Review: Wolfbane by Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth

A great new edition of a classic SF Tale

Wolfbane by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth

This novel was written in the 1950s by two of the greats of science fiction—Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth. As one would expect from two such authors, it is filled with humongous ideas and images that have reappeared repeatedly in the genre since then. The earth has been conquered by aliens who have never appeared on the planet—only sent their pyramid machine to carry out their will from the heights of Mount Everest. The Earth, itself, has been ripped out of the solar system and placed in a new orbit around the moon which has been turned into a miniature sun which needs to be reignited every five years. Most of humanity didn’t survive this and now there are perhaps a hundred million humans left, most of whom have become “sheep” who follow the course of life laid out by the aliens—one in which greed is gone and people spend a great deal of their time in meditation. Occasionally, meditation attracts the attention of the pyramid and the meditator is teleported away to an unknown fate.

 

That’s all the initial setting and things only get grander in scope and scale after that. Before the novel is finished we’ll see an alien world, humans melded to machines, hive minds, and so much more. The action revolves around a man, Glen Tropile, who fancies himself a wolf (capable of acting out of self-interest) but doesn’t truly seem to be either wolf or sheep. Tropile is what makes this book so interesting and is Pohl and Kornbluth’s foil for comparing facsimiles of a Marxist civilization and a more libertarian society—neither of which appear to have what it takes to help humanity escape from and survive its alien conquerors.

 

This is a great book and deserves to be more widely known, but it isn’t the easiest read. Writing conventions have evolved over the last sixty years, so be prepared to give it your full attention to maximize your enjoyment.