Perry Rhodan 20 The Thrall of Hypno

Perry Rhodan - English #20

by Clark Darlton, Angus McKie (Illustrator)

Science-Fiction

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1976

About the author

Pen name of German science fiction author Walter Ernsting.

Reviews

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of Clifford Monterny the super mutant. His last weapon was Ivan Ivanowich Goratschin a man with two heads and the ability to destroy whatever he wants with nuclear explosions with his mutant power.

What a great character. And what a waste. There is a nice flashback where Darlton tells us about his early life. Also one head was three seconds earlier conscious than the other. How much one could have made out of it. Maybe one head could have stayed loyal to Clifford. They could argue. But as it is he is treated as one person nearly all the time.

And then there is lovely Betty who plays Fay to Goratschin’s King Kong. Nice. But again, how much more one could have made out of it. Ah well, in another life I will rewrite all the PRs....

[KarhuAnderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a pretty pathetic sci-fi romp, and not very well written besides.

But it will make for an excellent, satirical screenplay and, by Jove, I'll write it, produce it and direct it - because no one else will.

[C. John Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the conclusion to Perry Rhodan’s battle with Clifford Monterny. In the course of the story the Supermutant employs a weapon capable of causing anything or anyone to explode as if they were an atomic bomb. The nature of this weapon is revealed in the course of the story. One interesting aspect is that because of behind the scenes events Rhodan himself is not present for parts of the story, including the ending. Rather it is left up to Reginald Bell and others to deal with Monterny. Unlike the previous books dealing with the Supermutant a fair bit of this story takes place off earth, particularly on Mars and in the Asteroid Belt. This may have added to my enjoyment of the book. One item of note. Although the second book states that the mutants controlled by Monterny, once freed of that control, are willing to join Rhodan’s Mutant Corps I can recall from my previous readings of the book only one of them appearing past this book. One other does have a significant part in this storyline but I am not sure she appears again.
As well as the main novel we have the usual other items. No comment on the letters column (mainly because I didn’t bother to read it). Of the two short stories one was new while the other dates from 1930 and was another entrant in that contest. Both were readable, and the newest one actually had an ending I have not encountered elsewhere. The article this time is from an interview given by H.G. Wells and as such does have some historical interest at least.
Of course the main extra is the instalment of Edison’s Conquest of Mars. In this our gallant heroes strike back to a certain extent at the Martians. As well they liberate a human captive, an attractive young lady (of course) who is descended from some of members of Earth’s earliest civilization who were taken captive by the Martians during an earlier invasion. Most of this part strikes me as so much speculative fiction balderdash but it reads well. Certainly the story seems to be progressing nicely.
All in all this was a nice read. Nothing too heavy but a nice book to sit back and while away the time with.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad they wrapped up the supermutant story, and I have hope that we'll see Ivan in future stories

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perry Rhodan #20