Quite Quotable

“Intelligence resembles insanity only on the stupid.” 

Harry Harrison, The Technicolor Time Machine

Quick Review: Harry Harrison's Starworld

From the back cover: "The stars are afire with rebellion against the tyranny of Earth.  Jan Kulozik, rebel in exile, returns home as a prisoner on a ship bearing a cargo of death.  But Kulozik escapes his captors and ignites the flames of revolt across half a world.  With the aid of Dvora, a lovely but lethal comrade-at-arms, Jan races toward a rendezvous with destiny, and a reckoning with a treacherous double agent who holds the fate of the human race in his hands."

The Return of the RebelI have the belief that the last book in a series, trilogy, or whatever should be better than the first book.  Sadly, this is not true for the last volume in Harry Harrison's To the Stars trilogy.  The first volume introduced us the the dystopian future earth; the second allowed us a view of one of the colony worlds. 

For the protagonist, those book were a preparation for the battle that I expected to happen in this final book.  There was a battle, but for the most part, the plot centered on a "double agent" that stretched the limits of my willingness to disbelieve.  (And Jan's annoying ability to completely forget about his wife and unborn child, who, you'd think, would be the main fuel for his rebellious fire!)  When this element was introduced, it was so outrageous, I figured it had to be a ploy to trap our hero.  But no.  And it was this heavy plot machnination that made my read less enjoyable than the previous entries - not too mention that it undermines the role of the protagonist. 

Overall, I would recommend To the Stars, but not so enthusiastically as I had hoped I would.

Quick Review: Harry Harrison's Wheelworld

Too Dangerous to Live. Too Valuable to Kill.From the back cover: Jan Kulozik is in exile: sentenced to service the machines of Halvmork, the farmworld that grows crops to the the holds of Earth's grain-ships.  This Wheelworld, baked by eternal summer, is a world of peasants enslaved by a handful of powerful families.  The disaster.  One year, the ships do not come; starvation threatens Halvmork.  Jan rallies the people for their own survival, and guides them on a perilous trek across half a planet.  Battling heat and savage creatures, earthquakes and volcanoes, fighting the violence and treachery of the Families, Jan leads the people of Wheelworld to their new destiny.

The first time I read Harry Harrison's Wheelworld, I was in highschool, about twenty-five years ago, and it was the fond memories of this one that spurred me on to finally read the entire To the Stars trilogy.  I remember the image of the great trains making a desperate run from the north pole to the south before the four-year summer cycle began.  Having reread it now, I see there's so much more there to appreciate. 

The great run constitutes the largest part of the action, but the tension of the book is built around the protagonist's clash with the stagnet, ultra-conservative rulers of the human settlement.  When the people's normal cycle of harvesting corn, migrating to the other pole, and delivering the food to ships is disrupted, the ruling class clings to its old ways.  Jan, our hero, realizes this is basically suicide.  They must change or die - new situations call for new actions.  So the power struggle begins.  It is interrupted by the many obstacles and hazards they must face on their trek, but it always re-emerges.  It's also interesting in this volume to see Jan, who was at the top looking down in Homeworld, on the bottom side of things looking up.  If book 1 taught him about the injustice of his world, book 2 is all about preparing him for the battle to come.  More than anything, though, this book reveals the dangers of ignorance.  The ruling families rule by keeping knowledge away from the population, and as the book ends, Jan's battle for freedom begins with education.

I very much look forward to the final volume, Starworld.  As for Wheelworld, I have to give it an extra star, not only for nolstalgia's sake but for also having a more complex and exciting plot than its predecssor.  Wheelworld is available as an ebook at Amazon.

Enjoy!

Quick Review: Harry Harrison's Homeworld

 Trapped Between Two WorldsFrom the back cover:

"Jan Kulozik is one of Earth's privileged elite.  A brilliant engineer, he enjoys all the blessings of a 23rd-century civilization which survived global collapse and conquered the stars.  Then he meets Sara, the beautiful, desirable agent of a rebel underground dedicated to smashing the iron rule of Earth's masters.  She shows him a sordid world he never dreamed existed!  And suddenly Jan has to choose - between slaves and masters.  His choice plunges him into a web of intrigue, assassanition and betrayal that will lead him to death . . . or to the stars."

I liked this book a lot.  It's the first book of the late, great Harry Harrion's To the Stars trilogy.  I read the second book back when I was in high school and only recently decided to read all three parts.

As far as dystopian fiction goes, I don't think there's anything new here. What makes the book, however, is Harrion's writing and characterization. The story moves briskly and smoothly throughout, and I admit, I did not expect the one big thing to happen at the end that happened. The main character is very capable, but not a superman. He is outsmarted by the baddies even when everything seems perfectly planned.

Even more impressive, Harrison is capable of telling his tale in a couple of hundred pages. The entire trilogy combined are not as long as a single volume in the ten book traps writers push off on readers today.

Fortunately, all three books (Homeworld, Wheelworld, and Starworld) have recently been released in ebook format, from Amazon at least.  If you prefer a hard copy, they're not too difficult to find at affordable prices from used online booksellers.

Definitely worth checking out. 

Enjoy!