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The Prodigal Sun
Foster child of the Mattrain – planet of supermen – Duncan returned to Earth, his birthplace, only to meet suspicion, hostility and hatred. Upon arrival, he was engulfed by an angry populace who, fearing that he was a spy, welcomed him with jeers and signs saying, ALIEN GO HOME!
To Duncan this reception was not unexpected. He had come, not for his pleasure, but for a purpose – his was a mission on whose success hinged the existence of the whole human race.
To Duncan this reception was not unexpected. He had come, not for his pleasure, but for a purpose – his was a mission on whose success hinged the existence of the whole human race.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 19, 2021
I remember this being one of the first fiction stories I read that clicked with deeper feelings in me. It was the first book that I felt spoke to my personal philosophy - which I wasn't even aware of at the time - and a vision, perhaps exceedingly fantastical, of a world which I would love to become a reality.
This book is competently written, but not brilliant. Has a story which is engaging, but not extraordinary. Its characters are likeable, but not loveable. It seems to tick all the boxes that are required for a decent sci-fi novel and with it being one of the first books I ever read fully through it has a special place in the bookshelf of my soul.
I would highly recommend picking up this little book so you can travel back to Earth with Duncan who is on a peaceful yet momentous mission to save our little planet from a portion of Humanity's worst.
This book is competently written, but not brilliant. Has a story which is engaging, but not extraordinary. Its characters are likeable, but not loveable. It seems to tick all the boxes that are required for a decent sci-fi novel and with it being one of the first books I ever read fully through it has a special place in the bookshelf of my soul.
I would highly recommend picking up this little book so you can travel back to Earth with Duncan who is on a peaceful yet momentous mission to save our little planet from a portion of Humanity's worst.
December 5, 2020
I'm pleasantly surprised by this "find". The Prodigal Sun by Philip E. High, never got much fanfare that I've ever heard, even the author, Philip E. High, never made a big splash, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
I came across a sentence written in this book that I liked and wrote in my notebook, and as it turns out it may possibly have been the theme the author was going for.
"A reasoning intelligence is hardly at its best when fighting for its life."
The Earth has always struggled with violence. This story takes place shortly after a devastating war with an alien race, in which man barely won dealing a devastating blow to that alien race, but also limping home to a devastated Earth. From this a new government came into power. One that would make Orwell's 1984 seem tame. During the war between Earth and the alien race, the Vrenka, there was also a neutral race of beings called the Mattrain, which not many knew much about. Now after the devastating war has passed a human child that had been orphaned on Mattrain has been brought to Earth to be reentered into the society. Was Duncan a spy, or some kind of superman? He is allowed into the un-trusting society, with many restrictions in exchange for some scientific knowledge that Duncan brought with him. Duncan brought more than simple gadgets, he was on a mission to hopefully change Earth for the better.
I came across a sentence written in this book that I liked and wrote in my notebook, and as it turns out it may possibly have been the theme the author was going for.
"A reasoning intelligence is hardly at its best when fighting for its life."
The Earth has always struggled with violence. This story takes place shortly after a devastating war with an alien race, in which man barely won dealing a devastating blow to that alien race, but also limping home to a devastated Earth. From this a new government came into power. One that would make Orwell's 1984 seem tame. During the war between Earth and the alien race, the Vrenka, there was also a neutral race of beings called the Mattrain, which not many knew much about. Now after the devastating war has passed a human child that had been orphaned on Mattrain has been brought to Earth to be reentered into the society. Was Duncan a spy, or some kind of superman? He is allowed into the un-trusting society, with many restrictions in exchange for some scientific knowledge that Duncan brought with him. Duncan brought more than simple gadgets, he was on a mission to hopefully change Earth for the better.
November 5, 2025
Duncan, a man who grew up on Mattrain, a planet of supermen, returns to earth after it's been ravaged by an interstellar war. Is he an enemy who's come to conquer our planet, or a savior.
The Prodigal Sun is an OK book with a philosophical and ecological message that don't quite land. It's a short book (under 200 pages) but Philip E. High clearly had ideas for a 400 page book. There are so many storylines and characters and some of them just get abandoned to make place for another character or plottwist.
The book is entertaining. The noirish dialogues are fun but all in all, it's a bit of a mess. An enjoyable mess, but still...
The Prodigal Sun is an OK book with a philosophical and ecological message that don't quite land. It's a short book (under 200 pages) but Philip E. High clearly had ideas for a 400 page book. There are so many storylines and characters and some of them just get abandoned to make place for another character or plottwist.
The book is entertaining. The noirish dialogues are fun but all in all, it's a bit of a mess. An enjoyable mess, but still...
December 24, 2021
An orphan, raised by aliens to the pinnacle of human ability, returns to an earth run by a world government. A skeptical investigative reporter attaches himself to the young man. He is taken in by a rich industrialist. His arrival, and his special abilities, threaten a new era for humanity. Will humanity accept it? Will it even be allowed?
If that sounds familiar, it’s probably meant to. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land was brought up by Martians. High’s Prodigal Sun was brought up by Mattrains. Remove one “t” and you’ve got exactly the same letters.
Unlike Stranger in a Strange Land, this is exactly the kind of book I hate. Poorly edited, missing punctuation all over the place. Barely-disguised wish-fulfillment utopia. Impossible. And yet it’s so gonzo it’s impossible not to enjoy it.
The Earth is just recovering from an interstellar war that destroyed several major cities. At some point during or after this war a dictatorship took over to make the world more efficient.
Because of this dictatorial efficiency human society is backsliding; technology is failing; things are falling apart. In a vicious cycle, they don’t have the means to feed everyone, which makes the need for a dictatorship even more evident, which further reduces their technological capacity, and so on. Transport systems that once ran smoothly and silently now whine and creak. It’s not that they don’t have smart people around, but smart people tend to get taken off of the job and replaced with cogs. It’s gotten so bad that they kill old people and take rushed medical injections.
The author is clearly influenced by 1984 and wants us to know it.
Into this world comes Peter Duncan, orphan, raised in a completely alien society, and one far advanced compared to Earth (Earthlings are resentful that the Mattrains never helped them defeat their enemies in the war). The utopian society envisioned by Duncan is a unique one, as far as I know, and what causes the need for it is almost as fascinating as Rickman’s sudden vaccine hesitancy.
The way that High slowly introduces the effects of Duncan’s “solution” is very well done despite all of the bad editing. Some people feel tired; others find a new clarity in their thinking. Many don’t like this new clarity, as it puts a new spin on their past actions.
There are other mysteries, such as whether Peter Duncan is even a man, that is handled in both a trivial and a fun way. And why has the reporter become so possessive of a young prostitute? It’s like love at first sight turns him into a stalker!
The entire story is weird and completely ridiculous, but High manages to make it weird and fun.
If that sounds familiar, it’s probably meant to. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land was brought up by Martians. High’s Prodigal Sun was brought up by Mattrains. Remove one “t” and you’ve got exactly the same letters.
Unlike Stranger in a Strange Land, this is exactly the kind of book I hate. Poorly edited, missing punctuation all over the place. Barely-disguised wish-fulfillment utopia. Impossible. And yet it’s so gonzo it’s impossible not to enjoy it.
The Earth is just recovering from an interstellar war that destroyed several major cities. At some point during or after this war a dictatorship took over to make the world more efficient.
Because of this dictatorial efficiency human society is backsliding; technology is failing; things are falling apart. In a vicious cycle, they don’t have the means to feed everyone, which makes the need for a dictatorship even more evident, which further reduces their technological capacity, and so on. Transport systems that once ran smoothly and silently now whine and creak. It’s not that they don’t have smart people around, but smart people tend to get taken off of the job and replaced with cogs. It’s gotten so bad that they kill old people and take rushed medical injections.
Rickman frowned. Surely there had been a time when medicine had spent months even years of comprehensive tests before risking their discoveries on the human body?
“In what way does it stimulate the white corpuscles?”
“The human body has grown lazy over the generations, Director Rickman, the injection reawakens the corpuscles for their natural task.”
Sudden understanding seemed to come to Rickman like an inspiration. “You mean it mutates them?”
The author is clearly influenced by 1984 and wants us to know it.
In this day and age when the answer was four, and you knew it was four, you said five or three to be on the safe side.
Into this world comes Peter Duncan, orphan, raised in a completely alien society, and one far advanced compared to Earth (Earthlings are resentful that the Mattrains never helped them defeat their enemies in the war). The utopian society envisioned by Duncan is a unique one, as far as I know, and what causes the need for it is almost as fascinating as Rickman’s sudden vaccine hesitancy.
The way that High slowly introduces the effects of Duncan’s “solution” is very well done despite all of the bad editing. Some people feel tired; others find a new clarity in their thinking. Many don’t like this new clarity, as it puts a new spin on their past actions.
There are other mysteries, such as whether Peter Duncan is even a man, that is handled in both a trivial and a fun way. And why has the reporter become so possessive of a young prostitute? It’s like love at first sight turns him into a stalker!
The entire story is weird and completely ridiculous, but High manages to make it weird and fun.
January 30, 2026
Another mass sci-fi paperback I found and knew nothing about. Prodigal Sun follows the story of Peter Duncan, a human raised by aliens who returns to Earth after a devastating war with a different alien race. He is greeted by the authoritarian government who believe him to be a spy or saboteur, rather than simply a fellow human, or an ally. But, what exactly are Duncan’s reasons for returning to Earth?
Prodigal Sun definitely has a lot going on within its relatively short read. We learn about the massive war with the Vrenka race, and our uneasy relationship with Duncan’s adapted race the Mattrain. We discover that much of Europe has been blown to pieces and the survivors live underground (albeit living an interesting life themselves) The ruling governing body on the surface is straight out of any fascist nightmare, all while technology has advanced leaps an bounds, especially on the military front. There’s a lot of ideas.
