Review: “The Best Made Plans” by Everett B. Cole (1959)
Posted on January 18th, 2008
I’m calling this a novella because it was published in Astounding, but it’s right around 40,000 words so it might have strayed into novel length.
This is set in the same universe as Cole’s shorter Alarm Clock and features the same voice command power as that story. It also mentions the Special Corps in passing.
Don Michaels is a student in the beginning, assumedly high school or the equivalent, and playing the role of hall monitor when he intercedes in what at first seems a minor altercation. Pete, the native lad Don helps out, claims not only to be the rightful claimant to the throne, but that the current Prime Minister, Daniel Stern, has murdered his way into position and is intent on removing all potential claimants, thus the school attack.
Don catches some grief when he won’t change his story of about happened in the hallway, enough so that he is offended and leaves school, which sets off events that lead him to throwing in with Pete against the Prime Minister’s forces. They solicit help from the other native hill clans and begin the process to call a clan enclave to allow a vote on succession.
Don, possessing the voice command gift that works on most of the population, turns out to be a significant ally for Pete. It also helps that Don has a close relationship with the native hill clans, so Pete makes Don a member of his clan and his clan advisor. There are plots and counterplots, but in the end, Don and the Prime Minister of course face off, leading to a grim conclusion.
The feel in the beginning is definitely juvenile yesteryear, but as it proceeds, it begins to show some serious decisions, danger, and even death. The school scenes work well in establishing Don’s moral code and grit, but the Leave it to Beaver aesthetic doesn’t hold up as well as the rest of the story. The Dongen illustrations, while good, are also dated.
Lastly, the psionics ability is more prevalent in this story, which may be why I liked Alarm Clock better. I would read that as an introduction to the ability and this as an expansion.
I rate it Fair to Recommended. So flex your own secret powers and command this story to appear at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats and at Manybooks.net in a couple more.
Tags: free science fiction, public domain science fiction, Review, speculative fiction
Filed under Cole, Everett B., Free Stuff, Psionics, Review, Science Fiction & Fantasy (SFF) |