Slans.

[cdave]

*) The DFC It didn't arrive in Friday or Saturday's post! Eep!

7) Slan by A. E. van Vogt.

This is one of those classics of SF I hear name-checked a lot, so I thought I should add it to the to-be-read piles. Bought at Zombiecon. Read on the tube. My prior knowledge of it extended to the fact the phrase "Fans are Slans" had been used, as Slans were super human.

However far from it being the tale of supermen, it's the tale from the point of view of two lonely children. Who are reviled for simple being born Slan. That is belonging to a race that once ruled the Earth. They are not only mind readers, but smarter and stronger than humans too.

I won't write too much about it as one of the things I really enjoyed was the twists. This book is full of them. Each of them was surprising, made sense, and revealed more about the history of this world.

The story was first published in the 1940s, and as such has plenty of whizz bang atomic energy rays an the like. I see this as a good thing.

Far from the ending being a Deus ex Machina (as this reviewer thought) I thought it by far the most telegraphed of the twists.

In short. I enjoyed. A ripping '40s yarn, worthy of it's classic status.


This edition finished with two chapters from Slan Hunter by Kevin J Anderson (based on notes by A E van Vogt), which pick up from the end of the novel. If you liked the Dune prequels you may like this. I didn't like the Dune prequals much and didn't like what I saw of this.

I've just looked at a couple of reviews online.

"melodramatic situations and snappy (if dated) dialogue all match the original seamlessly." - Publishers Weekly.

I disagree here. John Petty is suddenly promoted from a sinister, if ultimately outwitted, villain, to a Bondesque gloater who decides to place the object of his murderous desires in an easily escapable box.

Here's a fairer review (by someone who presumably read the whole book).

"Ultimately, I'd have to say that this volume honors its predecessor in a fairly commendable manner—but it's not, and possibly never could be, the Slan II from some imaginary 1943 that we all dream of." Scifi.com

Comments

[cdave]

How bizarre. Is this spam? I can't see reference to the post. But I can't see any links to dodgy site.

I think I'll delete by the end of the the day.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I can't see what you're replying to there, but out of interest is it anything like this odd comment I got earlier:
http://hawkida.livejournal.com/625096.html?thread=4152776
?

[cdave]

Yeah. Three lines long. Made sense, but not in context. I deleted it and reported as spam.