Ballantine paperback, 4th printing (1975) with Karl Swanson. The novel was first serialized in Galaxy Magazine in 1956, and published in book form the following year. Pohl has a reputation of one of SF's master satirists; this novel is about a world in the throes of a low-intensity global war, which appears to be an amplified representation of the Vietnam War (in which the U.S. was just becoming involved).
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Unexpectedly Inventive Pulp Fiction Novella,
By Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Slave Ship (Paperback)
The premise behind this novella of 144 pages is people somehow translate and codify entire animal languages, including dog, walrus, cow, pig, and monkey. That is project Mako, run by COMCARIB, a naval base set up to think up unique riffs for the ongoing war against the Caodai (a 1950ish Muslim extremist movement that controls Asia and Africa). The title only really comes into play around chapter 10/14, where animals serve as crew for a ship, led by two human handlers.
Anyway, while most of this book was pulp, it does give a 'Thin Red Line' type vibe with the random triggering of the Caodai secret weapon, the Glotch, which burns the skull from the inside out, apparently at random. Also, Commander Linebacker gave me the same bitter desperate vibe as Lt. Colonel Tall. Probably what I found the most ingenious was the 'pills' popped for a high. Pohl describes them as an engineered illness with a core of anti-biotic (including Anthrax and Pneumonia) leading to a feverish wasted 'high' before the cure sets in. Perhaps I found it so intriguing because 2010 still hasn't done decoded animal language, and that plays a large role in the book, making the fiction still have an unexplored area of science. While I don't want to ever re-read this book (shallow characters, initially slow plot, deus-ex end), the scientific speculation regarding 'future' science gives it a unique backdrop.
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