Customer Reviews:
A good character-driven story.......2004-09-28
A worthy addition to the Solar Queen saga. True, there are some differences to the earlier books. In this one, the point of view is not solely Dane's, but we get to see through the eyes of the other characters. As such, more time is spent on each character's view of what is happening. This is a boon for fans of character-driven science fiction, as we get to know the characters better.
The multiple POV format means that, unlike previous books, "Redline" is not Dane-centric. However, we do get to see Dane grow in confidence and competence in his profession, and even act the hero. We also get to see Dane deal with feeling threatened over a new crewmember's competence in his field. Readers will definitely see growth in this character as the book progresses.
The biggest change is the addition of a new crew member, Dr. Rael Cofort, a welcome female addition to the Queen's formerly all-male crew. Her personality shaped by surviving a prolonged disaster, one that as a child she was powerless to prevent, Rael compensates by working hard to be good at everything. Unfortunately, she also tends toward harsh self-criticism when she loses a patient. Rael is a worthy addition to the Queen's crew.
Don't read this book.......2003-10-26
This book is bad. It is very, very bad.
I like the Solar Queen books before this one. The ones after are readable. This one is not.
To start with, the writing is just plain bad. From the looks of it, neither Norton nor Griffin bothered to reread or rewrite; all the characters sound like each other and the narrator sounds like them, too. It's hard to tell who is speaking, and after a while, hard to care.
And then there is Rael. A female character seems like a good idea. But Rael is not a good idea.
To start with, I LIKE Dane. He's fallible; he's earnest, he's growing into his place on the Solar Queen, and he's been the more or less main character from the start. I was looking forward to more of his adventures & those of the rest of the crew.
Instead, I got Rael, who is completely infallible and takes over the book entirely. She solves every problem, dots every i, crosses every t, and wins the Captain's heart. She's the Main Character and the One Who Can Do No Wrong, and what is she doing on this ship?!
Not even the next book, where she's more or less ok, has made me forgive her for her role in this one.
Do NOT read this book. Buy all the others--they're fun reads & worth the time and money, but don't even open the cover of this one.
Spare yourself the aggravation and skip this one.......2002-01-05
I was warned about this book by a friend, but I was so desperate for a new Solar Queen story that I ignored her. That was a big mistake. I wasn't even halfway through the book before I was wishing someone would toss Rael the Wonderful out the nearest airlock. Later I started fantasizing about even worse fates for her. I was masochistic enough to finish the story, but I've been soured on any of the new Solar Queen books as a result.
The introduction of a female character made sense for a book written in the nineties, but why create one so offensive? Why not one better thought out? Why did Rael have to dominate the story, being the miracle cure for all problems, while whining way too much about how tough life has always been on her in spite of all the magical advantages she had?
Nonetheless, awful as Rael is, the book might have been tolerable if the other characters hadn't been pushed into the background and marginalized. The old main character (Dane) spent most of his time as a resentful nitwit. The shipboard niche Rael supposedly filled (medic) was already capably occupied by another character, who got shunted aside in her favor. The others were similarly treated. The only old character that got halfway decent treatment was the captain, and he was reduced to the role of Rael the Wonderful's love interest and sidekick. Gad.
I have to agree with the reviewer who described this book as "someone else's adolescent fantasy." That's exactly what it was. It's rare to see such a blatant case of "self-insertion of the author's fantasy self" in a pro novel. I can only attribute this nonsense to P.M. Griffin (whose other work I am unfamiliar with), since other Andre Norton books that I've read don't display this reprehensible trait.
For all you budding writers out there, this book is a perfect example of what *not* to do, unless you want to alienate your audience.
I grew up reading the original Solar Queen adventures.......2000-07-19
I grew up reading the original Solar Queen adventures - they were my introduction to science fiction (if you don't count the Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars books). I loved Norton's books for their thumping good plots, exotic, yet believable aliens, and most especially for her finely drawn portraits of the crew. Many of the fantasies that got me through a boring English Lit or Government class involved flying off into the wild, black yonder aboard the 'Solar Queen'.
Unfortunately, our library only carried the first two books in the series, but I finally located the two 'Solar Queen' novelettes and read them, too. They weren't quite as good - Norton was concentrating on fantasy by then, and somehow it didn't quite mix with the crew of the 'Solar Queen'. However, I never lost my original affection for the series.
Then, decades after the publication of the original novels, I found 'Redline: the Stars'. I couldn't wait. I bought it in hardback rather than holding out for a cheaper edition. The fact that it had a second author's name on it was worrisome, but I assumed I'd be reading mainly Norton.
Not true.
I read the book from cover to cover, hoping to find at least a trace of Norton and a trace of the original 'Solar Queen', then hurled "Redline: the Stars" into the wastebasket.
I felt totally cheated. I usually give up my non-keepers to the library and loan my keepers to my friends, but I couldn't pass this one on to some other poor, unsuspecting Solar Queen fan.
