Customer Reviews

The Radiant Dome (Perry Rhodan #2)

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

 

 

In "The Radiant Dome" we are treated to translations of two German stories - "The Radiant Dome" and "Twilight of the Gods". These are just two of the over 125 American translations of the over 1800 German stories of Perry Rhodan - the Peacelord of the Universe.

In the first section, "The Radiant Dome", we find out more about Rhodan and his cause - as well as the attempts by the three major world powers to prevent it from happening. However, the combined forces of the American Bloc, the Russian Bloc, and the Asian Bloc succeed in seemingly destroying what remains of the Arkonide vessel on the moon.

However, it is the second section, "Twilight of the Gods" where we begin to see how Rhodan will actually be able to succeed in his quest to not only unify Earth's governments into a single Terran power, but to extend that reach into space.

The Mutants begin to appear in this novel - John Marshall the telepath, Anne Sloane the telekinetic, Ras Tschubai the teleporter, and Ernst Elbert - the time traveller. Fans of the X-Men will like the similarities to their favorite characters in these individuals, and readers will meet many more of Rhodan's "Mutant Corps" eventually.

Readers will enjoy the faster pace of discoveries that continue to lead you deeper and deeper into this wonderful world. It's easy to see why there's been over 1800 stories of Rhodan and hundreds of related books about Rhodan's friends. I've managed (finally!) to collect all of the American editions, and I felt moved to learn to speak, read, and write German so that I could continue the stories after they unfortunately left off with only 125 or so printed in English. Hopefully, new readers will discover this fantastic Space Opera and cause it to come back into print in English.

This book consists of 2 stories from the German science fiction series. In the first, Rhodan and his 3rd Power group must stave off the world's attempts to stop his plan to bring peace to the earth before it even starts. He's forced to call on the Arkonide pilot Thora to help which leaves the Arkonide moon ship unguarded.

In the 2nd story, the story of the Mutant Corps is started as Perry leaves his base to obtain supplies. Written about 2 years before the original X-men run, the story postulates the existence of mutant humans fostered by the first A Bomb tests.

More geopolitical intrigue.

As the genius Australian doctor works on Khrest the Arkonide, the attack on the Third Power and the Stardust continues through the full NBC. As Thora easily stopped all nuclear fission attacks from the moon, a massive conventional rocket barrage continues for weeks, as a form of psychological warfare, if nothing else. Pretty loud, in other words. The world military and political leaders are still not happy with Rhodan's destabilising influence, or the possibility that he is now a great power.

All the while, various sneaky spy types are working on a biological attack that can be carried over frequencies that will penetrate the radiant dome, as well as working on a social engineering angle.

However, some of the top espionage agents, from the different powers, agree with Rhodan, and when they get to meet him face to face, realise that he knows what they were up to all along. So, they work out a subterfuge to attempt to further the Third Power's goals.

Khrest is treated successfully, but his daughter, Thora, still views humans as monkeys, basically. A big mistake, as new fusion weapon techology is being launched in an attack on the moon, and as Thora comes to collect Khrest, the attack is arriving at the moon, The decadent crew of the moonbase, having the equivalent of headphones on while reading a book, and not worrying about the chittering of monkeys from Earth. Needless to say, this is not good for their bodily integrity.