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The Mysterious Planet
Ballantine Del Rey 1982 edition paperback vg+ book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
183 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
About the author
Lester del Rey
641 books119 followersLester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for his juvenile novels such as those which are part of the Winston Science Fiction series, and for Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books edited by Lester del Rey and his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.
Also published as:
Philip St. John
Eric van Lihn
Erik van Lhin
Kenneth Wright
Edson McCann (with Frederik Pohl)
Also published as:
Philip St. John
Eric van Lihn
Erik van Lhin
Kenneth Wright
Edson McCann (with Frederik Pohl)
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 3, 2021
The Mysterious Planet was one of the novels that del Rey wrote for the Winston line of science fiction adventures intended for a younger audience. It features Bob Griffith, a cadet in the Solar Federation Navy, which leads to speculation that it was perhaps partially influenced by the successful novel by Robert A. Heinlein from 1948 that had spawned the wildly-popular Tom Corbett hero of radio, television, and comics, not to mention his own book series. In del Rey's book, Bob defies his orders because he knows his hunches are correct, and drafts a crazy, rich playboy to take him to Planet X on his yacht to meet the aliens and try to avert disaster. It's not the smoothest or most carefully thought-out plot that he ever devised, but his writing is crisp and enjoyable, and it's a fast, fun space opera adventure. The book was originally published under the pseudonym of Kenneth Wright, and didn't appear under his own name until 1978, when Del Rey Books (!) released its first paperback edition, which sported a terrific Dean Ellis cover.
November 21, 2016
A great read from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Lester Del Rey was one of the Masters of science fiction. He was one of the first science fiction authors I ever read as a child. His books were in my school library along with other greats such Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Pohl etc. If you like Golden Age science fiction I recommend this book. It is a quick, fun read when space was as we all wanted it to be instead of the reality we know it to be.
November 6, 2019
review of
Lester Del Rey's The Mysterious Planet
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 3-6, 2019
It seems that when I think of Del Rey I think of him more as an SF editor than as a writer. Why, I don't know b/c most of what he edited was somewhat obscure & he was a prolific author.
"He later became an editor for several pulp magazines and then for book publishers. During 1952 and 1953, del Rey edited several magazines: Space SF, Fantasy Fiction, Science Fiction Adventures (as Philip St. John), Rocket Stories (as Wade Kaempfert), and Fantasy Fiction (as Cameron Hall). Also during 1952, his first two novels were published in the Winston juvenile series, one with an Italian-language edition in the same year.
"In 1957, del Rey and Damon Knight co-edited a small amateur magazine named Science Fiction Forum. During a debate about symbolism within the magazine, del Rey accepted Knight's challenge to write an analysis of the James Blish story "Common Time" that showed the story was about a man eating a ham sandwich. Del Rey was most successful editing with his fourth wife, Judy-Lynn del Rey, at Ballantine Books (as a Random House property, post-Ballantine) where they established the fantasy and science fiction imprint Del Rey Books in 1977."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_...
At any rate, I barely know his writing at all, having only previously read a short story collection called The Best of Lester Del Rey. I begin my review of that w/ this:
"Lester del Rey's the kind of writer I might've read in my early teens (but didn't) & then decided that he represented the kind of SF that all SF seemed to me to be at the time: sortof interesting but not that well written or experimental. I wd've then moved on - remembering him w/ some affection but not in any hurry to read more.
"Now that I'm 44 yrs past my early teens, del Rey still strikes me that way but I've read so many other things by now that I can respect del Rey just for being what he was: a somewhat generic, but still inspired, SF writer."
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Mysterious Planet is, as far as I can remember, the 1st novel I've read by him. It's about time. The 1st paragraph:
"It was a fine morning on Mars, clear, crisp and cold. In a little over a hundred years the great air factories had increased the oxygen content until it could be breathed without a mask, and had added enough carbon-dioxide gas to let the air collect and hold the faint heat of the sun. Now it was like a morning high in the mountains of Earth." - p 1
Ok, I'm always interested in the details of terraforming. I don't let conerns about the negative effects on the local eco-system spoil my fun. But did Mars get mad?!
""Took just four days to get here from Earth," Simon went on. "Like a dream. You come on the Mars Maid? Yeah, I thought so. Boy, I wouldn't travel on a liner after riding this! The minute Dad got my unlimited pilot's license fixed—took plenty of greasing to do it—the very minute, off I took. And here I am!"
""Yeah, here you are," Bob agreed, without enthusiasm. He wondered if Jakes had any idea of how sickening the idea of bribing officials for an unlimited license was." - p 3
The "Mars Maid" part is presumably a reference to Edgar Rice Burroughs:
" Thuvia, Maid of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth of the Barsoom series. The principal characters are Carthoris (the son of John Carter of Mars) and Thuvia of Ptarth, each of whom appeared in the previous two novels." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuvia,...
As for the immediate class conflict w/ the main character's being repulsed by the secondary character's privilege? I like it. This awkwardness continues when the privileged one gives t'other a present.