I am pretty sure that all Norton wrote was the introduction to "Redline: the Stars". The original characters were passive, uninteresting shadows - even the Captain and the Cargo Master!. I felt like I was reading someone else's adolescent fantasy of the 'Solar Queen' and her crew that never should have been published under Norton's name. Nothing seemed 'true to life' (if I can use that phrase about something that was a novel to begin with). It was a horrible reading experience - the literary equivalent of visiting an old friend who has advanced Alzheimer's Disease. I don't recommend this book.
Beach reading for the SciFi crowd.......2000-02-12
If you just want something to read and you do not want to work too hard this is the book for you. I found it a fast read, exciting, but not too challenging. The main characters are never really developed. The minor characters all clump together with no distinct personality so you don't need to worry about knowing their names. The plot was always on the verge of great - but never really got there. The ending was tidy, but not powerful.
I enjoyed this book and went on to read the next in the series. It reminded me of the Star Trek original book series in that it takes reading several books for you to get to know the crew, and several books for you learn about why the Solar Queen is special. That is not immediately obvious in this book. But there is lots of action.
I recommend this book for teen readers who may be new to scifi and need to be "gentled" into it. No radical offworld ideas are set forth here. Good and bad are clearly identified, and sex is nowhere to be found.
Book Description
he Solar Queen is one of Andre Norton's best-selling SF series, with four original novels published between 1955 and 1971. Following the career of young Dane Thorson, who starts as an assistant to the cargo master, Sargasso of Space and Plague Ship are adventures that take the independent free-trader ship Solar Queen to exotic planets. Norton captures, with great excitement and interest, the camaraderie of the diverse crew and the way they pull together, their wits and instincts to work through tight spots and beat seemingly impossible odds. Through these two novels, as Dane Thorson grows into his job, the reader is treated to vintage space opera with a sense of wonder about the mysteries that face humankind out in the galaxy beyond Earth. As Dane Thorson and his crewmates deal with the special problems of a small interstellar cargo ship, readers will be glued to their seats, wondering how these plucky, determined spacefarers can get themselves through the nasty scrapes that dog the spaceways.
Customer Reviews:
Start of a Great Series.......2006-09-28
The Solar Queen is an omnibus edition in the Solar Queen series. It contains the first two novels: Sargasso of Space and Plague Ship.
Dane Thorson is an apprentice cargomaster on the independent trader Solar Queen. His fellow crewmembers include Captain Jellico, Cargomaster Van Rycke, Astrogator Steen Wilcox, Chief Engineer Johan Stotz, Medic Craig Tau, Comtech Tang Ya, Cook-Steward Frank Mura, Jetmen Karl Kosti and Jasper Weeks, and Apprentices Rip Shannon and Ali Kamal. The ancillary crew of the Solar Queen consist of Sinbad, the ship's cat, and Queex the Hoobat.
In Sargasso of Space (1955), the Solar Queen wins trade rights to the D-class planet Limbo, which happens to contain some powerful forerunner technology and a nest of pirates.
In Plague Ship (1956), the Solar Queen has negotiated a change of trade rights, swapping their claims on Limbo for access to the new spices and gems on Sargol, the homeworld of the feline Saliriki. All goes well on the planet, but the crew members start to fall into a deep sleep one by one as they travel back to Terra.
These stories were originally published under the pseudonym of Andrew North. They were the beginning of a series of adventures that have introduced many people to the SF genre in the five decades since their publication. These tales demonstrate the author's skills as a story teller and show why the author has attracted so many dedicated fans over the decades.
Highly recommended for Norton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of a future filled with strange adventures and exotic cultures.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Consider the Times!.......2005-08-19
When reading vintage fiction, keep in mind the environment of the times in which it was written. If you don't know, look it up or ask an "old" person. This book was written when there was none of the electronic technology we have now. No, not even a hand-held calculator. I read it first as a child, and it transported me to new worlds. I think it is not the very best of Andre Norton, but it is very worth reading. Use it as a starting place for your own imagination. I did.
Exotic, carefully drawn alien worlds.......2004-10-22
"Sargasso of Space" (1955) and "Plague Ship" (1956) were the first two science fiction novels I ever checked out of our local library (I can still close my eyes and see that one dinky little shelf, crammed with some of SFs' greatest juvenile authors: Norton; Heinlein; Del Rey; Nourse).
This book contains the above two Solar Queen adventures and excludes her further travels in "Postmarked the Stars" and the novella, "Voodoo Planet." Norton's four-book series about the crew of the Solar Queen ended in 1969 with "Postmarked the Stars" but beware! Lesser authors have butted into the series, presumably with Norton's permission since this remarkable Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and Nebula Grand Master is still writing (her first novel was published in 1934, her latest fantasy in 2002).
One Solar Queen rip-off to avoid at all costs is "Redline: the Stars."
Norton's Solar Queen stories are told from the viewpoint of Dane Thorson, an apprentice-Cargo Master who is introduced as a "lanky, very young man in an ill-fitting Trader's tunic." Most of this author's heroes and heroines are young, uncertain of themselves, shy, with a tendency to trip over their own enthusiasms and load themselves up with guilt at the slightest opportunity. They are very likeable and their adventures are narrated in remarkably lean prose with just the right touch of description.
