Space Prison, the Survivors (the Science Fiction Thriller Classic!)

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Space Prison, the Survivors (Ragnarok #1)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 218 ratings · 44 reviews

The science fiction novel by author Tom Godwin was first published in 1958 under the title The Survivors. It was later published in 1960 under the title Space Prison. The novel is an expansion of Godwin's story "Too Soon to Die" which first appeared in the magazine Venture.A ship heading from Earth to Athena, a planet 500 light years away, is suddenly attacked by the Gerns...more

Paperback, 162 pages

Published February 2nd 2011 by Indoeuropeanpublishing.com (first published 1958)

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Sep 10, 2011 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tom Godwin's "Space Prison" (originally named "The Survivors") was an enjoyable read, but far from a masterpiece. As said before by many others, it is almost impossible to come to like any of the characters. They show up for a chapter or two, then quickly die off, replaced by their descendants. I understand that Godwin couldn't focus too much on characters, as he is writing over a span of two hundred years, but a character who gets more than a few paragraphs would have been nice.
The idea of a...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Troy G rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Amazon recommend this book to me, and I'm glad they did. I make a habit of skipping sci fi books published before 1990, but I've been on a colonizationg kick ever since I read "The Last Colony" by John Scalzi.

A bunch of colonists get dumped off on a fairly hostile planet with no technology, and have to survive with what they can find and make there.

This book still works because it depends little on advanced technology that seems quaint / rediculous to me. Most of the technology is on the level...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Jason Mills rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: SF completists, paranoid survivalists

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

Tom Godwin's place in SF history is secured by his classic short story, The Cold Equations, in which human concerns batter uselessly against an indifferent universe; so I was intrigued to find out what he could achieve at greater length. Alas, not much.

A human colonising spaceship is captured by the evil Gerns, who dump the unwanted half of the colonists on a hostile planet called Ragnarok, expecting them to die. Indeed, most of them do, falling prey to the local fauna, climate and diseases, as...more Tom Godwin's place in SF history is secured by his classic short story, The Cold Equations, in which human concerns batter uselessly against an indifferent universe; so I was intrigued to find out what he could achieve at greater length. Alas, not much.

A human colonising spaceship is captured by the evil Gerns, who dump the unwanted half of the colonists on a hostile planet called Ragnarok, expecting them to die. Indeed, most of them do, falling prey to the local fauna, climate and diseases, as well as the strain of the 1.5g gravity. However, some few survive (the novel's original and better title was The Survivors) and arrange that their descendants will not forget the wrong done to them by the Gerns. Then ensues a couple of centuries of harsh adaptation and scheming for revenge.

Meh. This mundane and linear plot might have been enlivened by a colourfully imagined setting and engaging characters; but neither is present. The fauna seem entirely unexotic (there are goat-analogs that even provide milk, for heaven's sake!) and the planet, despite its extreme climatic swings, sounds boringly Earth-like. Even the Gerns are just humans with no sense of humour, spluttering and fuming like badly-written Bond villains: give me Vogons any day.

However, it's the characterisation that really lets the book down. Peter Hamilton would have gotten a thousand pages out of this story, no bother, and peopled it with vibrant characters; but Godwin (writing, to be fair, in 1958, long before the age of the blockbuster) tries to tell his 200-year epic in 160 pages, and it ends up feeling more like a synopsis than a novel. 'Characters' flash past, lucky to be granted a first name, let alone a motivation. We're given no time to get to know or care about anyone, and their single-minded vengeful bloodlust is not attractive to the modern eye even when it's well conveyed. Probably the best-developed character is a talkative chipmunk, who, like everyone else, dies within a few pages.

Worse still, the sexual politics are anything but futuristic. There are barely any women in this book, and what heroism they are permitted is almost entirely confined to the domain of motherhood. After two centuries of shared pioneer survival, the "women and children" are still sent to hide when the enemy shows up. In this respect, the book tells us more about the past than the future!

