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The Book of Skaith #1-3
The Book of Skaith: The Adventures of Eric John Stark
Omnibus edition containing three novels in the Skaith sequence: The Ginger Star, The Hounds of Skaith, and The Reavers of Skaith.
468 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
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About the author
Leigh Brackett
399 books242 followersLeigh Brackett was born on December 7, 1915 in Los Angeles, and raised near Santa Monica. Having spent her youth as an athletic tom-boy - playing volleyball and reading stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs and H Rider Haggard - she began writing fantastic adventures of her own. Several of these early efforts were read by Henry Kuttner, who critiqued her stories and introduced her to the SF personalities then living in California, including Robert Heinlein, Julius Schwartz, Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton - and another aspiring writer, Ray Bradbury.
In 1944, based on the hard-boiled dialogue in her first novel, No Good From a Corpse, producer/director Howard Hawks hired Brackett to collaborate with William Faulkner on the screenplay of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.
Brackett maintained an on-again/off-again relationship with Hollywood for the remainder of her life. Between writing screenplays for such films as Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Hatari!, and The Long Goodbye, she produced novels such as the classic The Long Tomorrow (1955) and the Spur Award-winning Western, Follow the Free Wind (1963).
Brackett married Edmond Hamilton on New Year's Eve in 1946, and the couple maintained homes in the high-desert of California and the rural farmland of Kinsman, Ohio.
Just weeks before her death on March 17, 1978, she turned in the first draft screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back and the film was posthumously dedicated to her.
In 1944, based on the hard-boiled dialogue in her first novel, No Good From a Corpse, producer/director Howard Hawks hired Brackett to collaborate with William Faulkner on the screenplay of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.
Brackett maintained an on-again/off-again relationship with Hollywood for the remainder of her life. Between writing screenplays for such films as Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Hatari!, and The Long Goodbye, she produced novels such as the classic The Long Tomorrow (1955) and the Spur Award-winning Western, Follow the Free Wind (1963).
Brackett married Edmond Hamilton on New Year's Eve in 1946, and the couple maintained homes in the high-desert of California and the rural farmland of Kinsman, Ohio.
Just weeks before her death on March 17, 1978, she turned in the first draft screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back and the film was posthumously dedicated to her.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 28, 2013
I loved this series when I read it at the age of 12 or so. Reading it again, I can't help but notice the seams where Brackett modified it, and it only barely passes the Bechdel test, but hell, it's all good fun. A classic planetary romance.
Also, while the cover of a book isn't very important, I was sadly amused to note that the hero was whitewashed. In the books, he's called "The Dark Man" for a reason.
Also, while the cover of a book isn't very important, I was sadly amused to note that the hero was whitewashed. In the books, he's called "The Dark Man" for a reason.
November 30, 2015
Instead of trying to 'review' all three stories when I am done with the omnibus, I will add stuff while reading [the last two stories] and review each story as it is finished. Then, at the end, I will probably give some final overall thoughts on the omnibus as a whole.
The Ginger Star : This story moved at a decent pace. It was kind of funny to me, how it started off with space ships and interstellar travel and an all-encompassing Galactic Union but ended up on some backwater planet where the inhabitants have limited abilities [like some who can see bits of the future] but no other 'supernatural' elements of which to speak. They still 'only' use swords, knives, and spears! [I assume they also have shields, unless shields are considered wussy devices and not manly enough to be used.] We are essentially give all we need to know about the technological side of the Galactic Union in the first chapter or so.
As 'good' as The Ginger Star was, the cover of this compilation really did not do it justice. I am sure if they were to reprint this today, the hero on the cover would be a closer approximation to Eric John Stark, the hell-hound on the cover would be more vicious, more demonic-looking, and Gerrith would have little, if any, clothes covering her. But who ever judges a book by its cover, right? The guy on the cover appears to have skin that is darker than white [more olive-brown than brown or black], yet he still looks to be Caucasian. I'm tired while typing this, so perhaps I will come back and modify what I said when I am done with the entire book. The gist of what I am trying to say is that it reminds me of Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein; the hero in that book is black yet the book cover of the 70s and 80s clearly showed a young Caucasian on the cover.