After ten years of schooling, orphan Dane Thorson is assigned via a computer analysis of his psychological profile--not to a safe berth on a sleek Company-run starship that his classmates were vying for--but to a battered tramp of a Free Trader. To say that the 'Solar Queen' "lacked a great many refinements and luxurious fittings which the Company ships boasted" was an understatement. But she was a tightly-run ship and what she lacked in refinement, she made up for in adventure. Dane soon settles in under Cargo Master Van Rycke and learns "to his dismay what large gaps unfortunately existed in his training."
Sometimes I just want to give Dane a big hug.
The crew of the 'Solar Queen' risk their meager capital in a gamble at a Survey auction, and win trading rights to a barely explored planet with the unlucky name of Limbo. When they view a microfilm (okay, the technology is a bit dated in these books) of their new prize, it appears as though they have purchased ten years of trading rights to a planet that was burned to cinder during the heyday of the mysterious Forerunners, who predated humans in space.
Just when the Queen's fortune seems to be at its lowest ebb, a tough-looking archeologist shows up who is supposedly an expert on Forerunner artifacts, and charters her for a voyage to Limbo.
It might have been better for the free traders if her captain had kept his ship planeted and declared bankruptcy after the disastrous Survey auction.
"Plague Ship" takes the crew of the 'Solar Queen' to Sargol, where the enigmatic feline natives seem very reluctant to trade away their fabulous scented gemstones. When Dane Thorson discovers an herb that the Salariki are willing to swap for their gems, he fears that his eagerness to make a trade breakthrough might have poisoned a native child. That becomes the least of his worries when the 'Solar Queen' blasts off from Sargol with an invisible, undetectable stowaway that would brand the free traders anathema to all inhabited worlds.
Both of these Solar Queen novels are prime representatives of Norton's lean action-packed brand of story-telling. If you haven't read them since you were a teen-ager, I urge you to try them again. For a few pleasant hours, you will be immersed in the adventures of a likeable, feisty band of free traders on exotic, carefully-drawn alien worlds.
Decent action - written in mid - 1950's.......2004-09-07
Contains two stories:
*** Sargasso of Space - Dane Thorson's first adventure, an encounter with space pirates manipulating advanced alien technology, led by a "Crax Addict", decent action - but technology very crude for hyperspace-capable culture... no infrared vision (detached party could "sneak around" pirates at night)... no encryption on voice links (used mirror flashes to communicate with ship? - how?)... giant computers, microfilm;
** Space Plague - Again, some decent action, but backwards technology... apparently, the central parts of "hot areas" created by Atomic War on Earth, where mutant vegetation grew, were "unknown" - they have spaceships, but don't have observation satellites? Odd. Also, the whole premise of "The Plagued Queen" being "warned off", and the remaining unstriken crew doing "a job" on the asteroid station, then coming in undetected in the "burned off" area is more than a little far-fetched.
These stories are very similar to the John Grimes tales that A. Bertram Chandler later wrote in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. In fact, one of the better Grimes stories "The Inheritors", is clearly based on the feline culture presented in the initial chapters of "The Plague Ship"... Also, a great many of the Grimes stories were based on the idea of "Lost Colonies", which is briefly but clearly outlined in "Sargasso of Space"... To me, the "Lost Colonies" idea is the most interesting and redeeming aspect of this book, and I'd like to know if this is the first place this concept is introduced in the SciFi world.
I'd like to see more "Solar Queen" collections (I understand Norton wrote at least six Solar Queen novels).
Some of Norton's best work: two great space adventures.......2004-03-01
Praise Tor Books for bringing out this handsome edition of two of Andre Norton's earliest science fiction novels! This single volume contains the first two books in the "Solar Queen" series about interplanetary Free Traders: "Sargasso of Space" and "Plague Ship." It's a handsome book, with a wonderful cover by Julie Bell and a jacket design that recalls the spirit of 1950s science fiction with all its wonder and fun. And that's exactly what Ms. Norton delivers in these two fine books.
Andre Norton today is best known for her fantasy novels, but she started out in space opera, and I personally prefer these to her work in fantasy; and the "Solar Queen" books contain some of her best work in the science-fiction field. Science fiction fans shouldn't miss this opportunity to read these great adventures. The storytelling here is pure, the adventures straightforward but fantastically constructed. Like Robert Heinlein's novels of the same period, Norton's books never talk down to her intended audience of teenagers, and adults enjoy her books as much as the younger readers. You're guaranteed to get lost in the wonder and excitement of the voyages of the intrepid Solar Queen and its crew of rugged individualist in their quest to get the best trade deals the galaxy can offer. Although the novels can be read independent of each other, the first book directly sets-up the next, so you can read both together as one novel.
The first novel, SARGASSO OF SPACE (1955) introduces our hero, Dane Thorsen, as he receives his first trading assignment as an apprentice cargo master on an independent trading ship, the Solar Queen. The ship obtains the exploration and trading rights to the barren planet of Limbo, which turns out to be a perilous place where a mysterious force has pulled other ships to its surface and destroyed them. The Solar Queen cannot lift off, and hidden enemy forces want to destroy her. The action and mystery never stop in this fast, headfirst thriller.
