Dark Piper [Mass Market Paperback]

Andre Norton (Author), Laurence Schwinger (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 1984

Del Rey paperback edition of this 1968 novel.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Del Rey; later paperback edition (March 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345315375
• ISBN-13: 978-0345315373
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,230,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Time of Troubles, September 24, 2007

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Piper (Mass Market Paperback)

Dark Piper (1968) is a standalone SF novel. During the ten years of the Four Sectors War, Beltane had lost most of its security and technical men. Those that remained became even more work focused and pacifistic, especially after the Corfu incident. Now the war has ended, not by victory but mutual exhaustion.

The Beltane population rejoices that their forced separation from the outside worlds will no longer continue. They are looking forward to word of new scientific advances and renewed trade with other planets. The end of the war will surely bring good things to their world.

In this novel, Vere Collis is the son of the former Security Commander on Beltane. On the day that a fifth-rate tramp brings the Beltane survivors back home, Vere recognizes Griss Lugard among the other halt and lame. He was much too thin and had a partially restored face, but Vere recognized his father's former second in command.

Lugard has been given title to Butte Hold and all that it contains in lieu of back pay. The old security hold is probably the sturdiest structure on the planet. Shortly before the war started, Lugard had discovered artifacts in a lava cave nearby. According to his papers, Lugard is assigned responsibility for continuing these studies.

Vere gives Lugard a lift to his new home Their conversation during the journey does not forebode a peaceful future. Lugard discusses the ships and men that have lost their homes and now have no central control to restrain their actions. They talk of pirates and raids upon the central worlds. After seeing Lugard into his hold, Vere leaves with an invitation to return at any time.

In this story, Vere brings the Rovers -- a study group for the younger set -- to visit Butte Hold. Lugard makes them welcome and invites them to return again. The Rovers are very interested in the Hold, but Vere puts a damper on any talk of forerunner treasure.

This story introduces a homeless ship that asks permission to settle on Beltane. Despite Lugard's objections, the ruling council agrees to let the refugees have land in the vacant areas. Then two more homeless ships turn up asking to join their associates.

Lugard invites the Rovers to explore the lava caves on the day that the council has scheduled a full meeting to discuss this request by the new refugees. Vere and the youngster arrive later than expected, but Lugard has a troop carrier ready for their journey. They have entered the cave and are enroute to the old underground shelter when the earth shakes.

Annet panics and flees back toward the entrance, thinking that the tremors are from an earthquake. When Vere brings her back, Lugard corrects her thinking; he declares that disrupters -- a form of bomb -- had probably caused the tremors. Annet refuses to believe him, but she cannot deny that they are trapped in the tunnels. Then Lugard is fatally injured in a rock slide and Vere becomes the leader.

This tale relates the actions of homeless men during a time of troubles. Despite the settlers's pacifistic beliefs, desperate people are unwilling to listen to reason. Certainly war and banditry are wasteful, but the warriors and bandits don't see it that way. And it only takes one aggressive armed group to commit a massacre.

This is one of the most pessimistic stories by this author. The tales in the Dipple universe are all sorrowful to some extent, showing the horrors of warfare. But this tale is probably the gloomiest of the lot.

Recommended for Norton fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of the aftermath of war, struggling survivors, and persevering youngsters.

-Arthur W. Jordin

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some things never change., October 28, 2005

By 

Richard Aubrey (Flushing, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Piper (Mass Market Paperback)

In Dark Piper, Norton's protagonist tries to prepare a group of scientists and others for an anticipated invasion. Norton might well have been taking the views, or in some cases the actual words, of those who thought we needed to be prepared for war with the Warsaw Pact and those who thought we could just ignore it to oblivion.
As usual, Norton's protagonist comes into the story with baggage but no connections. One commenter said that all Norton's characters are looking for a family. As an attraction for young people, this can hardly be beaten.
Norton's soldier recites a poem in which people are warned that the flashes against the horizon might be the helmets of the enemy, but they don't believe. The dust might be that of an army, but they don't believe. It is the soldier's poem--of Norton's soldiers' world--and it is depressing, because the people never believe, until it's too late, which is doubly too late for the soldiers who have to bail out their sorry butts at the cost of their own lives.
I copied it and took it to a meeting of a Presbyterian social justice group, half ordained, and dared them to recall which book of the Old Testament it came from. None of them said it was a ringer. It was that good.
I don't beleive many scifi writers want to claim their books are "torn from today's headlines" although many of them may be. This one certainly was.
The story pulls the reader into a sense of frustration as the soldier is unable to make much headway with the oblivious civilians.
You don't have to have been a soldier to feel for the guy.
Norton did particularly well on designing this world. You can get yourself into most of her worlds, but this one is extraordinarily well done.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Norton sci-fi, one of her best, July 26, 2005

By 

Elise - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Piper (Hardcover)

"Dark Piper" is one of numerous novels set in Norton's Forerunner universe, in which humans have been exploring space for so long that they barely remember Earth. In this story, scientists have established a colony on a distant planet, where they can conduct their experiments and ignore the terrible war that is happening in the rest of their galaxy. When the war suddenly ends, a soldier returns home to the colony, full of dire warnings that civilization is about to collapse. Fearing an invasion of marauders from space, he becomes a sort of Pied Piper, befriending some of the children and leading them on a dangerous expedition into an underground tunnel system where, according to rumor, the remains of an alien society have been discovered.

This is an excellent book, engrossing and fast-paced, with admirable characters who behave in an intelligent, believable way. It contains nothing objectionable for young readers, except that it deals with some grim topics. In fact, it seems to have been written for a young-adult audience. I highly recommend it.

"Dark Piper" was recently reprinted (along with another Norton novel called "Dread Companion") in a single volume titled Dark Companion. Both take place late in the greater story arc of the Forerunner universe. "Dark Piper" is set at about the same time as "Star Rangers." (Click on my name to see the list of about 40 books in this universe.)