Customer Reviews

The Dragon in the Sea

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you've read any of Herbert's works (Dune, etc.), you might realize that his endless but intriguing theme is what how people, economies, belief systems, ecosystems, etc. respond to potential extinction. His answer in each of his books with this theme reminds me of that line from Jurassic Park: "Life always finds a way." Having said that, *Under Pressure* is perhaps the smallest level at which he plays this game -- a small submarine whose mission it is to steal oil from an enemy country in a cold war several levels above what the U.S. experienced during the 1950s and 1960s. This might sound like a recycled sub movie plot, but don't be fooled by the premise. *Under Pressure* is more about how men bond...well, under pressure, and become something greater than they could singly. I read it first when I was in junior high, and I read it again earlier this year. It's amazing how quickly the book ends. The only thing that keeps it from earning five stars is what I've always considered Herbert's weakness -- characterization. He takes a whole book (sometimes more than a single book) to flesh characters out fully. Still, I heartily recommend this book because it deals with large themes and is better plotted than some of his more famous works.

This is a fairly simple and short novel. Unlike some of Frank's other work, this isnt really a sci-fi book, more of a psychological study of the paranoia that overtakes 5 men on a submarine mission to destroy an enemy installation. Its a very good read though, and id definitely reccomend it. Like the best of Franks work, it disorients the reader and fiddles with your perceptions.

It is important to remember when this was written. It is shocking how much he got right before widespread use of naval nuclear reactors. I read this story when it came out, in the middle fifties, and it left an indelible impression. He was of course wrong about vacuum tubes hanging on in wide use into the twenty first century, but still, a tour de force. Though I, for one, liked vacuum tubes. And he certainly got the danger from sleepers right, too. It wore better with time than With the Night Mail or Land Ironclads did. Amazing.

This is probably Herbert's least well known novel, but it's a remarkable tale of a futuristic submarine war and what sub technology and tactics might be like in the future. As in his most famous novel, Dune, people and technology are often mere chess pieces in a greater political game. In Dune, despite their advanced knowledge of cognitive psychology, human abilities, and psychophysiology, the characters are controlled by the Machiavellian vicissitudes of their everyday lives. This book shows Herbert already thinking about the implications of the philosophy he was to develop more fully there.

In his short story, Cease Fire, published ten years before Dune, we see Herbert's fascination with Machiavelli and with political intrigue and psychological warfare. This interest was to combine with his interests in ecology, psychology, and technology to produce his famous masterpiece, Dune. Overall this is another fine Herbert novel and one that deserves to be better known and that presages much of his later important work.

A well executed, perfectly paced and accomplished little novel.

The interaction between the characters is well observed, the plot is taught and punchy, and the reader is given a very strong sense and understanding of the microcosm of the sub-tug in which the body of the novel takes place.

I have never read another of Herbert's works, but would be interested in exploring more, as I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A compelling read.

This was a great read and I highly recommend it to all of Frank Herbert followers. He writes about the whats makes us tick. The difference between self will and God's will. Is anyone really sane? Well I like how he developed this story. I could not put it down, read from cover to cover. I consider this as one of Frank's pre Dune classics. He did it without, chair dogs, strong willed woman, no space ships, or aliens. He writes about four men on a mission under the sea.

FSD

Today, the Cold War is "over." Despite that and the United States's hegemonic status, the US's major threat, according to its own military, is Russia. With the growing threat of the EU, China, and our interests in maintaining our strength, this book, despite being written when the Cold War was still a readily apparent threat, is highly relevant today. First, at a much smaller level, it discusses the politics and conflict over a finite resource. Of course, this a theme that Herbert would expand upon in his phenomenal Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1) series. However, in this book, the resource is not spice, but oil and the backdrop is a nuclear submarine sent from "Western Waters" to "Eastern Waters" (i.e. the North America and its surrounding oceans to Russia and its surrounding Russia) and secretly pump out oil from underwater oil fields that belong to the Eastern Powers. The West and the East have been at war for a decade.

Meanwhile, these submarines are manned by a small crew. Small screw, confined situation, claustrophobic environment... sounds another set of settings that Herbert would later explore in Destination: Void and good setting to analyze leadership. Herbert goes further than that and examines how Religion might be used both a source of social solidarity and social control, something especially important in such a confined environment with a small crew.

Lastly, the psychological elements. The crews of these submarines are prone to insanity and suicide. The government sends in a psychologist to one of these submarines to figure out why. It also knows that Military Command and crew could have sleeper cells sent from Russia to sabotage the system. The Psychologist needs to figure out who...

For a relatively short book, Frank Herbert manages to write a psychological-spy thriller with important themes that are incredibly relevant today. This is one amazingly good book and it is a shame that Frank Herbert is seen as the author of one good book. Was every book he wrote a home run? No. No author has nothing but home runs. But Herbert's other work should get more respect and critical reevaluation. I can only hope some others get in print. As for this one... buy it if you want a book that goes beyond the words on the page and gets you to think. No Herbert doesn't provide you all the answers, that's up to you decide. But at least he asks the questions and presents possible situations and settings. Which is all any good author should do.

One of the five members of the Hell Diver subtug crew is a saboteur. Psychologist John Ramsay is assigned to join the team, as they steal oil from Cold War adversaries by tugging their purloined liquid black gold loot under water; his task is to uncover the identity of the traitor. He somewhat fears being well over a mile under the water while on this mission because if exposed he will be dead.

However, although he watches intently, the mission is in peril from the sabotage damage caused by one of them, but John remains unsure who he is. Soon he and three other crewmen are in trouble with no place to hide as the enemy has them in his sights. If they survive against this ruthless relentless stalker, John and the other three remain "Under Pressure" from the strength of the ocean that pounds away at their tin can. To live they must work as a team, but no one trusts anyone else as phobias bubble to surfaces of their minds.

This is a reprint of a 1956 thriller that seems timelier now than it did during the height of the Cold War with the concept of the morally superior West stealing oil from the East. The tale is about a covert operation reminiscent of the Bush invasion in which administration officials helped sell the war besides 9/11 links with the belief cheap easy access oil was around the corner once Iraq became a democracy. Although none of the crew, even the hero, seems much more than action figures, fans will appreciate Frank Herbert's deep look at societal ethics.

Harriet Klausner

Dragon in the Sea is quite a departure from Dune. It's more akin to The Santaroga Barrier (my favorite Herbert book) in Herbert starts with a few ordinary events and then turns them into psychological dramas. For this book, he goes one step further and leaves off the chapter divisions to create a literary claustrophobia to match the claustrophic conditions of the submarine. Some of the psychobable to explain the captain's behavior was a bit silly but I'll forgive it for the otherwise enjoyable thriller with science fiction trappings.

I don't consider myself prone to sea sickness, but this book gave me one. Maybe, that's just how captivating the story was... This book is not a pure science-fiction novel; it has a hint of mystery in the plot. I read this for a science fiction course in college. I don't plan to read this a second time, though.