Some Will Not Die

Different people have different views. I've been reading science fiction for over 40 years. I won't comment on the technical side of the writing involved or the character development. What I will say is that if I could only have one book to read for the rest of my life, this book would be it. This book haunts me. It is exquisite. I read it too many years ago to count and I reread it at least once a year. I'll probably be reading it on my deathbed.

A. J. Budrys lived through the Danzig Crisis as a boy, and saw how Hitler was greeted as a liberator by the German population, as oppressor and conqueror by Poles and Jews. Heroes are seen by many people in many ways. This novel shows the hero from the view of someone who knew him and didn't know he was meeting a hero. It's an important work. It's also a lot of fun to read. Jerry Pournelle

Algis Budrys is a great SF writer, and he brings fresh insight to every subject he touches. This novel is set in a future that will be familiar to most SF readers: after a catastrophic plague that wiped out nine-tenths of humanity, the survivors are faced with a choice of rebuilding civilisation or fighting each other for the ever-diminishing supplies of food and other essentials. One man accepts the crushing responsibility of using all necessary force to reunite the Republic, with the inevitable violence and loss of life. Is he right? Or is he just a bloodstained butcher, driven by his own lust for power? Decades after, his very name can make or unmake governments - one of which eventually sends an armoured expedition to seek him out or confirm his death. Budrys has written only a few books, because he is very selective about the topics he chooses. Each book makes a statement that he felt to be important and worthwhile - and this one is no exception. Some Will Not Die is very well written, although poorly edited, and shows clear signs that the author was well acquainted with the grim realities of military life. Perhaps because it was assembled from independently-written sections, it adopts a flashback format that leaves a rather disjointed impression. Nevertheless, it is a book you will surely remember - both for its action and its ideas.