Planet of the Damned

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: I've never been in a desert, or in a distant planet, but writer Harry Harrison made me feel like I was in one, when a person by the name of Brion Bradd went to attempt to save a planet named Dis, from being destroyed in a war. In the book Planet of the Damned, Harrison kept me wanting to keep reading, and to find out what would happen next. New discoveries in the book led to new settings and new plots.

As the story begins, Brion Bradd is asked to help avert a war between to planets by his friend Ihjel. Obviously, Brion must think about this first. Little does he know, he is empathetic, the first man in thirty years. As finalists in the Twenties, which is a competition, they are both up for the job. They pick up a biologist, named Lea, to assist them on their duty. As the novel progresses, Brion learns that this planet is a living hell. The whole planet Dis is a desert. To make thing worse, the crew sets down on the planet, and Ihjel is killed, and Brion and Lea are dehydrated in the middle of nowhere. Will they have success in their mission? You will have to read it to find out!!

As the first science fiction book I have read, it inspired my interest in science fiction novels. It is a short book yet filled with excitement and suspense. From start to finish the book was great. The way Harrison describes the characters, the planets, and the story is extraordinary.

Rating:
Summary: If only the coverart were relevant...because that looks neat
Review: The most interesting thing I can say about it is that the cover art shows some sort of weird robot thing with arms coming out of tis hips... and yet... there are no robots of any kind in the actual book. It almost makes me wonder if this is the cover art intended for some other book. The other book was probably better, too.

Planet of the Damned was a shrot book, which is one of the few nice things I can say about it. I am usually quite easy to please but this book's plot was pointless, the characters were pointless... I never felt any sense of urgency for their situation or even cared if they lived or died.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Science Fiction
Review: This was the first science fiction book I read as a kid (too many years ago than I care to count) and it stimulated my interest in the genre. "Planet of the Damned" is classic science fiction and a coming of age story. The hero, Brion, is a young man given his first opportunity to prove his worthiness by trying to save Dis, a horrible planet that seems hell bent on self destruction. Harrison's imagination fills the page with sweeping scenery, even though the book checks in at a relatively snappy 160 or so pages. It is proof that epic science fistion does not need to go one for many volumes ala L. Ron Hubbard.