Empire of the Atom: The First Book of the Mutant Mage

In a post apocalyptic Earth a mutant is born within the ruling family of Earth. Mutant children are normally disposed of. However, in this case, the grandfather and ruler of Earth, intervenes on the child's behalf but not until he executes all the priests in the adjacent Temple of the Atom, toward which the blame for the mutant child was directed. The Mutant child is named Clane and though he is not mistreated, he grows up in virtual isolation. Clane survives a Machiavellian court of intrigue and assassination, which eventually takes his grandfather and father. Using a combination of cunning and bravado, Clane manages to survive long enough to save Earth from a vicious attack of barbarians from the former outposts of space colonization on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. This invasion is led by the charismatic leader of the barbarians Czinczar who is captured by the ever-resourceful Clane. This sets the stage for the sequel - The Wizard of Linn. This novel, published in 1957 was written by science fiction pioneer A.E. Van Vogt. Like many of the writers of the time, he writes of a society of low-tech weapons (swords and Bows and arrows) and high tech travel. (Space travel). The rational for this, in this case, is apparently the downgrading and elimination of high tech weaponry after an unremembered nuclear holocaust had sundered earth. As with many books of the times, which were shorter than todays mega books, character development was a little weak. You never seemed to get a feel for Clane and he was the lead character. Except for Czinczar, forget the others. Like many of his contemporaries, Van Vogt tends to write in a cynical style where the protagonists constantly have to be on guard for duplicity and deceit. I'm wondering if this is a product of the big scare of the time, Communism. The McCarthy hearings were going on around then and there were allegedly Communists under every rock. Over the years, Van Vogt has written many science fiction novels including one called `The Voyage of the Space Beagle' which some credit as the inspiration for the sci-fi horror film `Alien.' His books, in comparison to the computer-aided books of today, usually were short - under two hundred pages. However, his stories are likely to be well written and very imaginative. The few readers that still read him, seem to be drawn to his work and sing his praises which is evident in the effusive reviews his readers give his books. I read this book when I was a teen and thought is was a fantastic read. On this go around, I must admit that it is not as good as I remember. It is still good but I no longer consider it great. The duplicity is so overt, as to be absurd and the fact that it is known and not dealt with seems incongruous to me.

For thirty years I have remembered this as the best book I ever read, but now I have reread it and realize that my favorite was the sequel to this, where Lord Clane fights the aliens, but I can't remember the name of the sequel. They are both great books.

I won't write you about the plot or anything like it. I'm 20 years old and i've been reading sci-fi for 12 years. From Orson scot card to Phillip hoze farmer, From ROGER ZEALAZNEY to LARRY NIVEN, From Frank herbert to Robert heinlein etc,Iv'e realy read alot. In the last year i've been exploring the early sci-fi, the writers thet wrote in a style thet can be described as pre-Campbellian. Allthough I admire the minds of contemporery giants such as CHARLES SHEFFILD for exemple, There's magic in the writings of Van-Vogt. Pre-Campbellian, free from constricting patterns of sci-fi as opposed to Fantasy, and derived from Super-science, almost all the books of A.E.VAN-VOGT are pure pleasure and delight to serius science fiction reader.

A. E. van Vogt used to be up there with Heinlein and Asimov during the 1940s and early 50s - and now he's not in print. In my wiew, he was a better and much more ORIGINAL scifi-storyteller than all of them - and Clarke too. But, on the other hand: Without a doubt, he was much more crazy.... Ok, this is maybe his best novel, from a purely litterary wievpoint, with a great central personality, a (relatively) logical story-line, but incorporating the same great van Vogtian sense of wonder that shines in his more crazy novels (like the Null-A and the Wheapon Shops series. Sad that it is not available!.