Voodoo Planet

Written by Andre Norton

Narrated by Charles McKibben

The sequel to Plague Ship, Voodoo Planet finds the Solar Queen banned from trade and starting her supposed quiet two-year stint as an interstellar mail carrier. But instead her crew accepts a visit to the safari planet of Khatka, where they find themselves caught in a battle between the forces of reason and the powers of Khatka's mind-controlling wizard.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Audio Realms
• Release date: Jul 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781467696654

Andre Norton

For well over a half century, Andre Norton was one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy authors in the world. Since her first SF novels were published in the 1940s, her adventure SF has enthralled readers young and old. With series such as Time Traders, Solar Queen, Forerunner, Beast Master, Crosstime, and Janus, as well as many stand-alone novels, her tales of action and adventure throughout the galaxy have drawn countless readers to science fiction. Her fantasy, including the best-selling Witch World series, her "Magic" series, and many other unrelated novels, has been popular with readers for decades. Lauded as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, she is the recipient of a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention. Not only have her books been enormously popular; she also has inspired several generations of SF and fantasy writers, especially many talented women writers who have followed in her footsteps. In the past two decades she worked with other writers on a number of novels. Most notable among these were collaborations with Mercedes Lackey, the Halfblood Chronicles, as well as collaborations with A.C. Crispin (in the Witch World series) and Sherwood Smith (in the Time Traders and Solar Queen series). Andre Norton passed away in 2005.

Reviews for Voodoo Planet

[richardderus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 3.5* of fiveA novella really, and a weird cross between science fiction (space travel, other planets) and fantasy (magic, telepathy). A true old-fashioned one-sitting read.Dane Thorsen, Free Trader of the ship Solar Queen, returns to your screens as a tag-along to Captain Jellico's eagerly anticipated vacation to Khatka. He has corresponded for some time with Asaki, a Ranger of very high status on Khatka, in his other-hatness of xenobiologist. Asaki has headed up the creation of a no-kill big game reserve on his homeworld, which happens to be in the same system as the Solar Queen's penalty planet of Xencho. (In Plague Ship, the Solar Queen was "sentenced" to spend two years as a mail carrying ship for one of the huge trading corporations, Combine.)Since space travel takes extended amounts of time, all spacers have hobbies; Jellico, a long-time spacer, has become a renowned xenobiologist due to massive time to study and experiment aboard ship as well as freedom to explore many different planets as a trader. The Khatkans are descended of African Terran roots (they sound like Maasai to me) and happen to land their colony ships on a planet with very African climate and geography. Keep in mind this book was published in 1959 by a white librarian lady. This was some avant garde stuff!Add in Grand Master Norton's already extant Negro (in the parlance of the times) characters, explicitly stated to be normal members of the Solar Queen and Spacers' Guild crews, and you have jaw-droppingly ahead of her time thinking evident here. Asaki is explicitly stated to be Jellico's equal. He is regularly deferred to by the Queen white and Asian crew members. There are 21st-century authors who don't do as well as Grand Master Norton does in this sixty-year-old tale.The story, well, the story is the story and it's creaky. No notion of satellite mapping, no personal computing power, etc etc blah blah blah. The plot seems to be a bit, well, slapdash; are we fighting a sorceror, a crafty mind-gamer, an interplanetary smuggling ring, our PoV characters' personal nightmares? Sorta kinda alla the above. In just over 100pp, that is way too much to handle effectively.But hellfire, y'all, it's not like stuff coming from mighty modern pens is perfect, and this lady was born 106 years ago, so what say we smile for the fun turns of phrase (particularly love her regular use of "Not so!" for the much less sparkly "No.") and the amazing inclusiveness of her vision? Let's carp less and crow's-foot some smile, hmm?

[capiam1234 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A blending of fantasy and science fiction that just left me feeling like I was watching an old episode of Star Trek where they all transported to a fantasy world where everything gets strange from there.

[glenrh · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

t as a stand alone book, is just okay. When you add it in to the Solar Queen adventures, it gets a little better. It does read quickly, but it will not be an earth shaking experience since it doesn't develop the story due to length.

[deusxmachina-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another installment with the sympathetic intergalactic free traders from the Solar Queen at the centre, this is more Tarzan than Star Trek. The Queen-team comprised of Dane, Jelico and Medic Tau visits a planet ruled by a (very advanced and noble!) hunter-gatherer-society where they become unvoluntary part of the power-struggle between the chief ranger Asaki and witchman Lumbrilo.Lots of magic disguised as science (hypnosis, drugs and psychological terror), survival after wrecking in a hostile jungle against alien fauna and a very stalwart fight against a band of poachers later, and the outlanders have successfully solved Asaki's authority problem. Predictable but fun.

[bzedan_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

More of the traders on the Solar Queen. There is a voodoo magic showdown at the end of this one, yay! I guess originally published with Star Hunter, because that's how people get novellas published.