I thought the description of Skaith was interesting, how it had no moon, which meant it had no tides and not waves. The seas were described as being somewhat shallow and brackish and nasty; the creatures who lived in the water were former humans genetically modified in some distant past to live in the water. They were becoming more animal-like with every passing generation because they had lost touch with their 'human' heritage.
"Their law was simple: Succor the weak, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless - striving always toward the greatest good of the greatest number." Funny [ironic], how such a 'good' law became so perverted as to hold most of a planetary population in slavery.
Eric John Stark has come to Skaith to find his friend, father-figure, teacher, and 'savior', Simon Ashton. Apparently Stark had lived in a mining colony on Mercury in which some kind of disaster struck and everybody died except for Stark. Eric is taken in by the primitive inhabitants of Mercury and adopted into the tribe. I found myself wondering at what point scientists realized that Mercury was devoid of atmosphere, considering this book was published in the 1970s and Brackett implies that a race of beings could live on the planet so close to the sun that it had to have been boiling hot. Mercury is implied to have a desert-like environment, which makes sense considering how hot it would have had to have been. Eric gains a new name in the tribe, N'Chaka, and a new identity. Captured and terrorized as an [older] child by a new batch of humans who came to Mercury, Stark was saved by Simon Ashton. Ashton then took Stark on as his ward and helped rear him and make him a [relatively] productive member of galactic society. However, despite having the veneer of civilization, Stark preferred to live amongst primitive planets [from what I gather] where his 'darker' instincts could have [some] free reign [from what I gathered].
I thought it interesting how John was described as having essentially two personalities - one as 'John Stark' given to him by Stark's friend and the other [N'Chaka] that went from being 'sub-human' [of sorts, as it was based on being a member of the primitive tribe in Mercury, and that tribe was most assuredly not human] to 'not human at all.' This ability to 'change personalities' allows Stark to survive some crazy encounters on the planet.
I did enjoy his encounter with the hell-hounds.
Overall, even though some of the book seems pretty dated, I did enjoy it. I was happy that it did not move at a glacially-slow pace [considering how 'short' the story really is, in terms of pages]. I will not deny that some sections did move faster than others. I also found it amusing how he was more than willing to kill as many guards as he could to survive, yet refused to smash a two thousand year old Tlavian musical instrument some scholar was trying to learn how to play. It was 'funny' how sometimes Eric John Stark was quite blood-thirsty and other times he was willing to let his 'enemies' live.
I did like how Eric John Stark kept encountering individuals who wanted to leave the planet, who wanted to search for a 'better life' somewhere else in the universe for themselves and their family, their tribe, their people-group. I thought it was a great idea, a great concept, except that these people would have no marketable skills once they left their planet. They would have to learn new techniques to survive [be it embracing technology and learning how to use technology to survive, or learning new farming techniques and how to grow alien crops to survive on a different planet]. It would have been hard work for those leaving the planet, especially as they had not basis, no abilities, no utility, no useful trade craft, no skills, that would help them once they were off-planet. Many of the inhabitants of Skaith were described as being exceedingly poor and so-far-below-ignorant of Galactic Matters that there is no adequate reference point between the people of Skaith and the 'Galaxy-at-large'. We do know that traders do come to the planet for SOME reason [they land 'in the South'], but we are never told exactly WHY they come. Was there some mineral, some beverage, some flora or fauna from this primitive planet that met a great need elsewhere in the Galaxy? Something from this planet that could only be found ON this planet and nowhere else?
In my opinion, it would be better for the planet to once again become a developed planet. We know it was not always a 'primitive planet' because of the different inhabitants that were formerly 'people' and genetically modified to live in alternate environments [such as living and being able to breathe underwater]. Unless the planet was a dying planet [and I got the impression that the 'ginger star' around which Skaith orbited might be 'dying'], the people should have been willing to learn how to improve themselves and restore industry/technology/science to their planet to improve their situation instead of fleeing elsewhere and not being able to survive on an alien planet.