But the second novel, PLAGUE SHIP (1956) is even better, and one of Norton's finest works. After a slow start on the planet Sargol, where the Solar Queen competes with corporate traders for the rights to trade perfumed jewels with the feline natives, the book slams into warp speed when a bizarre illness infects the ship. The few unaffected crewmembers must resort to one desperate measure after another to not only trace down the source of the infection, but also find a way not to be declared a `plague ship' and get blasted out of the sky by the Patrol. The novel jumps from tense scene to tense scene, with constantly changing locales, new dangers in every chapter, and characters taking one huge gamble after another right up to the nail-biter of a conclusion. Space adventure doesn't get much better than this.
Andre Norton knows how to tell a tale, and she lets story speak for itself; they really don't write them like this anymore. All science fiction fans should get a hold of this great volume, and if you've got a young teen son, daughter, niece, or nephew who's showing an interest in science fiction, giving this to them as a gift will hook them for sure.
And there's more to come. The end of PLAGUE SHIP sets up the sequel, POSTMARKED THE STARS, and it will soon appear in another volume from Tor of the Solar Queen's further adventures, along with the fourth novel, VOODOO PLANET. Keep a look out!
Customer Reviews:
Don't judge the book by its cover.......2000-02-12
I am a professional woman and much too cool to carry a book with this cover in my briefcase. However, I was interested in the further adventures of the Solar Queen so found myself carrying it with me everywhere - cover be danged.
Better than Redline the Stars, the alien habitat is well conceived, truly different, and yet a place I would love to visit. The aliens themselves are 3-dimensional. That is not to say they could not have been more complex, but I never got the feeling we were simply on another Earth.
The story was also more complex, unfolding over the course of several weeks. This allows time for the development of a few more of the many crewmembers and the a better sense of what it means to be a free trader.
I liked this book. Another fun read but not too challenging. What I did not like were the inconsistencies from the previous book to this one. What happened to their wealth? The promise of their cargo? Their good reputation? That was not credibly explained. And the romance...such potential that was wrapped up in a few pages at the end like an afterthought. Better to tease it into the next book.
again a good book by norton but...........1999-10-01
Since very childhood I enjoyed Andre Norton's books. Her have always been my favourites. Now I've read her lalest 2 novels - written together with other authors. And was disappointed when I saw that there has appeared a woman in the list of characters. There were no female characters in the previous novels of the Solar Queen series, and that was the reason it was so popular. She was really ahead of her time shaking the stereotype of these female cuties in every sf novel. A. Norton should have kept to this line when writing her new novels. Thanks God there are no bed scenes in them! And thanks God again that this god-knows-what Rael marries yhe old captain at last, and not one of the young characters.
Quite a Good Read.......1999-05-02
I was surprised to have enjoyed this book so much, even though it was a science fiction with a cheesy cover. Sherwood Smith is great, he needs to send his material to publishers right NOW!
A good book by Andre Norton and Sherwood Smith.......1998-08-07
This is a somewhat Swashbuckling tale set on the fringes of the galaxy, and is another adventure of the Solar Queen and its crew. Overall the book is quite good, but the authors do not fully develop a good description of the setting for the readers. The orbiting Trade city, Exchange, is developed in pieces that never fully come together into a single picture. Some references are made to information from previous books, but the story line stands alone very well as a separate novel. The crew of the Solar Queen has some interesting adventures on Exchange, and acquire a very interesting new crew member. If you liked Andre Norton's previous books, you will definitely want to read this one.
great Norton fare!.......1997-06-22
I have read many of Andre Nortons works and have not been disappointed yet! She captures your imagination and makes you wish you were there. This work is no exception
Customer Reviews:
An interesting adventure.......2000-07-22
This is a sequel to the novel, "Derelict for Trade." It makes substantial references back to the previous book, and the reader should probably read the books in the order they were written. The story is interesting as the crews of the North Star and Solar Queen attempt to exploit the mineral resources on the planet Hesprid IV. It turns out not to be a milk run as they encounter wretched weather, unexpected XTs, stranded miners, and pirates. The question is whether they can come out of the venture with a profit. The story is well developed and generally well written. The authors have an annoying habit of sometimes switching back and forth between using characters' first names and using their last names - potentially confusing if a reader has not developed a rapport with the characters.
The Solar Queen is Back.......1999-10-22
I grew up reading Andre Norton. And the adventures of the Solar Queen were always a favorite. Once again the intrepid crew must overcome the obstacles in their pursuit of profitable trade, from pirates and aliens to a strange telepathic link developing between the main characters. Olds fans will enjoy it -- still some of the best young adult sf. This is not "great" sf, but it is a fine rainy afternoon read, and what more can anyone want.
Great Characterization & Setting.......1999-05-02
Yes, another Solar Queen adventure. Again Andre Norton has surpassed the average writer's abilities to write a great book. Sherwood Smith was the reason why I bought this book, he needs to get more books out in print, NOW!
