Krishna
We have reviewed earlier the author’s interestingly titled The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
In that review we complained bitterly about the pointlessness of much of the book. This book is better, but just. The author does not seem to have a coherent plot in both the books I read. They all start brilliantly and then seem to lose their way. I know what I am saying is about one of the Gods of Science Fiction and is as close to heresy as it comes, but I need to be honest about my views and judge a book on its own merits – according to my lights of course – and not influenced by who wrote it.
Rod Walker sees the Patrick Henry High School bulletin board and learns two things : one: the school will be closed that day, second the final exam on Solo Survival will be the very next day.
Any planet, any terrain, any weapon – freedom to choose.
The course is optional and can be easily skipped and still graduate but Rod knows if he chickened out now, he will never take it later. He has to go on. His pal Jimmy Throxton, whom he wanted to have as a partner (which is allowed) was not so sure that he wanted to do it. He does not need it to go into the retail clothing business of his family. The real reason is that he is scared of the dangerous challenge.
The ‘Gates’ or portals to the outside places – not just to different places on earth but to any planet on the galaxy, thereby giving a way to space travel beating Einstein’s limit of speed of light – was invented by the stubborn and mulish research on the face of difficulties by Dr J E Rambotham and now gates existed to ‘everywhere’. The main need was the overpopulation bringing the fears of Mathus to reality, with not enough food to feed all the exploding earth population. Yes, it is ironic to read these days, with ageing and fast declining population in most of the world, including China but this was written in 1955. The fact that it still is interesting as a science fiction story and also feels oddly ‘current’ is a tribute to one of the greats of Science Fiction authors, Robert Heinlein. Onwards with the story, now.
Since those worlds are wild and filled with God-Knows-What animals, the test prepares graduates by sending them to known worlds with ‘known dangers’ to prepare them for the future. There are, of course, non oxygen based worlds – with life there not needing oxygen – but humans cannot survive there, let alone colonize them. It still leaves a very high number of suitable planets to exploit.
The book reads like any of the adventure science fiction mix that Heinlein is known for. It is fun to read. We see Rod rejecting heavy weaponry in favour of just a couple of knives and then ending up in a remote planet. It has earth like gravity but he just manages to climb up a tree before a lion-like creature but much bigger, can get its claws and teeth into him. He also sees a competitor and his dog lying dead before he even reaches the tree.
He is supposed to have a partner (Jamie?) but seems to have lost him as that buddy is not waiting for him at the gate of the planet when he enters. He decides not to worry about it. (I know I am probably telling this part of the story in reverse sequence, but you get the idea).
He is ambushed by an unknown assailant and loses everything – his food, his drink, even his uniform and his main knife. His spare knife was saved because it was in a bandage around his leg, which looked like a wound. When he finally uses that knife to kill an antelope like creature, it manages to run away, though wounded. With no knife, he is finished! Doggedly he follows and finds another boy called Jack from another school and they decide to team up. Jack shows him a cave where he can rest, unlike the treetop where he spent the previous night in a hammock.
He has a theory that they had dropped him on earth (based on several convincing factors) and finally, one look at the sky and the (new) constellations convince him that he is in a very earth-like but alien planet. What’s more, he and Jack are lost as the recall never sounded even though the limit of the time has expired. They decide that there is nothing they can do except try to continue to survive.
When finally they realize they need more people, they go and track down – again with Jack’s help – Jimmy who had fainted up in a tree and get him back to the cave. It is Jimmy who tells Rod that ‘Jack’ is actually a girl, Jacqueline! They three team up and using smoke signals and a flag, manage to attract two more to their team, Carmen and Bob, who were known to Rod already from his school.
When their group swells, they get some bullies, who try to take over the cave but expect the others to keep them in clover. They subdue and send him away but the group is taken over slyly by older students who keeps the original inhabitants (Rod, Jack, Jim and others) away in the name of ‘democracy’. Even though disappointed, Rod accepts that it is all done properly, by the rules, and agrees to stay on as a mere participant.
Others are not so easily fooled. Cowper is called to account loudly by Dumont, who exposes Cowper’s reluctance to establish democracy as he promised while standing for the election but showed no inclination to proceed.
The story veers into a primitive society of young people trying to organize themselves as opposed to the original plot and this one is not as interesting – at least to me, but also probably to you – as the original plot you were following. Roddy is given up for dead. In the meanwhile Jackie gets married to another boy in the camp and Caroline seems to be interested in Rod, judging from her reaction when he turned up ‘from the dead’.
But then again, the story wanders, and suddenly jumps into a different time. While we are wondering about it, there comes a recall and then Rod decides not to go back – until events make him change his mind.
Yes, this is slightly better put together as a plot compared to the other story. However, it also just goes off in all kinds of tangents. There are a few rare interesting pieces. He is warned to beware of the ‘stabor’ with no description of what kind of an animal it is. What he guesses to be stabor is an interesting twist in the story. What it really turns out to be is another surprise. Nice.
But unfortunately, these are few and rare.
4/10
= = Krishna