Book Review: Planet Run

Book Review: 'Planet Run' by Keith Laumer and Gordon R. Dickson

2 / 5 Stars

'Planet Run' first was published in 1967 in hardcover by Doubleday; this mass market paperback edition (143 pp.) was published by Berkley Books in July, 1968, and features a great cover illustration by Paul Lehr.

'Run' is set in the far future, when most habitable worlds within Federation space have been colonized and exploited. The one major exception is the planet of Corazon, which has been off-limits for decades. 

Grizzled spacer Captain Henry is 135 years old, and enjoying retirement in his estate on the planet Aldorado. Rumor has it that when he was younger, Captain Henry not only clandestinely explored Corazon, but found deposits of gemstones.........gemstones that have funded his comfortable lifestyle of nearly a century. Unsurprisingly, Captain Henry is tight-lipped about where and when he found the rumored gemstones. 

But when the Federation announces that Corazon is being opened for claim-staking, Senator Bartholomew of Aldorado makes Henry an offer he can't refuse: return to Corazon, stake a claim to the deposit of gemstones, and share the wealth with the Senator.

Captain Henry isn't happy with the situation, but the offer of a rejuvenation treatment sweetens the pot, as does carte blanche to use the Senator's bank account to outfit the expedition. In due course Henry, along with the Senator's jejune son Larry Bartholomew, is piloting the starship Deguello to Corazon. There's a new-model Bolo tank secured in the hold, the perfect vehicle for racing across the landscape of Corazon to stake a claim to the deposit that will make the Senator - and Henry - wealthy men.

There' s just one problem: the scum of the galaxy have gathered on Corazon, and they know that Captain Henry is on to something. When the gun goes off and the Run starts, they are only to happy to use murderous violence to make their own claim to the gemstones of Corazon...........

When I opened 'Planet Run' I did so with a tolerant attitude, because in terms of literary quality, the overwhelming majority of 1960s sf doesn't compare well to that produced in succeeding decades. Indeed, when it comes to 60s sf, I always am willing to give more credit for an engaging and entertaining plot than literary prowess. 

The first half of 'Run', which plainly was composed by Keith Laumer, is tolerable in this regard. The dialogue can be stilted, and plot developments predictable, but the narrative moves along at a good pace, and there is plenty of sarcastic humor.

Unfortunately, the second half of the novel sees the narrative taken over by co-author Dickson, who introduces the theme of Man struggling to overcome a series of physical and psychological traumas (a theme commonly used by Dickson in his fiction, which reflected his own personal struggles with asthma). 

Dickson's deployment of lengthy internal monologues, written in lumbering, figurative prose, introduces turgidity into what was essentially meant to be an action-driven 'Space Western'. 

The final chapters see Laumer resume control over the storyline, but his plot and prose have an awkward, perfunctory quality that demonstrates that he simply was going through the motions at this point in the novel's composition.......... 

The verdict ? Even by forgiving standards, 'Planet Run' is a mediocre example of 1960s action-adventure sci-fi. It didn't have to be so; Roger Zelazny's 1969 novel 'Damnation Alley' showed that it was possible to produce a high-quality entrant in this genre. However, at the time he co-wrote 'Planet Run', Keith Laumer plainly was uninterested in doing anything novel or imaginative with the genre, and was 'writing for revenue'. Accordingly, this book is for Laumer and Dickson completists only.