The Hounds of Skaith : Hah! The first chapter of the second story has a nice 'synopsis' where it discusses more of the 'backstory'/history of Skaith. It turns out that Skaith is quite old and on its last legs; that 'billions of years ago' it had an incredibly advanced civilization that never developed space flight. It went as far as it could on the limited planetary resources in terms of society, technology, and scientific advancement [including genetic manipulation and adaptation] before society and the planet itself started 'falling apart.' Now, the planet is so bereft of resources that the most advanced weapons that can be made are knives, spears, and swords. At the same time, the planet has a wealth of powerful pharmaceuticals [drugs] found along the equator that make the dying planet 'important' to the galaxy at large. In addition to the 'superdrugs' to be found are the ancient artifacts [ruins] which hold great value. So now I know why starships continue to come to this dying planet.
I also 'found out' [can't believe I missed it!] that the Daughters were genetically modified to be able to live under the mountains/earth without going crazy or needing the sunlight, so that was interesting.
So, I'm done with Hounds and I still found it enjoyable. Elements of it strongly reminded me of ERB's John Carter books, though, and I kept seeing Eric John Stark running around in very little clothing and a sword in his hand. hahahah In actuality, most of the planet is quite cold and Stark dresses accordingly [warm clothing, flowing robes, etc.]. It moved at a good clip, although the title is a bit of a misnomer in that the Northhounds [Hellhounds] are not the primary focus of this book. They do, however, play an important part in this tale. There parts where it did seem to slow down a bit, and there were parts that were mostly dialogue, but I still felt like it worked, overall.
We get to meet some more genetically modified races in this book [including a race that could control the winds even though they could not themselves fly for any great distance].
There is an interesting conversation at the end of this tale in which some indigenous leaders are discussing what it will mean if they are able to leave the planet. They understand that essentially they will lose 'who they are' in terms of their planetary identity [and possibly group identity] because they will have to learn new ways to exist. They also discuss with a space ship captain how they will become a drain on whatever planet will take them in until they can learn to become productive members of society. So it was interesting to me how some of the concerns that came to my mind while reading the first book about how the planetary inhabitants wanted to leave their dying planet behind were addressed in this book.
Oh! I almost forgot [not sure how], but there is most assuredly a 'lot more warfare' [battles / fights] in this book [or so it seemed to me]. Stark unites a gaggle of smaller tribes to overthrow their largest tribe of that area in order to ensure free-flow of people. There a many skirmishes. He explores more of the planet in order to obtain what he wants/needs. .
Say, just over halfway through the book, Gerrith and Stark separate. Stark has to take a path in which Gerrith has foreseen him getting knifed, and she is angry that he still takes that path. It is interesting how they have this 'relationship' when not much is said to develop said relationship. Apparently they have copulated on a regularly implied basis, but there is no regular interaction between the two to indicate any level or depth to their feelings for each other. However, we see that Gerrith is angry with Eric for not listening to her and still taking the danger-filled path despite her warnings. [Granted, Eric's opinion is that he regularly faces a knife in the back on this planet, so what difference would it make where he went?] So, yeah, their 'relationship' is pretty humorous to me .
I did find Eric's reluctance to kill the two brothers, Fenn and Ferdic [I assume they are brothers], interesting in light of how Eric is portrayed at times in the book [and in the first book]. He's not necessarily 'blood thirsty', but neither is he initially shown to be reluctant to take a life. Yet he is presented as ruing killing the two guards when escaping from the underground abode of the Daughters-of-Skaith-Underground [or whatever they called their tribal group].
Ah, well. Onto the next story in the omnibus.
The Reavers of Skaith : It's kind-of-funny [not really], but for being a hero Eric sure steals a lot of things and kills a lot of people. I realize 'the "whole planetary population" is against him' and all that, but Eric's actions seem to be adding to the animosity pointed his way. Granted, that is my opinion. I know because of the prophecy he cannot get very far based on the goodness of the indigenous people's generosity, but still. He has destroyed numerous temples/holy places and what could be called governmental [regional] headquarters in his quest throughout the course of each book. No wonder the religious and political leaders hate him!
"Prophecies were slippery things; blades to turn in the believer's hands and pierce him" (433).
