Just Finished re-Reading: Deathworld 1 by Harry Harrison (FP: 1960) [157pp] 

Interstellar gambler Jason dinAlt knew it was an offer he couldn’t refuse. The stranger was willing to hand over millions in seed money confident that Jason could turn those millions into the billion he needed. What the stranger needed such a huge amount for didn’t concern him. The challenge was everything. What Jason didn’t realise was just how much the casino would resent him walking away with such a huge sum and what they would do to stop that happening. Luckily the stranger had a ship waiting, a ship stuffed full of the most advanced weaponry humans could devise. Knowing that his life would be short and painful if he stayed, Jason told the stranger that he would be leaving with him. Their destination was the planet Pyrrus, a place that Jason had never heard of. The weapons in the hold were necessary to continue a war that had been raging with increasing intensity for generations, a war against the planet itself, a war that the colonists were losing. Jason was going to the most dangerous planet in the galaxy, a world where few lived into adulthood and where even fewer died in their beds. But how can a planet wage war, Jason asked? The answer to that question, if he survived long enough to get an answer, might just save everyone... 

I wasn’t intending to read this until next year as part of my plan to re-read the significant Sci-Fi works of my ‘youth’. However, my review pile was looking a little sparse so I decided to drop this one in early. As I first read this almost 50 years ago, I wasn’t greatly surprised that I had forgotten most of the plot. What did surprise me was that I did actually remember several aspects quite well – specifically the impressive guns they used and an incident during Jason’s survival training which made me laugh.  

Overall, I thought this was quite well written despite its age. There was an interesting mystery at the heart of the book and I was impressed at the way the author, through Jason, went about solving it. One of the most useful things I took from my early (teenage) reading of SF was the scientific mindset that often threaded its way through most narratives. Solutions, when needed, were not simply pulled out of a hat or handed down from above or ancient texts, but were worked out – sometimes through trial and error – using logic, reason and facts. Theories were tested, results noted and objectives changed. The characters discovered things through enquiry, with the acquisition of data. It, as far as I can tell looking back, changed the way I thought and saw the world. 

About the only questionable aspect of the book was the female lead character/love interest who, I thought, was rather poorly drawn and actually pretty irrelevant to the plot. Most of the rest of the characters – all men – were generally more rounded and at least had reasonable backstories and motivations even if they were a bit ‘over the top’ at times! I thought that this had dated pretty well and found myself enjoying the re-read quite a bit. Recommended to all Sci-Fi fans and more re-reads from this author to come.