Customer Reviews

The Iron Cage

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

 

 

Iron Cage is the story of a young boy, Jony, who escapes from an alien race which used humans as experimental tools. He finds friends with the People - a race of bear-like, intelligent animals. When humans arrive upon the planet, and try to subject the People to their will, Jony finds himself in a difficult posistion - should he protect the People? Or should he join his own kind?

I really enjoyed this book! The only reason, in fact, I'm denying it that last star was because the story was sometimes hard to follow. Despite this, read it anyway!

Iron Cage is about Rutee and Jony. They were captured by a society of cruel aliens who did tests on them and controlled their mind. They managed to escape right before Rutee was scheduled to be "dumped". They were taken care of by "the people" a clan of intelligent bear like creatures. Rutee died but Jony took care of Geogee and Maba, the two children that came of a mind controlled raper, on the alien ship. Problems came when humans landed on this planet. Geogee and Maba considered the humans their people. They later discovered that the humans were doing cruel experiments on the clan. The war started and Jony, Geogee, Maba, and the clan won.

This book is my favorite Sci-fi ever, and I tried the other Andre Norton books but I didn't like any of them as much. Iron cage is the type of book you will want to pass on to your children through tradition.

This is one of those books that really make you think and re-evaluate your values and beliefs. Andre Norton is great, and this is one of her best efforts! If you like this one, try 'Breed to come'.

I've seen this book in a couple of different covers. The one I have is almost indicative of a book suitable for younger audiences. This is not the case. The book centres on a sci-fi plot where humans are kept captive and bred - sometimes against their will, by alien creatures. So now you know why your 10 year old daughter may not be the most suitable recipient of this book as a gift etc.

The story moves along - at times written like a book for quite young teens oddly enough, and the finale of the novel is reasonably satisfying. There is an air of foreboding, there are twinges of comic relief and also a storyline thread that wends its way throughout the story involving searching for a place to belong, both physically and spiritually. As such it's a nice enough example of a sci-fi novel that doesn't pound the reader with bucket loads of irrelevant technical data nor waffle on for chapter after chapter of the characters performing psycho-analysis on themselves and others. Its' fairly simple prose and the fact it's not the size of a housebrick does indeed lend itself to making this a quick read and students of the genre may find some use especially in its set up chapters.

Non fans of sci-fi certainly won't find themselves converted by this.

The author makes a case for animal rights by describing the plight of an abused cat on planet Earth, compared to a parallel story about animal-like aliens on a distant world. Both are mistreated by brutal humans who consider them to be nothing but "things," not individual creatures with feelings and inherent value.

Although it's not quite clear, the novel apparently takes place in Norton's Forerunner universe. (Click on my name to see a list of about 40 related books.) Iron Cage seems to feature the Psychocrats who also make an appearance in Ice Crown, and in Gods & Androids.

The story moves along at a fast pace and addresses some important issues. It was generally fun to read and held my interest to the end. As an animal lover, I appreciate the author's intent in writing about this theme. However, I don't agree that animals are equal to people. From a literary perspective, the book is not as strong as other "raised by animals" tales such as Tarzan and the Mowgli / Jungle Book stories by Kipling. Nevertheless, it is thought-provoking and worth a read if you are a fan of this author.

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(SPOILERS - PLOT SUMMARY)

Most of the book explores the relationship between three human children and a race of aliens called "The People," who are so primitive that they are almost animals. The children and their mother have been brought to the planet by a different race of aliens, who keep them in cages and experiment on them. The humans escape, but the mother soon dies, leaving her kids to be raised by The People.

By the time the oldest, Jony, is about fourteen, he feels completely at home with the tribe. However, there are hints that The People don't entirely trust him. When he discovers the ruins of an old city and indulges his curiosity by exploring it, The People become enraged and turn against him. He has stirred up memories of something terrible that happened there when The People first encountered humans, long ago. Jony and his siblings find themselves torn between their human ancestry and the aliens who have been their family until this point.

The prologue and epilogue give a clue to the inspiration for the story. Unfortunately for my enjoyment of the book I cared a great deal more about the cat and her kittens than I did for the three stranded humans on some distant planet. The story of man marooned among intelligent animals has been done much better in other stories (Planet of the Apes for instance) that it took quite a bit of determination for me to finish the book. Things finally pick up at the half way point when some other humans arrive to "rescue" the three castways and thankfully the book does give a happy ending back on earth to the cat and her kittens.

I first came across Andre Norton as a teenager. This was one of the first novels that I read that used cats as the main characters. Made me think and realize that everything is interconnected. This novel, Iron Cage, made a major impsct on my life and has continued to do so