I had forgotten how this trilogy turned out, so the beginning of this third book was a surprise to me. Let us just say that treachery abounded and things did not end as happily as the second book implied. Even with the lack of graphic descriptions of people either dying or being dismembered, it was a violent book. I had forgotten how violent it was. It had a lot of stealing, a lot of killing and death, cannibalism, people freezing to death, drowning, being eaten alive, crushed to death, burned to death, shot to death, stabbed to death, and being sacrificed on an altar to appease the Sun [Sun God]. It had people starving to death, innocent people being killed, and people being robbed. It was crazy!
Parts of the book reminded me of a Chinese History class I took, where it described how towns, villages, entire tribal populations disappeared because they happened to lie between two opposing armies and neither army wanted the civilian population to provide succor to their enemy. Numerous times in this book, innocent populations suffered at the hands of Stark and his growing army as they marched on the city-fortress Ged Darod. It was crazy! I realize Skaith is supposed to be a 'barbaric planet' in relation to the 'civilized' Galactic Union, but it was crazy how Stark had no problems with causing harm to innocent people in order to 'get the job done.' This was truly a case of 'might makes right' in this story, and Eric John Stark was ultimately 'in the right' because he was the mightiest of them all.
I do not know how I feel about this trilogy. When I first read it, I liked it. A lot. This time around, though, I cannot say that I liked it nearly as much as I did the first time I read it. I think it is because the first time I read the series, I saw Eric John Stark as being 'all good' and not able to do anything wrong; I had subconsciously accepted and agreed with the idea that the ends justified the means. I could no longer agree with the mindset, though, once I realized how many innocent people were suffering because of Stark's heavyhandedness. It was deplorable! I realize a large part of the problem is that the entire population was basically told to kill Stark on sight, so it would have been difficult for him to get any kind of help in order to survive, let alone attempt to get off-planet. I liked the first two books; the third one kind of ruined it for me.
On a general note, I laughed when I saw some of the covers of The Ginger Star. On one of them, the hounds look like wolves. On another cover, they look like mutated snow tigers or snow leopards or something [with a horn on their nose]. The covers struck me as funny.
We encounter some interesting indigenous forms of life not previously discovered or mentioned in the first two books. I thought they were interesting [one of which made a somewhat-comical scene at the end of an early chapter]. It is amazing how much genetic manipulation took place on this planet! They obviously used it on themselves to try and help some of their general 'human' [indigenous] population survive the coming climactic changes that would radically alter the planet upon which they were living. I thought it was an interesting concept and well-done in these books. [It kind of reminded me of a scene in Fallen Dragon in which an entire planetary population has genetically altered itself to remove any and all humanity so they can live more in tune with the planetary cycles.]
A lot of 'stuff' happened in this book. It seemed to move at both a fast pace and glacially slow. I am not sure why that was, but the third book was quite the range of extremes. Overall, the entire trilogy was still relatively interesting to read; it held my interested until the very end of the omnibus. I think I still enjoyed reading it, for the most part. I will probably leave it at two stars, though, 'cuz of how negative the final book is. It was pretty dark and brooding and violent and depressing.
The Ginger Star : This story moved at a decent pace. It was kind of funny to me, how it started off with space ships and interstellar travel and an all-encompassing Galactic Union but ended up on some backwater planet where the inhabitants have limited abilities [like some who can see bits of the future] but no other 'supernatural' elements of which to speak. They still 'only' use swords, knives, and spears! [I assume they also have shields, unless shields are considered wussy devices and not manly enough to be used.] We are essentially give all we need to know about the technological side of the Galactic Union in the first chapter or so.
As 'good' as The Ginger Star was, the cover of this compilation really did not do it justice. I am sure if they were to reprint this today, the hero on the cover would be a closer approximation to Eric John Stark, the hell-hound on the cover would be more vicious, more demonic-looking, and Gerrith would have little, if any, clothes covering her. But who ever judges a book by its cover, right? The guy on the cover appears to have skin that is darker than white [more olive-brown than brown or black], yet he still looks to be Caucasian. I'm tired while typing this, so perhaps I will come back and modify what I said when I am done with the entire book. The gist of what I am trying to say is that it reminds me of Tunnel in the Sky by Heinlein; the hero in that book is black yet the book cover of the 70s and 80s clearly showed a young Caucasian on the cover.
