The Night Face [Paperback]

Poul Anderson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ace (July 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441574513
• ISBN-13: 978-0441574513
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,921,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great Poul Anderson's finest stories!, February 5, 2008

By 

Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Night Face (Paperback)

The late Poul Anderson was without any doubt one of the Grand Masters of science fiction. He wrote on an astonishing range of topics within the science fiction genre, including time travel, alternate history, human evolution, and man's future destiny in space.

The Night Face is one of Anderson's finest stories. It is set within his famous "Technic Civilization" future history series. In this story, Technic Civilization has collapsed, the Terran Empire rose and fell, and the post-Empire human civilization is beginning to reach out among its various parts and consolidate. In this story several planets are mounting an expedition to re-establish contact with the planet Gwydion. Gwydion has been isolated from other human planets for over a thousand years. It was settled by a small group of colonists who lost touch with civilization and had to adapt to the new planet without the benefit of most technology. When the expedition arrives on Gwydion they find the folk to be friendly, prosperous, thriving, and startlingly free of numerous of the baser human traits such as excess greed, avarice, and internecine strife. Gwydion appears to be, in fact, almost paradise.

More would be telling, but you may be sure that nothing is as simple as it appears, and the Gwydionians have their own set of problems, forced upon them by their need to adapt to their hospitable but strange planet. This is a great and tragic story that most readers will find deeply moving.

The Night Face merits the overused title of "classic" and it is one of the great stories in science fiction by one of its Grand Masters. This is a wonderful story to which the discerning reader will return many times.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant, genuine, dagger-sharp SF tragedy, May 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Night Face (Paperback)

At it's worst, SF can be cheap schlock insulting the reader's intelligence or poorly-thought out boring drivel. At it's best, SF is lucky to come close to Poul Anderson's _The Night Face_. A short, intense page-turner, it has a rich cast of compelling characters, and the narrative is as lush as the thick greenery on the world of Gwydion - the planet where the action (and mystery) is set.

Three characters form the story's center, whirling through the book in a race of misinterpretations and incorrect assumptions. Of them, one is a Gwydiona, and two are of the visiting space travellers: one is Raven, leader of the expedition's military branch and of warrior-race ancestry; the other is Miguel Tolteca, a more peaceful republican seeking commercial and scientific rewards.

These three intersect - collide - thorought the story, their misaprehensions framed in the gorgeous natural scenery of Gwydion. The other characters are fleshed out as well, the dialogue is sharp, and the story is fluid, unencumbered, and hypnotizing. It is definitely the work of a master.

As both Anderson says in his Introduction and (in my 1978-edition copy) noted SF critic Sandra Miesel notes in her Afterward, _The Night Face_ can fit in Anderson's Technic Civilization series, but it stands brilliantly alone. It is evocative and chilling; its brevity not an obstacle to a well-detailed and satisfying story.

Originally titled _Let The Spacemen Beware!_ (and based on a novellete called "A Twelvemonth and a Day"), my only gripe with _The Night Face_ is the blurb on the back, which gave away the story's chief hook: the mystery surrounding the too-peaceful life of Gwydion's inhabitants, rooted in their extensive myths and legends.

My recommendation for this book is in two parts: read it as soon as you can get a copy, and do not read any blurbs anywhere on it (even Larry Niven's short, glowing review, inside the book). They will ruin the suspense. But definitely hunt down a copy of _The Night Face_ - it is powerful, unforgettable, and the only thing more tragic than its sad, gripping story would be a missed opportunity to read it.