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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An exciting action story,
By
This review is from: Eye Of The Monster (Paperback)
This is a short novella (135 pages) that takes place early in the story arc of Andre Norton's Forerunner universe. (Click on my name to see a list of about 40 related books.) It's really quite a violent story, and even though the carnage is not depicted in graphic detail, it might be upsetting for young readers. Older readers will probably find it tense and gripping, more of an action-hero tale than most of this author's other works.
I give it three stars because the plot is slight (a hero is simply being chased by bad guys) and most of the characters are not developed very well. In particular, the villains and their motives should have been described in greater depth. On the plus side, the author makes a strong statement about the morality of colonialism and the danger of misinterpreting an unfamiliar culture. Eye of the Monster will be reprinted in The Game of Stars and Comets, a collection of four short novels by Andre Norton, which is scheduled for release early in 2009. * * * SPOILERS - PLOT SUMMARY: Humans and the feline Salariki aliens from the second Solar Queen tale, Plague Ship, have set up colonies and trading posts on a world called Ishkur. Human military forces have been keeping tight control over the frontier planet as part of an expanding galactic empire ruled by the Council. Since the reptilian natives of Ishkur seem to be on generally good terms with the off-worlders, the Council has decided to let them set up their own government. As the story opens, the humans have just withdrawn their military. However, the natives seize the opportunity to begin slaughtering all the humans and Salariki. A young man named Rees tries to rescue several survivors during a nightmarish retreat through the jungles of Ishkur. They are being hunted by packs of murderous natives, most of the human settlements have already been evacuated or destroyed, and their vehicle is not capable of getting them over the mountain range that lies between them and the only remaining safe haven. Rees has had some basic training as a Survey scout, but will that be enough to save them?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eye of the Spider,
By
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This review is from: Eye of the Monster (Vintage Ace, 22375) (Mass Market Paperback)
Eye of the Monster (1962) is a short SF novel set in the universe of the Solar Queen series, but further in the future. The Council of the South Sector Empire has decided to let the natives govern their own planet and have withdrawn their military forces. The offworlders have been warned that they will be on their own after the Patrol leaves.
In this novel, Rees Naper is an orphan whose closest relative is his uncle, Milo Naper. Rees was a Survey brat and had been attending the Survey Academy when his father failed to return from a mission. Since his mother had already passed, Milo took Rees out of the Academy and brought him to Ishkur. Dr. Milo Naper is a missionary to the Ishkurians. He has very different opinions about the Ishkurians than his nephew. In fact, they disagree about almost everything, particularly about the use of military force. Despite their disagreements, Milo has custody of Rees and refuses to let him return to the Academy. Gordy Beltz is the young son of two missionaries. He has known no other home than the Ishkurian jungles. Sometimes he tags along with Rees on normal tasks around the mission. Zannah is a Salarika cubling and is probably younger than Gordy. Rees finds her in a pit trap and rescues her. But the trap was poisoned with ka thorns and he goes to the mission office to get the only known antidote. Isiga is second-companion to Lord Sakfor. She has been living at the Salarikan trade compound, but comes looking for Zannah. Her meeting with Rees at the mission is more than a little painful. In this story, the Ishkurians -- Crocs -- start killing off all the offworlders within reach. They hit the mission first and then the Salarikan compound. Rees and Gordy now have no living kin on the planet and Isiga and Zannah are the only surviving Salarikans. Rees has some small knowledge -- practically none -- in xenopsychology. His father's notes suggest that he try to "think like a spider". He knows a little about the reptilian natives, but nobody really knows how they think. Nonetheless, he uses what little he knows to anticipate the moves of the Crocs. The mission copter was supposed to return after delivering the fleeing missionaries, but had not done so. All the other copters are now gone. So Rees uses a roller to travel about in the jungle. It is a hunting vehicle, so it does have some useful tools and instruments, including a flamer. Rees takes the roller -- which also has jump capabilities -- toward the mountains. If they can reach the Wrexul plantation, they should be safe. As they are jumping along the river, a force beam passes close to the roller. They barely manage to crash on the river bank. This tale is not one of the major works by the author. It seems to reflect current events of that era. The story seems most similar to the native uprisings in Africa. Many missionaries lost their lives on the dark continent before the natives established more or less stable governments. The attitude of Dr. Naper reflects the beliefs of many missionaries in Africa when the foreign troops were removed. Apparently they followed the principle of not judging others. Yet even Christ himself judged others, including his disciples. After all, he did choose Peter to be his successor. What Christ never did was to *condemn* others! The story is about survival. Rees has not been trained in escape and evasion, but he does succeed in taking his charges out of the jungle to a somewhat safer environment. Enjoy! Recommended for Norton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of native uprisings, personal courage, and a touch of wisdom. -Arthur W. Jordin
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Know thine enemy?,
By Michele L. Worley (Kingdom of the Mouse, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eye Of The Monster (Paperback)
Set like CATSEYE in Norton's Council/Confederation universe, EYE OF THE MONSTER's title is also drawn from a character's efforts to understand an alien perspective, but the story is set on the jungle planet Ishkur rather than a human colony world. Furthermore, unlike Troy Horan of CATSEYE, Rees Naper needs to understand the people of Ishkur not because they're potential allies, but because they're potential enemies.
