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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Okay!,
By
This review is from: One Against the Legion (Paperback)
This is the third book in Jack Williamson's "Legion of Space" series--a series that, for all I can tell, is considered classic mainly because it was written a long time ago.
Don't misunderstand me, these are very readable books, all of them, but they seem to get fluffier and more inconsequential as the series progresses. This one, "One Against the Legion," shifts from being a standard space opera to being a sort of futuristic Agatha Christie mystery novel--with a strange killer murdering every night's top winner at an interstellar casino. Most of the Legion of Space is absent or mostly absent from this one, except for the fat and skillful Giles Habibula, who finally gets yelled at and told to shut up and quit whining by the other Legionaires, and who has a somewhat sordid backstory revealed. The action ranges from the Green Hall (Albuquerque) on Earth, to the New Moon (a massive machine built to replace the moon destroyed in the first book), to various other planets and asteroids and spaceships. It's a page-turning story, but is ultimately somewhat disappointing and forgettable. One of my favorite things about it though, was how comically some of the 1939 terminology in the book has aged. About an alien robot that carries a girl away, it says: "Those serpentine tentacles that raped the poor lass away..." And, in casual conversation about a girl's flirtatious colleague, it reads: "He began making violent love to me. He was a vigourous and passionate man." And there are others as well. I recommend this series for fans of pulp sci-fi, and for people who enjoy reading about New Mexico's future as represented in science fiction, but...I don't know. Don't expect anything really intelligent here, or anything more than a somewhat fun read.
3.0 out of 5 stars
New Moons and Space Stations,
By
This review is from: One Against the Legion (Mass Market Paperback)
_One Against the Legion_ is the third novel in Jack Williamson's Legion of Space tetrology. The first two are _The Legion of Space_ (_Astounding_, 1934; 1950) and _The Cometeers_ (_Astounding_, 1936; 1950). The fourth is _Queen of the Legion_ (1983). The publishing history of the third novel is a bit more complicated than that of the other three. "One Against the Legion" was originally serialized in _Astounding_ in 1939-- bought this time by John W. Campbell, not Harry Bates. It was published in 1950 in the same volumn as _The Cometeers_. Then, in 1967, it was published separately by Pyramid Books with a new Legion novella called "Nowhere Near" added on. I am reviewing the Pyramid version of the novel."One Against the Legion" takes place mostly on an artifact called the New Moon of Earth. The old, original Luna was wiped out in a space battle in _The Legion of Space_. The responsible thing to do would be to make New Moon a mass of science laboratories. Alas, I am afraid that there is more of Las Vegas than Los Alamos about this Big Dumb Object-- an assemblage of casinoes, luxury hotels, police barracks, and euthanasia rooms. The plots of the earlier Legion books were linear capture-and-escape affairs, with the main villains identified early in the novels. The plot of "One Against the Legion" is more like an English mystery story. Our hero, Chan Derron, is an ex-Legionaire who has been neatly framed for murder and espionage by a super criminal known as the Basilisk. Williamson plants his clues fairly and manages to keep the identity of his villain well concealed until the end. We learn a bit more about Giles Habibula's past, and there is an ending that does not last a second too long. "Nowhere Near" is a bit more up to date in its technological background. There are references to computers, lasers, transisters, Uranium-238, anomolies, ultrawaves, and spectroscopic analysis-- terms that were not commonplace back in the 1930s. But the formula is old. Giles Habibula makes his way (along with a generous supply of caviar and wine) to a distant and endangerered space station. The other characters are a new generation of assorted heroes, a lovely heroine, and various villains. Some readers prefer the earlier books in the series. They have a bit more color. But _One Against the Legion_ is a touch better plotted and better written. It holds up passably well.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointment for Legion fans,
By
This review is from: One Against the Legion (Mass Market Paperback)
A weak entry in the Legion of Space series, structured more as a whodunit than an epic space opera and lacking the thrills and chills of The Legion of Space and The Cometeers. Much of the story takes place in a casino. There are many strange coincidences, characters turning out to be long lost relatives or business associates from 50 years ago and the like. Disappointing.
I read the Pyramid paperback edition with the Jack Gaughan cover.
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