The Deathworms of Kratos

The Expendables #1

by Richard Avery (Pseudonym), Edmund Cooper

They were called Expendables--a team of criminals and misfits, "the chosen ones" selected to explore new planets for human colonization . . .

Their first destination was Kratos. It seemed almost ideally suited for colonization. But before interplanetary settlers could begin arriving, they had to know what caused the deep ruts and throbbing domes that marred the planet's surface.

The Expendables hadn't reckoned with powerful creatures capable of constructing hills bigger than the pyramids of Egypt. Colossal snake-like beings that swayed and roared. Hostile life forms that could destroy their mission--and them.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

142 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Pseudonym of Edmund Cooper.

Librarians Note: This author should not be merged with the profile for Edmund Cooper. Books are listed in the Goodreads database by the name under which they were published, even if later reprinted under the author's real name.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A team of expendable space farers (no, Sly Stallone isn't in this one) are sent to a planet soon to colonized. They just have to find out what is causing the weird rumbling and hills. What could it be?

Very pulpy, in a 70's fashion. Could have been an Italian Star Wars rip off.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well first off this book is SHORT - even by the standards of the day it was printed this was short - and yet so much fun. The next thing to get right is that this was written by Edmund Cooper - hence the cover while the credit is given to Richard Avery - well that was one of his pseudonyms - so that has cleared that. The premiss is not original too - why the dirty dozen has many similarities - however what you do have is a dry wit - a fun storyline and characters (although stereotyped) are engaging and you cannot help but want them to win.
The book spawned several sequels - and even a short lived role playing game - back in the days when pen and paper ruled - called the expendables - sadly that has gone the same way as the books in to the publishing extinction but still the memory lives on and there are copies of the book available second hand. If you want something from a younger age of science fiction this is one to consider.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edmund Cooper wrote this four volume series under the pseudonym Richard Avery. The science fiction he was writing under his own name at the time was more cerebral and subtle, serious studies of character and society, and The Expendables was an action/adventure series of swashbuckling derring-do, an updating of the more juvenile-oriented space opera pulp stories of earlier decades. Led by the heroic James Conrad, the beautiful Indira Smith, the brilliant Kurt Kwango, and a team of similarly diverse people and intelligent robots, they were a team of explorers sent to prepare the most challenging new planets for human colonization. Similar to the concept of The Dirty Dozen or The Suicide Squad, they faced situations where the odds were always stacked against them, the going was always rough, and the chances of success were low. Cooper made a heartfelt attempt to present a very diverse group of characters, and to make thematic points against and statements opposing racism, sexism, or ethnic discrimination, and it's unfortunately ironic that some modern readers see signs of these policies in the stories in the light of current sensitivities. They're captivating adventures, full of humor and adventure, better written than most similar titles of their time. The original U.S. Fawcett editions have lovely Ken Kelly covers than capture the action very well.

[Jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

i've read some trashy pulp sci-fi over the years, and this has to be some of the trashiest and pulpiest. The characters are sexist and racist. The Deathworm mating ritual was amazingly gratuitous in its details.

[Kristian Thoroughgood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't.
Just don't.

I have written a far longer review here: https://uncertaintales.wordpress.com/... but these two sentences cover it.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The absolute pinnacle of pulp sci-fi. Dry, sardonic and British. I elect to remain EXPENDABLE.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite interesting.i wanted the deathworms to win.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what the doctor ordered. I had been searching locally many years for this series and lucked out when I found them at the bottom of a box of romance novels. Getting them for just $4 for the set, I almost couldn't contain my elation.

The chapters are short, making it seem like an effortless read, but the format of the story is odd. In the first part, every other chapter takes place in the present and the corresponding chapters are of events leading up to this mission. The second part is strictly in the present. Near the end of the book there is a chapter made out like brief mission logs. The final part could be considered the epilogue with brief U.N. statements exonerating and commending each of the seven members of the mission.

I've read this is a "Men's Adventure" and I'll agree with that. It seemed to be of the same vein of the Richard Blade books. I don't really understand why people thought it was racist and sexist though. Perhaps my skin is thicker than most. Another thing that has me puzzled is how often I've read about the Deathworm's mating ritual. It was gross, it happened, but it wasn't the most descriptive scene I've ever read. Meh.

