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Dire Planet #1
Dire Planet
Thrust into the savage Martian past, Garvey Dire must solve the mystery of time in a world of alien monsters and brutal violence or see his own world destroyed by war.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2009
11 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Joel Jenkins
106 books21 followersFormer ghost impersonator, rock vocalist, and now novelist living in the rain-soaked shadows of the Great Northwest.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 19, 2015
I'm always up for a rollicking sword-and-planet story, especially one that isn't a slavish pastiche. There's something wonderful about an author taking the base material as a toolset and making something new with it, adding ideas and removing dross.
Unfortunately, a good chunk of the added material is a parallel story thread in the modern day, after Garvey Dire disappears to ancient Mars, and is sort of a technothriller, with the Americans and the Chinese duking it out for control of Mars. It's a peculiar pairing, and I found myself absorbed by ancient Mars and frustrated by the present day.
The very expectations for the two genres are incompatable. Where I might blindly accept the notion of wing-powered flight or disintegration bombs or instant language-bestowing telepathy for ancient Mars, I quibble and quail at the technological feasibility of controlling nuclear missile satellites from Mars or of secret manned Martian missions in 1998 or background details about the Martian atmosphere--it is carbon dioxide, not nitrogen--and even of completely random details about Earth's political situation .
I wanted to like this much more than I did. I'm still on board for the rest of the series, as long as it has left the modern day well behind.
Unfortunately, a good chunk of the added material is a parallel story thread in the modern day, after Garvey Dire disappears to ancient Mars, and is sort of a technothriller, with the Americans and the Chinese duking it out for control of Mars. It's a peculiar pairing, and I found myself absorbed by ancient Mars and frustrated by the present day.
The very expectations for the two genres are incompatable. Where I might blindly accept the notion of wing-powered flight or disintegration bombs or instant language-bestowing telepathy for ancient Mars, I quibble and quail at the technological feasibility of controlling nuclear missile satellites from Mars or of secret manned Martian missions in 1998 or background details about the Martian atmosphere--it is carbon dioxide, not nitrogen--and even of completely random details about Earth's political situation .
I wanted to like this much more than I did. I'm still on board for the rest of the series, as long as it has left the modern day well behind.
March 6, 2016
Finally! Another sword and planet series to read. Having recently reread ERB's A Princess of Mars, I think I prefer Dire Planet. A wide variety of life forms, and stronger female characters. Although it would have been fun to have had a dog-like Woola around. :)
August 19, 2017
I just love these kind of stories. It's on another planet with swash buckling heroes. One from Earth the other from Mars. What more do you want?Also there's a ghost thrown in for good measure. You can't go wrong.
July 4, 2016
I bought this on a lark and I'm so happy I did! While Jenkins doesn't re-invent the wheel, he brings quality and some inventive twists to the classic pulp novel. Fun, fast-paced and gloriously un-PC! If you love Burroughs, you'll love these books!
The first installment is only 99 cents, so give it a try!
The first installment is only 99 cents, so give it a try!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews