Search for the Star Stones

Murdoc Jern #1-2

by Andre Norton

Murdoc Jern’s father, an interstellar gem trader, was murdered by outlaw competitors and left behind an odd ring, large enough to fit over the finger of a space suit. With his companion Eet, a strange feline mutant with phenomenal mental powers, he soon discovered that the stone in the ring was actually a Zero Stone—an alien device left behind by an ancient vanished race—and it was the key to powers beyond human imagination. Murdoc and Eet had to solve the secret of the Zero Stone, and very quickly, because very greedy and dangerous people wanted that ring, and wouldn’t hesitate at a second murder to obtain it. Publisher’s Search for the Star Stones was originally published in parts as The Zero Stone and its sequel Uncharted Stars . This is the first time both novels have appeared in one volume.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was but a youngling, probably no more than a dozen Terran years old, when I first read Andre Norton's The Zero Stone—and from its very first scene in that dismal back alley with its slimy stone walls, on some ridiculously faraway planet that had never even heard of Earth, I was hooked on Murdoc Jern's story. It wasn't until many years later that I found out the book even had a sequel, Uncharted Stars, and it took several more years—this was before the Internet was everywhere, kids—before I found a copy of said sequel in the Monkeys Retreat, a late and much-lamented sf bookstore on Columbus, Ohio's High Street, part of the "Short North" commercial strip in its original, hippie-encrusted incarnation. The two novels together, those slim and yellowing mass-market paperbacks, make up one of my childhood's happiest literary acquisitions.

Some childhood pleasures do not stand up to adult scrutiny, of course... but rereading this duology now in one volume—despite Baen Books' trademark garish cover and typically-inept proofreading—still filled me with the very same thrill.

Murdoc Jern is an apprentice gemologist, traveling between the stars with his master Vondar Ustle, trading lalors, zorans and other exotic gems on a succession of worlds to which they can always and only be visitors. When the two land on the benighted world of Tanth, though, they fall afoul of the dominant local religion's chance-based rituals of sacrifice. As it turns out, sometimes those rituals are less based on chance than advertised. Ustle is murdered and Jern is suddenly on the run, lost in Koonga City with but one hope of sanctuary... the temple of a rival god.

How Jern gets from the surface of Tanth to his spaceborne partnership with the mutant felinoid alien Eet, and how he discovers the significance of the Zero Stone itself... well, Norton never reduces the tension much. She can't afford to—these two books together are shorter than many single modern sf novels. Very little verbiage is wasted.

I will brook no nonsense about the purplish nature of Andre Norton's prose, though. Stilted and formal, yet always perfectly clear, Norton's sentences are consistently a delight to read—and I don't think there's been anyone better at evoking a sense of deep time, of humanity's role as feckless upstarts in a universe old beyond imagining:

Since my species entered space we have known we were latecomers to the star lanes. There were other races who voyaged space, empires and confederations of many worlds which rose and fell, long before we knew the wheel and fire, and reached for metal to fashion sword and plow. We discover traces of them from time to time and there is a very brisk trade in antiques from such finds. The Zacathans, I believe, have archaeological records of at least three star empires, or alliances, all vanished before they pioneered space, and the Zacathans are the oldest people we have firsthand knowledge of, with a written history covering two million planet years! They are a long-lived race and prize knowledge above all else.
—p.70

Norton's term for those ancient civilizations is typically evocative: she called them Forerunners:

When we Terrans first came into the star lanes we were young compared to many worlds. We found ruins, degenerate races close to extinction, traces over and over again of those who had preceded us, risen to heights we had not yet dreamed of seeking, then crashed suddenly or withered slowly away. The Forerunners, the first explorers had called them. But there were many Forerunners, not just of one empire or species, and those Forerunners had Forerunners until the very thought of such lost ages could make a man's head whirl.
—p.305

The similarities between these widely-separated paragraphs are not accidental. One of the ways Norton makes her universe-building work is by the reiteration of key phrases and concepts, although such repetition is always to a purpose. The Forerunners; the Thieves' Guild; the beleaguered Patrol with its thankless task of policing the rest of humanity... these show up repeatedly, in these novels and others. The overall effect bred by this familiarity is heightened reality... for me, at least, it gets to the point where Norton's describing the universe, rather than just making things up.

And there are, occasionally, hints of a more sophisticated understanding hiding behind the pulp-era paragraphs as well...