I thought the description of Skaith was interesting, how it had no moon, which meant it had no tides and not waves. The seas were described as being somewhat shallow and brackish and nasty; the creatures who lived in the water were former humans genetically modified in some distant past to live in the water. They were becoming more animal-like with every passing generation because they had lost touch with their 'human' heritage.
"Their law was simple: Succor the weak, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless - striving always toward the greatest good of the greatest number." Funny [ironic], how such a 'good' law became so perverted as to hold most of a planetary population in slavery.
Eric John Stark has come to Skaith to find his friend, father-figure, teacher, and 'savior', Simon Ashton. Apparently Stark had lived in a mining colony on Mercury in which some kind of disaster struck and everybody died except for Stark. Eric is taken in by the primitive inhabitants of Mercury and adopted into the tribe. I found myself wondering at what point scientists realized that Mercury was devoid of atmosphere, considering this book was published in the 1970s and Brackett implies that a race of beings could live on the planet so close to the sun that it had to have been boiling hot. Mercury is implied to have a desert-like environment, which makes sense considering how hot it would have had to have been. Eric gains a new name in the tribe, N'Chaka, and a new identity. Captured and terrorized as an [older] child by a new batch of humans who came to Mercury, Stark was saved by Simon Ashton. Ashton then took Stark on as his ward and helped rear him and make him a [relatively] productive member of galactic society. However, despite having the veneer of civilization, Stark preferred to live amongst primitive planets [from what I gather] where his 'darker' instincts could have [some] free reign [from what I gathered].
I thought it interesting how John was described as having essentially two personalities - one as 'John Stark' given to him by Stark's friend and the other [N'Chaka] that went from being 'sub-human' [of sorts, as it was based on being a member of the primitive tribe in Mercury, and that tribe was most assuredly not human] to 'not human at all.' This ability to 'change personalities' allows Stark to survive some crazy encounters on the planet.
I did enjoy his encounter with the hell-hounds.
Overall, even though some of the book seems pretty dated, I did enjoy it. I was happy that it did not move at a glacially-slow pace [considering how 'short' the story really is, in terms of pages]. I will not deny that some sections did move faster than others. I also found it amusing how he was more than willing to kill as many guards as he could to survive, yet refused to smash a two thousand year old Tlavian musical instrument some scholar was trying to learn how to play. It was 'funny' how sometimes Eric John Stark was quite blood-thirsty and other times he was willing to let his 'enemies' live.
I did like how Eric John Stark kept encountering individuals who wanted to leave the planet, who wanted to search for a 'better life' somewhere else in the universe for themselves and their family, their tribe, their people-group. I thought it was a great idea, a great concept, except that these people would have no marketable skills once they left their planet. They would have to learn new techniques to survive [be it embracing technology and learning how to use technology to survive, or learning new farming techniques and how to grow alien crops to survive on a different planet]. It would have been hard work for those leaving the planet, especially as they had not basis, no abilities, no utility, no useful trade craft, no skills, that would help them once they were off-planet. Many of the inhabitants of Skaith were described as being exceedingly poor and so-far-below-ignorant of Galactic Matters that there is no adequate reference point between the people of Skaith and the 'Galaxy-at-large'. We do know that traders do come to the planet for SOME reason [they land 'in the South'], but we are never told exactly WHY they come. Was there some mineral, some beverage, some flora or fauna from this primitive planet that met a great need elsewhere in the Galaxy? Something from this planet that could only be found ON this planet and nowhere else?
In my opinion, it would be better for the planet to once again become a developed planet. We know it was not always a 'primitive planet' because of the different inhabitants that were formerly 'people' and genetically modified to live in alternate environments [such as living and being able to breathe underwater]. Unless the planet was a dying planet [and I got the impression that the 'ginger star' around which Skaith orbited might be 'dying'], the people should have been willing to learn how to improve themselves and restore industry/technology/science to their planet to improve their situation instead of fleeing elsewhere and not being able to survive on an alien planet.
