Customer Reviews

Rebel of Rhada

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Robert Cham Gilman was a pseudonym of the popular writer Alfred Coppel. Coppel wrote quite a bit of science fiction, particularly at the beginning and end of his career. The Rhada series, of which this is the first book, comes approximately in mid-career. The Rebel... is a combined space opera and post-holocaust novel. The setting is an essentially medieval society in which automated space craft surviving from a prior age allow interstellar travel. The plot concerns political intrigue around the formation of an interstellar empire that will enforce interstellar peace and allow recovery of scientific/technological progress. Written in a direct, unornamented style, The Rebel... is solidly written, plotted, and has decent character development. Its considerably better than most contemporary space operas. This book and its successors are well worth the few dollars they will cost in a used bookstore.
Coppel produced some other enjoyable science fiction. The Glory series, written towards the end of his life, is also well worth finding in used bookstores.

Stereotypical old sf, of the "Swords & Starships: galactic civilization loses all tech except space flight and reverts to feudalism" trope. Which trope is creaky and dusty enough as it is, but the writing isn't at all poetic or up-to-date even by the standards of sf in 1968--I mean, that's the year of "Stand on Zanzibar," "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," and "2001." The language is flat and pedestrian, the characters are two-dimensional at best, and the pacing is uneven - feels like the ending got rushed to meet a deadline. The underlying storyline could actually be worthy of a good book, but this isn't it.