Space Prison
Book Excerpt
She looked at the snow streaming from the ragged hills, felt the hard pull of the gravity, and knew where they were. They were on Ragnarok, the hell-world of 1.5 gravity and fierce beasts and raging fevers where men could not survive. The name came from an old Teutonic myth and meant: The last day for gods and men. The Dunbar Expedition had discovered Ragnarok and her father had told her of it, of how it had killed six of the eight men who had left the ship and would have killed all of them if they had remained any longer.
She knew where they were and she knew the Gerns had lied to them and would never send a ship to take them to Earth. Their abandonment there had been intended as a death sentence for all of them.
And Dale was gone and she and Billy would die helpless and alone....
"It will be dark--so soon." Billy's voice shook with the cold. "If Daddy can't find us in the dark, what will we do?"
"I don't know," she said. "There's no one to
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Readers reviews
The rejects must spend every day of their lives, and every ounce of courage to assure that their children have a tomorrow at all.
One of my very favorite books!
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At the start of the book, the Gerns seem a bit like charicatures of Nazis - but they are soon out of the picture. What follows is epic storytelling.
The original title was "The Survivors" which is a much better and accurate name.
I nearly gave up on this one on the first page after some truly shaky prose. I'm glad I didn't.
Space Prison is a story of exile. A race of humans inadequate to be kept as slaves are left by their captors to perish on an barren and harsh planet. As they die from fever, animal attacks, starvation and sheer stress all that is left to keep the remnant going is the desire for an impossible revenge.
The characterisation isn't strong, but given that the tale spans several generations it doesn't need to be. If this story was written today it would probably be 3 or 4 books, each telling the tale of a generation in extra detail. But it loses very little as an epic story packed into a shortish book.
A great scifi story.