After 40 years, but the Solar Queen and crew are still fresh.......1998-10-06
The Solar Queen and the North Star are checking out the Hesprid IV claim in hopes that they can clear a profit. But several external circumstances seem to be conspiring against them. First there are the unknown ' PSI ' effects being displayed by the apprentices. The planet's extreme fluctuations in EMP, hostile weather, frequent earthquakes, and increasing solar activity, are compounding the dangers of trying to mine any profitable cargo volume. And then there are the other ships 'hiding' within the system who could very well be pirates.
The Solar Queen is back!! When I first began to read science fiction as a teen, Andre Norton was a favorite. In later years she expanded to subject and style areas that I did not, but I always maintained my enjoyment of her 'original' works. 'THE BEAST MASTER', 'THE SIOUX SPACEMAN', and all of the 'Solar Queen' series are still on my 'Favorite Books for life' list! Now, in partnership with Sherwood Smith, Norton has returned to the original 50's sci-fi opera style with two new Solar Queen stories. 'DERELICT FOR TRADE' and 'A MIND FOR TRADE' are better than Cool...
Customer Reviews:
Two enjoyable sci-fi novellas.......2007-02-05
This book contains two very short novels that are not related to each other, except that they're both set in Andre Norton's Forerunner universe. As humans explore the far reaches of the galaxy, they keep finding the ruins of highly advanced alien civilizations that have vanished. Some planets have not been well explored, some have been colonized, and some are home to aliens. (Click on my name to see the list of about 40 books in this universe.)
"Star Hunter" is a typical Andre Norton buddy story about two characters who don't like each other very well. In fact, one of them has had the other brainwashed, to be passed off as the heir to a fortune .. and to be used as someone's puppet. They end up trekking on foot across an unexplored planet, pursued by bizarre creatures, trying to figure out a mysterious alien device that has entrapped and killed all the humans who have come before. The relationship that develops between these two characters is the strong suit of this tale. If you're a fan of Andre Norton, you will probably enjoy it. I give "Star Hunter" four stars because it's entertaining but very much like many others by this author.
The second novella, "Voodoo Planet," is the third installment in the Solar Queen series. The Solar Queen is a small spaceship that usually makes cargo runs, but in this story, three of the crew members (Dane, Medic Tau, and Captain Jellico) are invited to a hunting safari on a planet colonized by people from Africa. A local voodoo priest gets angry at them and stalks them through the jungle. Luckily, Tau has studied magic as a hobby and is able to counter some of the weird attacks as the expedition tries to get back to civilization. For me, the adventures were fun, although the magic was not entirely convincing or well explained. This is not compelling science fiction, but I give it four stars instead of three because it's part of the Solar Queen series.
This is the entire Solar Queen series:
1. Sargasso of Space (1955)
2. Plague Ship (1956)
3. Voodoo Planet (1959)
4. Postmarked the Stars (1969)
5. Redline the Stars, with PM Griffin (1993)
6. Derelict for Trade, with Sherwood Smith (1997)
7. A Mind for Trade, with Sherwood Smith (1997)
"Sargasso of Space" and "Plague Ship" have been reprinted recently in a single volume called "The Solar Queen."
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Aptitude testing leads a young man to a job on a clunky old ship, not one of the fancy new shiny commercial fancy pants variety.
Through his apprenticeship he is forced to learn quickly, and spaceship maintenance and travel is not all.
They discover a planet with aliens, alien goodies, have to fend off nogoodniks, and all that sort of fun stuff.
First Solar Queen adventure.......2003-10-27
"Sargasso of Space" (1955) and "Plague Ship" (1956) were the first two science fiction novels I ever checked out of our local library (I can still close my eyes and see that one dinky little shelf, crammed with some of SFs' greatest juvenile authors: Norton; Heinlein; Del Rey; Nourse).
"Sargasso of Space" is the first of four 'Solar Queen' adventures, followed by "Plague Ship,""Postmarked the Stars," and the novella, "Voodoo Planet." Norton's four-book series about the crew of the Solar Queen ended in 1969 with "Postmarked the Stars" but beware! Lesser authors have butted into the series, presumably with Norton's permission since this remarkable Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and the Nebula Grand Master is still writing (her first novel was published in 1934, her latest fantasy in 2002).
One Solar Queen rip-off to avoid at all costs is "Redline: the Stars."
Norton's Solar Queen stories are told from the viewpoint of Dane Thorson, an apprentice-Cargo Master who is introduced to us in "Sargasso of Space" as a "lanky, very young man in an ill-fitting Trader's tunic." Most of this author's heroes and heroines are young, uncertain of themselves, shy, with a tendency to trip over their own enthusiasms and load themselves up with guilt at the slightest opportunity. They are very likeable and their adventures are narrated in remarkably lean prose with just the right touch of description.
After ten years of schooling, orphan Dane Thorson is assigned via a computer analysis of his psychological profile--not to a safe berth on a sleek Company-run starship that his classmates were vying for--but to a battered tramp of a Free Trader. To say that the 'Solar Queen' "lacked a great many refinements and luxurious fittings which the Company ships boasted" was an understatement. But she was a tightly-run ship and what she lacked in refinement, she made up for in adventure. Dane soon settles in under Cargo Master Van Rycke and learns "to his dismay what large gaps unfortunately existed in his training."