""Whew! Thought I'd missed you. Here!" He shoved a box into Bob's hands awkwardly. Bob turned it over and finally opened it. Inside was an officer's pocket-knife, a marvel of compactness that held twelve tools, from scissors to tiny pliers, as well as standard blades. Beside it lay one of the tiny, expensive little personal radios issued to the higher officers." - p 14
I took it for granted that it was probably rigged somehow. Things become mysterious.
"They went back silently. It was completely impossible for the pirates to have taken all the freight and every man on board the ship off in no more than the single minute they had been locked together. Yet it had happened. Everything was beginning to come out the same—the events were impossible, but the black ship had done them, all the same." - p 28
"The shock was worse than any monster could have given them. The alien from Planet X looked almost exactly like a human!
"He was a short man, and his knee joints looked a little wrong; there wasn't the usual knobbiness. The hand that held some kind of a weapon had four normal fingers, but there was a thumb opposite the regular one, giving him a double palm. Yet even the fingernails were there. Generally, his body seemed almost completely normal. His ears were a bit too large, and there was no hair on his head, while his eyes had a vaguely Asiatic slant to them. His skin was an orange shade, not too different from some jaundiced people, but still unmatchable on Earth.
"Yet even on Earth, he would hardly have attracted a second glance. He was dressed in something like a Scotch ceremonial kilt of solid blue, with a soft T shirt and a brief cape. On a wide belt at his waist, several pouches were sewn. The costume was no odder than the man." - p 111
But did he speak English?
Perhaps my favorite part of all this is the description of the Thule music.
"It came while they were out. They got back to hear something that was a cross between an anguished cat and a tin can being battered around by a stumble-footed mule. In between sections, for no reason, a female voice would come on in a high, nasal singsong.
"If there was any rhythm to it, it couldn't be found, except for a few sections where there was obviously srudied effort to make a pattern.
"When they threw the door open and rushed in to shut off the racket, Juan was lying there with a smile of sheer pleasure on his face, beating his hand up and down as crazily as the beat of the so-called music. He let out a squawk when they cut it off.
""Hey, I want to hear all of how it goes," he cried, "This is interesting music."" - pp 140-141
Been there. The people who know & understand music the least are always the ones to oppress those of us who understand & know it the best. Of course, this makes Juan a suspicious character. I just hope his side wins.
My initial impression was that this was like Heinlein, perhaps like his Space Cadet (see my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ) insofar as it has good clean American characters in outer space still representing those good clean American values as put forth in propaganda of the 1950s. While I may have an imaginary wry grin to inflect my writing of that it doesn't mean that I didn't like it.
Lester Del Rey's The Mysterious Planet
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 3-6, 2019
It seems that when I think of Del Rey I think of him more as an SF editor than as a writer. Why, I don't know b/c most of what he edited was somewhat obscure & he was a prolific author.
"He later became an editor for several pulp magazines and then for book publishers. During 1952 and 1953, del Rey edited several magazines: Space SF, Fantasy Fiction, Science Fiction Adventures (as Philip St. John), Rocket Stories (as Wade Kaempfert), and Fantasy Fiction (as Cameron Hall). Also during 1952, his first two novels were published in the Winston juvenile series, one with an Italian-language edition in the same year.
"In 1957, del Rey and Damon Knight co-edited a small amateur magazine named Science Fiction Forum. During a debate about symbolism within the magazine, del Rey accepted Knight's challenge to write an analysis of the James Blish story "Common Time" that showed the story was about a man eating a ham sandwich. Del Rey was most successful editing with his fourth wife, Judy-Lynn del Rey, at Ballantine Books (as a Random House property, post-Ballantine) where they established the fantasy and science fiction imprint Del Rey Books in 1977."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_...
At any rate, I barely know his writing at all, having only previously read a short story collection called The Best of Lester Del Rey. I begin my review of that w/ this:
"Lester del Rey's the kind of writer I might've read in my early teens (but didn't) & then decided that he represented the kind of SF that all SF seemed to me to be at the time: sortof interesting but not that well written or experimental. I wd've then moved on - remembering him w/ some affection but not in any hurry to read more.
"Now that I'm 44 yrs past my early teens, del Rey still strikes me that way but I've read so many other things by now that I can respect del Rey just for being what he was: a somewhat generic, but still inspired, SF writer."
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Mysterious Planet is, as far as I can remember, the 1st novel I've read by him. It's about time. The 1st paragraph:
"It was a fine morning on Mars, clear, crisp and cold. In a little over a hundred years the great air factories had increased the oxygen content until it could be breathed without a mask, and had added enough carbon-dioxide gas to let the air collect and hold the faint heat of the sun. Now it was like a morning high in the mountains of Earth." - p 1
Ok, I'm always interested in the details of terraforming. I don't let conerns about the negative effects on the local eco-system spoil my fun. But did Mars get mad?!
""Took just four days to get here from Earth," Simon went on. "Like a dream. You come on the Mars Maid? Yeah, I thought so. Boy, I wouldn't travel on a liner after riding this! The minute Dad got my unlimited pilot's license fixed—took plenty of greasing to do it—the very minute, off I took. And here I am!"
