2006-04-09
Star Guard
Author: Andre Norton
Mankind reached the stars, only to find that they were late. A galactic civilization had born and grown old before humans began settling cities, and they wanted no part of newcomers. Terrans were deemed aggressive and warlike, fit to be mercenaries. Full citizenship was withheld.
Star Guard tracks the first mission of one young man to the planet Fronn. His horde is hired to support one tribal warlord's coup against the reigning king. But the human leaders are killed under a flag of truce, which is apparently sound tactics on this world. From there it's a race for survival, and their alien enemies are getting help from an unexpected source.
Maybe it was because I took almost a month to read this short novel -- I'm reading an ebook, so I don't have a good sense of how long it is -- or maybe I was distracted. Could someone tell me what exactly I was supposed to take away from this? Fronn doesn't seem to be the point -- the horde is removed from their original mission quickly enough, and meeting the other sentient race is a major event but only serves to help them escape. It would appear that the point was the renegades, but there's no hint of resolution on that front. What we get is a decent tale of survival and escape from an unfriendly planet, with barely begun threads that could be picked up in later works. If they are, the whole body of work may be just great. I wish I knew, because on its own Star Guard feels lost in the large universe of the author's creation.
I read Star Guard as the first of two works published in a volume called Star Soldiers. Maybe the second part, Star Rangers, will provide a little more direction. I'll report on it when I finish it.
Mankind reached the stars, only to find that they were late. A galactic civilization had born and grown old before humans began settling cities, and they wanted no part of newcomers. Terrans were deemed aggressive and warlike, fit to be mercenaries. Full citizenship was withheld.
Star Guard tracks the first mission of one young man to the planet Fronn. His horde is hired to support one tribal warlord's coup against the reigning king. But the human leaders are killed under a flag of truce, which is apparently sound tactics on this world. From there it's a race for survival, and their alien enemies are getting help from an unexpected source.
Maybe it was because I took almost a month to read this short novel -- I'm reading an ebook, so I don't have a good sense of how long it is -- or maybe I was distracted. Could someone tell me what exactly I was supposed to take away from this? Fronn doesn't seem to be the point -- the horde is removed from their original mission quickly enough, and meeting the other sentient race is a major event but only serves to help them escape. It would appear that the point was the renegades, but there's no hint of resolution on that front. What we get is a decent tale of survival and escape from an unfriendly planet, with barely begun threads that could be picked up in later works. If they are, the whole body of work may be just great. I wish I knew, because on its own Star Guard feels lost in the large universe of the author's creation.
I read Star Guard as the first of two works published in a volume called Star Soldiers. Maybe the second part, Star Rangers, will provide a little more direction. I'll report on it when I finish it.
