Customer Reviews

War Against the Rull

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In "The War Against the Rull", A.E. Van Vogt did for me in Sci Fi what Nathaniel Hawthorne did in his "Last of the Mohicans". The central character in each story is a man of courage who goes against societal norms to reach out to members of completely alien cultures, to save those he loves from a common enemy. Here, Trevor Jamieson encounters blind and unyielding hatred from fellow humans for the Ezwal, a creature whom only he knows may hold the secret to humanity's life-or-death struggle with the insectoid Rull, a struggle which until now they were losing. In dealing with this hatred, he teaches those humans with whom he works the necessity of overcoming their fears and prejudices, to build the kind of alliances that would save them. Van Vogt's book begins with Jamieson's efforts to link up with an extremely hostile and dangerous Ezwal, to survive being stranded on Eristan II, a planet inhabited by the most intensely feral life forms in the galaxy. His survival there, his close brush with asassination on Carson's Planet, and his enlistment of his young son in the struggle were all wonderfully enjoyable reading. Make no mistake, the technology in the story may be dated, but so what........ The courage, empathy, fierce determination, and vision are all character traits that are timeless. Now if only we could see this wonderful creature - the Ezwal - come alive in the movies................

I read this book, or parts of it over 30 (!) years ago when I wanted blasters and spaceships and lots of BEMs. It is one of the items in my 'keeper' library. The Rull enemy has a fantasy element (shapechanger) that will appeal, and a cold-blooded ability to eradicate the humans it opposes. Read it as an adventure yarn, and not as a comment on civilization.

My favourite van vogt book. This is the book which got me hooked on to sci-fi. Exciting and gripping till the end.

Earth is at war with a hive-mind, chameleon skinned, human-sized race of insects, the Rull.

That's pretty much it as far as the story is concerned... but on a space opera/adventure point of view, there's just a little bit of everything for everyone.

Space faring, giant six-legged telepathic blue crocodiles (the Ezwals) that may hold the key to victory, amazonia-like planets expeditions, and the ever-present threat of the invisible enemy, the Rull...

This was my first sci-fi read over 15 years ago, and the wonder of it still lingers around from time to time. That's the main reason for those 4 stars up there. I guess many people wouldn't be so generous with it, though. Don't expect a masterpiece, but be ready for something like a cross between Doc Savage and Forbidden Planet (I know, *EEEW* what a terrible mix, but that's the most accurate I can think of)

Sometimes it even feels like reading E. R. Burrough's Tarzan: you get a course on how to get rid of a giant vampire-like creature that has trapped you inside a cave. (I won't spoil this one, but now I think I'd survive such an encounter - sci-fi pulp can be very educating)

The opening set of chapters summarizes it all: a rescue anti-grav platform is slowly going down towards the deadly surface of a swamp planet. The hero is strapped to the underside of it. An Ezwal that has been captured and taken off his homeworld sits on top of it. The Ezwal, who caused the ship they both were in to explode, promises his human hunter that he'll become the prey once the platform touches down. And anyway the predators down there will take care of him when night falls...

Now THAT is adventure !!!

Overall a very enjoyable summer read. Go for it.

I have read this book several times and have always thought it should be turned into a movie. The possibilities for special effects, the characters, the story, etc. are about endless, and it IS a highly entertaining story too.

Again and again , Alfred Elton Van-Vogt shows the rest of the world the richness of his imagination.

This time we enter an empire of humans at war with the Rull race- insects with the ability to control the light pattern of their exso-skeleton , thus they are able to create the illusion of any apearence- even human.

To say the truth , like one of the previous reviewers , I also have the feeling that the whole story is just a part of a much bigger one.

It's just that Van Vogt does'nt let you know and understand all that you want to. And that creates this feeling of something missing.

The book as a whole is a great adventure , with a great backround story , and the end is remarkeble , a truely Van Vogtian ending. It's a book I recommend to pre-campbellian readers.

I first read this about 30-odd years ago, and have re-read it many times. My original copy has been lost in the mists of time, but my son (now 24) had read snatches of it and insists I buy a new copy. My only regret about the story is that it seems like it's the middle bit of a much bigger tale. If only somebody with van vogt's imagination and story-telling skills could pick it up.

The War Against the Rull by A.E. Van Vogt

This is a pretty good adventure story (or series of stories) with lots of classic SF elements: ravenous over-sized monsters, mysterious aliens, ray guns, an interstellar war between space empires, interstellar diplomacy, and an heroic scientist who has to talk sense into closed-minded politicians and military men. The War Against the Rull is a solid effort worth the time of classic SF fans.

I read the 1999 Tor edition of this 1959 fix up, based on short stories Van Vogt wrote in the 1940s. Sadly, the fine cover painting is misattributed; it is by Hubert Rogers, who did lots of work for the pulps.

A.E. van Vogt's _The War Against the Rull_ (1959) has a dandy cliffhanger of an opening. Here is Trevor Jamieson, hundreds of feet above the ground, dangling by three cables from an antigravity plate. And there on top of the plate is the massive, blue-headed, telepathic ezwal:

A great claw-studded paw slid over the side of the raft, flicked down at one of the three slender cables that supported Jamieson's harness. There was a bright steely _ping_ as the cable parted from the slashing blow, and the force of it lifted Jamieson in his harness several feet. He dropped back heavily and began swinging from the remaining cables as from a trapeze. (1)

I would not for a million rubles dream of revealing what happens next. The action of the book as a whole involves a conflict between humans and the remorseless Rull. The Rull are wormlike, bellicose, ruthless aliens. By means of a shape changing ability, they can take on the appearance of most other creatures. They can impersonate the President of the Galactic Federation, Commander Kramer of the Space Patrol, or your kindly Uncle Abner. _Anybody_ could be a Rull!

There is a theme of paranoia that pervades the novel, much in the tradition of such 1950s films as _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_, _The Thing_, and _I Married a Monster From Outer Space_. The Rull themselves are highly paranoid. Any creature not a Rull is considered a deadly enemy. Because they are such masters of disguise, they force humans to adopt paranoid defenses. Various individual characters in the novel are paranoid (and thus overly rigid and unco-operative in the face of big problems that demand flexibility and teamwork). Jamieson is the voice of reason. But few people listen to him and many want to kill him. If you think that all of this has the makings of a good space opera, you would be right.

But..._but_... There is a problem. The book is a fixup novel comprised of five _Astounding_ novelettes published between 1940 and 1950, and they are not all of equal quality. The best two novelettes, with thrill-a-minute action, form the beginning of the novel, while the others are a bit more anticlimactic. And the conclusion to the novel is abrupt and less than credible.

So we do not have a novel that represents van Vogt at his best (as with _The World of Null-A_ and _The Weapon Shops of Isher_). But it is not van Vogt at his worst (_The Beast_, _Rogue Ship_), either. That is something to be thankful for. We have a novel about on par with _The Mixed Men_ and _The Silkie_. Not great, but good. Worth a bit of your time.

I have a ancient, eternally dusty edition of this book, and even if it's really, as I said, old-fashioned, it's a nice way to have a good time. And it has at least one really interesting creature, the ezwal.