Customer Reviews

Earthblood

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As with many other reviewers, I first read this book when it came out (I still have my SF Book Club edition) and re-read it every few years. It is as perfect an example of the 'space opera' genre as you could ask for: a tragic and somewhat flawed main character with a mysterious origin, driven to find what happened to the now-vanished Terran empire. One reviewer here (Steve Duff) criticized it as brutal and violent; I suggest he go read some biographies of Alexander the Great.

Again, as with others, echoes of this book stay with me. The child Roan growing up among aliens and Terran hybrids and struggling to hold his own. His joining, of all things, an interstellar circus, and then a crew of interstellar pirates. Searching for Terra, the homeworld, and what he finds there. And all along the way, making mistakes, hurting those who love him the most, and suffering bittersweet loss.

A great read, and one that will stay with you, too.

Although I read this book over 30 years ago, the story has not been forgotten. I actually did a report on this story in grade school (Now I'm 47!) A really great adventure of imagery in true exotic science fiction fashion. Our hero is Roan Cornay, a very rare "pure blood Terran". Although a test tube baby born from an alien woman, his genes originate from the now mythic planet once known as Terra (Earth), a planet that at one time in the ancient past, ruled the galaxy. In the present ultra-future time, Roan learns of his legendary home world and then proceeds to dedicate his efforts to find his home world Terra, a planet most believe never existed. Many adventures along the way. The book is a true classic!

I first read this book many years ago as a teenager (was it Asimov who said the Golden Age of Science Fiction is thirteen?), and have read it again several times since then. It's even better with age. It's a classic, unapologetically politically-incorrect tale of a human child who claws his way to the top in a universe after the downfall of the Terran Empire. If you like classic Heinlein (not the bizarre self-indulgent stuff he cranked out in his last years), you'll love this book.

Great fun! Laumer deliver's (as usual). It's not Dune, and it's not aspiring to be high art ... more of an action packed Heinlein juvenile, which is not a bad thing to be. Typical Laumer elements. Hero who doesn't know when to quit. Fast paced action scenes. Self relience, luck, and grit win the day. Hope to see Baen put out some of his other novels packaged in future volumes, by Baen, but this was a good one to see, in their continuing republications.

I read this many years ago a a teenager, I felt that it spoke to the yearning that many of us have to "do" something important with our lives. Over the years I have revisited this book several times until, during a move, it was lost.
Looking this book after a space of about 20 years I can more easily see its flaws (ethnocentrism), but in spite of that I believe that if anything this was an honest attempt to tell a good story.
This is one story that is begging to be made into a movie, I hope that someday it is and that the focus is maintained and the special effects are done as well as they can be with today's technology.

Earthblood is an absorbing saga of mankind's far future. The story centers on Roan Cornay, a child of pure human blood born to alien parents. He grows up feeling inferior to the aliens who populate his homeworld because they can fly. As he grows up, he begins to understand why mankind colonized and conquered the galaxy before the war with the Niss destroyed civilization. Roan is later abducted by a travaelling space circus, and then by the pirate Henry Dread. He fights across the galaxy for his birthright, and becomes the best hope for mankind to rebuild a civilization that once spanned the stars

Like other reviewers, I first read this book in my teens in the late 60's. It immediately clicked with me and I've reread the book at least once every five years since.

We don't know what's happened to humanity, but its legacy is a proud one. And embryos with human genes are prized above all others. Roan is 'purchased' as an embryo, brought to term and raised by his adopted parents, and spends his life seeking his roots. His trials and adventures appeal to teenagers and teenagers-at-heart with questions of 'Who am I?', 'Where did I come from?', 'Why am I different from everyone else?', 'What makes me unique?'.

Roan's parents bankrupt themselves for the opportunity to purchase a son that may actually be human. As a boy living a poor, integrated neighborhood (with all forms of aliens), Roan experiences poverty, prejudice, fear, and dreams for a better life. A traveling, galactic circus gives Roan a chance to experience a new life, where friendship, love, loyalty, and competition give him a chance to develop and forge new relationships while exploring the possibilities of his heritage.

