Death World 3

Death World 3 (1979) by Harry Harrison – Sphere

ISBN: 0722144806
Condition: Fair
Published: 1979
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

There are places in the universe where a sensible person might choose to settle down, raise a family and enjoy a reasonably peaceful existence. There are other places where the wildlife is homicidal, the inhabitants are permanently furious, and the local tourist board has presumably gone out of business. Harry Harrison, naturally, prefers the latter.

Welcome to Death World 3, the third instalment in Harrison’s gloriously energetic science-fiction series, featuring professional gambler, reluctant adventurer and occasional saviour of civilisation Jason dinAlt, a man whose extraordinary talents are frequently overshadowed by his unfortunate habit of visiting planets where everything wants to kill him.

This time, Jason finds himself confronting the peculiar inhabitants of a world where civilisation has taken a distinctly medieval turn. Despite possessing the technological potential for something rather more sophisticated, the planet’s population remains divided into warring factions, enthusiastically pursuing the ancient human tradition of settling disagreements by attempting to murder one another.

The situation is complicated by the arrival of off-world interests, whose ideas about commerce and exploitation are not necessarily compatible with the continued survival of the local population. Jason, who has never been particularly enthusiastic about unnecessary slaughter, decides that something ought to be done.

Unfortunately, persuading people to abandon centuries of warfare is considerably more difficult than persuading them to start another one.

Harrison combines fast-paced adventure, sharp dialogue and his characteristic irreverent humour with a surprisingly thoughtful examination of technological progress, social organisation and humanity’s extraordinary capacity for making life unnecessarily difficult. There are battles, schemes, dangerous encounters and enough cultural misunderstandings to keep several diplomatic missions permanently unemployed.

Originally part of the classic Deathworld trilogy, this 1979 Sphere edition represents science fiction from an era when paperback covers promised extraordinary adventures on distant planets, and writers could contemplate the future of humanity without feeling obliged to make everyone terribly miserable about it.

Condition: Fair. This is a veteran paperback, showing noticeable signs of age, handling and previous enjoyment. It has clearly survived rather more than a gentle afternoon’s reading, although nothing approaching the conditions routinely endured by Jason dinAlt. A perfectly appropriate condition for a novel in which survival itself constitutes a considerable achievement.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where battered science-fiction paperbacks are welcomed with open arms, provided they haven’t brought any particularly aggressive extraterrestrial organisms with them.

An entertaining slice of vintage speculative fiction, ideal for admirers of Harry Harrison, classic planetary adventure and the reassuring proposition that however troublesome life on Earth may become, there is probably somewhere in the galaxy where things are considerably worse.

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