Galactic Derelict (1959)

Adventurous, but somewhat pointless. I do like Travis, aside from his understandable prickliness over "beads and warpaint". But...he falls into the group (was the canyon on the ranch's land? If not, whose land was it, and why did Travis think he could bring the cattle to water there?), gets forcibly recruited, has a nice past-time adventure. Then the three of them and the tech accidentally get shanghaied onto the ship and off into space (just lucky it wasn't time as well!). The tech remains pretty much a cipher throughout; so does Ashe, except as the trophy in the competition between Ross and Travis (I can't tell whether it's entirely in Ross's head or Travis really is trying to get close to Ashe). And Ross spends a lot of time displaying his nasty, greedy, over-anxious side. So there's a lot of space travel, some truly weird creatures and adventures, little to no character development, and they get home and the story ends. Plop. No real conclusion, just - whee, we're home! End. Not even debriefing. Frustrating, a bit. But I will no doubt read it again, the next time I want to read the series. ( )

Good fun from Ms. Norton. I really enjoy the cultures and aliens she creates. ( )

This was the first book I ever read. It gave me chills and thrills of something new with every chapter. Adventure into deep space into that held me as a kid, and yet survived to be readable in the digital age as a pure lite adventure for an adult. This story's writing holds firm and crisp enough to withstand time and technological advance. ( )