Review: “The Destroyers” by Randall Garrett (1959)
Posted on January 14th, 2008
A short story that is an inversion of the usual war for freedom. The main character, Anketam, is a peasant farm supervisor on a feudal world that is being invaded by outsiders. The outsiders are attempting to bring freedom, equality, and the basic necessities to the backwater world, but the natives see it as a loss of the security they have worked for all their lives.
The theme is timeless in the sense that it forces the reader to consider that, no matter who you are, if you invade another’s country you may not be welcomed as a liberator.
I’d rate is as Fair. The inverted social view/alternate perspective made for an interesting take, but the life of a farmer, even during wartime, isn’t exactly exciting. The van Dongen illustrations are decent here.
You can find it at Project Gutenberg in some formats and at Manybooks.net in more.
Tags: free science fiction, public domain science fiction, randall garrett, Review, speculative fiction
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