‘The Palace of Eternity’ (222 pp) was published by Ace Books in 1969. The cover art is by Leo and Diane Dillon.
The novel is set in the far future, one in which Mankind is locked in an interstellar war with an alien race known as the Pythsyccans.
Mack Tavernor, the lead character, is your typical square-jawed, self-reliant, emotionally reserved Man of Action. Having witnessed his parents killed by the Pythsyccans on a planetary raid, Tavernor grew up with an abiding hatred for the aliens. Once he reached adulthood, he became a soldier decorated for his combat forays against the Pythsyccans.
Now retired, Tavernor has found a measure of peace and fulfillment as a resident of the planet of Mnemosyne, known as ‘Poet’s World’ for its particular attraction to artists, many of whom migrate from all regions of known space to live there.
As ‘Palace’ opens, Tavernor’s comfortable existence undergoes upheaval, as word comes that the Federation military is establishing its control over Mnemosyne. Rebelling against the quasi-fascistic strictures imposed by the military soon gets Tavernor labeled as a danger to the war effort. Once a hero, Mack Tavernor now finds himself hunted by the same military he fought for………..even as the threat posed by the Pythsyccans reaches a critical stage……….
Upon finishing ‘Palace’, I found myself with mixed feelings. Making allowances for the fact that the book was written in the New Wave era, the frequent passages early in the narrative that digress into philosophical matters, aided and abetted by flowery language, were negotiable, as the narrative as a whole is an action / adventure narrative – at least for the first two-thirds of the novel.
The last third of ‘Palace’ is where the narrative became more than a little overambitious. I won’t disclose any spoilers, although I will say that author Shaw abruptly shifts the plot from its conventional trappings in order to introduce deep, ‘cosmic’ issues. This metaphysical interlude is followed – somewhat improbably - by the resumption of the narrative dealing with the conflict between humans and Pythsyccans.
Summing up, the first part of ‘Palace’ stands as an engaging treatment of the traditional ‘humans Vs aliens’ theme to sci-fi. However, I suspect that the introduction of the book’s ‘cosmic’ segments likely won’t seem as novel or imaginative to modern readers as they did back in 1968, and the book’s closing chapters have a contrived quality that modern readers also may not find very convincing. Accordingly, I gave ‘The Palace of Eternity’ a rating of 3 / 5 Stars.
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