I've never heard of the author, by Richard Avery or Edmund Cooper, but I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed that there are only four of these books. The characters are quite likable. Although, with seven characters only three really stood out for me. The other four kind of took a back seat and commented here and there.

[Raymond Markley · Rating 4 out of 5]

No science fiction psycho babble in this one. There are lasers and robots, strong men and women, and vile monsters who perform unspeakable horrors (need I mention the Death-worm mating scene, brain eating and all).

Good solid science fiction adventure, certainly, with a decent plot and excellent imagination. Despite sometimes being a bit flat, the characters are infinitely likeable, especially the robots.

So many books to read, but when you spot the racy cover in the used bookstore, invest that big dollar and take it home for a read.

As Matthew the robot would say, "Decision noted, execution proceeds."

[Alex Sarll]

Nothing to do with the action movie franchise, this follows operatives for the Extra-Solar Planets Evaluating and Normalising Department, and how dare you suggest that's a backronym. Their mission: charging off to planets discovered by robot probes, establishing whether they're safe for colonisation, and if not, blowing the hell out of whatever the problem is (so long as it's not intelligent, anyway, although there's some understandable scepticism among the team over how that conflict of interests would be resolved in practice, and no wonder - this is a rare example of 1970s SF whose dystopian vision of 21st century Earth hasn't been overtaken by the real thing). Leading the team, James Conrad, no longer welcome in the Space Navy after disobeying orders to rescue a foundering ship. Now, this backstory could easily have left us with the equivalent of the show-wreckingly dreadful Cartwright in Slow Horses, punished only because he's too darn special for those mean high-ups - but crucially, Conrad fucked his big gesture up, losing more of his crew than he rescued, not to mention his own eye and arm. And even then, he could have accepted his reprimand, rather than throwing a big tantrum. If anything, he ended up making me think of a Space Commander Travis who'd come up in a less outright evil system.

And then there's his team, whose rallying cry could be Trigger Warnings Assemble!, in the unlikely instance they ever did anything as wholesome as a rallying cry. On one level, yes, for the time they're admirably diverse - but it's debatable how much the gender parity counts for when all of the women are prone to breasting boobily, and that's just by their own account, never mind what passes for acceptable workplace banter: "James has been sick twice, but she has managed to dig out a brain for analysis. That girl has got guts as well as big tits." The most developed of them - not like that - is Conrad's second in command, Indira Smith, though what this mostly means is she gets secret origin: rape. But it's fine, because now she has bionic legs, so nobody's going to get far trying that again! Which, inevitably, someone does, Space HR having seen fit to put her on a team with a convicted rapist! And yes, he is the black guy, Kurt Kwango, who also spends much of the book insisting on calling Conrad "Massa Boss", and we are explicitly told that he's insolently doing a bit, but I'm not sure how much that helps.

Set against which, Kwango is also clearly the smartest one on the team, not just in being the most cynical (he's the one who states the objective as being to ensure "mankind will have the opportunity to foul up yet another unspoiled planet"), but also the one who figures out the ecology of Kratos. Granted, for the reader the attempt to draw out the mystery of the strange ruts on the planet, the sinkholes, and the movements glimpsed in the distance, is never going to be all that opaque, on account of the book being called The Deathworms Of Kratos. But they're still memorably horrible critters once they do rumble into view, with none of the majesty Frank Herbert gave their sandy cousins, just a full spectrum grossness. And if you think there's something Freudian about this particular menace versus all those busty explorers, Cooper is well aware of that, one of the women being reminded of "a human penis in cold weather. A super-colossal yet shrunken penis."

