Pandora's Legions

A hilarious book to be sure, this is not so much of a novel as several smaller stories bundled up under one cover. I couldn't put it down and when it was done, I wished that there would be a sequel. For those of you that enjoyed Turtledove's World War series, pick this up.

This book reads like a collection of short stories that happen to have a common universe and thread going through them. The premise of alien invasion of earth from the aliens' perspective is a fun twist, but it makes it more difficult on the writer to make us have much empathy for the main alien characters we follow. Caricatures abound of "us humans," bureaucracy, and global politics, some to better effect than others. Who won? A rather satisfyingly ambiguous ending there. Main praises: nifty premise, fun romp through the caricatures Main complaint: a choppy read cutting between micro-episodes and the macro-Big Picture events Recommendation: 4 stars in the sci-fi genre. Go read it, but consider buying used. Be sure you read the whole thing, including the "extra story" at the end which is really quite good.

There's a button often seen at science fiction conventions that reads: "Save the Mundanes. We Need Them For Breeding Stock." That about sums up the character of the sole negative reviewer on this particular work. Christopher Anvil's short fiction written around the premise of an alien race luckless enough to "conquer" Earth (and finally collected here by Eric Flint), typifies the *Humanity Uber Alles* problem-solving science fiction beloved of John W. Campbell, who bought and published Anvil's stuff back in the '50s and '60s. More than any other single person, Campbell was responsible for the transformation of Gernsback's "super scientifiction" into the genre we know today, and neither the whining mamzers of the '60s "New Wave" (especially the soggy *New Worlds* dimwits like Moorcock who've been trying to pass off badly-written fantasy as if it were SF) nor the other proponents of "soft science fiction" have ever been able to appeal to the sort of people who read and enjoy the genuinely speculative fiction fostered by Campbell when he began his editorial career. At a convention some years ago, I recall a neofan asking Jack Chalker how to write science fiction. Chalker paused for a moment, trying to get a grip on the neo's abysmal depth of ignorance, before replying: "Well, you've got to start reading it in 1952." And that about sums up the fund of knowledge upon which our preceding reviewer predicates his opinion of this book. I'm willing to bet that if said putz were asked who Gernsback or Campbell were, he would either gape at you in bafflement or start waffling so vigorously that the air would be scented with maple syrup. Ghu knows what he'd make of queries about E.E. "Doc" Smith, or L. Sprague DeCamp, or any one of a round dozen top writers of the '30s, '40s, or '50s. Though Anvil's *Pandora's Planet* is certainly dated, it offers an insight into the literary history of science fiction that only a damned fool could fail to recognize and value. On top of that, it's an entertaining read, certainly fulfilling Poul Anderson's old saw about "writing for beer money," in that the price of a paperback book is about the same as that of a six-pack of decent suds, and it's the author's obligation to provide the purchaser of his book with at least as much pleasure as might be derived from the aforementioned half-dozen cans of brew. Anvil's work delivers that much at the very least. Note: Looking up the writings of the late Poul Anderson is left as an exercise for the reviewer who came upon *Pandora's Planet* and failed to figure out how to get the pop-top open.

Many years ago my 5th grade teacher loaned me a copy of a science-fiction book called "Pandora's Planet", by Christopher Anvil. It impressed me then, being a "humanity uber alles" story that ended with a surprising double twist. I was never able to find another copy, and in fact for a long time was unable to recall the author. Recently, I was told that Baen was re-issuing the Pandora stories and finally was able to purchase a copy. I began reading with no little trepidation. Would Anvil's story be able to live up to the possibly too-rosy memories of my 11 year old former self? I was not disappointed. Many details which I'm sure I never noticed were now clear, and I gained a new appreciation of what Anvil did in this interesting little universe. The basic idea is that the Earth is invaded and sort-of-conquered by the Centrans, who have a huge and ancient empire. The problem is that Earthlings apparently are just plain smarter than the Centrans, on the average -- an average human is a genius in Centran terms. This book combines in one volume the original Pandora's Planet, which focuses on the experiences of Horsip, a Centran officer, and other stories which feature the adventures of Horsip's human acquaintance John Towers. The latter I had never read before, and they add more depth to the story. I will not discuss the way in which the book ends, except to say that on re-reading it after more than 20 years it had more impact than I'd remembered. For any fan of classic science fiction, this is a must-have. The language isn't much dated, and the combined volume is a heck of a value for the money.

Ever since about twenty years ago when I firstread "Pandora's Planet" I have reread the book about oncea year. It is a fun, light hearted book about what happens when the dumb aliens try to conquer Earth. Thedumb aliens are, in today's politically correct words,mentally challenged. A large part of the story is howhumans, as they expand out into the Centran Empire,affect the great empire. (Hint: there is a lot of chaos.) "Pandora's Legions" includes the all of the storieswritten in the Centran Empire Universe. The original storywas "Pandora's Planet" which was published in Astounding back in September of 1956. Then a book also titled "Pandora's Planet" came out 1972. This was the furtheradventures of our Centran hero Klide Horsip as he tries todeal with all the varieties of human philosophies being implemented on various Centran planets. Also in the same setting were three stories about a human named John Towers, who went around helping the Centran military out of very nasty situations. These threestories had only been published in Analog. Of these threemy favorite was "Trap" which dealt with the problem of arace which could teleport. And they could teleport to anyplace where an object they had touched was located. There is also one more story about a Centran psychologist and how he deals his patients. It is nice to have all the Centran stories together.Treat yourself to a couple of hours of enjoyable reading.