Customer Reviews
Great pulp novel, crying out to be a movie! - By: Jonn Jonzz, 22 Dec 2007 
This is a real page-turner of the golden-age style.
The studios are missing a real opportunity if they don't turn this into a movie at some timein the future...the time for good old fashioned rollicking good adventure tales is starting to return, & this would fit right in...I agree with a review here which says Vin Diesel would fit the role...he might be a little too well-fed & muscley for Jon Iehards character, but he would be great.
I have had this novel for about ten years now, & I have found myself re-reading it about twice a year, maybe three times a year...it is simply that good.
Do yourself a massive favour & track down a copy of this great little novel (you can knock it overin a weekend) & find yourself being sucked into the world of Jon Iehard & his adventures!
Triffic - By: Mr. R. Lamont Abrams, 14 Oct 2005 I think Dave Langford or John Clute described Rowley's novels as being "repulsively page turning" & that about sums it up. The man has a way with a story of being both slightly revolting & yet quite addictive. This is pulp of the Golden Age, you could easily envisage a character actor of the standard of Vin Diesel playing the male leadin an adaptation. Were I still gaming I would love to set my player characters against the Hardscabbies or the Vang.
For all that I seem to be damning this with faint praise it is one of my favourite SF novels & has been read again & again. If you like your heroes heroic, with their leather boot planted firmly on the carapace of the vanquished alien, then enjoy,in no small measure.
A full-blooded tale of adventure set in the distant future. - By: , 13 May 2002 Thousands of yearsin the future, one Jon Iehard is born into slavery on an alien world. Humankind has spread slowly across the stars, but unfortunately some startlingly humanoid aliens-the laowon- got there first. With their faster than light drives, they have a massive advantage over humans with their much slower starships. The human race is slowly being undermined - eventually they will all be slaves, like Iehard!
But Iehard is no ordinary slave. Resourceful & bold, he seizes an opportunity & escapes to a still-free human star system, where he settles into a new life. But it seems he cannot escape from the laowon. Against his will he is drawn into their machinations, & his chances of a second escape look doubtful...
This is a great book for anyone who likes adventure stories-plenty of imaginative ideas, a tight, well paced story, & a wealth of diverse characters make this one of my favourite science fiction stories. A pity it's so hard to find (I recently had to sitin a copyright library for hours to read this book again).
My favorite science-fiction novel ever - By: Michael J. Drost (mjd@wxs.nl), 06 Apr 2002 I first borrowed this book from a friend of mine about ten years ago. I was so gripped by the story that I had to have a copy of my own. It is now my most cherished book & I can read it again & again. Jon Iehard's travels from slave to saviour are fast-paced, exciting & full of neat turns & twists. The end is thoroughly surprising. I can recommend this otherwise simple & straightforward science fiction novel to anyone who doesn't mind a well written classic Science Fiction story. How this missed out on both Hugo & Nebula awards & why Mr. Rowley turned to fantasy is a mystery to me.