The Ishkurians are intelligent reptiles, like crocodiles who walk upright, although "Croc" is what one of the mission kids calls "a degrade name". (The term "politically incorrect" didn't exist in 1962, when this novel was first published.) They're introduced so as to put distance between them and the audience; in fact, the notable thing on the morning the story opens is that none of them are around, or else the mission director wouldn't be brewing coffee - the smell makes Ishkurians queasy, and humans reciprocate with distaste for Ishkurian scent. The mission's eerie silence is broken by radio reports of the Patrol's ongoing withdrawal from Ishkur, giving fair warning to any offworld personnel who wish to leave as well. Oddly enough, Rees' communication problems begin much nearer home. When his father, a Survey officer, was killed in the line of duty some years ago, Rees' uncle, Dr. Milo Naper, removed him from cadet school. As a mission man, Naper disapproves of the military mindset of the Services - Survey and the Patrol among them. He's quite vocal in expressing his good-riddance attitude toward the Patrol's departure, confident that relations with the Ishkurians will proceed much more smoothly once free of such ignorant clods. After all, Milo's worked on Ishkur for more than 20 years, and he *knows* some of the people reported - falsely, surely - as being involved in acts of aggression against offworlders. Rees still has the heart of a scout's son, taking the Patrol's warnings of a potential native uprising seriously. Many offworlders have already left, not wishing to rely on Ishkurian goodwill - even some of Naper's own mission staff, including Vickery, the hunter Rees assists now that he's grown and earning his way. The few remaining offworlders have received personal assurances of friendship, particularly the Salariki trader Sakfor of the neighbouring trade outpost. (Salariki are prudent folk, after all.) None of it was enough. Checking up on Vickery's animals (accompanied by tagalong Gordy, whose parents are colleagues of Rees' uncle), Rees finds the mutilated body of Vickery's pet nighthound. Being closer to their compound than to the mission, and knowing that Sakfor has his family with him, Rees moves fast to deliver a warning - but not fast enough. The smoke of the burning of Sakfor's trade goods is the least of the horror of the massacre taking place there. After acting to rescue any Salariki survivors - Gordy's needed to persuade Zannah, a little girl, out of hiding - Rees moves on to the main action of the story: trying to reach and evacuate the mission, followed by the survivors' efforts to reach safety - if any is to be had. EYE OF THE MONSTER lacks the depth and texture of some more famous pursuit-across-country Norton stories. Analyzing why EYE OF THE MONSTER doesn't leave as strong an impression with me as most Norton stories do, I considered 3 of the pursuit-sequences in the novel WITCH WORLD (Alizon, Verlaine, and Karsten) that I *do* find satisfactory. What EYE OF THE MONSTER lacks is a deeper context beyond the desperate journey toward safety, such as the unfolding of a new world (as at the beginning of WITCH WORLD) or the overall situation beyond the problems of this particular group (the Kolder War in WITCH WORLD). Rees' people - and through his eyes, readers - aren't learning about a new world; they've lived on Ishkur for some time. We see less of Rees' efforts to think like an Ishkurian than the title would lead one to expect, though to be fair he and his companions have more immediate problems for much of the story. I feel that we see and learn more of the Salariki of Sargol than of the people of Ishkur. Even the reasons behind the uprising aren't fully explored. Neither are those behind the Patrol's withdrawal, unless the reader is meant to infer that the Ishkur uprising occurred just before the Council/Confederation war broke out. On the flip side, one of the strong points of EYE OF THE MONSTER is that the story features the feline Salariki in major roles right alongside humans. (PLAGUE SHIP is still *the* book to read for a window on Sargol; the fugitives here are in too much trouble to provide deep insight into their respective cultures.) Another point is that Rees isn't a galactic hero; he makes well-intentioned mistakes, for instance, in coping with young Gordy that have serious consequences. Worth reading, but could have been a stronger book.
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