Still, part of the reason I read this, which I picked up on a whim a while back simply because it was cheap and called The Deathworms Of Kratos, was that recently I've read a bunch of recent, thoughtful books which used genre as a way to explore everyday worries and relationship problems, and I felt the need of something a bit more old-school as a corrective. And I can't claim this didn't fit that bill, albeit maybe in a monkey's paw sense. In amongst the red flags, it's a satisfactory specimen of classic problem-solving science fiction, right down to the spaceships, which may use a lot of the standard genre furniture (FTL, suspended animation), but dispense with the need for any handwaving about artificial gravity by the simple expedient of velcro carpets. All the same, I can't see myself racing through the rest of the series - though I do find myself horribly fascinated by the prospect of another Cooper book Play has been trying to foist on me, Kronk. Which, as if the title weren't enough, apparently concerns a man who rescues a would-be suicide (a sexy naked lady, obviously), only to discover that she has an STD which could bring about world peace! Of course.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humanity in the year 2071 is straining at the limits of terrestrial and solar sustainability. With billions of people placing a demand on Earth’s finite resources, an outlet is needed. Robot probes have identified planets in other systems capable of supporting human life. But before they can be colonized they must be proven – a high-risk prospect. Enter the Expendables: a group of highly talented criminals and misfits who combine technical expertise in their chosen fields with checkered pasts. Led by James Conrad, a former commander in the United Nations Space Service, they are sent out to explore Kratos, the first viable planet discovered by the probes. Yet not only must the team determine the planets viability as a colony for humans, they must also answer an additional question – just who or what left the large ruts scarring the planet’s surface?

Edmund Cooper (who published this novel under the pen name “Richard Avery”) was a British author whose wide-ranging oeuvre included a number of science fiction novels. This book was the first of a four-book series that he wrote in the mid-1970s in which his team would face various challenges on an Earth-like world. In many ways this is the best of the quartet, as Cooper couples his pulp action here with pages spent laying out his premise and developing his characters into distinct figures rather than leaving them as interchangeable cardboard cutouts. His themes of sustainability and resource deprivation, a growing concern in the years in which he wrote this, gives his book an air of prescience for readers today, helping to separate it from similar sci-fi novels of its ilk.

Yet these strengths sit uncomfortably with dialogue and situations that can seem somewhat racist and sexist to readers today. Cooper’s fans have credited him for populating his crew with a diverse group of people, yet the novel seems dated with the degree to which they oftentimes dwell on their racial backgrounds. No character embodies this better than Kurt Kwango. The team ecologist, he is credited with being the smartest member of the group and is often at the heart of the action. Yet he seems obsessed with race to a degree more befitting someone of the 20th century than Cooper’s supposedly more enlightened future. It’s a problem that detracts from what it otherwise an enjoyable sci-fi adventure, making it more a product of its time than one that, like many of the best works of the genre, rises above it to become a truly timeless work.

[Ross Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I would reread this favorite from my youth. Richard Avery was a pen name for famed British science fiction author Edmund Cooper.

This is the first in a series of four books featuring James Conrad and the Expendables. They were a crew of criminals and misfits, chosen to prove planets fit for colonization. Their job was to go in first and step on all the traps and clear them to enable colonists to be brought in from Earth. I think of it as a kind of Dirty Dozen in space, even though it is not military science fiction. Seven humans and six robots make up the first mission to the planet of Kratos, an Earth-like planet 16 light years away.

Their they find a mostly pleasant duplicate of Earth in many ways except for the deadly devolved dinosaurs, the aptly named Death Worms. Our intrepid crew must find a way to deal with the Death Worms or the colonization is off.

This is a fast read and is written in an action adventure style which was quite different from the normal Cooper books which tended to be more post-apocalyptic. Lots of action even though the character development is not always the high point of the writing. Nevertheless, I still had fun reading this.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole thing has a dumb-action-movie logic to it, from a mission staffed with obviously broken people to a gleefully idiotic monster concept. It's a confection, but one with unexpectedly, possibly unnecessarily, sharp edges to the characters.

And then there is the deathworm orgy. This is a thing that happened.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Expendables are a team of social misfits--men and women who are either outright crooks or who have suffered life-destroying tragedy or have made life-destroying decisions. But all are experts in their fields. The novel's chief protagonist, for instance, is a former spaceship captain (cashiered after disobeying orders with the best of intentions, but getting a number of people killed).

This team has been formed to investigate other planets to find out if they can be colonized. This can be dirty and dangerous work, but the team is called the "Expendables" with good reason. No one--including themselves--cares if they die.

It's a nifty premise for what would be a four-book series. In this premiere novel, they are sent to the planet of Kratos. At first, the place seems ideal for colonization. But then the team runs into giant and perpetually hungry worms...