On top of all this - and prose that is plain, bordering on clumsy - there is some wildly implausible plotting. For example, a great deal of effort is spent (by colonists and author) on building an electric smelter to extract aluminium to make wire to build a generator to power a hyperspace transmitter. But no explanation is offered as to what was used for wire in the smaller generator built to power the smelter! And whilst the humans advance from zero-tech to hi-tech over ten generations, the Gerns have not so much as changed the internal layout of their spaceships!

I think Godwin intended this story to be an optimistic portrayal of the human spirit grasping opportunities and overcoming adversity; but to me it seemed like a bunch of dogmatic psychotics blindly pursuing their ancestors' outdated agenda, engaging in torture and hinting at genocide to come. I was kinda hoping they'd fail. Instead, the book does.(less)

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Feb 08, 2011 Larry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Crushing gravity. Thin air. Winters of unimaginable cold Searing summers under two suns. A deadly wasteland teeming with monsters and killing fever. That was Ragnarok, the most dreaded planet yet discovered. And Ragnarok was where a thousand untrained Earthmen -- and women and children -- were brutally marooned by a sadistic enemy. Two hundred died the first night. ...moreCrushing gravity. Thin air. Winters of unimaginable cold Searing summers under two suns. A deadly wasteland teeming with mons...more

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Aug 09, 2012 J. Tumlinson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those rare books that falls into the category of "unknown but pivotal." Many of the authors, comic book writers, and screenplay writers I love have cited this book as influential on their work. I have a sneaky suspicion that a certain Mr. Roddenberry might have read it at some point, along with the screenwriter for "Wrath of Khan."

At about 50 years old, this book actually holds up incredibly well as science fiction. The story doesn't rely too heavily on technology, which helps. I...more

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Jun 12, 2010 Saintseester rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This odd, little novel was one of those recommended-for-you suggestions that Amazon randomly comes up with. I don’t know what it is about my purchasing habits that told Amazon I needed to read a 1950’s pulp sci-fi novel, but this time Amazon guessed well.

I really enjoyed this light, interesting read. My favorite plot element was the inclusion of killer, hooved animals that had a single horn (when reared the height of these marauding “unicorns” was said to be 15 feet). These unicorns didn’t just...more

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May 23, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2011

Space Prisoners is short. It's epic. It's a blast to read.

I grew up reading a fair amount of "Golden Age" science fiction. That stuff was perfectly tailored to a young male reader such as myself. But as much as it pains me to admit it, a lot of it was pulp trash that would bore me to tears now.

In a lot of ways, Space Prisoners resembles the other stuff from its era. The characters are two-dimensional. The story is classic "good guy" vs. "bad guy". There aren't any shades of grey. But just as ma...more

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May 07, 2012 Cass rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, sci-fi, shorter-stories, books-i-own-ebook

It turns out that I like 1950s science fiction. I am pleased that I like it as it means a whole world of new authors to read.

I really enjoyed this story of survival. The books spans some two hundred years, following each leader as they shape the colony toward a single purpose.. luring the enemy race back to the planet in order to conquer them.

The steps they take in order to do this are quite interesting, the ending is very nice. The vision of the planet at the end is very different to the one in...more

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May 08, 2010 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When an alien race decides to maroon some inferior humans on a world so hostile that it should have resulted in certain death, the aliens depart to continue their conquest of the galaxy. The humans, however, refuse to give up, and prove that we can hold a grudge for a long, long time.

When are aliens ever going to learn not to mess with humans? Wise spacefaring races would stay as far away as possible from this little corner of the galaxy. This story will make you stand up and cheer. It's a "Rock...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Alan Marchant rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

Space Prison is a pleasant space opera that praises the ideals of the pioneer spirit. Like many SciFi writer in the 50's, Godwin emphasizes neither characterization nor serious scientific speculation. Godwin's primary device in this novella is Larmarkian "evolution" (which at the time was being tragically debunked in the Soviet Union).