The Hounds of Skaith : Hah! The first chapter of the second story has a nice 'synopsis' where it discusses more of the 'backstory'/history of Skaith. It turns out that Skaith is quite old and on its last legs; that 'billions of years ago' it had an incredibly advanced civilization that never developed space flight. It went as far as it could on the limited planetary resources in terms of society, technology, and scientific advancement [including genetic manipulation and adaptation] before society and the planet itself started 'falling apart.' Now, the planet is so bereft of resources that the most advanced weapons that can be made are knives, spears, and swords. At the same time, the planet has a wealth of powerful pharmaceuticals [drugs] found along the equator that make the dying planet 'important' to the galaxy at large. In addition to the 'superdrugs' to be found are the ancient artifacts [ruins] which hold great value. So now I know why starships continue to come to this dying planet.
I also 'found out' [can't believe I missed it!] that the Daughters were genetically modified to be able to live under the mountains/earth without going crazy or needing the sunlight, so that was interesting.
So, I'm done with Hounds and I still found it enjoyable. Elements of it strongly reminded me of ERB's John Carter books, though, and I kept seeing Eric John Stark running around in very little clothing and a sword in his hand. hahahah In actuality, most of the planet is quite cold and Stark dresses accordingly [warm clothing, flowing robes, etc.]. It moved at a good clip, although the title is a bit of a misnomer in that the Northhounds [Hellhounds] are not the primary focus of this book. They do, however, play an important part in this tale. There parts where it did seem to slow down a bit, and there were parts that were mostly dialogue, but I still felt like it worked, overall.
We get to meet some more genetically modified races in this book [including a race that could control the winds even though they could not themselves fly for any great distance].
There is an interesting conversation at the end of this tale in which some indigenous leaders are discussing what it will mean if they are able to leave the planet. They understand that essentially they will lose 'who they are' in terms of their planetary identity [and possibly group identity] because they will have to learn new ways to exist. They also discuss with a space ship captain how they will become a drain on whatever planet will take them in until they can learn to become productive members of society. So it was interesting to me how some of the concerns that came to my mind while reading the first book about how the planetary inhabitants wanted to leave their dying planet behind were addressed in this book.
Oh! I almost forgot [not sure how], but there is most assuredly a 'lot more warfare' [battles / fights] in this book [or so it seemed to me]. Stark unites a gaggle of smaller tribes to overthrow their largest tribe of that area in order to ensure free-flow of people. There a many skirmishes. He explores more of the planet in order to obtain what he wants/needs. .
Say, just over halfway through the book, Gerrith and Stark separate. Stark has to take a path in which Gerrith has foreseen him getting knifed, and she is angry that he still takes that path. It is interesting how they have this 'relationship' when not much is said to develop said relationship. Apparently they have copulated on a regularly implied basis, but there is no regular interaction between the two to indicate any level or depth to their feelings for each other. However, we see that Gerrith is angry with Eric for not listening to her and still taking the danger-filled path despite her warnings. [Granted, Eric's opinion is that he regularly faces a knife in the back on this planet, so what difference would it make where he went?] So, yeah, their 'relationship' is pretty humorous to me .
I did find Eric's reluctance to kill the two brothers, Fenn and Ferdic [I assume they are brothers], interesting in light of how Eric is portrayed at times in the book [and in the first book]. He's not necessarily 'blood thirsty', but neither is he initially shown to be reluctant to take a life. Yet he is presented as ruing killing the two guards when escaping from the underground abode of the Daughters-of-Skaith-Underground [or whatever they called their tribal group].
Ah, well. Onto the next story in the omnibus.
The Reavers of Skaith : It's kind-of-funny [not really], but for being a hero Eric sure steals a lot of things and kills a lot of people. I realize 'the "whole planetary population" is against him' and all that, but Eric's actions seem to be adding to the animosity pointed his way. Granted, that is my opinion. I know because of the prophecy he cannot get very far based on the goodness of the indigenous people's generosity, but still. He has destroyed numerous temples/holy places and what could be called governmental [regional] headquarters in his quest throughout the course of each book. No wonder the religious and political leaders hate him!
"Prophecies were slippery things; blades to turn in the believer's hands and pierce him" (433).
I had forgotten how this trilogy turned out, so the beginning of this third book was a surprise to me. Let us just say that treachery abounded and things did not end as happily as the second book implied. Even with the lack of graphic descriptions of people either dying or being dismembered, it was a violent book. I had forgotten how violent it was. It had a lot of stealing, a lot of killing and death, cannibalism, people freezing to death, drowning, being eaten alive, crushed to death, burned to death, shot to death, stabbed to death, and being sacrificed on an altar to appease the Sun [Sun God]. It had people starving to death, innocent people being killed, and people being robbed. It was crazy!