""Yeah, here you are," Bob agreed, without enthusiasm. He wondered if Jakes had any idea of how sickening the idea of bribing officials for an unlimited license was." - p 3
The "Mars Maid" part is presumably a reference to Edgar Rice Burroughs:
" Thuvia, Maid of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth of the Barsoom series. The principal characters are Carthoris (the son of John Carter of Mars) and Thuvia of Ptarth, each of whom appeared in the previous two novels." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuvia,...
As for the immediate class conflict w/ the main character's being repulsed by the secondary character's privilege? I like it. This awkwardness continues when the privileged one gives t'other a present.
""Whew! Thought I'd missed you. Here!" He shoved a box into Bob's hands awkwardly. Bob turned it over and finally opened it. Inside was an officer's pocket-knife, a marvel of compactness that held twelve tools, from scissors to tiny pliers, as well as standard blades. Beside it lay one of the tiny, expensive little personal radios issued to the higher officers." - p 14
I took it for granted that it was probably rigged somehow. Things become mysterious.
"They went back silently. It was completely impossible for the pirates to have taken all the freight and every man on board the ship off in no more than the single minute they had been locked together. Yet it had happened. Everything was beginning to come out the same—the events were impossible, but the black ship had done them, all the same." - p 28
"The shock was worse than any monster could have given them. The alien from Planet X looked almost exactly like a human!
"He was a short man, and his knee joints looked a little wrong; there wasn't the usual knobbiness. The hand that held some kind of a weapon had four normal fingers, but there was a thumb opposite the regular one, giving him a double palm. Yet even the fingernails were there. Generally, his body seemed almost completely normal. His ears were a bit too large, and there was no hair on his head, while his eyes had a vaguely Asiatic slant to them. His skin was an orange shade, not too different from some jaundiced people, but still unmatchable on Earth.
"Yet even on Earth, he would hardly have attracted a second glance. He was dressed in something like a Scotch ceremonial kilt of solid blue, with a soft T shirt and a brief cape. On a wide belt at his waist, several pouches were sewn. The costume was no odder than the man." - p 111
But did he speak English?
Perhaps my favorite part of all this is the description of the Thule music.
"It came while they were out. They got back to hear something that was a cross between an anguished cat and a tin can being battered around by a stumble-footed mule. In between sections, for no reason, a female voice would come on in a high, nasal singsong.
"If there was any rhythm to it, it couldn't be found, except for a few sections where there was obviously srudied effort to make a pattern.
"When they threw the door open and rushed in to shut off the racket, Juan was lying there with a smile of sheer pleasure on his face, beating his hand up and down as crazily as the beat of the so-called music. He let out a squawk when they cut it off.
""Hey, I want to hear all of how it goes," he cried, "This is interesting music."" - pp 140-141
Been there. The people who know & understand music the least are always the ones to oppress those of us who understand & know it the best. Of course, this makes Juan a suspicious character. I just hope his side wins.
My initial impression was that this was like Heinlein, perhaps like his Space Cadet (see my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ) insofar as it has good clean American characters in outer space still representing those good clean American values as put forth in propaganda of the 1950s. While I may have an imaginary wry grin to inflect my writing of that it doesn't mean that I didn't like it.
June 6, 2026
When most readers think of 1950s sci-fi geared toward a younger audience, they probably focus on two authors, Robert A. Heinlein and Andre Norton...and for good reason. Heinlein, from 1947 to 1958, and for the publisher Scribner's, came out with a round dozen sci-fi works, the so-called "Heinlein juveniles," that catered to what we today would call a YA (young adult) audience. And it would be a difficult task to enumerate the books for teens that Norton came out with in the '50s, starting with 1952's "Star Man's Son." (Too, we really shouldn't forget Isaac Asimov's six Lucky Starr novels, released from 1952 - '58.) But as some readers will readily tell you, still another sci-fi author deserves to be placed on that list of '50s YA greats, and he is none other than Lester del Rey, who, between 1952 and 1961, came out with 10 such books, nine of them novels, for the renowned publisher John C. Winston & Co. This Philadelphia-based imprint came out with a fondly remembered sci-fi series for younger readers starting in 1952 and going till 1961; 67 hardcover books in all (one of them nonfiction and one an anthology), all of them highly prized collectables today. And it is one of the del Reys in that group, "The Mysterious Planet," that has just managed to impress me.