Sometimes I just want to give Dane a big hug.
The crew of the 'Solar Queen' risk their meager capital in a gamble at a Survey auction, and win trading rights to a barely explored planet with the unlucky name of Limbo. When they view a microfilm (okay, the technology is a bit dated in these books) of their new prize, it appears as though they have purchased ten years of trading rights to a planet that was burned to cinder during the heyday of the mysterious Forerunners, who predated humans in space.
Just when the Queen's fortune seems to be at its lowest ebb, a tough-looking archeologist shows up who is supposedly an expert on Forerunner artifacts, and charters her for a voyage to Limbo.
It might have been better for the free traders if her captain had kept his ship planeted and declared bankruptcy after the disastrous Survey auction.
This 'Solar Queen' novel is a prime representative of Norton's lean action-packed brand of story-telling. If you haven't read "Sargasso of Space" since you were a teen-ager, I urge you to try it again. For a few pleasant hours, you will be immersed in the adventures of a likeable, feisty band of free traders on an exotic, carefully-drawn alien world.
A Man of Trade.......2003-04-23
Sargasso of Space is the first novel in the Solar Queen series. This volume and the next two Solar Queen novels were first published under the pseudonym of Andrew North.
In this novel, Dane Thorson is a newly graduated cargo-apprentice from the Trade Training Pool reporting for his first assignment. As he waits with some of his former classmates for the Psycho computer to match him with a Trade organization, the others are assigned to interstellar companies -- Inter-Solar and the Combine -- and even the local Martian-Terran Incorporated line, but Dane is assigned to the lowest of lows, a Free Trader ship, the Solar Queen. However, the demeaning attitude of the other recruits only triggers Dane's stubbornness and determination to succeed in his assignment.
After he has a not very enjoyable last meal with his former classmates, Dane is joined by two crewmen from the Solar Queen who have overheard the name of their ship. They introduce themselves as Rip Shannon, astrogator-apprentice, and Ali Kamil, engineer-apprentice, and accompany him back to their ship. There Dane meets Captain Jellico, Cargomaster Van Rycke, Astrogator Wilcox, Com-Tech Tang Ya, Chief Engineer Stotz, Jetmen Kosti and Weeks, Medic Tau, Cook-steward Mura, the ship's cat Sinbad, and the Captain's Hoobat.
The first port of call is Naxos, where the Solar Queen buys ten-year trading rights to a planet, Limbo, in a Survey auction. The planet has been burnt off, but not completely. While their prospects don't look promising, a charter from an archaeological expedition interested in the Forerunner artifacts on Limbo will pay for the voyage, so they blast off to Limbo the following morning. On Limbo, the Solar Queen crew finds ancient ruins, strange machines, wrecked ships, and space pirates. They have to use all their skills, ingenuity, and courage to survive.
This novel has some of the signature characteristics found in many of the author's SF works, with Dane being an orphan and an outsider who eventually finds a niche of his own, but it differs from most later works in that Dane starts to feel at home on the Solar Queen even before going aboard. However, Dane becomes part of a human team, as in Star Guard and The Crossroads of Time, so alien sentients do not occupy a central role in this novel as in Star Rangers. Moreover, the animals, while playing an important role in the series, are more valued adjuncts rather than team members.
As with other novels of this period, the tale emphasizes teamwork over individual accomplishment. Each contributes their own unique expertise and viewpoint to strengthen the team. As with Star Rangers and Star Guard, this novel starts with a high degree of acceptance and companionship among the Solar Queen crew; in later works, such as Storm Over Warlock, active cooperation and good feeling is exceptional and occurs only at the end of the tales after much hard work and good fortune.
This story is one of the author's best accepted works, as witness the number of sequels. In many respects, this series is the positive side of the author's worldview. Despite the many hazards and trials of his chosen career and ship, Dane is part of a tight-knit group that freely gives acceptance and respect to each other. Many of the other tales by this author feature young persons who are desperately trying to obtain such relationships.
Highly recommended to Norton fans and anyone who enjoys tales of young persons striving for competence and success within a SF setting.
A great classic SF yarn.......2002-10-24
I am a 45 year-old electrical engineer, yet I have re-read my copy of this "juvenile" level paperback so many times that the paper is coming apart. Andre Norton's introductory story of Dane Thorton and the Solar Queen is close to timeless.
This SF action story from the 50's does have some dated technology (the "Psyco" asignment machine and the "Trade Center" Computer installation come to mind) but these are mostly obsured by not getting into their details too closely - No huge vacuum tube computers here! Later stories in the series have their technologies smoothly brought into the present (projected into the future) without losing their original series contexts. Very skillful.
I am hoping that "Sargasso of Space" and its next few successors are treated to the same updates that have been lavished on other Norton novels from this time period. In the mean-time, by all means go ahead and read this classic pulp!
