Pallas [Hardcover]

L. Neil Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1993

Two groups of colonists face off on a small world terraformed for humans, in a story that blends interplanetary politics and speculative science. By the author of The Crystal Empire.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Not so much a novel as a stultifying political treatise, the latest from the author of Henry Martyn is set on Pallas, an asteroid "terraformed" to be suitable for human life. Two societies compete for dominance: the Greeley Memorial Utopian Project, a totalitarian communist collective, and the Outside, a haven for freewheeling, gun-toting, Old West-style individualism. Born in the collective, Emerson Ngu manages as a teenager to escape to the Outside, where he fits smoothly into the loose, anything-goes culture. The book's meager plot concerns the collective's occasional attempts to recapture Ngu. Smith's writing is palatable enough, but he fails to create a convincing fictional environment (details such as the asteroid's minimal gravity are mentioned only in passing), and the characters are mere puppets mouthing his political views. His "utopian collective" is a simplistic straw man, and the individualistic society he clearly intends to glorify is unconvincing and blatantly based on the works of Ayn Rand (one chapter is even called "The Fountainhead"). Rand's fans might find the book appealing, but there is little here to entice other readers.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Born to a life of incessant toil inside the Greeley Utopian Memorial Project on the terra-formed asteroid called Pallas, Emerson Ngu engineers his own escape and discovers a new way of life outside the compound's Rimfence. Smith ( Henry Martyn , Tor, 1991) injects a heavy dollop of social commentary into this rags-to-riches tale of free enterprise and personal revenge. Although his arguments for libertarianism and the right to bear arms may not please everyone, his conviction and intensity give impetus to an otherwise ordinary story. For large sf collections.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Tor Books (November 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312856768
• ISBN-13: 978-0312856762
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,503,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars El Neil At His Best, July 25, 2001

By 

Joel Simon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pallas (Mass Market Paperback)

The thing that most intrigues me about Smith's fiction is that, even though I know he's going to preach libertarianism to me, I also know he's going to slip in at least one new thought I'd never considered. I just never know when it's coming, or from what direction.

So...was the invention of agriculture really a positive turning point in human history? I must admit the question had never occurred to me.

The characterizations are stronger in this novel than in some of his earlier work. I get the impression that he's more confident, finding his own voice rather than trying to be Heinlein.

You can find things to quibble with. The Pallas society is a bit self-consciously old-west. In an environment where all guns have to be imported from Earth I couldn't get past how casually Emerson acquired an extraordinary speciman. The ending left me a bit unsatisfied.

But all in all it's a very fine novel; engrossing and thought-provoking as almost all Smith books are, and highly entertaining. There are very few contemporary authors that I follow around to see when the next book is due; Smith has become one of them.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pallas - Literature for the 21st Century, September 8, 2002

By 

Alan R. Weiss (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pallas (Hardcover)

Not many science fiction writers can actually create a new world populated by heroic, but real people - AND convey a sense of dynamic IDEAS about society and technology that yoju would WANT the future to become. L. Neil Smith has done just that with "Pallas", arguably his BEST BOOK ever (until the upcoming "Ceres", that is! :-) Pallas tells the story of a child inventor who grows up to become a hero amidst the largely, but not exclusively, liberty-loving colony on Pallas asteroid. While the enemy is obvious, the plot twists and turns are not. In science-fiction, its the IDEAS that count, and this book ROCKS with them. As good, if not better, than Robert Heinlein and Fred Pohl. Buy and read this book and enjoy!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you take your freedom? straight or on the rocks?, March 1, 2002

By 

CEH - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pallas (Mass Market Paperback)

L. Neil Smith's vivid portrayl of absolute personal freedom versus the politically correct utopia is mind opening. Not only does this book show exactly the reason our forefathers put specifically into our constitiution our right to bear arms, but it also shows how things could have been if we hadn't felt the urgent need to get rid of our personal responsibilites by giving them over to a government. The clashes between Emerson Ngu and his arch enemy Gibson Altman are completely realistic, the plot flows true-to-life, and even though Smith is a bit heavy handed with libertarian rhetoric, it doesn't take anything away from the story. Besides, aren't most of us, in our most private thoughts, sick and tired of the intrusions we allow our government to make?