cold war paranoia crossed with nuclear war threats and a touch of scientific vs native use of nature's bounty approach to solve the crisis. All packed into a single story.
February 9, 2026
Still interesting
I first read this book in high school, I think. It's been so long ago I can't really remember when it was. But I remember the story, especially the octopi. It's a little outdated but the main theme still holds up. I recommend it to any sci ft fan.
I first read this book in high school, I think. It's been so long ago I can't really remember when it was. But I remember the story, especially the octopi. It's a little outdated but the main theme still holds up. I recommend it to any sci ft fan.
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June 7, 2021Full review: https://monsterbookclub.com/2021/06/0...
August 10, 2021
3.5 Will review at Fantasy Literature.
January 27, 2022
A post-apocalyptic Carribean monster novel that ends too soon. Too many unanswered questions leave me hanging! A novel from the 50s which is intriguing, and well-written.
October 27, 2025
My second foray into the work of "Andre" Norton. It wasn't as bad as "Secret of the Lost Race," but that isn't saying much. It's an odd mix of marine biology, voodoo, and nuclear war. Set on the (fictional?) island of San Isadore, it portrays an imagined 1970 (published in 1957). The book ends without any answers to the questions it raises. It isn't very long (189 pages). But by the end, I felt the equivalent fatigue of having read through an entire phone book.
I've concluded that she simply did not possess a gift for writing. There's no question that she was prolific, but quantity does not equal quality. Her writing has no flow to it. The necessary words are present (usually), but they're arranged haphazardly. An author should paint the scene in a reader's mind. Instead, Ms. Norton gives us a child's scribbled crayon drawing, and we can only guess what it represents.
Here's whatever this is supposed to be:
"This wasn't true, Griff assured himself. Nightmare! It had to be a nightmare! That—that thing wallowing down the streaming road, the water curling before it as it came—was nothing for any sane world to spawn. Lightning ripped across the sky, a jagged purple sword. And a monstrous head swung; fanged jaws opened and—closed! A ragged scarecrow thing mewled and squirmed and hung limp between those jaws, as the dark came down once more." Like I said, a child's scribbled crayon drawing.
Just as in "Secret of the Lost Race," I didn't know one character from another (except for the protagonist and, by extension, his father). I find the general absence of female characters in Norton's books unsettling (around two appear, but only in the capacity of extras).
...
She offers no respite from the gratuitous alliteration in this one (not even the title was spared). Here's only the tiniest taste of the aforementioned alliteration:
"full fishing fleet"
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"They stole the skull of the sea serpent."
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"The sight of the stranded crawler on the cliff..."
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"Strewn along the strand after the storm..."
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"A smothered noise... It sounded suspiciously like a snort."
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"... greenish glow gathered..."
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And my "favorite":
"... the fire at their feet. But the flames died before dawn... and the waves brought in the bodies... —lying limp for the tearing claws of the shore crabs, who were not as nice as the birds had been and devoured the dead eagerly."
...
She overuses various words like "lurk," "gloom," "murk," "aloft," etc. The word "crevice," while relevant to the story, is needlessly repeated at least fifteen times. She also used "itself" too much. Surprisingly, there are only two instances of "[Insert character] wanted to know" after a question is asked. I noticed she made heavy use of "now and then/again" in her writing, but it doesn't offend me as much as "here and there."
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Uses of "here and there": 5
...
Typos:
"But whey they were attacked..." (when)
-
"insead" (instead)
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"... the tart scent of stewed tomatores..." (Ha ha ha... tomatoes...)
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On one occasion, "then" is used in place of "than."
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4/10
I've concluded that she simply did not possess a gift for writing. There's no question that she was prolific, but quantity does not equal quality. Her writing has no flow to it. The necessary words are present (usually), but they're arranged haphazardly. An author should paint the scene in a reader's mind. Instead, Ms. Norton gives us a child's scribbled crayon drawing, and we can only guess what it represents.
Here's whatever this is supposed to be:
"This wasn't true, Griff assured himself. Nightmare! It had to be a nightmare! That—that thing wallowing down the streaming road, the water curling before it as it came—was nothing for any sane world to spawn. Lightning ripped across the sky, a jagged purple sword. And a monstrous head swung; fanged jaws opened and—closed! A ragged scarecrow thing mewled and squirmed and hung limp between those jaws, as the dark came down once more." Like I said, a child's scribbled crayon drawing.
Just as in "Secret of the Lost Race," I didn't know one character from another (except for the protagonist and, by extension, his father). I find the general absence of female characters in Norton's books unsettling (around two appear, but only in the capacity of extras).
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She offers no respite from the gratuitous alliteration in this one (not even the title was spared). Here's only the tiniest taste of the aforementioned alliteration:
"full fishing fleet"
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"They stole the skull of the sea serpent."
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"The sight of the stranded crawler on the cliff..."
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"Strewn along the strand after the storm..."
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"A smothered noise... It sounded suspiciously like a snort."
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"... greenish glow gathered..."
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And my "favorite":
"... the fire at their feet. But the flames died before dawn... and the waves brought in the bodies... —lying limp for the tearing claws of the shore crabs, who were not as nice as the birds had been and devoured the dead eagerly."
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She overuses various words like "lurk," "gloom," "murk," "aloft," etc. The word "crevice," while relevant to the story, is needlessly repeated at least fifteen times. She also used "itself" too much. Surprisingly, there are only two instances of "[Insert character] wanted to know" after a question is asked. I noticed she made heavy use of "now and then/again" in her writing, but it doesn't offend me as much as "here and there."
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Uses of "here and there": 5
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Typos:
"But whey they were attacked..." (when)
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"insead" (instead)
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"... the tart scent of stewed tomatores..." (Ha ha ha... tomatoes...)
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On one occasion, "then" is used in place of "than."
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4/10
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