Janus

This is part of a trilogy of books. A well written supenseful selcetion that can be read alone or as a group. Better as a trilogy. For Norton fans as well as not well worth the purchase.

One of the earliest novels I can remember reading was DAYBREAK: 2250 AD (aka STARMAN'S SON) by Andre Norton. Like most science fiction readers of my generation, I went through an Andre Norton period. She was writing young adult fiction before the term was created. I was both curious and apprehensive when Baen announced that they would be re-issuing those books of hers that had been out of print. This volume reprints two of her novels, JUDGMENT ON JANUS (1963) and its sequel VICTORY ON JANUS (1966). I was hopeful that, but also nervous whether, her books would hold up after all these years. The main character is Naill Renfro. The son of a space merchant family, he is living in a refugee camp called the Dipple on the planet Korwar at the beginning of the book. An interstellar war has killed his father and destroyed his family's spaceship. To buy drugs for his dying mother, Naill sells himself into slavery. Then he is shipped to the planet Janus. Naill has no idea how long the voyage was, because he was under suspended animation the entire time. Janus is a planet fit for human habitation that consists of large continents covered by forests and separated by small seas. A religious sect called the Sky Lovers settled on Janus 20 years previously, and its members have been clearing the forests to build farms. Naill is bought by Callu Kosburg, one of these settlers. The main female character is Ashla Himmer, one of the daughters of one of the other settlers. Naill and Ashla each discover an alien artifact, but contract an illness called the Green Sick. They survive, but they find they are no longer human. This is when their adventures really begin. To my surprise, no romance ever developed between Naill and Ashla, and there was absolutely no sex of any kind in the book. Nor was there any gratuitous violence, which is not to say there is no action. Far from it. However, the protagonists are running away from their enemies as often as they face them. Furthermore, the resolutions of both novels require the characters to solve puzzles instead of killing or destroying something. "Janus" refers to the Roman god who looks both forwards and backwards. After Naill and Ashla are transformed, they both find they have two sets of memories. In addition to their human ones, they also remember living as members of an intelligent, but extinct, species native to Janus. As you would expect with forty year old science fiction, some of the science is out of date. For instance, Norton concept of a computer is one that uses vacuum tubes and requires maintenance shafts and crawlspaces. However, if obsolete science makes a story unreadable, it was probably not worth reading in the first place. This is not the case here. I am glad to say that I can wholeheartedly recommend this book. The story kept me thoroughly engaged, and I found the characters interesting. I don't recall reading the novels when they first came out, but I'm glad I didn't

Judgement on Janus and Victory on Janus were first published in 1963 and 1966 repsectively. They are here published in one volume for the first time.Naill Renfro is an inhabitant of the vast refugee camp/slum called the Dipple that developed on the pleasure planet of Kowar after the late war. It has become the source of cheap, desperate labor for the rest of the universe. Renfro was the son of a Free Trader who died with his ship during a fire fight. Ejected with his mother in a lifeboat they came to the Dipple as refugees, but even with the war ended they have no hope of escape.His mother dying, Naill sells his body as contract labor on an agricultural planet known as Janus to buy her some peace at the end. Naill is shipped in cold sleep to the planet where his contract is purchased by one of the settlers, a member of a dour religious group who are tearing up the great forest of Janus in order to plant their cash crop. Again it seems Naill is in a trap with no means of escape.Before saving the rain forest became fashionable, Norton wrote about the consequences of losing contact with nature. In this story there are forces on the planet that are trying to reestablish relationships between the Terrans and the planet by changing the Terrans as the Terrans try to change the planet to meet their needs. This is prime Norton fiction and very entertaining.