Typical fast Laumer romp, a little darker than usual, but somehow this time it comes across thin and flat. Not his best work by a wide margin. ( )

I bought this hoping for more of Rosel George Brown's sparky "Sibyl Sue Blue" style, but it turned out to be just another dull hero's journey, with a dim male protagonist who has an undeserved sense of racial superiority and a propensity for violence when he doesn't get his way. There are lots of weird aliens, but no world-building to give them context. DNF about half-way through. ( )

The Nill have destroyed the Terran Empire 5000 years ago and the current galaxy is filled with hybrids of humans with other aliens. A full blood human embryo is illegally purchased and raised as a low plebeian and finally searches for his inheritance through the galaxy until he ultimately returns to Earth and learns that the Terran-Nill war ended a long time ago. I've always been a sucker for the "human vs the universe" theme....and this isn't bad--as they go. It's one of the better examples of the treatment of the low-life types (of whatever race) as not being altogether stupid. And it would certainly qualify as a pretty good 4.5* YA novel. But it's dragged down by its simplicity of the bad guys becoming the good guys and the good guys becoming the bad guys. ( )

The Nill have destroyed the Terran Empire 5000 years ago and the current galaxy is filled with hybrids of humans and other aliens. A full blood human embryo is illegally purchased and raised as a low plebeian and finally searches for his inheritance through the galaxy until he ultimately returns to Earth and learns that the Terran-Nill war ended a long time ago. I've always been a sucker for the "human vs the universe" theme....and this isn't bad--as they go. It's one of the better examples of the treatment of the low-life types (of whatever race) as not being altogether stupid. And it would certainly qualify as a pretty good 4.5* YA novel. But it's dragged down by its simplicity of the bad guys becoming the good guys and the good guys becoming the bad guys. ( )

I've always been a fan of Keith Laumer but I'm not familiar with the co-author, Rosel George Brown. There are a couple of novels written by her.

This book is from the classic SF period of the 1960s. It's a well done space opera that slowly pulled me in as it progressed. I was bored at the beginning but I had no trouble finishing it. I really expected to give this book the usual 3 stars as "decent SF story but nothing special". By the time I finished it I had to add a star for "above average".

I will continue to seek Laumer books and I will have to try a couple by R. G. Brown ( )