Customer Reviews

Planet of the Damned

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

 

 

This was the first science fiction book I read as a kid (too many years ago than I care to count) and it stimulated my interest in the genre. "Planet of the Damned" is classic science fiction and a coming of age story. The hero, Brion, is a young man given his first opportunity to prove his worthiness by trying to save Dis, a horrible planet that seems hell bent on self destruction. Harrison's imagination fills the page with sweeping scenery, even though the book checks in at a relatively snappy 160 or so pages. It is proof that epic science fistion does not need to go one for many volumes ala L. Ron Hubbard.

This book blends action with Harrison's humor and inventiveness.The book vividly depicts a man's search for an answer to a planets mystery.From start to finish this book is interesting.If you like science fiction this book is for you!The way Harrison describes the characters,the story,and the planet is remarkable!If you are a fan of Harrison's work,this is a must-have!

I've never been in a desert, or in a distant planet, but writer Harry Harrison made me feel like I was in one, when a person by the name of Brion Bradd went to attempt to save a planet named Dis, from being destroyed in a war. In the book Planet of the Damned, Harrison kept me wanting to keep reading, and to find out what would happen next. New discoveries in the book led to new settings and new plots.

As the story begins, Brion Bradd is asked to help avert a war between to planets by his friend Ihjel. Obviously, Brion must think about this first. Little does he know, he is empathetic, the first man in thirty years. As finalists in the Twenties, which is a competition, they are both up for the job. They pick up a biologist, named Lea, to assist them on their duty. As the novel progresses, Brion learns that this planet is a living hell. The whole planet Dis is a desert. To make thing worse, the crew sets down on the planet, and Ihjel is killed, and Brion and Lea are dehydrated in the middle of nowhere. Will they have success in their mission? You will have to read it to find out!!

As the first science fiction book I have read, it inspired my interest in science fiction novels. It is a short book yet filled with excitement and suspense. From start to finish the book was great. The way Harrison describes the characters, the planets, and the story is extraordinary.

I've never been in a desert, or in a distant planet, but writer Harry Harrison made me feel like I was in one, when a person by the name of Brion Bradd went to attempt to save a planet named Dis, from being destroyed in a war. In the book Planet of the Damned, Harrison kept me wanting to keep reading, and to find out what would happen next. New discoveries in the book led to new settings and new plots.

As the story begins, Brion Bradd is asked to help avert a war between to planets by his friend Ihjel. Obviously, Brion must think about this first. Little does he know, he is empathetic, the first man in thirty years. As finalists in the Twenties, which is a competition, they are both up for the job. They pick up a biologist, named Lea, to assist them on their duty. As the novel progresses, Brion learns that this planet is a living hell. The whole planet Dis is a desert. To make thing worse, the crew sets down on the planet, and Ihjel is killed, and Brion and Lea are dehydrated in the middle of nowhere. Will they have success in their mission? You will have to read it to find out!!

As the first science fiction book I have read, it inspired my interest in science fiction novels. It is a short book yet filled with excitement and suspense. From start to finish the book was great. The way Harrison describes the characters, the planets, and the story is extraordinary.

The prolific SF writer Gordon Dickson was called the "Book Doctor" because he was so good at advising other writers on how to make their books riveting page turners. His advice was that a great SF book should have the sound of a metaphoric ticking bomb that could go off at any time, and that the reader should start hearing that ticking on the first page.

In Harry Harrison's pulp offering "Planet of the Damned" the bombs are not metaphors, but literally part of the plot -- in this case, a cache of nuclear cobalt bombs in the hands of a planet occupied by the worst kind of violent, savage "cave men" you can imagine. How did such a bunch of primitive grunts get their hands on nuclear weapons, and how do they have the ability to drop them on the neighboring planet in their solar system? Well, like all clever SF writers -- and Harrison is among the most clever -- he finds a way to make this scenario at least plausible

The savages on the planet Dis want to drop their bombs on the planet Nyjord, populated by a gentle race of passivist philosophers. Only one man stands in the way of this nefarious plot -- the incredible Brion Brandd -- a super Olympian-style athlete -- who finds himself an unlikely draftee to lead the effort to avert the nuclear annihilation of Nyjord. Brandd is not just a jock -- he's incredibly smart, and an empath to boot.

Anyone judging this short novel today must do so keeping in mind that it does not pretend to be anything which it is not -- it's a classic pulp fiction offering, first appearing in Analog SF magazine in 1962. Fast books with a hot premise like this were the bread and butter of pulp-era writers such as Harrison, and he was among the best in delivering genre fiction of this sort, and doing a credible job.

So it's not great literature, it may not even be stellar science fiction, but it is what it is: A fast-paced, intelligent thrill-novel set in the far future and outer space. Harrison knows his science well, and gives the reader a lesson in exobiology that is interesting and educating, without stalling the plot. That's no easy task! So this is easily a three-star read for me, maybe 3.5 stars.

Note: I downloaded this Kindle book for FREE from Project Gutenberg. Just saying.

Brion Brandd is a guy from a backwater planet who's been recruited to stop a nuclear war. Many things stand in his way, from an office staff who can't be bothered to the natives themselves. With the help from some friends, he might just be able to stave off the bombs and save an entire world.

Planet of the Damned is a short adventure book that aims to show things aren't how they appear on the surface. The last chapter felt tacked on, like it was an editor's idea as opposed to the author's. There are some obvious things that date the writing but it's still an interesting read for a long weekend.

I read this book twice the first month i had it. Really compelling story and charters.

The most interesting thing about this book is the cover art, which shows some sort of weird robot thing with arms coming out of its hips... and yet... there are no robots of any kind in the actual book. It almost makes me wonder if this is the cover art intended for some other book. The other book was probably better, too.

Planet of the Damned was a short book, which is one of the few nice things I can say about it. I am usually quite easy to please but this book's plot was pointless, the characters were pointless... I never felt any sense of urgency for their situation or even cared if they lived or died.

Another of those stories wherein only a specially trained superman can save the day. In this case, a man from a frozen world is the only one who can acclimatize to a hot planet (yeah, right). Ends rather abruptly with too contrived a solution to the problem. Occasionally goes off-topic to rant against religion, totally meaningless to the story.
The middle portion of the book drones on endlessly while saying nothing, it was like reading a politician talk about his trip to the beach.
Had it's moments so I gave it 3 stars.

There are 2 interesting things in this book:

1. The cover, shamelessly ripped off by the Simmons' Hyperion artist.
2. The premise of a planet civilization based around games, something worked out flawlessly in Banks' Player of Games.

However, the cover will only take you as far as page 1 and the games at around page 20. Because, then Harrison does a "Deathworld", unfortunately by orders of magnitude less interesting than the original Deathworld (which was not ground breaking SF to start with). End of warning and zero stars.