Perry Rhodan: In The Center Of The Galaxy

by Clark Dalton, George Wilson (Illustrator), Forrest J. Ackerman (Editor)

Features:
Story (Pages 7-190)
The Perryscope (191-208)
Stardust Editorial: And So We End An Age (209-216)
Subscription Form (Page 217)
Perry Rhodan Space Centers (Pages 218-220)

Genres: Science Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perry Rhodan as a series has appeared in thousands of German publications over the past 60 plus years (since 1961). It has also had some success in English translation, but much more modest in scope. In December 1969, Forrest J. Ackerman started his translations of the series with the Ace paperback version of Enterprise Stardust. Some 119 or so books later we have this novel, the final Ace paperback book of the series. (Subsequent volumes of Perry Rhodan came out in the 1980s and 1990s, but only a couple dozen, and these were sold by subscription and looked more like magazines.) This novel is not numbered, and the cover states, "At last! The First Full-Length Perry Rhodan Novel!" This could mislead one into thinking one is buying the first member of the series rather than the last. I was thusly fooled when purchasing it. But it's really the first full novel. Earlier members of the series presumably are story collections featuring Perry Rhodan and his world. If this book had a number, it would be #119, since it follows #118, the last original book of the series to have its number.

So, as a first time reader of Perry Rhodan, what did I make of this novel? It was okay. I did not feel at too great a loss for not having read the previous 118. The novel explains its terms well enough to work as a stand-alone. The reason why it wasn't a better than okay story is because too much of it is narrated. The writing style is sufficiently serviceable, but not great. The world-building is practically non-existent. Its characters and characterizations moved the plot along, but nothing more. The attempts to write interpersonal relations were feeble because rather juvenile. The book is centered on the plot, which was decent, but also suffered from one serious lack. The antagonist wasn't a person; it was a society, or, more accurately, a societal system. That's never as exciting as having a person to overcome and greatly limits dialog.

Okay, the premise. Humans in this advanced society have spaceships and they jet around the universe in them on various missions and errands. Sounds sort of like Star Trek and that Perry Rhodan might be the sole person in charge of the equivalent of Star Fleet. Something like that. Now, every once in a while, Earth humans encounter mysterious spaceships on their sensors. They call these vessels Silver Arrows. But every time they attempt to contact or interact with a Silver Arrow, the ship just avoids them and goes away at speeds faster than humans can go and thus evades humans. One day this telepathic, teleporting beaver-like alien, a recurring character in the series named Pucky, gets an idea for how to get on board one of these Silver Arrows so that the mystery can be solved. He convinces Perry Rhodan to send out a ship with his team on board in order to accomplish this task. The novel is all about what this ship encounters after it infiltrates a Silver Arrow.

That's a pretty cool premise and the rest of the book does it some justice. Nevertheless, there is a certain gravity lacking that might have done such a premise better service. Recommended only for fans of Perry Rhodan, or for those like me who are curious to see what the big German deal was and have a little time on their hands to find out.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest SF series of all time - these early ones are a bit old style