"The Mysterious Planet" was originally released in 1953 as a $2 hardcover under del Rey's pen name Kenneth Wright, and sporting a cover by Alex Schomburg. This was del Rey's fifth of those 10 titles for the Winston group, preceded by "Marooned on Mars" (1952), "Rocket Jockey" (1952, as by Philip St. John), "Attack From Atlantis" (1953) and "Battle on Mercury" (1953, as by Erik Van Lhin), and soon to be followed by "Rockets to Nowhere" (1954, as by Philip St. John), "Step to the Stars" (1954), "Mission to the Moon" (1956), "Rockets Through Space" (1957, and the only nonfiction entry in the Winston 67-book lineup), and "Moon of Mutiny" (1961). "The Mysterious Planet," the book in question, would see reprints in Germany (1954) and France (1960), but it wasn't till 1978 that Del Rey/Ballantine Books would release another English-language version, possibly to commemorate the novel's 25th anniversary. The paperback sold for $1.50; the Del Rey paperback edition of 1982 (the book's most recent printing, as far as I can make out) sold for $1.95. Inflation in a nutshell. So yes, the book, as of this date, has been OOPs (out of prints) for 44 years, but I'm sure that the savvy online shopper of today will have little trouble in hunting down a copy.
Before telling you a little something about this most charming del Rey effort, a quick word on its creator, for those few of you who might not be familiar with him. Lester del Rey was born Leonard Knapp, in Minnesota, in 1915. His first published work was the short story entitled "The Faithful," which appeared in the April 1938 issue of "Astounding" magazine. A prolific author of short stories following this sale, del Rey gained even more renown as a result of his Winston juveniles, after which he served as the editor for a number of science fiction magazines and anthologies. Along with his wife, Judy-Lynn del Rey, he founded Del Rey Books--the sci-fi division at Ballantine--in 1977 and served there as editor till 1992. A major contributor to the sci-fi field, del Rey was named the 11th Grand Master by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association in 1990. He passed away in 1993 at age 77.
Set on an indeterminate date perhaps a century from now, "The Mysterious Planet" introduces the reader to 17-year-old Bob Griffith, who returns to his home at the Space Navy Base in the Martian city of Tharsis, after his semester at the Space Academy on Earth comes to an end. The entire base, as well as the rest of the Solar Federation, is in something of a tizzy after having heard reports that a new planet has been spotted approaching our system. Dubbed Planet X, both in recognition of its possibly being the new 10th world as well as for its unknown quantities, it is a body that seemingly begs to be explored. Thus, Bob's father, the commander of Wing Nine of the Space Navy, is ordered to fly out and investigate. Bob is invited to tag along as a cadet observer, and so our young hero gets to witness what happens when the 20 ships of Wing Nine approach what they take to be a space pirate attacking a freighter: The crew of the freighter is mysteriously made to vanish, and the pirate ship proves invulnerable to conventional space weapons. And that ship also demonstrates an ability to fly through space with no visible means of jet propulsion! Only one survivor is found on the freighter, 17-year-old Juan Roman, the captain's son, from the Jovian moon of Io. A subsequent engagement with the pirate ship reveals that it not only possesses repelling pressor rays but is also capable of speeds many times faster than anything possible on our nine worlds. Clearly, this is no ordinary pirate ship, but rather a visitor from the unknown Planet X!
Once landed on Outpost, mankind's farthest base, on a Neptunian moon, Bob becomes friends with Juan and runs into his old Academy classmate, Simon Jakes, the son of the wealthiest businessman in the solar system. Eighteen-year-old Jakes had been kicked out of the Academy for not following the rules, although he was assuredly a pilot of no mean ability. With his newly gifted four-passenger space cruiser, the Icarius, Jakes now proposes to fly by himself to Planet X to gain fame and glory. But after our Space Navy forces are decisively beaten in a disastrous battle with the extraterrestrials, a tight quarantine is put on Outpost, making such an expedition impossible. As the system's forces gather on Outpost for a war that nobody seems to want, Juan, using a high-power telescope, espies a crash-landed X craft on another, smaller Neptunian moon. The three youths manage to sneak the Icarius through Outpost's security dome and reach that other moon, only to discover that...they've been led into a trap! The Icarius is swallowed whole by an alien ship and brought to Planet X itself, where our young heroes finally get to know the invaders from the world that is actually named Thule....
Del Rey's fifth contribution to the Winston series is certainly well written, in an easily readable style; perfect for a YA audience and yet with a definite appeal for adults as well. The book boasts some genuinely suspenseful moments, especially in the first half, before we get to see and become acquainted with the people of Thule; i.e., when they truly were an X factor. But even in the novel's second section, del Rey keeps the suspense ratcheted up by keeping us uncertain as to the Thulians' intentions. Are they being decent and honest with the captured boys, or just using them for their own nefarious ends? That is the question that keeps the boys on their toes and the reader fully invested. But the suspense quotient is fairly steady throughout the book, be it relating to the aliens' appearance, to their truthfulness, and finally, to the very real threat of a systemwide war.