"There are times when the law must be broken if the race or species is to survive—"
"Now that," Eet's voice rang in our heads, "is a dangerous concept. Either the law exists, or it does not. Murdoc believes that on some occasions the law can be bent, or bypassed for the protection of what is right. And you, Hory, who are pledged to the upholding of the strict letter of the law, now say that it can be broken because of expediency. It seems that the laws of your species are not held in high respect."
—p.162

Or this late passage, in which Jern describes his feelings about religion and fate:

I had met with the worshippers of many gods and many demons on many worlds. And complete belief gave a man security which was denied to the onlooker. That there was a purpose to the Galaxy I would be the first to agree. But I could not bow my head to a planet-based god.
—p.382

I will admit that I did not follow Andre Norton's later career very closely, as she tilted more towards her fantasy series and her work became tangled up with that of younger coauthors—but I have to give Baen props for reissuing these novels, in any form. This is what the future looked like to my past. And if it still looked this way... I would be one of the last to complain.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Old School Science Fiction

I first discovered Andre Norton when I was 12 or 13. My local library had many of her books in what was then called the "juvinile" section. This was one of her books that stuck with me over the years, so it was great to revisit it now. A combination of mystery and adventure, I think it holds up very well and if you are interested in one of the early female authors in the genre I think it's well worth reading.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two books in one. Science Fiction. Murdoc's father is murdered and leaves behind an odd ring, big enough to go over the finger of a space suit and with a stone unlike anything Murdoc has seen before. Maybe a little long by the time you get through both books, but good.

[Edwin Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Norton filled with adventure and wonder.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting science fiction from one of the masters of the genre. These two novels, now published together, work well. Though it's notable that there are only 2 female characters in the whole book, at least that I can recall. Of course, that's how it was back in the day, when I first read them. I suppose I noticed then, but I read them anyway, because that's all there was at the time. Science fiction pretty much ignored half of the population.
Murdoc Jern is an apprentice gem buyer whose father is murdered, leaving him with an unusual stone set into a ring to be worn over a space glove. And now everybody is after him, both the well-organized criminal element of the Thieves' Guild, and even the Patrol, who make assumptions about his connections and intentions. The stone seems to connect to at least one of the Forerunner civilizations that are known to have existed in times long past.
He accidentally teams up with Eet, the mutant offspring of the ship's cat, who is unlike anything he's ever seen before, with esper abilities that connect to his own latent abilities.
Interesting. Not my favorite of Norton's works, but worth reading.

[astaliegurec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andre Norton's "Search for the Star Stones" is a compendium of the two (fairly evenly matched) books in her "Murdoc Jern" duology:

1. The Zero Stone
2. Uncharted Stars

Those books were written back in 1968 and 1969, and I first read them as a lad back in the 70s. I enjoyed them then and thought, "what the heck, let's see how they are today." Surprisingly, they're better than I expected. The writing is technically good, the universe and concepts Norton develops are interesting, the pacing is nice, and the characters are fairly good as well. The biggest problem is that the basic plot mechanism is "progress by miracle" (the first book is worse with this than the second book in this regard). Essentially, they come down to strings of utterly improbable miracles happening one after another so we move from point A to point B. It's not BAD writing, but it is a bit lazy. I'm rating the book at a Decent 3 stars out of 5. If I could do it, I'd raise that rating to 3-1/2 stars.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid old timey SF, light on the S

This book is pure Andre Norton. Just the titles are evocative. I don’t know if she invented the Forerunners and the Free Traders but she makes good use of them in this story.

[Tom Getzinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retro sci fi - from the 60s. I can't believe there are Andre Norton books I missed as a kid. I enjoyed this as much as all other Andre Norton books. It's a shame it's only a two book series.

[Lee Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to read some old science fiction.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful to find a story without profanity or graphic sex.

[Bill Ramsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of the first science fiction books I read as a nipper. It was weirdly reassuring to reread these books with their labyrinthine dialogue and baroque punctuation. Times were simpler then.

[Kurt Springs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was first published at kurtsfrontier.wordpress.com.

Synopsis:

Search for the Star Stones is actually two novels. Zero Stone was copyrighted in 1968. This begins the tale of Murdoc Jern. Murdoc is an apprentice gem trader. His father was murdered by an interstellar criminal syndicate called the Guild. This is how he comes to inherit an ancient ring, large enough fit over a space suit’s glove. However, the Guild is now hunting him. He and his master are marked for death by an alien cult. His master dies, and Mudrdoc barely escapes with his life in the company of Free Traders. It is on this ship he meets Eet, a cat-like alien born from the ship’s cat. Eet has phenomenal mental powers. With Eet’s help, he must dodge the Guild and the Patrol (charged with interstellar law enforcement) to protect the ring—or rather the stone set in the ring. It is a stone created by a long dead civilization know as the Forerunners, and it is more than just an ornament. It has powers that neither the Guild nor the Patrol will hesitate to kill for.