OLD-FASHIONED SCI-FI FUN.......2002-07-09
"Sargasso of Space" is the opening novel in Andre Norton's so-called "Dane Thorson series," and is a fine introduction to the books that follow. In this first volume we meet Dane Thorson, a young cargo-apprentice who is assigned (by mechanical Psycho selection) to the trader ship Solar Queen. The crew of the Queen pools its earnings and wins an entire planet, sight unseen, at auction. (Perhaps Ebay will be conducting auctions such as this in 50 or so years!) The crew then explores this strange planet, called Limbo, and discovers the remnants of a lost civilization, as well as globular natives, space pirates, mysterious artifacts and so on.
Ostensibly written for juveniles and "young adults," this novel has a strong appeal for "grown-ups" as well. Not for nothing has Ms. Norton become one of the most popular of all sci-fi/fantasy writers, selling kajillions of books and endearing herself to the hearts of millions. She writes simply but directly, and her characters are always sharply drawn and easy to identify with. Her early sci-fi works (this one was written in 1955) are in the true Golden Age pulp spirit, with no symbolism or literary tricks to gussy up the pleasure of an exciting story well told. By the end of this short but exciting novel, we feel that we know a lot about the 12 crewmembers of the Solar Queen, yet want to know more. In that, the book is an unqualified success.
As a matter of fact, I only had one small problem with this Norton novel. At one point in the story, our trader heroes set out to explore some alien ruins located around 20 miles from their ship. They walk to the ruins in a heavy fog, look around, and then decide to walk back! Now, I don't care how tough these guys are (and truth to tell, they seem more like average Joes than Stallone-type action figures, to the author's credit)...nobody walks 40 miles in a day--not even the Marines--on a gravity-normal planet! But beyond this stretching of credulity, "Sargasso of Space" is a marvelous entertainment that I do recommend highly to all lovers of old-fashioned sci-fi fun.
Customer Reviews:
The Patrol is ordered to destroy the 'Queen'.......2005-07-05
"Plague Ship" (1956) was one the first science fiction novels I ever checked out of our local library (I can still close my eyes and see that one dinky little shelf, crammed with some of SFs' greatest juvenile authors: Norton; Heinlein; Del Rey; Nourse).
This book contains the second 'Solar Queen' adventure. Norton's four-book series about the trader-crew of the 'Solar Queen' ended in 1969 with "Postmarked the Stars" but beware! Lesser authors have butted into the series, presumably with Norton's permission since this remarkable Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and Nebula Grand Master just recently passed away after a long and extremely fruitful career (her first novel was published in 1934, her latest fantasy in 2005).
One 'Solar Queen' rip-off to avoid at all costs is "Redline: the Stars."
Norton's 'Solar Queen' stories are told from the viewpoint of Dane Thorson, an apprentice-Cargo Master who is introduced in "Sargasso of Space," the first 'Solar Queen' novel, as a "lanky, very young man in an ill-fitting Trader's tunic." Most of this author's heroes and heroines are young, uncertain of themselves, shy, with a tendency to trip over their own enthusiasms and load themselves up with guilt at the slightest opportunity. They are very likeable and their adventures are narrated in remarkably lean prose with just the right touch of description.
After ten years of schooling, orphan Dane Thorson is assigned via a computer analysis of his psychological profile--not to a safe berth on a sleek Company-run starship that his classmates were vying for--but to a battered tramp of a Free Trader. To say that the 'Solar Queen' "lacked a great many refinements and luxurious fittings which the Company ships boasted" was an understatement. But she was a tightly-run ship and what she lacked in refinement, she made up for in adventure. Dane soon settles in under Cargo Master Van Rycke and learns "to his dismay what large gaps unfortunately existed in his training."
Sometimes I just want to give Dane a big hug.
"Plague Ship" takes the crew of the 'Solar Queen' to Sargol, where the enigmatic feline natives seem very reluctant to trade away their fabulous scented gemstones. When Dane Thorson discovers an herb that the Salariki are willing to swap for their gems, he fears that his eagerness to make a trade breakthrough might have poisoned a native child.
That becomes the least of his worries when the 'Solar Queen' blasts off from Sargol with invisible, undetectable stowaways that would brand the free traders anathema to all inhabited worlds.
In space, the more senior members of the 'Solar Queen's' crew succumb to a strange plague that resembles sleeping sickness. Dane and his fellow-apprentices, with the assistance of Captain Jellico's Hoobat (a sort of blue parrot-lizard, or at least that's how I've always pictured it) discover the source of the plague: venomous hitch-hikers from Sargol. "It walked erect on two threads of legs...a bulging abdomen sheathed in the horny substance of a beetle's shell ended in a sharp point." It was only about a foot-and-a-half high and could change color like a chameleon.
The Hoobat kills and eats the first creature, and then the hunt is on for others of its kind.
Even with the source of the sleeping sickness discovered, the 'Solar Queen's' young apprentices must still convince the rest of the galaxy that they are not a plague ship--and therefore eligible to be destroyed on sight without warning.
The 'Solar Queen' novels are prime representatives of Norton's lean action-packed brand of story-telling (at least the ones she solo-authored.) If you haven't read them since you were a teen-ager, I urge you to try them again. For a few pleasant hours, you will be immersed in the adventures of a likeable, feisty band of free traders on exotic, carefully-drawn alien worlds.