Parts of the book reminded me of a Chinese History class I took, where it described how towns, villages, entire tribal populations disappeared because they happened to lie between two opposing armies and neither army wanted the civilian population to provide succor to their enemy. Numerous times in this book, innocent populations suffered at the hands of Stark and his growing army as they marched on the city-fortress Ged Darod. It was crazy! I realize Skaith is supposed to be a 'barbaric planet' in relation to the 'civilized' Galactic Union, but it was crazy how Stark had no problems with causing harm to innocent people in order to 'get the job done.' This was truly a case of 'might makes right' in this story, and Eric John Stark was ultimately 'in the right' because he was the mightiest of them all.
I do not know how I feel about this trilogy. When I first read it, I liked it. A lot. This time around, though, I cannot say that I liked it nearly as much as I did the first time I read it. I think it is because the first time I read the series, I saw Eric John Stark as being 'all good' and not able to do anything wrong; I had subconsciously accepted and agreed with the idea that the ends justified the means. I could no longer agree with the mindset, though, once I realized how many innocent people were suffering because of Stark's heavyhandedness. It was deplorable! I realize a large part of the problem is that the entire population was basically told to kill Stark on sight, so it would have been difficult for him to get any kind of help in order to survive, let alone attempt to get off-planet. I liked the first two books; the third one kind of ruined it for me.
On a general note, I laughed when I saw some of the covers of The Ginger Star. On one of them, the hounds look like wolves. On another cover, they look like mutated snow tigers or snow leopards or something [with a horn on their nose]. The covers struck me as funny.
We encounter some interesting indigenous forms of life not previously discovered or mentioned in the first two books. I thought they were interesting [one of which made a somewhat-comical scene at the end of an early chapter]. It is amazing how much genetic manipulation took place on this planet! They obviously used it on themselves to try and help some of their general 'human' [indigenous] population survive the coming climactic changes that would radically alter the planet upon which they were living. I thought it was an interesting concept and well-done in these books. [It kind of reminded me of a scene in Fallen Dragon in which an entire planetary population has genetically altered itself to remove any and all humanity so they can live more in tune with the planetary cycles.]
A lot of 'stuff' happened in this book. It seemed to move at both a fast pace and glacially slow. I am not sure why that was, but the third book was quite the range of extremes. Overall, the entire trilogy was still relatively interesting to read; it held my interested until the very end of the omnibus. I think I still enjoyed reading it, for the most part. I will probably leave it at two stars, though, 'cuz of how negative the final book is. It was pretty dark and brooding and violent and depressing.
June 9, 2022
Amazing stuff by the master, working at the height of her power. Brackett juggles Stark's shifting alliances and exploits expertly and with such economy of craft that 460 pages fly by like 150. It's so immersive that you feel like you could be in it forever.
Eric John Stark travels to a dying world, orbiting a dying sun, to rescue his foster father and mentor. The only way to do that, apparently, is to start a revolution and bring down the planet's entire social structure. Brackett's Galactic Union does not have a Prime Directive.
Stark himself is a great character- N'Chaka, the man without a tribe. He's a man of cold fury and savage combat, but he speaks with the reserve of a Victorian gentleman. Brackett paints a picture of a man barely holding back his destructive urges - but his go-to move is to parley and form alliances. He remains an enigma, but his character is never inconsistent.
Brackett creates about a dozen societies on the doomed planet of Skaith, each with their own history and point of view, basically as throwaways. To the extent that anyone is evil, they're just taking care of their own way of life. The main antagonists, the Lords Protector, are shown as men of integrity (although they're explicitly ignoring an ecological catastrophe to hold on to power).
If there's one thing I'd like from this book, I'd like to see a bit more of Stark's main sidekicks, Gerrith the Wise Woman and his foster father Simon Ashton. Gerrith in particular gets a number of great moments, and her relationship with Stark is sketched in with a few deft strokes. But still - it's a small quibble.