After a pirate attack on the circus, Roan learns to exercise some control over his environment and to become a leader. Roan ultimately traces his lineage back to Terra, where he acts to replace the decadent descendents of humanity with a race that will one day reclaim its place in determining the destiny of the galaxy.

Earthblood & Other Stories (2007) is an SF omnibus edition, containing a novel coauthored by both authors, three shorter works by Laumer, and six by Brown. These stories date from the 1960s.

Part I: Earthblood (1966)

Raff and Bella come to Tambool seeking a viable Terran embryo to raise as their son. They have almost five hundred credits for the purchase. The dealer has an embryo that matches their desires, but wants two citizenships (worth about two thousands credits) for it. After some haggling, Raff and Bella pay the price.

Raff and Bella are followed from the dealer's office. They enter a cul-de-sac and then turn on their pursuers. Raff proves to be much more than the followers expect. All the pursuers except T'hoy hoy are killed, but Raff has broken bones throughout his body.

T'hoy hoy is with the attackers and pleas for his life. Bella agrees to take him as a slave. He is a storyteller and spends much of his time telling Roan about the Terrans.

Roan grew up playing with gracyl children about his age. The young gracyls dig holes and Roan digs one even deeper than theirs. Later, the gracyls practice flying and Roan finds another way to join the game. Roan misses out on the mating rituals until a white female falls on him.

When Roan becomes sixteen, he tries to sneak into the Grand Vorplisch Extravaganzoo and is caught by the security guards. Then Roan spots Raff inside the tent and tries to reach him. Raff is clubbed down and Roan is dragged away.

Part II: The Niss Stories by Keith Laumer

"The Long Remembered Thunder" (Worlds of Tomorrow, 1963) is about a visitor who comes to Earth to prevent a Niss conquest and falls in love with a native woman.

"The Other Sky" (WoT, 1963) is a science fiction fairy tale involving Little People, space, and time.

"The Soul Buyer" (Amazing, 1964, as "The Further Sky") concerns a man who is very curious and goes for whatever he wants.

Part III: Stories bt Rosel George Brown

"Save Your Confederate Money, Boys" (Fantastic Universe, 1959) relates a tale of a Yankee boyfriend, southern swamps, and new immigrants.

"Flower Arrangement" (Galaxy, 1959) explains the construction of a unique composition by Sally Jo and her son Tommy.

"Fruiting Body" (F&SF, 1962) exposes the fate of a wife fed a special fungus.

"Visiting Professor" (Fantastic, 1961) considers the reaction of a small college to an academic from the future.

"Car Pool" (If, 1959) deals with eight preschool children, an alien schoolmate and a respectable woman.

"And a Tooth" (Fantastic, 1962) considers experimental brain surgery and the resulting split personality.

These stories are mostly standalones, although the novel is based on the far future of the Retief universe. The Niss are the bad guys in the Laumer works, but have no other distinctive traits. So his stories are about the humans-- and Little People -- rather than the aliens.

The Laumer stories are action adventures. The Brown stories are about personal relations and changes. The two authors together wrote one of the best novels in science fiction.

Highly recommended for Laumer & Brown fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of social struggles, interpersonal conflicts, and strange circumstances. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

Earthblood is my favorite Laumer book, and one of my favorite space adventure reads of all time. I'd love to see it made into a movie someday. Earthblood truly stretches the imagination. If you've never read it, you've missed a fun read!

A top notch story that should be made into a movie. If done right it could easily be a box office hit and make millions! Any good screen play writers out there looking for work?

I first read "Earthblood" in college back in the late 60's, I had borrowed it from a friend. A few years later, I was looking to get a copy for myself but it was out of print! Then, years later, while walking by a Library sale of old books I came across a hard copy edition of it and purchased it for $.25! This is a book that should always be around for teenagers to read and love. Let it stay in print forever!