The novel handles the character interaction well, as the team learns to work together and actual care about each other. The plot is also good, with the team intelligently investigating and learning about the planet (and the worms) and figure out how to deal with monsters. There are several strong action scenes, including an excellent sequence in which the team's leader has to sneak into a huge worm nest and plant several bombs underneath the worm queen.

[David B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A team of disgraced misfits are recruited as interstellar explorers to determine the suitability of alien worlds as homes for human colonists. Of these seven flawed geniuses, only three are given much development and seem likely to be the focus of this four-book series. This novel is at its best early on when it is a story of exploration, peril, and mystery. The biology and habits of the deathworms are interesting and well thought out. However, there is no Prime Directive here; once they get the upper hand, The Expendables have no qualms about devastating an alien ecosystem in the name of the human race. That cringey 70s swinger philosophy that postulated a progressive future free of sexual hang ups yet now seems so hopelessly dated and sexist is on full display here. If you can avoid being offended, it’s all part of the fun. For example, team members who want to have sex first seek formal approval at a general meeting so that jealousy will be avoided, without exception receiving smiling approval from the gang. When one of the more expendable Expendables dies in the line of duty, her lover solemnly eulogizes that any future monument to her should get the breasts right because she had magnificent breasts. Flawed but fun.

https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com

[Ian Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Deathworms of Kratos” by Edmund Cooper (1975)


Overall Rating 6/10 – Wormilicious!


Plot
Captain James Conrad and his crew of “expendables” (skilled misfits & criminals who are “expendable”) are sent across the galaxy to the planet of Kratos to determine if it is suitable for human colonisation. Any resistance on the planet (whether natural or otherwise) is expected to be eradicated at (almost) any cost. This is precisely the reason the Terran authorities sent a team who are expendable.

Writing Style
Easy to read and flowing style that is somewhere between High school essay writer and accomplished fiction writer. Nothing complex (like Dickens) and no excess use of names or words that bend the brain unnecessarily (Marion Zimmer Bradley). Pretty much “Tea Time” reading with a strong flavour of the 1970’s.

Point of View
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)


Critique
A very typical 1970’s science fiction adventure with a fanciful plot, lack of detail and cavalier storyline.

We journey along with a crew of characters, all of whom have “issues” and all of whom have their own strengths. Certainly the author has created here a wonderful (and believable) array of personas and human weave.

The focus of the novel is both the characters themselves and the “Deathworms” on the planet Kratos. Little issue is made of anything else and giant assumptions (and acceptances) are expected from the reader otherwise the story just doesn’t work.

Cooper has also set out the sections of the book in a manner different to the norm. This is ALWAYS divisive but I found it worked well and, by the end, it had me within its vice.

On the downside, it was really a little too short, lacked depth and didn’t embrace enough imagination.

Still, there are three more of these in the series and I have just placed an order for the next two.

[Tyrel Souza · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the entire book, but this is one of the few I would have to rate one star.
There's seven characters in the book - but only three are even important, the other four exist just because the author wanted to pair some people together for sex.
The MC woman's back story is full of rape - and one of the other MC is a rapist? I know this is from 1975, but there are a lot better ways to make someone have a painful backstory besides "and then she was raped by 50 people".
Also the plot was kind of boring and has a pretty anti-climatic ending- things I would consider fun got explained away when the main POV character is in a coma.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book one of four

I first enjoyed this novel as a young teen not long after it was published. Now almost exactly forty years later I discovered the entire four volume set available on Kindle and snapped them all up. The Death Worms of Kratos introduces us to a cast of seven humans considered Socially Expendable. Here we see them on their first attempt at exploring a new world for human colonisation. Some or all may die, but so long as they succeed in learning what dangers colonists may face then their mission will be considered a success.

[SpentCello · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can deal with a certain amount of dated attitudes towards women, sex, and race, but a book needs to have at least something going for it. I was utterly bored the entire way through this very short book. More than half of the book is the characters discovering what you already know from the title of the book, and all in awful, dry prose. Giant penis worm orgies are also something I probably didn't need to ever read about... But oh well, what's done is done, and in this case, wasn't exactly unpredicted.