Though the novel does showcase the golly-gee implements of superscience that were so esteemed by the genre's early fans, it is yet grounded in reality and remains a fairly credible outing. There is no FTL space travel here, and indeed, it is a boast of Simon Jakes that his Icarius can make it from the Earth to Mars in just four days. When the Lance of Deimos--the flagship of Wing Nine--accelerates to a speed resulting in a 4-g stress, Bob is in agony, and can barely walk with his additional 300 pounds of weight. So yes, at least del Rey tries to maintain a realistic backdrop of sorts as he spins his fantastic tale. But as for those gizmos of superscience, the fanboys will not be disappointed! Thus, we are given the Space Navy's new and improved proton cannon, as well as our side's lithium bombs, four of which can lay waste to an entire planet. On the Thulians' ledger, however, there are those pressor beams; a radar neutralizer; their inertialess-drive ships; their ability to draw heat and light from the air itself (who needs a sun?); their ability to put most of the Thulian population into cryogenic suspended animation for millennia; artificial gravity; tractor rays; a gun that is fired by expanding gas and that shoots drug-laced waxen bullets; and helmets that allow two people to rapidly learn each other's language. Truly, it becomes evident very early on which of the two cultures is the more advanced...technologically, at least!
"The Mysterious Planet" gives its YA readers four boys of various ages with whom they can identify (the Thulian president's very young son, Emo, also gets thrown into the mix), and for those readers, some interesting food for thought is presented. Is there, at bottom, a fundamental difference between humans and Thulians? Is it possible to build a relationship with an alien race? But most importantly, del Rey here gives us all a good lesson on the advisability of using diplomatic means to avert a war, and how easy it can be to misconstrue a supposed enemy's actions. Jumping into war, we see, is never the wise move. This is a book, thus, that might be called "required reading" for all politicians today (at least, for those who are willing and able to read!).
Any number of impressive scenes and set pieces are given to the reader. Among them: Wing Nine's first engagement with the Thulians in space, during which the aliens' capabilities are observed; the disastrous second engagement, during which the outsiders open up a genuine can of whoop-ass; the Icarius, with Bob, Simon and Juan aboard, playing a game of cat and mouse with a Thulian ship around that tiny Neptunian moon, prior to their capture; the fascinating history of the Thulian world that we are vouchsafed; Bob's hazardous nighttime rendezvous on Thule, to hopefully meet his arriving father; and Simon Jakes, always the would-be hero, pulling a desperate espionage/kidnapping ploy to foil his captors. Del Rey's book also pleases with its inclusion of some humorous moments, such as when the boys listen to a sample of Thulian music, described by the author as sounding like "a cross between an anguished cat and a tin can being battered around by a stumble-footed mule"; somehow, though, Juan kinda digs it! And just when the reader begins to think that the book cannot possibly hold any more cards up its proverbial sleeve, del Rey springs a wonderful surprise on us, concerning one of the four boys, at the book's tail end! By the time the final page has been turned, readers will surely be regretting that del Rey never chose to pen a sequel to this volume, perhaps giving us another look at Bob Griffith's adventures both in and after the Space Academy. Alas, it was never to be.
I have very few complaints to make regarding Lester del Rey's rather pleasing piece of work here. Oh, the ungrammatical sentence or two does pop up occasionally, such as "...a constant supply of lithium bombs were being made," instead of "was being made." And now that I think about it, is it really credible that Thule--whose original location was 80 light-years from our solar system--had to be moved all that distance, just to be near a suitable sun...ours? There were no other suns in all that immense distance that would have fit the bill? But these are relatively minor matters. Having already loved the 1978 collection "The Best of Lester del Rey" some decades ago, I find that the author is now a very solid 2 for 2 with me. I would certainly not hesitate to read any of those other nine Winston titles of del Rey's, if I could only lay hands on them...especially if they turn out to be as charming and entertaining as "The Mysterious Planet"....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for fans of sci-fi for a YA audience....)
"The Mysterious Planet" was originally released in 1953 as a $2 hardcover under del Rey's pen name Kenneth Wright, and sporting a cover by Alex Schomburg. This was del Rey's fifth of those 10 titles for the Winston group, preceded by "Marooned on Mars" (1952), "Rocket Jockey" (1952, as by Philip St. John), "Attack From Atlantis" (1953) and "Battle on Mercury" (1953, as by Erik Van Lhin), and soon to be followed by "Rockets to Nowhere" (1954, as by Philip St. John), "Step to the Stars" (1954), "Mission to the Moon" (1956), "Rockets Through Space" (1957, and the only nonfiction entry in the Winston 67-book lineup), and "Moon of Mutiny" (1961). "The Mysterious Planet," the book in question, would see reprints in Germany (1954) and France (1960), but it wasn't till 1978 that Del Rey/Ballantine Books would release another English-language version, possibly to commemorate the novel's 25th anniversary. The paperback sold for $1.50; the Del Rey paperback edition of 1982 (the book's most recent printing, as far as I can make out) sold for $1.95. Inflation in a nutshell. So yes, the book, as of this date, has been OOPs (out of prints) for 44 years, but I'm sure that the savvy online shopper of today will have little trouble in hunting down a copy.
Before telling you a little something about this most charming del Rey effort, a quick word on its creator, for those few of you who might not be familiar with him. Lester del Rey was born Leonard Knapp, in Minnesota, in 1915. His first published work was the short story entitled "The Faithful," which appeared in the April 1938 issue of "Astounding" magazine. A prolific author of short stories following this sale, del Rey gained even more renown as a result of his Winston juveniles, after which he served as the editor for a number of science fiction magazines and anthologies. Along with his wife, Judy-Lynn del Rey, he founded Del Rey Books--the sci-fi division at Ballantine--in 1977 and served there as editor till 1992. A major contributor to the sci-fi field, del Rey was named the 11th Grand Master by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association in 1990. He passed away in 1993 at age 77.
