Logan's Run

Rating:
Summary: An Allegory for Mortality
Review: "Logan's Run" is a particularly captivating book that functions as something of an allegory of the fact that all persons who are ever born have to face death. Although the premise of "Logan's Run" condenses mortality to a span of 0-21 years, the "sanctuary" that is sought by "runners" in the book serves as a facsimile of the reality that regardless of the age to which people live, there is always the yearning, the need, to experience more. "Logan's Run" makes this point brilliantly in a setting of a dystopian future run amok with the excesses of youth.

Rating:
Summary: Very different from the movie, but interesting read
Review: I was surprised to find the book so different from the 1976 movie... it's almost as if only the concept and character names were used to write the screenplay for the movie. There were parts of the movie that I liked better than the book, and vice versa. Still, this book is an interesting and fun read. It's a short book, yet there are a ton of different adventures with a lot of visual description. At times, I felt there were too many adventures and some of them could have been edited out, but the book probably created a lot of scripts for the 1970s TV show. (I never saw the show.)

I admit I enjoyed the follow-up, Logan's World, better than Logan's Run and would give Logan's Run 3.5 stars if I could. I understand that a new version of the Logan's Run movie will be made soon and it will be more closely based on the book. I look forward to seeing it because the author will apparently have a greater voice in its production.

Rating:
Summary: Chilling
Review: In Logan's Run, Nolan paints a picture of a world in which population pressures have resulted in a world where every individual is euthanized on his or her 21st birthday. People live shallow lives in which physical pleasure is the main guiding principle. The scenario is, as might be imagined, frightening. The book opens just before the 21st birthday of Logan, the protagonist, whose job up to this point has been to hunt down those who resist euthanasia. It follows his experience as the imminence of his death sets in and he decides to try to evade the system.
The premise of this book is a fascinating one, but where I think it falls short is in how convincing it manages to make the situation. Nolan's depiction of the start of the euthanasia system smacks of the ridiculous: a young man, a prophet figure of sorts, suggests the practice and then becomes the first volunteer, after which the rest of the world throws their lot in with him. It's never satisfactorily explained how humans came to live in a world where emotion and kinship have been replaced by cold pragmatism. At the same time, the story makes one think about social norms and the people we choose to follow, as well as wonder about the nature of a world in which people have no future to live for. This book is a quick read--I highly recommend it to anyone who finds the topic of interest.

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Summary: Doesn't get more bizarre than this
Review: Ok...most people over 30 (ironically) have seen "Logan's Run", and basically know what it's about.

Now picture this...there are no domes, and the life expectancy of the citizens is 21. There is no carrousel, people just have to show up to the local 7-11 on the last day of their lives to die. Logan (3, not 5) visits a drug clinic (the opposite of what you're thinking of), a brothel made of glass, and a "fire gallery". To get the book started, Logan meets his contact at sort of a party for peeping toms.

Sound bizarre? You're right, it is kinda strange, and it reads like it was written over a weekend. But it's compelling enough to option a script, and you can imagine how many rewrites it suffered to get to the screen.

Keep running, Logan.

Rating:
Summary: Trust no one over 21! (Until you're 22)
Review: The future Earth Logan-3 lives in has decided to exercise population control, as perhaps Earth now might well consider before it comes to such drastic measures as the people of this book have come arrived at in the 23rd century.
The premise is, essentially, life is well provided for in the future, provided you die on your 21st birthday, (a big difference from the liberally apportioned life-hood in the film, where you can live to your 30th). The book, therefore, deals with some subjects the film cannot; namely, early teenage sexuality. 'Sandmen', of which Logan-3 is one, are policemen who enforce the rule that people depart on their 'lastday' should they choose to hang out longer. The crystal flower imprinted in everyone's palm shows their progression-blinking from red to black on 'lastday'.
Logan-3, (Logan-5 in the film version), is on his lastday, as is the woman whom he (eventually) falls in love with. She is the sister of his last kill as a Sandman. He decides to follow her around in an attempt to find 'santuary', where 'runners (people not prepared to die) can go and live longer. She wants to live longer, Logan pretends this is his purpose as well, but in truth wants to destroy 'sanctuary'. The book contains their adventures in search of Sanctuary, travelling all over the world on the short 'lastday' in a maze built by the enigmatic 'oldest man alive', 42 year old Ballard. Logan and his companion are relentlessly chased by Francis, another Sandman.
The book is essentially a pulp-styled invention that moves along in breakneck speed from scene-to-scene and place-to-place. It contains several good scenes that were mixed together to form the film. The action is very good, and the cliffhanger endings of each chapter make the reader want to continue reading. An enjoyable read I recommend.

Rating:
Summary: This is a good scifi novel
Review: The movie version does not follow the novel. In the novel termination is at age 21 not 30. Also there are several cities that are connected throughout the country. The movie gives the impression that there is only one. The novel centers around a post apocolyptic paradise. The only catch is that life mandatorily ends at age 21.The persons age is indicated by a lifelight on the the palm of one hand. The light flashes red on the last day then goes black. Logan, who is a sandman, shoots a runner ( someone trying to escape the mandatory termination). Logan is puzzled by the man's willingness to die for this place called sanctuary. He finally is connected with a group of runners, One being the sister of the slain man. They then set out on a quest to find the man who knows the secret of sancuary. This man's lifelight did not turn black when he reached 21, so therefore he was able to live pass 21 and leave the city. Logan and a small group of followers find sanctuary, which is a space ship that is set up to take them to a colony on Mars.

