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À la conquete de Kiber
Disons-le d'entrée de jeu : le gentil Paul Craig, un Terrien de vingt-sept ans, n'a pas encore conquis son plein équilibre psychique. Seul l'alcool lui apporte réconfort et confiance. On imagine alors sa réaction quand il découvre qu'il a été, à son insu, pourvu de branchies ... et qu'on l'a kidnappé! Et pour couronner le tout, le voici à bord d'un vaisseau spatial en route vers Kiber, une lointaine planète aquatique ... Hallucination de névrosé? Délire éthylique? Allez savoir! Ses ravisseurs, eux, savent ce qu'ils veulent ...
- GenresScience Fiction
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
19 people want to read
About the author
A.E. van Vogt
646 books460 followersAlfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century—the "Golden Age" of the genre.
van Vogt was born to Russian Mennonite family. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.
He began his writing career with 'true story' romances, but then moved to writing science fiction, a field he identified with. His first story was Black Destroyer, that appeared as the front cover story for the July 1939 edtion of the popular "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine.
van Vogt was born to Russian Mennonite family. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.
He began his writing career with 'true story' romances, but then moved to writing science fiction, a field he identified with. His first story was Black Destroyer, that appeared as the front cover story for the July 1939 edtion of the popular "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 21, 2020
This was bewildering, even for van Vogt, with more than the usual abrupt and confusing scene transitions. These are due to the protagonist being some combination of hypnotized, dreaming, blackout drunk and/or seemingly randomly hurled backwards and forwards through space and time (perhaps due to the presence of wormholes?). He's abducted from Earth by an alien (based on his prowess in bar fights!) to be used as an unwitting agent of regicide, surgically altered with gills to become fully amphibious, and then spends much of the story aboard an interstellar ship with, among others, an ESP capable android with a Scottish accent and an assortment of aliens who randomly attack him using psychological methods. Beyond that I'm quite confused as to what happened or why.
Characteristically for van Vogt, the pace is fast, if not furious, there is a ton of internal dialogue and there are some fascinating concepts, which unfortunately he does not spend much time on. However, the central element of the plot revolves around the fact that our protagonist is mild mannered and unremarkable when sober, yet when drunk he becomes a fierce barbarian and also, surprisingly, also more mentally adept. So I guess that makes him the perfect unwilling assassin? It's laughable, as I can only believe was van Vogt's intention. It would be hard for me to recommend this to anyone but a van Vogt diehard.
Characteristically for van Vogt, the pace is fast, if not furious, there is a ton of internal dialogue and there are some fascinating concepts, which unfortunately he does not spend much time on. However, the central element of the plot revolves around the fact that our protagonist is mild mannered and unremarkable when sober, yet when drunk he becomes a fierce barbarian and also, surprisingly, also more mentally adept. So I guess that makes him the perfect unwilling assassin? It's laughable, as I can only believe was van Vogt's intention. It would be hard for me to recommend this to anyone but a van Vogt diehard.
May 15, 2020
This is not a very well known van Vogt novel even to the die hard vanVogtologists - at least to those who do not read in either French or Romanian, for the short novel was never published in English. I had long ago set a goal to read all of van Vogt's works. When I discovered this book, and being relatively fluent in French, I went ahead and ordered the book published by "J'ai Lu" from Amazon Fr.
Once through the first half, I decided to take on the job of re-translating the book back into English to get a general sense as to how it would have read in its original linguistic conception (a synopsis of this translation can be read here: bhttp://icshi.net/sevagram/summaries/k....)
Most would probably agree that this is not one of van Vogt's best works. Being a 'later book' by this author, it is no surprise that it is not of the level of "Null-A" or "Slan”, However, I found it superior (or a least I preferred it to) "The Secret Galactics" (aka Earth Factor X - 1974) or “The Anarchistic Colossus" (1977) which were written during the same period.
My impression was that this novel seems incomplete. However, it is packed with van Vogt's characteristic fast pace plot and crazy scene changes. This novel (or novella, only forty thousand plus words) has, for instance, the elements of alien abduction, time dilations, and a Scottish android with psi abilities. Kiber resembles the "The Man With a Thousand Names" in style, with constant scene flips, but has a slightly more likable protagonist.