Uncharted Stars was originally copyrighted in 1969. Murdoc Jern and Eet have escaped the Guild and are on a slender probation with the Patrol, who wants to use them as bait to catch the Guild. They have a zero stone they’ve kept when the rest of the cache and Murdoc’s ring were turned over to the Patrol. They now have a ship with a blacklisted pilot, and are starting their quest for the source of the zero stones. Their hunt will run them afoul of both the Patrol and the Guild, but offers them tantalizing clues as to where the Zero Stones originally came from. Murdoc and Eet must pit their nerve and mental powers against the technology at the disposal of the Guild to win back a stolen star map.

Review:

The Search for the Star Stones is a great read for long time science fiction fans. I always enjoy the late Andre Norton’s old school approach to science fiction, such as ship landing fins down. The tale is told in the first person and is thick with the dialect of Andre Norton’s universe. If you have a linguistic bent, as I do, you will find it easy to pick up on and quite enjoyable. There is also suspense as Eet and Murdoc try unravel the mysteries and dangers that surround the Zero Stones. However, the old school writing style Andre Norton favored does have a downside. She tends to rely on thick description to relate important bits of back story, which could try the patience of a modern reader. In the end, it is a fun read and one that brought a great deal of pleasure when I was younger.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Search for the Star Stones is an exciting adventure through space as our characters search for the origin of mysterious stones. I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the writing. There were some things that I didn't like but there was a lot more that I did like. Murdoc Jern is a likable character and I really enjoyed Eet's character as well. The other characters were minor but were well rounded enough to be unique also.
The space adventure aspect is action packed and keeps your attention well. There is always something going on and a sense of either danger or adventure. The only spot in the story that I didn't like was the ending. It was very anticlimactic and didn't feel like the way an adventure should end. Our characters got the end of their journey, there was a surprise twist and then it just ended. Nothing was really wrapped up, we didn't find out much about the star stones, we didn't get to learn more about Eet, who and where he (she)came from or anything that really left the reader satisfied about the ending of the book. There were a lot more unanswered questions then I like at the end of a book. We also didn't get to find out why their pilot was grounded or anything about his past. I understand he was a minor character, but several times throughout the last half of the book, Jern wonders why the pilot ended up where he did and at the end, that was never answered.
The writing was good if a little awkward in some places being written so long ago and with a formality that is almost extinct in books written today. I really enjoy Andre Norton's work and I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys and good space adventure.
Overall 3.5 out 5 stars.

[Lindsay Stares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Premise: Originally published as Uncharted Stars and The Zero Stone. When his father died, Murdoc Jern was left with very little. He had an apprenticeship to another gem trader and a ring of unknown material found in deep space. Circumstances and a new friend will cause him to undertake a desperate search for the zero stones; source of power and magnet for violence.

This was a re-read for me, I had these books when I was young and they were some of my favorite Andre Norton books I'd read. I still think they're good, although a character who's an alien space cat with psychic abilities is less of an instant draw for me than it once was.

Murdoc is a space trader; he's not in the business of cheating others but isn't any sort of paladin, he's just trying to survive. I like how underplayed the friendship between Murdoc and Eet is. Murdoc sometimes resents Eet's high-handed treatment, Eet sometimes comments that it's just a mutually beneficial partnership, but they're still quietly fond of each other.

The plot moves at a decent clip, and the description is pretty stripped down. Published separately these were both very short books, and as a close-knit duology, I'm not surprised that they've been packaged together.

I think the end is sort of anticlimactic, but it's still a lot of fun along the way.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF... sort of. I finished book one (The Zero Stone) of this two book anthology, or 264/534 pages. However, The Zero Stone was such a boring slog, I had/have no desire to move on to book two (Uncharted Stars) at all.

There is absolutely no plot to The Zero Stone. The entire book is just our MC stumbling his way from one boring space setting to another. I have no idea what his goal was. His mutant cat pet, Eet, is basically the psychic Deus Ex Machina that tells him what to do at each step to escape whatever predicament he's in.

If your mind wanders for even a second while reading, you will lose track of what happened, and at the rate that happened while reading this boring story, I can barely tell you what happened by the last three chapters that I just forced myself to read so I could at least say I finished one of the two books here.

The dialogue is robotic and horribly written. And, in old-school pulp sci-fi fashion, the author must have had a thesaurus permanently open at her desk with the number of unnecessary synonyms used.

Boring. Wouldn't recommend it.

[Doranna Durgin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of my favorites from Andre Norton...glad to have the chance to read/reread her work!