Set on an indeterminate date perhaps a century from now, "The Mysterious Planet" introduces the reader to 17-year-old Bob Griffith, who returns to his home at the Space Navy Base in the Martian city of Tharsis, after his semester at the Space Academy on Earth comes to an end. The entire base, as well as the rest of the Solar Federation, is in something of a tizzy after having heard reports that a new planet has been spotted approaching our system. Dubbed Planet X, both in recognition of its possibly being the new 10th world as well as for its unknown quantities, it is a body that seemingly begs to be explored. Thus, Bob's father, the commander of Wing Nine of the Space Navy, is ordered to fly out and investigate. Bob is invited to tag along as a cadet observer, and so our young hero gets to witness what happens when the 20 ships of Wing Nine approach what they take to be a space pirate attacking a freighter: The crew of the freighter is mysteriously made to vanish, and the pirate ship proves invulnerable to conventional space weapons. And that ship also demonstrates an ability to fly through space with no visible means of jet propulsion! Only one survivor is found on the freighter, 17-year-old Juan Roman, the captain's son, from the Jovian moon of Io. A subsequent engagement with the pirate ship reveals that it not only possesses repelling pressor rays but is also capable of speeds many times faster than anything possible on our nine worlds. Clearly, this is no ordinary pirate ship, but rather a visitor from the unknown Planet X!
Once landed on Outpost, mankind's farthest base, on a Neptunian moon, Bob becomes friends with Juan and runs into his old Academy classmate, Simon Jakes, the son of the wealthiest businessman in the solar system. Eighteen-year-old Jakes had been kicked out of the Academy for not following the rules, although he was assuredly a pilot of no mean ability. With his newly gifted four-passenger space cruiser, the Icarius, Jakes now proposes to fly by himself to Planet X to gain fame and glory. But after our Space Navy forces are decisively beaten in a disastrous battle with the extraterrestrials, a tight quarantine is put on Outpost, making such an expedition impossible. As the system's forces gather on Outpost for a war that nobody seems to want, Juan, using a high-power telescope, espies a crash-landed X craft on another, smaller Neptunian moon. The three youths manage to sneak the Icarius through Outpost's security dome and reach that other moon, only to discover that...they've been led into a trap! The Icarius is swallowed whole by an alien ship and brought to Planet X itself, where our young heroes finally get to know the invaders from the world that is actually named Thule....
Del Rey's fifth contribution to the Winston series is certainly well written, in an easily readable style; perfect for a YA audience and yet with a definite appeal for adults as well. The book boasts some genuinely suspenseful moments, especially in the first half, before we get to see and become acquainted with the people of Thule; i.e., when they truly were an X factor. But even in the novel's second section, del Rey keeps the suspense ratcheted up by keeping us uncertain as to the Thulians' intentions. Are they being decent and honest with the captured boys, or just using them for their own nefarious ends? That is the question that keeps the boys on their toes and the reader fully invested. But the suspense quotient is fairly steady throughout the book, be it relating to the aliens' appearance, to their truthfulness, and finally, to the very real threat of a systemwide war.
Though the novel does showcase the golly-gee implements of superscience that were so esteemed by the genre's early fans, it is yet grounded in reality and remains a fairly credible outing. There is no FTL space travel here, and indeed, it is a boast of Simon Jakes that his Icarius can make it from the Earth to Mars in just four days. When the Lance of Deimos--the flagship of Wing Nine--accelerates to a speed resulting in a 4-g stress, Bob is in agony, and can barely walk with his additional 300 pounds of weight. So yes, at least del Rey tries to maintain a realistic backdrop of sorts as he spins his fantastic tale. But as for those gizmos of superscience, the fanboys will not be disappointed! Thus, we are given the Space Navy's new and improved proton cannon, as well as our side's lithium bombs, four of which can lay waste to an entire planet. On the Thulians' ledger, however, there are those pressor beams; a radar neutralizer; their inertialess-drive ships; their ability to draw heat and light from the air itself (who needs a sun?); their ability to put most of the Thulian population into cryogenic suspended animation for millennia; artificial gravity; tractor rays; a gun that is fired by expanding gas and that shoots drug-laced waxen bullets; and helmets that allow two people to rapidly learn each other's language. Truly, it becomes evident very early on which of the two cultures is the more advanced...technologically, at least!
"The Mysterious Planet" gives its YA readers four boys of various ages with whom they can identify (the Thulian president's very young son, Emo, also gets thrown into the mix), and for those readers, some interesting food for thought is presented. Is there, at bottom, a fundamental difference between humans and Thulians? Is it possible to build a relationship with an alien race? But most importantly, del Rey here gives us all a good lesson on the advisability of using diplomatic means to avert a war, and how easy it can be to misconstrue a supposed enemy's actions. Jumping into war, we see, is never the wise move. This is a book, thus, that might be called "required reading" for all politicians today (at least, for those who are willing and able to read!).
