Customer Reviews

Amsirs & the Iron Thorn

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Algis Budrys has been hailed as one of the great sf writers of his time. Nominated for several awards, his overall production of fiction, however, was small in comparison to the likes of Asimov, Clarke, or Heinlein. That may be the reason he is not as well known. Yet he is often ranked as their equal. The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn does not seem to live up to that reputation. As another reviewer observed, the story is not coherent, the author seemingly undecided as to what story he wants to tell.

The relationship between Amsirs and humans is at first complicated and full of contradictions. It deteriorates into a king of the hill conflict, then is suddenly over. A new life -- or story -- begins, aided by an instant education machine that gives Jackson, the protagonist, a leap into the truth of everything. It seems a cheat, but is this due to the fiction that has been written and read in the intervening 40 years?

Then the relationship between men and women, male and female, does not show balance or even the tensions between the sexes that existed at the time of the writing of this book. Females exist for the pleasure of the males and for no other reason. But, in truth, none of the characters, nor even the species, exist for any particular reason. Rogue Moon, considered Budrys's best work, is a better read.