Rating:
Summary: A bit sensationalist, but a classic Sci-Fi book with futures
Review: The Nolan-Johnson collaboration of the 70's produced a remarkably popular tale about life in the fast-lane, with drugs, sex and rock and roll. The future youth-crazed culture goes to the ultimate extreme and people voluntarily (more or less) go to their sweet rest at the age of thirty. A liquid crystal time-out device in the palm of the hand (presciently anticipating RFID implants) shows the world where you are on the short time line of life.

Logan is a Sandman, a government agent charged with the task of retrieving Runners, people who neglected to volunteer their fair share of suicide. But Logan is also getting on in years. When he is faced with LastDay, an orgiastic ritual ending in the culturally-acceptable demise, he balks. Thus, Logan's Run.

What follows is a romp through the post-Apocalyptic, Hippy-fest of drugs, crime, sex and dangers, ending with a surprise. This novel is not exquisitely written, but it gets the job done, with plenty of excitement. A classic and worth reading, though not great literature by any means.

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Summary: Youth Obsessed Society
Review: This is a fast paced, well written story about where a youth obssesed culture could lead us. Using overpopulation and a nuclear war as a springboard the authors weave a tightly knit story about a society living in self-contained domed cities where everyone's favorite past-time is the pursual of pleasure. Sounds good until you realize that implanted at birth into the palm of every citizen is a life clock crystal that glows with a different color for each seven years of life. On your twenty-first birthday your life clock turns from red to black, it's time to volunteer to be put to sleep for the good of Society. Logan is a Sandman a modern day police officer who tracks down those citizens who have decided they want to live longer than 21, these are called "Runners". The myth whispered is that you can live to become 'old' in a place called Sanctuary. Logan's search for Sanctuary with a Runner named Jessica sets the pace for the rest of the story. Entertaining Sci-Fi at it's best.

Rating:
Summary: Movie was better (sorry)
Review: This is the novel that spawned the MGM Movie with Michael York and Jenny Agutter, and later a 70's network show. In the film and on TV, Logan was a cop, a "Sandman", in a future sybaritic utopia where nobody is allowed to live past their 31st birthday. Set in a domed city where life was a paradise, "Logan's Run" offered only a single catch to the life of non-stop partying - retirement was fatal. Runners, those trying to escape their fate and the City of Domes, are hunted down and killed by the Sandmen. The film's Logan, like everybody in the city, has too much fun to worry about his oncoming 31st and, because everybody has the chance of "renewal" - a chance of survival offering more hope than a run from Sandmen. Since nobody really escapes the sandmen, Logan sees no point to escape. In both book and film, Logan undergoes some sort of transformation, and "Sanctuary" from his suicidal society by becoming a Runner.

Most things are different in the novel. There is no City of Domes - Logan's society covers the Earth, so there doesn't seem any place to escape to. Instead, Logan seems to run from place to place, dodging his former partner, the Sandman Francis, but without creating the impression of getting anywhere. Another big difference is the birthday cut-off: here it's 21. (Think that those 10 years don't matter? Try asking a 21 year old; but don't expect an answer unless you're under 30). The biggest difference of all is just why Logan becomes a Runner. The jovial Logan of the movie becomes a Runner as part of the computer's plot to have him infiltrate Sanctuary - the asylum of successful runners. Not quite enthused, Logan is forced to Run when the computer sets his "life-clock" to 31 years (he had a few years left and was prepared to enjoy them). The book's grim and selfish Logan becomes a Runner simply because he's not ready to die. Going to a party with other suspected Runners, he meets Jessica and convinces her that he wants to survive. The two share various adventures and then fall in love in their search for sanctuary, all the while fleeing Francis who doubtless has plans to kill them. They also have to deal with specific dangers at each stop - wild animals, dangerous Indians, historically accurate war monuments and a homicidal cyborg named Box. Because the characters of the novel run simply for their lives, their journey doesn't have that aspect of self discovery that the film had. Also, because the inhabitants of the book know more about their past than those in the film, there's no chance of our heroes surprising us with their discovery of the ruins of our age and clues as to how their society formed from our own. The biggest difference is Sanctuary itself, which the book deals more directly with (and not as satisfyingly as in the film). In short, the book is overrated and not a great read.

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Summary: Fast Reading original saga of LOGAN 5!
Review: You're probably way too familiar with the 1976 epic Sci Fi movie LOGAN'S RUN. Here is the original novel that inspired the book, but it's hardly recognizable as anything other than a similar theme. Yes, there is Logan and Jessica running from the Sandman named Francis in a post-apocalyptic world where life is ended when youth disappears. But here life ends at 21! There are no domed cities, the entire planet is controlled by the megacomputer, and Logan and Jessica encounter far more than they ever did in the movie. They fight for their lives in the Arctic, get caught in a Civil War recreation with androids, and face the wild jungle of Washington DC where lions and snakes prowl the capital city. SANCTUARY is very real, and society is fraying apart from youth tyranny. The book was an obvious reaction to the youth movement and flower power of the 60s. "Don't trust anyone over 30!" taken to the extreme. It's an easy read, and lots of fun! There is talk in Hollywood of a remake of this, so better to read it now because there are rumblings that they want to stick closer to the novel. And why not? The novel spawned two sequels!