Deathworld

I like the story even though the end is a bit weak. It was way ahead of its time.

(1960) Sci-fi (Other world) / Adventure (Survival/War) / Mystery (Source of unrest)


R: * * * *


Plot bullets

Life on Pyrrus is hard, dangerous and often deadly. Why anyone would want to live on such a planet is hard to understand. But the inhabitants are tenacious and resolved to conquer the plants, animals and even the planet itself.
Even young children are schooled to fight for their lives against the flora and fauna that shows no mercy.
Kerk, an inhabitant of Pyrrus, wants to stake a well known adventurer and gambler to a night at the tables, to increase a large but currently inadequate sum for planet defenses. It takes a lot o money to fight a whole planet.
Jason wins the sum necessary, and some for himself, but insists on going back to the planyt with Kerk. All the descriptions of the dangers, that Kerk describes, will not deter Jason.
Pyrrus is a savage world where the ruling inhabitants must live in a protected shell.
Jason thinks he knows why this planet seems to be a continuous battleground.
Old ways are hard to change and opposition is thrown in his way as he tries to make changes. Centuries of prejudice, are hard to overcome.
Jason sets out to force his knowledge on the inhabitants, for their own benefit. He firmly believes that Pyrrus does not need to be a Deathworld.

Possibly the best read on this site. Interesting plot, well-written, good and long, and a decent ending.

An absorbing story of a planet redesigning itself to kill human colonists. Good characters, a lot of whom die. The hero has a lot of trouble walking around in two gravities with normal reflexes.

You won't be bored.

A fun and easy read. A bit of nostalgia for the days when it was just assumed that mankind would be colonizing planets across the galaxy. Interesting to see how how different the future looks 50 years later.

Despite some of the negative comments below this book is a great read. I first read it in 1960 and it is still a first rate book.

I was very surprised to find this book out of copyright and available for free. I still have a copy of the Jan. 1960 Astounding SF magazine, which contains the first half of Deathworld. Through many moves and packing up boxes of books, this little magazine always went onto the "keep pile". Van Dongen's illustrations are very good and it is too bad they are not included in the ebook. This book is an action packed page turner. But more than action, there are some very thoughtful ideas at the core of the plot. Highly recommended, and thanks to manybooks for making this available.

Think "Avatar" for this novella. I suspect Cameron got some of his ideas for the film from this story.

It is not brilliant, has many flaws, but somehow keeps you curious to find out what will happen next.

overall, i think this book is good to pass some time but passable.

I read this book 30 years ago and still remember the page turning effect it had. It was fun to find it on the net now and it got downloaded and read in a single sitting!

I doubt it would win any litery prizes although the theme it covers is way ahead of it's time. It is however excellent "entertainment" of the written variety!

In some ways it is way ahead of it's time; using iPads! In others it missed the point, still using "computer tapes"

It would make a truly brilliant film, I'm suprised it hasn't already been done... Think along the lines of Jason played by;
Vin Diesel? :-)
Kerk? Stallone!
Meta; Carrie-Anne Moss

CGI could do amazing things with the training and battle sequences.

Another review describes it perfectly, A very good "romp",
well worth reading.