Eric John Stark travels to a dying world, orbiting a dying sun, to rescue his foster father and mentor. The only way to do that, apparently, is to start a revolution and bring down the planet's entire social structure. Brackett's Galactic Union does not have a Prime Directive.
Stark himself is a great character- N'Chaka, the man without a tribe. He's a man of cold fury and savage combat, but he speaks with the reserve of a Victorian gentleman. Brackett paints a picture of a man barely holding back his destructive urges - but his go-to move is to parley and form alliances. He remains an enigma, but his character is never inconsistent.
Brackett creates about a dozen societies on the doomed planet of Skaith, each with their own history and point of view, basically as throwaways. To the extent that anyone is evil, they're just taking care of their own way of life. The main antagonists, the Lords Protector, are shown as men of integrity (although they're explicitly ignoring an ecological catastrophe to hold on to power).
If there's one thing I'd like from this book, I'd like to see a bit more of Stark's main sidekicks, Gerrith the Wise Woman and his foster father Simon Ashton. Gerrith in particular gets a number of great moments, and her relationship with Stark is sketched in with a few deft strokes. But still - it's a small quibble.
August 16, 2019
This book is phenomenal overall. I was a little put off at first as it lacks some of the pulpy quality of the original EJS trilogy. However, it has some of the best world building I’ve ever read, and it does it without being overly long and wordy. The atmosphere is incredible. Sometimes, it is too bleak. It straddles the line right between sword & planet/Planetary romance and more serious sci-fi very well. That could come off as trying to please everyone but pleasing no one, but she managed to walk the tight rope. Also the socio-political subtext is well done. Modern authors have a habit of shrieking their opinions at you and not telling a good story. This has the subtext that makes you think, while still telling a good story, where the deeper message is subtle instead of propagandistic. My only major complaint is the second half of the third book felt rushed and like an outline. It pulled in the pieces as they needed to be, but it was too rushed.
Anyone who likes sword & planet should read this. Leigh Brackett’s EJS stories are like the love child of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, but the child is smarter than his fathers, but not in a pretentious way.
4.5/5
Anyone who likes sword & planet should read this. Leigh Brackett’s EJS stories are like the love child of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, but the child is smarter than his fathers, but not in a pretentious way.
4.5/5
February 17, 2019
In the Skaith Trilogy Leigh Brackett takes her hero Eric John Stark into interstellar space to the dying planet of Skaith with its weird cultists, genetically modified humans, and barbarian tribes on a desperate search for his missing father. Rousing space opera complete with marauders from space.
I first read these in the 1980's but didn't really appreciate them until I listened to them on audible during my daily commute.
Netflix should do a series with Idris Elba as Stark
I first read these in the 1980's but didn't really appreciate them until I listened to them on audible during my daily commute.
Netflix should do a series with Idris Elba as Stark
June 25, 2019
Leigh Brackett is my favorite female sci-fi author and Eric John Stark is one of my favorite characters. In this one collection, which is 3 novels, she creates more races and uses more ideas than many, today better known writers do. Few know the her novel The Long Tomorrow was the first authored by a woman to be nominated for a Hugo award. I don't want to spoil this novel, so all I'll say is, just read it.
July 8, 2021
Some cool ideas, about on par with Burroughs, but I was surprised how macho the whole enterprise was given the author is female. Also the hero is a black-skinned "noble savage" type, but it's ok because he's not actually Black, just sunburnt from being raised on Mercury? I don't even know how to approach that mess.
Not bad, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading Brackett, but I don't know that I'll reread this particular series again.
Not bad, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading Brackett, but I don't know that I'll reread this particular series again.
December 19, 2023
Leigh Brackett transports you to a dying world in this omnibus edition of Eric John Stark’s adventures on Skaith. Filled with spectacular world-building, action, adventure, and a desire to see Eric succeed despite the overwhelming odds, this is a must for Sci-fi/Fantasy fans!
did-not-finish-or-start
July 16, 2021DNS 7/16/2021
February 16, 2008
barbarian science fiction, not as feminist or existential as gaskell, but a definite fore-runner and corrective to buttloads of sexist puke
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April 7, 2012Ne abbiamo parlato sul blog nell'articolo sul planetary romance:
http://wp.me/p29Hyy-2w
http://wp.me/p29Hyy-2w
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