Space Prison is interesting as a precursor to the Jack Vance classic, The Dragon Masters, that appeared just a few years later and remains the definitive treatment...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

The thing you need to know going into this is: It's a big story. I don't mean long; I mean big. If you expect to be presented with characters whose heads you can get into, whose individual stories you can get involved with, this book is likely to disappoint you. It isn't the story of a single character, or even a small group. It's the story of a civilization developing almost from scratch.

How much from scratch? It goes like this: The Gerns have attacked Earth. A shipload of humans flees in the d...more The thing you need to know going into this is: It's a big story. I don't mean long; I mean big. If you expect to be presented with characters whose heads you can get into, whose individual stories you can get involved with, this book is likely to disappoint you. It isn't the story of a single character, or even a small group. It's the story of a civilization developing almost from scratch.

How much from scratch? It goes like this: The Gerns have attacked Earth. A shipload of humans flees in the direction of a planet called Athena, whose resources are humanity's last hope for survival. In transit, they are intercepted by the Gerns. Those with skills useful to their new overlords are taken as slaves; four thousand men, women, and children deemed useless are dumped on a planet called Ragnarok with minimal supplies to sustain them. Ragnarok boasts a gravity 1.5 times Earth's, a binary star system that gives the planet a weather cycle swinging back and forth between extreme heat and extreme cold, no significant deposits of metals or minerals which could be used to build helpful things like spaceships or weapons, a "hell fever" that kills overnight, and at least three species of animals intent on killing these new interlopers. Also, it's the beginning of winter, and the Gerns don't provide the humans with niceties like shelter. This is intended to be an execution.

It's rough. It's really rough. Four thousand dwindle to under a hundred in the space of a few years and the humans are reduced to near stone-age levels of civilization. But the scant handful of survivors are just that -- survivors. And they hate the Gerns with a blazing passion that drives them to take the only practical view of their situation: the long term. They expect the Gerns to return, in fact actively work to lure them back, and the intervening time is not spent in idleness. Knowledge is preserved until it can be useful again, each new generation is better adapted to Ragnarok, and the humans begin to claw their way back up out of the abyss into which they have been thrown.

In broad terms, I liked it as long as I could look at it in the appropriate context. I warn my readers about the nature of the story not to drive them away, but because I did not understand it at first and found myself disliking the story for the personal details it skipped, the continual killing off of what seemed to be main characters, the appalling madonna complex all the female characters seemed to have (product of the '50's? yes indeedy), and the rather simplistic nature of the basic overarching plot. I think it was after the fourth or fifth viewpoint character died, though, that I started to get it. This is not a story about Irene, or Bill, or any of their descendants. It isn't even really the story of a scrappy band of humans triumphing over cruel alien invaders. It's about what happens when you dump a bunch of people on a planet with everything against them and no resources, and they have to be tough and innovative and yet also cooperative to survive. And most of all, they have to think not just of their own survival, but of how their actions can allow future generations to survive even longer, how they can ensure freedom for their great-great-grandchildren if they can't get it for themselves. It's never about the character you're looking at, it's about the next generation, and the one after that, and the one after that. As long as you look at it like that, it's a fairly interesting little thought-experiment.

It does have some serious faults. There are times when things seem almost a little too easy -- which is quite a feat given what the humans are up against. Time seems to have stood still outside of the immediate scope of Ragnarok while all this evolution was going on. There are places where a spouse, a child, a relative, a friend springs up seemingly from nowhere and even if this character's life isn't the point it might have been nice to have a teeny bit of background slipped in. There are things about Ragnarok itself that don't quite make sense to me. Theoretical knowledge of things no one has seen or done for generations seems to transmit remarkably well to practical skill. And really, honestly, no one does seem to have given much thought to what happens after this story is over, which... For people who spend generations plotting their escape, seems a little short-sighted.