Duncan himself is an interesting character. He’s referred to throughout the story as a Superman due to his superior intellect, and for me that’s the part of the story I found most interesting. While all the other threads were cool, they were maybe a little undercooked and deserving of either their own book, or for this one to be longer. But the insecurity about Duncan did play out throughout.
Interestingly back on the planet Mattrain Duncan sees himself as nothing more than an intelligent ape compared to the intelligence of the Mattrain themselves (who never treat him as less than) but on Earth he’s instantly pinned as smug, arrogant, and due to his advanced intelligence, extremely dangerous. Whatever technological help he can give they instantly want, but Duncan knows better than to hand over superior tech to warmongers.
There’s a large cast of side characters playing different roles in Duncan’s journey without us every learning to much about them. Again, the book is crammed full of fantastic ideas, but didn’t quite have the space to examine them. That said, I liked everyone well enough, especially his journalistic sidekick Gaynor. The government man Rickman also had an interesting arc in the last third of the book.
Prodigal Sun is part spy book, part a military sci-fi, and has heavy elements of dystopia. The world building in the Devastated Area should have been its own book as it’s amazing, and I liked the backdrop of coming out of a war with an alien race. The characters are a little undeveloped, but play their parts in the overall story, and Duncan’s story is an interesting one despite a lot of his thoughts and reasons being hidden. It’s a decent read, especially for big sci-fi ideas, it just perhaps needed to be either a little longer, or slightly more focused on one or two those great ideas, rather than ten.
Prodigal Sun definitely has a lot going on within its relatively short read. We learn about the massive war with the Vrenka race, and our uneasy relationship with Duncan’s adapted race the Mattrain. We discover that much of Europe has been blown to pieces and the survivors live underground (albeit living an interesting life themselves) The ruling governing body on the surface is straight out of any fascist nightmare, all while technology has advanced leaps an bounds, especially on the military front. There’s a lot of ideas.
Duncan himself is an interesting character. He’s referred to throughout the story as a Superman due to his superior intellect, and for me that’s the part of the story I found most interesting. While all the other threads were cool, they were maybe a little undercooked and deserving of either their own book, or for this one to be longer. But the insecurity about Duncan did play out throughout.
Interestingly back on the planet Mattrain Duncan sees himself as nothing more than an intelligent ape compared to the intelligence of the Mattrain themselves (who never treat him as less than) but on Earth he’s instantly pinned as smug, arrogant, and due to his advanced intelligence, extremely dangerous. Whatever technological help he can give they instantly want, but Duncan knows better than to hand over superior tech to warmongers.
There’s a large cast of side characters playing different roles in Duncan’s journey without us every learning to much about them. Again, the book is crammed full of fantastic ideas, but didn’t quite have the space to examine them. That said, I liked everyone well enough, especially his journalistic sidekick Gaynor. The government man Rickman also had an interesting arc in the last third of the book.
Prodigal Sun is part spy book, part a military sci-fi, and has heavy elements of dystopia. The world building in the Devastated Area should have been its own book as it’s amazing, and I liked the backdrop of coming out of a war with an alien race. The characters are a little undeveloped, but play their parts in the overall story, and Duncan’s story is an interesting one despite a lot of his thoughts and reasons being hidden. It’s a decent read, especially for big sci-fi ideas, it just perhaps needed to be either a little longer, or slightly more focused on one or two those great ideas, rather than ten.
December 20, 2020
This was my first time reading a full novel by Philip E. High and I loved it. The story has incredible parallels to what is going on in the world right now including the evolution of man and his relationship with the planet right down to a virus and a vaccine. Remarkable. Can't believe this hasn't been turned into a movie or tv series. Give this one a shot.
November 29, 2017
42 WORD REVIEW:
Philip E. High often wrote about corrupt future societies and humankind unleashing its benign hidden powers. In his early books, however, these take a confused, rather nebulous form. Prodigal Sun is an ideas novel with what seems (at best) an extemporised plot.
Philip E. High often wrote about corrupt future societies and humankind unleashing its benign hidden powers. In his early books, however, these take a confused, rather nebulous form. Prodigal Sun is an ideas novel with what seems (at best) an extemporised plot.
December 12, 2009
Rereading...
Typical mid-60s SF - themes of freedom vs mind control & brainwashing, personal responsibility vs governmental control, man and woman finding THE ONE that completes them, the hero larger than life with vulnerable moments... Since it's the 60s and not the 50s the heroine is a scientist rather than a secretary but still needs to be rescued by the hero.
It's nice to read the occasional book done in black-and-white rather than endless shades of gray.
Typical mid-60s SF - themes of freedom vs mind control & brainwashing, personal responsibility vs governmental control, man and woman finding THE ONE that completes them, the hero larger than life with vulnerable moments... Since it's the 60s and not the 50s the heroine is a scientist rather than a secretary but still needs to be rescued by the hero.
It's nice to read the occasional book done in black-and-white rather than endless shades of gray.
October 15, 2009
Nothing special about this one read during elementary school.
November 27, 2014
1988 grade B-
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews