Customer Reviews

The Sword of Aldones (Ace SF, 79200)

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

 

 

Stick to Trantor. Or Arakis. Or Hyperion. Or Helliconia. Or Jack Vance's dying Earth. Or whatyoucallit. Because the planet Darkover and its inhabitants are nothing really exceptional, regardless of the audacity of the book cover calling it "the Foundation of the 70s".

What you will find in Sword of Aldones:

Telepathy, the chronic SF plague, moving the plot forward.
About two dozen of irritating local nobles, living and dying by the plague mentioned above.
A local station of the Earth galactic empire which looks like a comical galactic gendarmerie under the command of a space Louis de Funès.

What you will not find in Sword of Aldones:

A big story. Someone or something to root for. Answers to dilemmas. Speculation on humankind's future. And so on.

Sword of Aldones is described as a juvenile story even by its author. You can safely skip it and stick to Trantor et al.

This book was weird. It was an adventuresome story with twists and turns that seemed more like afterthoughts, e.g., oops - I forgot to tell you that back at the castle this was happening - and sometimes it was hard to tell who was doing what and when. On the other hand, this book fleshed out some events and answered some questions, while raising others. It was a fun read.