Customer Reviews

Planet of No Return

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First published serially in Astounding Science Fiction in 1956 and published in book form by Dobson Books Ltd. in 1966. This 128 pages Anderson book focuses on man initial effort to colonize distant planets using a warp drove in their spaceships, only that no habitable but uninhabited planets have been found.

Synopsis reads:

WANTED: terrestroid planets, habitable but uninhabited, clean of major sickness, rich enough to support colonists without outside help -

FOUND: in almost a generation, nothing -

Then a shipful of astronomers chanced on the Troas-Ilium system. The Da Gama had set out, but never come home. Now, seven years later, the Henry Hudson is due to leave on the same mission...

Better than I expected, considering its age and wear `n' tear the novel has received since its printing in 1971. The novel focuses on an international group of seemingly ill-selected individuals who find it difficult to get along due to their headstrongness (like Turkish character Gumus-Lugil) or religious snobbishness (like American Avery). Others are from Mars, Luna, Canada, Uruguay and Manchuria. Avery, the pschymed, is on the team to study the language of any found aliens. Language plays a key role on the unfolding of the plot, like is often found in other Anderson novels. It's a well-paced read (I read it on just a few hours) with enough action, hypotheses and interaction to last until the surprising end. Cache this in your Anderson library!