Teaser

The Terran Empire is as ancient as it is powerful, but that does not mean it is safe. The alien Merseians seek to become he dominant power in the galaxy, and will use any means necessary. Fresh from the Academy, young Dominic Flandry will encounter brute force, deception, and betrayal. All in the name of the Empire . . .

Review

While out in the States last month, I grabbed a couple of Poul Anderson novels. He’s written so many diverse works, I don’t think I could get a fair impression of the man’s writing from just one. Between For Love and Glory and The Imperial Stars, however, I’m thinking I’ve got a handle on his approach to space opera. The Imperial Stars was the book I was most looking forward to reading, as on the face of it, it sounds like exactly my sort of book. Stagnant Empires, derring-do, and that indefinable Golden Age feel. Then there’s that cover. I shelve all my books spine-outwards but honestly, I’d have been tempted to by this book for the cover alone. Easily the best cover from my US book haul. The question though, is do the contents match the cover?

Like a lot of series from the era, Anderson’s Terran Empire was written out-of-sequence and across numerous novels so slim they’d likely be considered novellas by todays standards. The Imperial Stars gathers the first three books from a chronological standpoint, chronicling the early life of Dominic Flandry. Each novel is a standalone tale, meaning that although they were written across the sixties and seventies, there are no missing gaps in the story. No abrupt beginnings or unresolved cliffhangers.

The best way I can describe these books is to call them James Bond in space. Flandy is, despite his youth, a thrillingly competent and thoroughly masculine figure, equally adept at matching wits with traitors as he is at blasting away at aliens. The female characters in all three books are largely relegated to love interest status, though the femme fatale of A Circus of Hells does get some good lines in spite of being a fainting lily at times. The only real surprise as Flandry charms his way across the Empire and beyond is when he turns down an alien’s sexual advances. For the rest of the time, he is a consummate ladies’ man. Nothing wrong with that in a protagonist, but like Bond girls, Flandry’s lovers do all blur into one by the time the third novel comes around.

The actual stories are good. Fun and pulpy adventures across space, ranging from spycraft to treasure hunts to exposing traitors. Slap these into a Buck Rogers-esque TV show, and you’d be a sure-fire hit. Where it falls down a little for me is in the delivery. Anderson writes like a man obsessed with the thesaurus, to the extent that sentences are hard to follow. It’s not as extreme as E.E. Doc Smith, but there’s something almost Lovecraftian about the way Anderson lavishes descriptions on the page. Unfortunately, he is also an employer of accents. Character’s drop vowels and mix words together at the drop of a hat. Spoken aloud, I don’t think I’d have a problem with this, but on the page it makes a mess of dialogue.

The Imperial Stars is a book I enjoyed, but in spite of the writing, rather than because of it. I don’t expect to rush out and buy the rest of the series, but I will be keeping an eye out. Until then, I have one more Poul Anderson book on my shelf. I’ll let you know how I get on with that one.

Book Stats

• Terran Empire (#1-3)
• Contains the novels Ensign Flandry, A Circus of Hells, The Rebel Worlds
• This omnibus published 2000
• Space Opera
• 487 pages