In a weird sort of way, though, this almost complements the story itself. The humans dropped on Ragnarok have had to put aside everything that wasn't relevant to their project of surviving long enough to get off the planet again. Given that they are required to maintain a certain level of theoretical knowledge in order to have any hope of success, even if things like operating a blaster and flying a Gern cruiser are beyond their actual technical capabilities, what gets kept is sort of eclectic and might not appear to make sense if you don't have a good feel for their goals and methods. Likewise, Godwin has neglected everything that wasn't directly relevant to the core concept of this group of people starting from the bottom and working their way back up through the layers of civilization. The point is to have hostile species on the planet, not to explain said species' motivations; the point is that there is another generation, not the story of its conception; the point is how these people rise from the depths, not what they see or where they go when they return to the heights. The point is that the struggle exists and where it goes, not to detail every last movement of the battle.

In that respect, I'd call this work successful. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good piece of broad-scope old-school sci-fi. The arc is very different from that of most fiction we're used to, and that does take a little effort to assimilate, but it's well worth it.(less)

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Feb 11, 2012 Mina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For $0.99, you can download and read the science fiction novel, "Space Prison" from Amazon.com. This book is probably the most entertaining read I have ever purchased for $1.00. I was hard pressed to put my e-reader down, the read was so thrilling and fast-paced. Only the need to charge my e-reader forced me to interrupt my race to the finish.

"Space Prison", formerly called "The Survivors", was written in the 1950's by little known author, Tom Godwin. The book is about a group of humans who are...more For $0.99, you can download and read the science fiction novel, "Space Prison" from Amazon.com. This book is probably the most entertaining read I have ever purchased for $1.00. I was hard pressed to put my e-reader down, the read was so thrilling and fast-paced. Only the need to charge my e-reader forced me to interrupt my race to the finish.

"Space Prison", formerly called "The Survivors", was written in the 1950's by little known author, Tom Godwin. The book is about a group of humans who are left to die on an inhospitable planet by the Gerns, an antagonistic alien race. The same night of their arrival on the planet, before the marooned humans can even find shelter, they are attacked by prowlers, a vicious indigenous feline species that remind me of the feline "thanators" that inhabit the planet, Pandora, in the movie Avatar. Not only are there vicious species predating on the humans, however, but there is also the unrelenting 1.5 G of their planet, as well as the 50 year long mini ice-age cycles which make it nearly impossible for humankind to adapt.

This tale is about how humans prevailed, even after running out of ammunition and food, and being diminished from the original population of 4000 to a mere 80. What keeps the humans going, is 200 years of gradual evolutionary adaptation, but more importantly the mission that unites them in exacting revenge against the Gerns.

What this book does well is to portray the hardship and cross-generational sacrifices the survivors undergo. The attempt to build a "hyper transmitter" device, for example takes humankind more than 150 years, and requires scouring the planet for metal, and many many deaths. Strikingly, design and fabrication of intermediary tools and equipment are ordered, which are later dismantled when their use is exhausted, pointing to the extreme long view of the leaders in charge. What is involved with surviving on this harsh planet also are endless experimentations with flora and fauna, and even accelerated species domestication and genetic selection. The relentless physiological adaptations made by the humans and domesticated animals, I found to be quite ingenious.

What this book does not do well is character development. Also, since it was written in the '50s, there is a slightly sexist flavor to the book. All of the main characters without exception are males. The only female characters stand apart for their nursing capabilities, or their dying during childbirth. Many other reviewers have noted that the ending was rather abrupt. I agree with this criticism, but it did make for a quick read, which was exactly what I needed at the time: a good romping space opera.

I was aimlessly browsing for good science fiction books online when, for some reason, I found this book. I don't know how the Amazon browsing algorithm works exactly, but I found this book within a couple of mouse clicks. It deserves to be at the top of the heap. In addition to being available at Amazon.com, the book is offered for free at gutenberg.org. Download this book and give it a spin. I personally, am looking forward to reading the sequel, "Space Barbarians" for free online, and I am hoping that a Hollywood movie will eventually be made.(less)

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Jul 29, 2010 Dianna Skowera rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By far my favorite book of all time. Godwin's characters span throughout generations, passing on niche traits and memories that make each new character more endearing than their predecessor in this epic struggle of the human spirit and fight for survival. If you've read this book you'll never have to worry if you're stranded in a desolate place, you will be a survivor!

