Redbeard

by Mike Resnick, Frank Kelly Freas (Illustrator)

In a world ravaged by science, evolution fights back with the aberration known as Redbeard!

Day of the Mutant

Red Will Donahoe, born barbarian into a world stripped of civilization, was a misfit. All around him were the results of the final blowup that had doomed civilization, skulking in the ruins of the city. And Donahoe skulked, too, hiding from the struggling normal society on the other side of the great river. Hiding not from his own choice, but because he was bound by unseen ties to the man in shadows, Gareth Cole - Master of the Mutants. Cole watched his barbarian grow from childhood, grow into the fierceness of a manhood that could know no peace until it had tasted the rich taste of blood. And Cole, enigmatic ruler of half a world, wondered if he had made a mistake in allowing Redbeard to live.

Genres: Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1969

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[melydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Mike Resnick's earliest books, evidently before he started going by Mike professionally, and it shows. Though full of memorable characters, from the elusive mutant Gareth Cole to the savage barbarian Red Will Donahoe to the wickedly logical Baron Andrew Craston, the story is still a little rough around the edges. The ending feels rushed and I had trouble wrapping my head around Cole's true motivations. Our story takes place in post-apocalyptic New England, during a war being waged between the mutants and the "Normans" (Normals). Donahoe, though born to misfits, is physically normal, and struggles with his conflicting hatreds for the Normans and for Cole himself. It's a rather dizzying story, but not all together a bad one. Just a little unpolished.

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Red Will Donahoe is called a 'barbarian' by various characters and by the back cover text. This description shorts the situation: Donahoe is a savage. He is ruthless, brutal, disruptive, angry, narcissistic, sociopathic, blustery, and without any sort of redeeming feature. His unlikeability is cemented early when he becomes the youngest rapist that his people had ever encountered.

The first question the reader has is why this person was allowed to survive adolescence. Why, in fact, Gareth Cole, leader of the mutants, allowed him to survive and to lead his army. This becomes an extended question, as Donahoe is a pawn in Cole's long game against the Normals, a game that consumes the book.

Donahoe, despite his frothing and irrational hatred of Cole and his imposing physical presence, is a figure of impotence. He leads the mutant army, but not remotely as well as a telepathic/teleporting/fire-shooting mutant would. He fights Cole, ineffectively. His plans are mostly stupid and ad-hoc.

The upshot of the entire story is that Gareth Cole's long plan--Donahoe's son by a Baroness of the Normals and apparently a secret mutant--is disrupted mostly by accident, at least not by the actions of the clever and resourceful characters. The situation returns to the status quo without even revealing what this child meant to Cole and why he worked so long and so hard to arrange circumstances. This is deeply unsatisfying.

[Little Timmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great fantasy story. Not recommended

[Rageofanath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Redbeard is a strange story. It's hard to describe how strange it is, but what makes it strange isn't mutants or 'Normans' or post-apocalyptic New England, but the fact that its incredibly predictable but you never find yourself predicting it. The characters are too busy talking about the motivations of other characters and throw you off the real scent, even though you definitely Guessed Right the First Time. So you find yourself oddly perplexed when the event you expected happens and you still didn't see it coming.

Now as far as actual substance goes, we find a rather viking-like guy with flaming red hair aptly named Redbeard who uses his muscles instead of his brains to solve every problem in a world were radiation from a nuclear war created mutants with superpowers. New England has turned into a feudal state, Boston has barons and baronesses ruling over the land and the mutants have holed up in the New York tunnels with a super genius named Gareth Cole leading them. Both groups seem kind of happy where they are, leaving each other alone, but for some reason conflict always arises. Redbeard is unusual in his world because he doesn't seem to have any powers and he hates Gareth Cole. He strikes out on his own to prove to Cole that he can do stuff on his own and gets himself pathetically captured. Because he can't help but fight everyone he sees, he ends up killing a Baron which means he gets to take the Barons' land. Finding himself a Baron of the Hub as well as one of Cole's generals among other things, means a complex political situation arises and there's lots of fighting.

However, its hard to write main characters that you're supposed to hate and then come to care for. I found myself somewhat confused at the ending, because 1) Cole is some kind of superpsychic and he REALLY didn't predict what Redbeard would do at the end? How is that even possible when he predicts everything else perfectly? and 2) I fucking hate Redbeard. Any main character who thinks it is ok to rape women is a horrible person. While I'm glad they didn't describe any of these events, every time he started talking about it I wanted Cole to just kill him. He didn't really redeem himself either. Even though he did behave more civil by the end, the damage was done. This guy was just a horrible person and deserved worse than what he got. I don't care if he discovered love or whatever, he was never sorry for his actions and got hundreds of people killed throughout the story out of his own stupidity, and we're just supposed to feel bad for him? Not buying it.

Ultimately, it was entertaining. Am I putting it on top-10, or even top-50 lists? Definitely not.

[HereticalMind · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book was messed up, like modern grimdark messed up. I still can't believe it was written in 1968. The protagonist is a misogynistic, racist, rapist, murderer who almost gets civilized. He is the impersonation of the "Might Makes Right" philosophy in all the worst ways, and who eventually learns the true meaning of his ways. No happy endings here, no good guys or bad guys either. Violent action, political intrigue, a partial love story, mutants, and a post apocalyptic wasteland make for an interesting story. I think the premise of this book could have led to a longer more fleshed out story, but the execution was more fast paced so the shortness of the book was ok. I think it would have been better if it included a more fleshed out philosophy and intrigue.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but not a stand out to me.

[Hector Camposano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read plenty of anti-hero stories but the protagonist here is more heinous than even most villains. Still, the story was intriguing enough. I almost gave it a two stars, but I think the ending made it worth the three.

[Sabion · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first science fiction book I ever read and in that light it will always have a special place in my heart. But I have reread it a couple of times since then and I know now that it is a trite book taking from better works. It's a fast read and without context you may even enjoy it, but this should be very low on your 'to read' list.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the author has publicly lamented this novel's publication for years, I still like it. It was written long before he became a major force in the field and is certainly crude and rough in spots, but it has a lot of enthusiasm and fun adventure going for it. It's just the kind of book to pass a lazy summer afternoon by the lake.

[DavidO · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mentally checked out of this one when the protagonist, for lack of a better word, rapes a woman in the first few sentences. I realize evil people exist in the world, but have no desire to read about them, even less to have them glorified by novels such as this.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

very fun book. Interesting considering when it was written.

[Andy]

One of my first book reports - 7th grade I think!