Voodoo Planet

A forest ranger struggles against a witch doctor on a distant planet at the edge of galactic civilization. The story contains some interesting ideas, such as the use of hypnotism and power of suggestion as weapons. This would have been better as a longer book with additional explanation and character development. It is a pretty good read, the author just tried to cram too much content into too few pages.

I'd give this a higher rating than Parky, though I understand his complaints. At the time it was written, psi abilities were a major theme in SF, with the late John W. Campbell leading the way in stories he chose for Astounding SF/Analog SF.

Part of the problem with Voodoo Planet is length: it was published as half of an Ace Double novel, which had two books, back to back, under the same cover. Because of the format, books tended to be about 45,000 - 50,000 words long to be able to fit. If Andre had more space to play in, I suspect she would have provided more details. (And it's possible she did, and they got cut by the editor.)

It's a nice look at a pretty well realized foreign culture. No, Chief Ranger Asaki doesn't really understand his powers, either: he simply knows that he can do certain things, and is in tune with his environment in a way others aren't.

It isn't Andre's best book, but I don't believe she ever wrote a *bad* one.

This book by Andre Norton who I like in general was not that well written. Things happened that I was lost on. Characters had mind powers that were not well explained as they weren't the hero's and his powers were confusing to me and him I guess. Still I read it all the way through and could not put it down but I kept wanting something more. It is entertaining reading though and if you like the thought of mind control illusions it might be just your science fiction type of book.