Customer Reviews

Slan

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Slan" is A. E. van Vogt's first novel. It was published in book form in 1946 by Arkham House, but the story originally appeared in the pages of Astounding Magazine in 1940. It was a highly rated classic of Science Fiction for more than 25 years after it originally appeared, but today it is often forgotten along with many of the early classics. In 1949 it was tied for 4th on the Arkham Survey of 'Basic SF Titles'. It ranked 2nd on the Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll in 1952, 5th, in 1956, and 3rd in 1966.

It is the story of a mutant race of humanity (Slan) who are stronger, smarter, and are telepathic. In the story we are told that the name Slan is derived from Samuel Lann who is purported to be the creator of the race. At the start, the Slan are hunted by humanity to be destroyed, and through the course of events we learn the history of the race, as well as the truth behind the crimes of which they are accused.

The story is told through the eyes of two of the Slan. The first is Jommy Cross who is nine years old when the story commences, and who is becomes isolated from any other Slan when his mother is captured. The second Slan is Kathleen Layton, who is a prisoner of the government and being held for observation.

This is an excellent book, which holds up well 60+ years later. It is fast paced, and definitely worth reading.

Slan is a great exemple of practically a perfect simple-plot , one-hero , sci-fi story.

Now , before you're clicking "not helpfull" , you have to understand that you are used to a writing style that has taken over the sci-fi scene in the 40's and 50's. A style led by John w.Campbell , and writers like Asimov , Clarck and Heinlin. Those people decided for you what sci-fi should be. Generally , they were right , most of the writers at that time had lower standards for sci-fi stories.

But not Van Vogt. Allthough his style is'nt compatible with "Campbellian" standards , his writing has a different magic. Enormous scope , fantastic imagination , and very special lead charecters , are only part of something that I cannot put into words , and flows free in his works.

You should not judge "Slan" by today's standards , instead , give it a chance and enjoy the magic of the early style science fiction.

I first read Slan in my early teens, and (this is going to get a little personal here, folks) I really identified with the struggle against persecution because at the time I was an adolescent struggling with my own sexuality and the realization that I am gay - something that in my youth (and to a *slightly* lesser extent today) was something to hide, something to fear, lest you suffer persecution.

I re-read the book along with a few other Van Vogt novels as an adult, and it still gave me that feeling of empowerment - that being different was not necessarily "bad."

I doubt Van Vogt had gay people or any specific minority group in mind when he wrote the novel. It was, after all, 1940, and there was no such thing as political correctness and we as a society saw no harm whatsoever in persecuting entire groups of peoples, subcultures, etc.

Which just proves that as a writer, Van Vogt was ahead of his time.

The book holds up; it is still a great story, still has great action, mystery and intrigue. A few of the "science fiction" elements are a little cliched today, but they were of course *new* when Van Vogt wrote them.

I would have to call Slan one of my all time favorites.

As a classic Sci-Fi novel it reads pretty good. Much of the futuristic speculative science is not yet either obsolete nor proven impossible 60 years later. Some of the high-tech foreseen by Vogt includes genetic engineering that was used to modify natural mutant humans for various reasons. There is a war between the one class of mutant/gene-altered people and normal people. The gene-altered mutants have taken over Mars and are launching a major space war on the 5 billion normal humans on Earth. The Martians have thousands of huge and heavily armed space ships that earth science, for some reason, has not developed. There are some psychic mind reading mutants who are hated by everyone, but they secretly control the Earth government. Our hero finds abandoned underground machine shops left by the mutants, and single-handedly builds a space ship much more capable than anything the Martians can manage. He also finds time to build a fortress disguised as a farm defended by an array of super beam weapons, and lots of other unique stuff all in abut 3 years. In the end he finds true love and the book ends with the Martian attack still imminent. The portrayal of racial hate of mutants by normal humans appears to reflect the 1940s racial attitudes and irrational hatreds that were much in contention during W.W.II. Its still fun reading for an entertaining afternoon if you don't mind that he just quit without tying up the many lose ends, or even resolving the pending war.

Centuries in the future, a new mutation has appeared in the human species. Known as the slans, this mutant group is physically stronger, smarter, and telekinetic via the tendrils that grow out of their hair. They are also hunted down and killed on sight by the dictatorship of Keir Gray. It seems, in the deep murky past, that the slans attempted to conquer the human race, and war began. But slans still live among humans, hiding in plain sight. One such slan is John Thomas "Jommy" Cross, who, after watching his parents' murder as a boy, is taken in by a greedy old woman, as he bides his time until he such time when he claim the inherited knowledge left by his father. Another slan is Kathleen Layton, a ostensible science project in the custody of Keir Gray himself, but in fact a pawn in the chess game of the Gray dictatorship.

A.E. Van Vogt's "Slan" is a historical piece of science fiction. It's easy to trace numerous concepts back to "Slan" (e.g. Marvel Comics "X-Men"). It is also an interesting allegory on human nature and the theme of "Man's inhumanity to man." It's probably no coincidence that this book was published in 1946, when WW II was over, and the genocide that it entailed was known. However, much like its contemporaries, "Slan" frequently falls victim to the conventions of science fiction of the time, and so a reader will almost certainly feel star-crossed.

Initially, Van Vogt starts his novel on a thrill, as Jommy is on the run from the humans. Images of a boy of nine running for his life, surrounded by hatred and greed and fear are chilling and gripping. Alternatively, Kathleen's observations of an attempted coup against Gray, and Gray's violent response, while perhaps not so frenzied as a chase, are however just as engrossing.

However, after initial rush, the pace slackens considerably, as Jommy lives a life as a thief, biding his time. While Van Vogt piques our curiosity with the revelation of slans who are not telekinetic, he spends a good deal of time with a contemplative Jommy, spectacularly loquacious secondary characters, and progressively neglected and underdeveloped Kathleen.

It certainly doesn't help that Van Vogt injects several dozen mysteries into his book without ever satisfactorily dealing with any of them. Are the slans really evil? How did the come to be, and how did that cause the war? What's the deal with the non-telekinetic slans? Why does Keir Gray seem so intent on holding on to Kathleen? What will Jommy do about any of it? With so many plot lines to juggle, Van Vogt never seems to give any one of them satisfactory time to develop. The end result is something of a disappointment.

While there is plenty to like about this book, I never felt completely satisfied with it. It tantalizes, but only rarely gratifies. It's historical value in the science-fiction is inarguable, and it's allegorical aspect is always important. Unfortunately, it's aesthetic is never quite able to live up to its potential. However, that doesn't diminish its value. It's absolutely worth reading.

I'm giving this one 3 stars. This book was very difficult to quantify, but I'll try to give you my reasoning...

First of all, the book is excellent when you consider the backdrop. World War II was in swing, Hitler was rounding up the masses, Americans would be doing the same to the Japanese. Jim Crow Laws were still in effect. I've always admired pulp scifi for being able to get a positive message out to the average joe with preconceptions, who wouldn't otherwise consider the point without the techno-babble disguise that speculative fiction offers. Slan has a great premise on racial reckoning, on doomsday, on judging by appearances.

That being said, on to the actual execution of these ideas...

The book was written as a serial and it's obvious. While there is nothing wrong with serials, cohesive plots are harder to maintain and it shows. Every chapter ends with a sudden spectacle. Details are not fleshed out enough and are often ambiguous or contradictory. My example for this lies in the case of the tendrilless slans. Jommy makes the highly important discovery of their existence, and everyone he talks to about them show no incredulence for this dicovery. When he meets them, they actually refer to themselves as 'tendrilless slan' - the name Jommy gives them. All this makes for an easy plot to follow over several issues, but makes it seem a bit confusing and harder to accept when combined as a whole unit.

Some of the language is confusing. I will not refer to outdated technology because I do not feel this is a valid criticism - nor do I refer to the two references I found that were blatantly sexual by TODAY's idiom. These things of course should be taken in stride and considered in context of when they were written. The one example I'll cite that made me stop and reread the page a couple of times occurs when Jommy is dodging a mine (as in BOOM!) only in the next paragraph to spot a mine (as in digging for ore) to land his ship near. There were a few instances similar to this. I know that some of these can be justified by the fast pace of a serialized story, and I wish that I had read Slan as it was written and not in this form.

Recommended to those who are interested in scifi as a vehicle for social/ethical criticism.

I would actually rate this 3.5 stars, but that's not a choice. In this 1940 A.E. van Vogt work, he paints a portrait of Earth approximately 1500 years in the future with great effectiveness. Instead of delving into the technobable that weights down today's books, he jumps into character developement, descripions of prejudice, and heightened paranoia. Why? Because Earth is populate by normal humans...and slans. Slans are humans that have telepathic ability, and no mind (except another slan's) is quiet to them. Normal humans have been methodically hunting down and killing slans out of fear and paranoia. The story revolves around Jommy Cross and his fight to survive childhood and fight against human oppression.

I thought the narrative was gripping and the explaination of the way a telepath thinks, quite ahead of its time. The science is lacking, but let's face it...the story is 60 years old! But the fundamental storytelling is there. One complaint: van Vogt seemed to lose his way at the end. The further into the book...the more the ends started to become unraveled. I got the feeling that the book just sort of ended, and I wanted more.

But, this is a solid SF Golden Age book that stands up well with time. If you're into the classics, this is a must read.

Slan is excellent, especially when you consider it was written over 50 years ago. When you read it, you will think "Hey, I have seen these ideas and plot devices before." That's how much influence Slan had on the formation of SF. If you want to understand where SF came from, the book that sets all the conventions is Slan.

A friend of mine recommended this book to me and I have booted it to my "favorite" list. Being more of a modern SciFi fan, I had my doubts, but I saw so much creativity in this book, that I have gone on the read others of Van Vogt's. The story of a boy who is struggling in a world full of preconceptions, this book is great lesson to how suseptible our race is to taking rumor as fact and how we can be so quick to jugde. A wonderful, easy to follow tale AND it leaves you with something after it's done. Great.

I read Slan when I was a teenager back in the 80's. Back when I read about three SciFi books every week. Slan is one of the few that really left a lasting impression. The theme of "mutant" and "outcast" is definitely one of my favorites, but there are precious few books that do it any kind of justice. (In most treatments, the theme just becomes a pretense for comic book heroism or kinky sex.) Slan is one of the few that succeeds in really exploring the issue, including the imperative to find others of one's own kind, a concern that we can surely all sympathize with. It's definitely worth reading.

In the same genre, I would also recommend "Psion," and my personal favorite from the juvenile section, "The Girl with Silver Eyes," a real masterpiece.