Bedlam Planet

Two-hundred and seventy colonists leave earth in three ships (the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria) to populate a once visited planet named Asgard around the sun Sigma Draconis. Once there, the Pinta crashes into the moon leaving 180 colonists to fend for themselves without essential equipment which was on the ill-fated ship. This planet, with 1.08G, thirty-hour days and thirty-six-day months, is dotted with 736 islands (the largest no bigger than Britain). While covered in lush green forests, the animal life has not evolved insects, birds, large land mammals nor sea-life more sophisticated than a squid. Dennis is the only man who has visited the planet twice and is also the one unwilling colonizer. He is sent on a mission to search for diamonds which can be used for industrial drilling. However, when swimming he suffers toxemia from a sting which sends him into a delusional epiphany and discovers a Dionysian truth. With other colonists suffering from scurvy and other deficiencies, will they take his new found truth as their own or will they suffer a worse fate? One of the best Brunner novels I've read yet (the fifth to date)! It's kind of like his novel Polymath as in colonists land on a planet and must start a new life with limited resources but this novel is much better focused on the planet, its wildlife and its general planet-ness in all. About 40% of the way through the novel is when the mythology begins in a sort of hallucinogenic delirium for Dennis. It seems random and out of place (and completely rambling for someone like myself who isn't interested in mythology), but it ties together very well in the end. Keep note of the racial descriptions of the key characters, as their specific mythologies will be brought to bare upon the pages later on.