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Sep 21, 2011 Philip Fracassi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre

Interesting. Not because the story is any good, because it isn't. But the concept, which I'm sure was more of the point, of starting a world from scratch with whatever resources are available was kinda neat. Didn't necessarily work as novel, but an interesting allegory on hope.

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Jun 27, 2012 Maria Grazia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantascienza

Classico libro di frontiera della più classica sci-fi americana epica, una specie di conquista del west tra astronavi e pianeti alieni, ma senza i vari peccati originali della vera conquista del west.
Ben scritto e divertentissimo, davvero senza età.

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Mar 24, 2011 Eszter Hinchliffe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a quirky sounding book I got to download on my Kindle. Didn't cost much and needed something to read on the plane. Turned out to be a really cool book, quick read, very interesting from a social development standpoint.

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Apr 12, 2013 Sean Bullock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was like watching a classic B movie from the 50's. One has to overlook obvious technical issues common for the time and simply be entertained.

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Feb 21, 2013 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great book. I just wish it had more pages! Yes, some of it stretches the level of believability, but I'll grant the author that freedom. Fun ride.

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Apr 04, 2013 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

I liked that it was gritty. At tiems the things they were able to do seemed a little unlikely but they were tough. Not being able to really bond with any character was a good technique to show the grittiness of their existence.

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Oct 02, 2010 LadyCroft86 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: on-my-kindle

This book was surprisingly good. I thought that it was really well written and it was very fun to read. Not bad for a $0.99 book for my kindle. I would recommend this to anyone who likes sci-fi.

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Mar 13, 2012 Nathan Shumate marked it as abandoned-reads · review of another edition

As soon as it mentioned that a certain species of predator comprised the majority of the animals on the planet, I decided not to waste my time.

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Apr 25, 2011 Alessandro Pedarra rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one

Recommended to Alessandro by: No one

Boring, mediocre ideas, repetitive. I quitted reading it after less than half book. Cannot stand it, really.

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Jul 01, 2011 April rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, scifi

Excellent book, though the story could have been expanded into a series of novels.

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Apr 27, 2013 Brooks rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you can get past the first depressing chapters, then it is an ok read.

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Aug 04, 2009 Charles rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This book was also published under the title "Space Prison." It's pretty good.

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Apr 05, 2011 Ron rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Left to die on a barely habitable world by aliens, their numbers ravaged by Prowlers and Unicorns, weather and lack of metals, the humans, after many generations, come back to take their revenge on the race that marooned them to die.

A story about the human nature and the will to live overcoming any and all obstacles forced upon them by an alien race and an alien world.

I have read this book probably 10 or more times over the years. Definitely a great read!!!

You can download a copy here: http://ww ...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Jonny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

a classic brilliant book old but very good

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Jan 28, 2010 Julie Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

#5 - 2010.

I listened to the SciPodBooks reading of this. In many ways this is a unique science fiction book, based largely around a survival story. After pirates hijack an Earth space ship, they dump the "non essential" passengers on a planet on which it seems impossible to survive. The thought of one day attracting and overcoming the pirates keeps the survivors striving to overcome their hostile environment. An absorbing story of several generations and two centuries that is nevertheless fast-p...more

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Dec 05, 2012 SinisterAgentMulder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Audiobook: Considering this is an old book I really enjoyed this story. A Sci-fi Classic to be sure.

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Apr 12, 2009 William Samples rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book when I was a kid. I had forgotten the Nordic motif ... which appears in my own book. The subconcious is amazing

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About Tom Godwin

Tom Godwin (1915–1980) was a science fiction author. Godwin published three novels and thirty short stories. His controversial hard SF short story "The Cold Equations" is a notable in the mid-1950s science fiction genre. He also had three novels published, but these stayed more firmly in John W. Campbell's preferred styles and are less notable. Graduated from Bay Village High School in Bay Village...more

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Space Prison, the Survivors (Ragnarok #1)

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