Quick synopsis: Paul Craig, a 27 year old, alcoholic and womanizer with violent tendencies, is the inheritor of an municipal aquarium. When he is being made to sign over his ownership of the facility to his two assistants, he is abducted by aliens and taken to the distant aquatic planet of Kiber with the purpose of aiding in the overthrow of the King Garrent.
Eltrain, the alien abductor, wants Craig’s aide to take down this King in order to control the planet’s greatest resource, a phenomenon known as the ‘adlais field’, which emanates from it. This field has the effect of providing life longevity.
Craig is unaware of what is happening to him most of the time during the novel as he is on a "need to know" basis. He is brought in and out of consciousness (unknown to him) periodically for battle training and such, therefore, there is a dreamlike confusion as Craig instantly finds himself appearing back and forth on the Shooting Star, an interstellar ship, one minute and swimming beneath the waters of the planet the next (they have grafted gills onto his body, in order for him to breathe in water as do the locals - I know, sounds crazy.)
By the end of the book, Craig grows as a person and one wonders if the alien abduction actually had occurred or was it all a nine year blackout as he worked to better himself.
Though a little uneven, it is a very strange yet enjoyable fast paced read. There are many inconclusive ideas here, though I must point out that leaving issues unresolved is often a trait in van Vogt's work. Often he has commented in interviews, that he purposely leave items in his stories to be worked out by his readers, claiming that they have the imagination and intelligence to do so. That said, I still believe the book should have been a little longer to better deal with some of the issues such as the nature of this "aidlai" field and so forth.
Certainly of interest to any van Vogt fanatic.
Once through the first half, I decided to take on the job of re-translating the book back into English to get a general sense as to how it would have read in its original linguistic conception (a synopsis of this translation can be read here: bhttp://icshi.net/sevagram/summaries/k....)
Most would probably agree that this is not one of van Vogt's best works. Being a 'later book' by this author, it is no surprise that it is not of the level of "Null-A" or "Slan”, However, I found it superior (or a least I preferred it to) "The Secret Galactics" (aka Earth Factor X - 1974) or “The Anarchistic Colossus" (1977) which were written during the same period.
My impression was that this novel seems incomplete. However, it is packed with van Vogt's characteristic fast pace plot and crazy scene changes. This novel (or novella, only forty thousand plus words) has, for instance, the elements of alien abduction, time dilations, and a Scottish android with psi abilities. Kiber resembles the "The Man With a Thousand Names" in style, with constant scene flips, but has a slightly more likable protagonist.
Quick synopsis: Paul Craig, a 27 year old, alcoholic and womanizer with violent tendencies, is the inheritor of an municipal aquarium. When he is being made to sign over his ownership of the facility to his two assistants, he is abducted by aliens and taken to the distant aquatic planet of Kiber with the purpose of aiding in the overthrow of the King Garrent.
Eltrain, the alien abductor, wants Craig’s aide to take down this King in order to control the planet’s greatest resource, a phenomenon known as the ‘adlais field’, which emanates from it. This field has the effect of providing life longevity.
Craig is unaware of what is happening to him most of the time during the novel as he is on a "need to know" basis. He is brought in and out of consciousness (unknown to him) periodically for battle training and such, therefore, there is a dreamlike confusion as Craig instantly finds himself appearing back and forth on the Shooting Star, an interstellar ship, one minute and swimming beneath the waters of the planet the next (they have grafted gills onto his body, in order for him to breathe in water as do the locals - I know, sounds crazy.)
By the end of the book, Craig grows as a person and one wonders if the alien abduction actually had occurred or was it all a nine year blackout as he worked to better himself.
Though a little uneven, it is a very strange yet enjoyable fast paced read. There are many inconclusive ideas here, though I must point out that leaving issues unresolved is often a trait in van Vogt's work. Often he has commented in interviews, that he purposely leave items in his stories to be worked out by his readers, claiming that they have the imagination and intelligence to do so. That said, I still believe the book should have been a little longer to better deal with some of the issues such as the nature of this "aidlai" field and so forth.
Certainly of interest to any van Vogt fanatic.
December 22, 2014
Réflexions trop superficielles pour être véritablement intéressantes. Voyages dans le temps/prémonitions embrouillés, et au final pas de trame directrice forte.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews