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!