Any number of impressive scenes and set pieces are given to the reader. Among them: Wing Nine's first engagement with the Thulians in space, during which the aliens' capabilities are observed; the disastrous second engagement, during which the outsiders open up a genuine can of whoop-ass; the Icarius, with Bob, Simon and Juan aboard, playing a game of cat and mouse with a Thulian ship around that tiny Neptunian moon, prior to their capture; the fascinating history of the Thulian world that we are vouchsafed; Bob's hazardous nighttime rendezvous on Thule, to hopefully meet his arriving father; and Simon Jakes, always the would-be hero, pulling a desperate espionage/kidnapping ploy to foil his captors. Del Rey's book also pleases with its inclusion of some humorous moments, such as when the boys listen to a sample of Thulian music, described by the author as sounding like "a cross between an anguished cat and a tin can being battered around by a stumble-footed mule"; somehow, though, Juan kinda digs it! And just when the reader begins to think that the book cannot possibly hold any more cards up its proverbial sleeve, del Rey springs a wonderful surprise on us, concerning one of the four boys, at the book's tail end! By the time the final page has been turned, readers will surely be regretting that del Rey never chose to pen a sequel to this volume, perhaps giving us another look at Bob Griffith's adventures both in and after the Space Academy. Alas, it was never to be.
I have very few complaints to make regarding Lester del Rey's rather pleasing piece of work here. Oh, the ungrammatical sentence or two does pop up occasionally, such as "...a constant supply of lithium bombs were being made," instead of "was being made." And now that I think about it, is it really credible that Thule--whose original location was 80 light-years from our solar system--had to be moved all that distance, just to be near a suitable sun...ours? There were no other suns in all that immense distance that would have fit the bill? But these are relatively minor matters. Having already loved the 1978 collection "The Best of Lester del Rey" some decades ago, I find that the author is now a very solid 2 for 2 with me. I would certainly not hesitate to read any of those other nine Winston titles of del Rey's, if I could only lay hands on them...especially if they turn out to be as charming and entertaining as "The Mysterious Planet"....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for fans of sci-fi for a YA audience....)
August 17, 2016
A charming science fiction tale written in 1953 in the middle of the Cold War. Mankind has populated the solar system. Our outpost on Neptune discovers a planet beyond Pluto moving our way. Planet X does not seem to have a regular orbit and seems to be heading toward Earth. The Solar Federation Navy sends a group of ships to investigate. When the ships are attacked it becomes clear Planet X is inhabited - but by whom? Are they peaceful or warlike? Will a simple misunderstanding lead to war or can three teenage boys save the day? A little dated, but still a most enjoyable story. Boys should like this one! For those of us who are older the nostalgia is a treat.
January 10, 2021
This story doesn’t quite have the allure of most of Del Rey’s others, but I believe that is because it is focused to more of a youth audience. With that said, it was still a great story, just a little less mature!
February 16, 2016
Great SiFi story by one of the master in the field. This is a great beginner book for someone younger or new to SiFi. Recommended
September 7, 2018
I enjoyed the story, and I liked that it ended differently than I was expecting, but I gave it a lower rating because of how the story is paced. It picks up very quickly, has a lot of little ups and downs that don't really lead anywhere, and then the crescendo happens on almost the last page and it feels very sudden and a little forced. There was also a plot twist that I picked up on very early on that wasn't revealed until the last second, and this was also not given very much attention at all for how important of a twist it was. Seems like a very hastily written book, even for a 50's pulp novel. A common thing to do in those days, though, was to write a story a chapter at a time for a pulp fiction magazine, and then if it became popular enough it was reprinted into a paperback without any editing. This can lead to a slightly haphazard over-arching story, which is what may have happened here.
c-on-deck-audio-and-ebooks
December 4, 2019Not Found
October 4, 2025
Sooooo much propaganda. But it's from the 1950s so yk. Probably written in response to WW2. If you look past the political commentary it's pretty good.
December 31, 2025
It gets better towards the end. For Fifties Sci Fi, it had some pretty thoughtful science.
March 8, 2016
I did not realize I had read this when I was younger; apparently "Kenneth Wright" is the pen name [or, one of the pen names] of Lester del Rey. It was a fun read; it was most assuredly geared towards young adults! It follows the 'adventure' of three young men in outer space. It moves at a decent pace; it held my interest throughout the entire story. It was pretty mild, all things considered. Of course, there as a happy ending.
One of the young men [last name of Griffiths] is the son of a commander in the Space Navy who is leading a fleet to an outpost past Jupiter. He is a cadet in the Navy and looking forward to traveling with this father to explore this mysterious planet. He takes after his father; is very by-the-book yet willing to bend the rules if the end result is justifiable.
