Customer Reviews

Deathworld

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Jason diNalt is a drifter and a gambler who finds himself drawn into a gun-running scheme for Pyrrus, a planet of colonists who are at war with the rapidly evolving and highly lethal flora and fauna of their homeworld. What is the secret of this bizarre and deadly planet? Why does it seem hellbent on destroying the colonists?

I decided to re-read this after finding it for free on Feedbooks.com. I read it the first time when I was 10 or so and loved it. During my teen years I re-read it (and its two sequels) several times, but I haven't touched it for at least 20 years.

Honestly, it holds up. It's a real fun SF yarn. However, the free edition out there has been converted from the Astounding Science Fiction magazine version of the story. (I have also read that it appeared in Analog and in Galaxy magazines instead. I don't know which source is accurate.) Spot comparisons have proved to me that the book edition is expanded and a bit richer, though the plot is essentially the same. Interestingly, there are at least four different editions sold through Amazon for the Kindle 2 e-reader, all of which appear to be the older and shorter version of the story (though one contains the original illustrations as well, which I would like to see).