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really lives. And I think it is a piece of literature that could only have been written by a man thoroughly steeped in the traditions of science fiction, and which consequently could not possibly be fully understood by the editors or readers of "mainstream" anthologies of noteworthy contemporary writing, which is one of the places where this piece of work otherwise belongs. |
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Algis Budrys, [Review of Trader to the Stars and Time and Stars], Galaxy 23, No. 3 (February 1965): 155-56 |
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I think Poul Anderson sees the world as an unhappy place of much vulnerability and little splendor and that he ought to say so. One of the striking things about (Satan's) World (and this is usual lately with this author) is that the book's evocations of joy, strength, and freedom fall very flat indeed. (. . .) |
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In short, when asked to invoke the joy of life, the author carries on like the Scand of Minneapolis (to use William Atheling, Jr.'s phrase), while the book's descriptions of misery, failure, weakness, and pain, especially emotional pain, are considerably more convincing. One wrests from life, with great effort, a kind of bleak, minimal happinessthis is the unspoken message of the novel. There are no equals in this story and no love, although space adventure does not automatically preclude either (. . .) There is a conventional, stylized camaraderie between shipmates Falkayn, Adzel, and Chee: otherwise everything in this world is seen as a question of hierarchy, or perhaps it would be better to say a question of dominanceone of the horrors in the story is "Brainscrub," the taking over of one's very personality, and I think it no accident that such complete control of one person over another is spoken of as a rape. Nor is it a matter of chance that the heroinevictim, Thea (the only fully developed new character in the book, aside from the aliens), is seen as tragically vulnerable, vulnerable through her feelings, responsive, affectionate (not only to her master but to van Rijn and Falkayn and someone who is actually an employee), and far more interesting than the successful characters. If only the weak can feel, only the weak are real. Success anesthetizes and isolates. |
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Joanna Russ, [Review of Satan's World], Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 39, No. 1 (July 1970): 43-44 |
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