Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison
Posted on June 25th, 2007
At its best, Planet of the Damned shares some of the characteristics of the Stainless Steel Rat series: it pokes fun at the inefficiencies inherent in bureaucracies and it stars a slick character that eases out of difficult situations with aplomb.
At its worst, the story has the reader cringing and peeking through eyes partially covered by hands like a kid in a scary movie. The story does have its tense and creepy moments, but, despite its ad copy, it is not particularly horrific. No, the cringing comes about by wondering how much of a train wreck the portrayal of the leading lady is going to be in this early 1960s actioner.
The good news is that the portrayal could have been worse. The bad news is that there were moments when Harrison could have done a lot more, but instead of the leading female as tough scientist angle, which is where it looked like he might have been heading when introducing Dr. Lea Morees, he instead made her a swooning set piece. To be fair, she did have a hard turn of events to deal with in the story, but it was still a disappointing choice. But that’s a small part of the novel and I didn’t really expect anything different from the period, so it’s hard to really complain.
Plot: As the story opens, Brionn Brandd becomes the most recent Winner of the Twenties, a planet-wide nine-month-long competition with events ranging from poetry and chess to skiing, shooting, and fencing. It reminded me a little of Piers Anthony’s “The Game” in the Apprentice/Adept series. Brandd’s Twenties training, combined with his heavy gravity home planet heritage, gives him the basis for his extraordinary proficiency in hand-to-hand combat, shooting, diplomacy, etc. In other words, all the James Bond necessities.
Brandd, still laid up in the hospital after his Twenties exertions, is convinced to accompany a former Twenties winner to save the planet Dis from annihilation caused by the inhabitants’ own actions. During the trip they pick up the initially feisty Dr. Morees.
Once Brandd reaches Dis, things quickly go downhill for him and he ends up trudging through hostile desert carrying the aforementioned swooner (Dr. Morees). Adventures ensue, and Brandd finds himself in charge of the cultural foundation tasked with averting the impending disaster. Brandd’s interaction with the bureaucrats of the foundation provides the humor and his interaction with the natives provides the action.
Overall, the action moves and the story sucked me in deeper and quicker than I expected. In fact, I ended up finishing it in one sitting, which, when you think about it, is probably the best endorsement you could ask for.
To purchase Planet of the Damned, click on the left cover for a print version, the right cover for a formatted PDF ebook, or find free unformatted ASCII or html here.
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