A MARVELOUS ENTERTAINMENT.......2002-07-19
"Plague Ship" (1956) is the second installment in Andre Norton's so-called Dane Thorson series, and is a direct continuation of the previous volume, "Sargasso of Space." (A reading of that earlier novel is highly recommended before going into this one.) "Plague Ship" does everything that a good sci-fi sequel should: It expands on the possibilities of the previous book, deepens the characters, increases the action and leaves us wanting still more. This time around, Thorson and his 11 shipmates on the galactic trader Solar Queen...
It's a very fast-moving and suspenseful tale, full of unusual detail and unexpected turns. There are several highlights that make the book really shine, such as the gorp hunt early in the story. (And when I say "gorp," I'm not talking about high-energy nut-and-raisin trail mix, but rather reptilian, crablike monsters!) This gorp hunt takes place at sunset on the reefs of an oily sea, and is a highly atmospheric and exciting segment. Other great sections include a raid on an asteroid's emergency station; a landing in the Big Burn... and the viewing of the mutant life-forms therein; and the battle... near the book's end, where our heroes make a desperate bid to make their plea for justice to the citizens of the solar system. Like I said, this is a slam-bang sequel, that will leave few readers unsatisfied.
That having been said, I need to also mention that there are a few inconsistencies in the book. At one point, Norton tells us that Dane has been in the trading service for a few months; somewhere else, she says that it has been a full year. Huh? And I feel that I must chastise Ace Books for the deplorable job with which this book has been put together. Now don't get me wrong: I LOVE these little Ace paperbacks from the 1950s, especially those 2-in-1 Ace doubles. But there are so many typos--not to mention punctuational and grammatical errors--in this book that the reading thereof is made a labor. Should we blame Norton or the publishers for a sentence such as this: "His hands, blundering within the metallic claws of the gloves, Dane buckled two safety belts about him." How could any copy editor or proofreader let such an egregious line such as this get through, when just the simple deletion of that first comma would have made all the difference?! Apparently, these little Ace books were never proofed or edited. They're wonderful volumes, with marvelously pulpy covers, but sadly, the contents were not given their due. But enough about Ace's carelessness. "Plague Ship," despite the occasional blunder, is still a marvelous entertainment, and I do highly recommend it.
Plague Ship.......2000-01-18
Solar Queen adventure about trading contract for the planet Sargol acquired after losing planet Limbo contract to Star Patrol(Sargasso of Space). Van and Dane find that the Inter-solar(I-S) company there ahead of them. Still, they tried for fair trade with the Salariki for their koros gems. The crew of the Solar Queen after takeoff find they have a plague on board and as the crew one by one becomes sick finds the Star Patrol out to destroy the ship on sight. Classic Andre Norton
Customer Reviews:
The Solar Queen saga continues.......2006-03-24
This is the fourth book in the Solar Queen series, which takes place in Andre Norton's Forerunner universe. (Click on my name to see the list.) The Solar Queen is a small spaceship that makes cargo runs among planets far from Earth. Many of them have not been well explored, some have been colonized, some are home to aliens, and many have the ruins of highly advanced alien civilizations that have vanished.
In "Postmarked the Stars," the Solar Queen has been assigned to make postal deliveries between two planets. All the familiar crew from previous books are here, but Dane almost gets left behind when the Queen lifts off, because he has been poisoned and replaced by a look-alike who promptly turns up dead. Someone has sabotaged the Queen's cargo, and the trouble continues to escalate after the ship sets down again. With no way to explain the dead body and damaged cargo, the crew tries to avoid the law and solve a mystery that ultimately has them running from gigantic alien creatures and homicidal criminals.
If you liked previous books in this series, you'll also enjoy this one. I rate it four stars because it isn't quite as good as the first two, but hey, it's a Solar Queen adventure! It was great to read another story about the old gang, all of them acting right in character, getting into their usual predicaments and handling it with their usual camaraderie.
This is the entire Solar Queen series:
1. Sargasso of Space (1955)
2. Plague Ship (1956)
3. Voodoo Planet (1959)
4. Postmarked the Stars (1969)
5. Redline the Stars, with PM Griffin (1993)
6. Derelict for Trade, with Sherwood Smith (1997)
7. A Mind for Trade, with Sherwood Smith (1997)
"Sargasso of Space" & "Plague Ship" have been reprinted recently in a single volume called "The Solar Queen," which is available at amazon.com.
Postmarked the Stars.......2000-05-19
This is a good read book 4 in the Solar Queen series. Book 1 is Sargosso of Space. Book 2 is Plague Ship. Book 3 is Vodoo Planet. If you like the series you will find it along those lines.
Product Description
A 'Solar Queen' story. Classic science fiction.
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Norton, Andre | ( N ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Derelict for Trade: A Great New Solar Queen Adventure
A Mind for Trade: A Great New Solar Queen Adventure
The Solar Queen (Solar Queen)
Star Hunter & Voodoo Planet
Star Soldiers