The son encounters a rich kid [Simon Jakes] who was kicked out of the Academy; Jakes is a natural pilot who flies by the 'seat of his pants' and has his own spacecraft he is going to fly out to Planet X in order to explore it. He ends up joining Griffiths and Griffiths father on Neptune. He is described in a neanderthalic fashion, yet has his heart 'in the right place'. The two end up becoming friends.
An unknown planet has been discovered heading for the Solar System, so the fleet goes out to investigate, leaving from Mars orbit to head to Neptune. It turns out the planet is under an alien intelligence's guidance, and they want to join the Solar System. After a series of misadventures and misunderstandings, peace prevails.
Earth is an undergo, on the one hand, as the alien's tech is so far and above humanity's technological abilities. It is pretty crazy! The discussions of the alien tech was interesting, as was the descriptions of the humanoids inhabiting the planet.
I thought it was interesting that humanity had managed to colonize Mars and Venus before nearly fighting a three-way planetary war; peace prevailed. Much of the book keeps talking about how intelligent races, how advanced races, always look for peaceful solutions to problems and that war is always the last resort [as it is seen as the first resort of barbarians and less-advanced beings]. Both the Thulians [the aliens on Planet X] and the humans keep talking peace while advancing toward war; it takes drastic efforts to prevent a war from breaking out. It is kind of comical, in a way, as both sides are so 'advanced' and yet so clumsy.
On a completely side note, I thought it was hilarious that Griffith's father was often described as smoking a pipe throughout the book. He was smoking a pipe in a pure oxygen environment? Really? It reminded me of the scene in the preview for the movie Thank you for Smoking where the characters are talking about the impossibility of smoking on a space station when one of them says, "All we have to do is insert a line saying 'Thank ___ for the blump device/procedure" which will allow smoking to take place in outer space." Every time I read about Griffith's father puffing away on his pipe made me laugh. It was too funny.
It was a fun book to read; it has been well night thirty years since I last read it [the original copy I read was apparently an updated paperback owned by one of my uncles].
One of the young men [last name of Griffiths] is the son of a commander in the Space Navy who is leading a fleet to an outpost past Jupiter. He is a cadet in the Navy and looking forward to traveling with this father to explore this mysterious planet. He takes after his father; is very by-the-book yet willing to bend the rules if the end result is justifiable.
The son encounters a rich kid [Simon Jakes] who was kicked out of the Academy; Jakes is a natural pilot who flies by the 'seat of his pants' and has his own spacecraft he is going to fly out to Planet X in order to explore it. He ends up joining Griffiths and Griffiths father on Neptune. He is described in a neanderthalic fashion, yet has his heart 'in the right place'. The two end up becoming friends.
An unknown planet has been discovered heading for the Solar System, so the fleet goes out to investigate, leaving from Mars orbit to head to Neptune. It turns out the planet is under an alien intelligence's guidance, and they want to join the Solar System. After a series of misadventures and misunderstandings, peace prevails.
Earth is an undergo, on the one hand, as the alien's tech is so far and above humanity's technological abilities. It is pretty crazy! The discussions of the alien tech was interesting, as was the descriptions of the humanoids inhabiting the planet.
I thought it was interesting that humanity had managed to colonize Mars and Venus before nearly fighting a three-way planetary war; peace prevailed. Much of the book keeps talking about how intelligent races, how advanced races, always look for peaceful solutions to problems and that war is always the last resort [as it is seen as the first resort of barbarians and less-advanced beings]. Both the Thulians [the aliens on Planet X] and the humans keep talking peace while advancing toward war; it takes drastic efforts to prevent a war from breaking out. It is kind of comical, in a way, as both sides are so 'advanced' and yet so clumsy.
On a completely side note, I thought it was hilarious that Griffith's father was often described as smoking a pipe throughout the book. He was smoking a pipe in a pure oxygen environment? Really? It reminded me of the scene in the preview for the movie Thank you for Smoking where the characters are talking about the impossibility of smoking on a space station when one of them says, "All we have to do is insert a line saying 'Thank ___ for the blump device/procedure" which will allow smoking to take place in outer space." Every time I read about Griffith's father puffing away on his pipe made me laugh. It was too funny.
It was a fun book to read; it has been well night thirty years since I last read it [the original copy I read was apparently an updated paperback owned by one of my uncles].
July 2, 2012
I probably read this when I was 12 or 13 (The Winston Science Fiction series). I'm sure I enjoyed it immensely then. But memory fades after more than 50 years. Re-reading it now is not quite the same. I was overly conscious of the paranoid flavor of the speculations of the characters about not only the "enemy", but also each other. Certainly a red scare flavor. But a fun tale for kids of the time (1953).
December 28, 2007
read 08.09.85
January 30, 2009
Another Del Rey book I read when I was in elementary school. It was entertaining.
September 22, 2008
I don't rememember much about this book. Young adult space opera. Kenneth Wright is apparently really Lester Del Rey.
June 17, 2009
Not great, not terible. A decent read. I have an old version under the pseudonym Kenneth Wright.
July 29, 2014
An entertaining example of early mass market paperbacks.
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