[Eric Troup · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning was quite promising, but once the Expendables arrived at the planet, suspense dissipated. Even once they encountered the titular Death Worms, the challenges didn’t seem very challenging. It was just about finding a means to eradicate a mindless species and make way for mankind. Rather than the shot of pulp-fueled adrenaline I’d been hoping for, this book left me feeling hollow. Perhaps I went in expecting too much.

[Coinaday · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Deathworms of Kratos has competent action with flat characters, childishly crude dialogue with lazy sexism and racism (not intended as attacks but in poor taste to a modern reader and simply lowbrow rather than even being something edgy or interesting), and forgettable tech. It borders at times on being good but is mostly disappointing.

"The Expendables" concept is solid: rather a high-testosterone Star Trek; execution was lacking.

[Mhorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book that needs some editing!

Yes, there are some editing problems that need to be repaired. I'd also suggest that readers who are too sensitive pass on this book. It's not woke and it's not PC. What it is, is a fun read about an over populated Earth sending a group of expendable people - some emotionally damaged, others physically-to check out a planet and see if it's fit for colonists. Many adventures take place saved this is a quick read.

[Terry and dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

umm.... fun adventure, with some interesting settings and creatures and motely crew of outcasts.
However, being an older book, 1975, this has some questionable choices regarding one of the female's past sexual abuse and what happens during the story, and dialogue around a black man, that makes some very cringey comments, by todays standards (comments that the character himself as well as others say), nothing said in anger or hate but still....yikes.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good basic sci-fi. Read as a teen.

[Shannon Kauderer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sexist and racist. The actual science fiction isn't ground breaking or even particularly interesting. Not worth finishing, and if you haven't started then save yourself time and don't.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Sci-Fi Pulp of the 1970s. Really enjoyable read.

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rollicking space adventure of exploration and colonisation. This was much better written than I expected. The expendable point is be-laboured a little, This is enormous fun. Would recommend reading.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, let’s talk about guilty pleasures. There those things you know fully and completely are not really good for you, but you consume them anyway. Right? You know what I’m talking about here. You’ve been there. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. For some people it’s cigarettes and chocolate milk. For others it’s alcohol and marijuana. Maybe it’s extreme sports and self-strangulation while masturbating. Everyone’s got something. Comic books. Porn magazines. Harlequin Romances. Pulp fiction. Elevator Muzak. ... wait - pulp fiction? Yep, that hits really close to home. And that’s got me writing here on this first volume of the Expendable series. I discovered these books in a pre-national-chain-buy-out bookstore in a mall in Lubbock, Texas. The covers looked really cool. And the back cover copy sounded really cool. And then one of my best friends started reading them. And I had to keep up with Sergio. He was always a stronger reader than me. Half the time I could barely believe he was actually reading all those books because I always had my nose in a book if I wasn’t watching a movie and yet he was always ahead of me on almost everything. Except Doc Savage, that was all mine thank you very much. But there was something different about the Expendable series. Once I started I couldn’t really stop. See, here’s the thing. Guilty. Pleasure. Yep. These books really are pretty terrible. The characters are flat and stereotyped. The plots are all rather unoriginal. The prose is filled with cringe-worthy passages. But these books are so much fun. Not in spite of all their failings, but BECAUSE of all their failings. It is exactly the stuff that makes these poorly written little books so awful, that they are actually so much fun. Two tons of fun. Space adventure in the classic golden age style so many fans have enjoyed for decades.

[King_In_Yellow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prospective readers should beware: this book is really a "Men's Adventure" paperback with very light sci-fi dressing.

As a result, don't expect any high-concept science here. There's not much in the way of plot, character development, or great dialogue, either. It should be outright AVOIDED if laughably dated gender politics and ethnocentricism aren't your thing.

All these caveats considered, this is still fun. The writing is a notch above standard man-pulp fare, and the silly plot zooms along with much contrived convenience. Giant alien worms mate, attack and die in lurid detail. The protagonists argue, fight and make out. Imagine it all taking place in faded 60s technicolor and you'll manage to be entertained.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want a quick paced SF action story you cannot go wrong with this book. I love the humor and interplay between the different people that make up this crew. Whether it is racial comments or sexist in nature, these are my kind of people, they don't get whiny about it at all. If the other three books in this series are like this they will be great!