Storm Over Warlock

Norton, Andre. Storm over Warlock. Forerunner No. 1. Ace, 1960.
Andre Norton wrote novels in the Forerunner universe from time to time over twenty-five years. Storm over Warlock is the first. A Terran survey camp on the planet Warlock is attacked by off-planet aliens. Two survivors, Shann, a menial laborer, and his officer, escape into the surrounding wilderness. What follows is an island-castaway survival story. The wildlife in the jungle and in the sea is dangerous. But Shann, aided by two trained wolverines (no kidding), is managing until his officer begins acting strangely, hijacks their makeshift boat, and leaves Shann and his animals behind. Things get more difficult when sentient mind-controlling aliens show up. All in all, this show more is classic adventure space opera fantasy. It is certainly the first story I have read with trained wolverines. Three stars with a bonus star for the wolverines. show less

An ok little sci-fi story.   Andre was the earliest of women sci-fi writers, even before Ursula K Le Guin, and this book certainly feels quite old school in that it has quite a few elements that you're more likely to find in pure fantasy books these days.

Not really the kind of thing i would think the youth would be into these days, but for us old school types who enjoy going back in time and don't care if people mix witches, warlocks and dream spells in with their lasers, spaceships and food pills it's quite an enjoyable little read and a wonderful piece of sci-fi history.

Essentially, a scout team are on a new planet, named 'Warlock', setting things up when aliens arrive and destroy them all, except the youngest and newest member of show more the team and two wolverines.   Then it becomes a case of surviving on an alien planet while being hunted by the aliens.   And so the story begins as more things are discovered about the planet and its native flora and fauna along the way.

Available as a single book or in the collection, 'Visions of Distant Shores'. show less

WOLVERINES! All snarly and snuffly and into burying half their kill for later. They are not the focus of the books, just sidekicks to Norton's standard intrepid kid adventurer.Also some wyverns, I guess? And wishes might come true and they fight beetle people and I pretty much dug this.

Warning: this is not a proper review. This post is basically my reward for listening to this book all the way through. There are spoilers, but not huge ones.

Storm Over Warlock is the first book by Andre Norton that I've read. I don't think it will be the last either, but that's more because I'm interested in experiencing other things she wrote, than because I enjoyed Storm Over Warlock. I didn't hate it, it didn't annoy me, but — and I think part of this is definitely due to consuming it in audiobook form — I just found it boring. And dated.

The Throg task force struck the Terran survey camp a few minutes after dawn, without warning, and with a deadly precision which argued that the aliens had fully reconnoitered and prepared that show more attack. Eye-searing lances of energy lashed back and forth across the base with methodical accuracy. And a single cowering witness, flattened on a ledge in the heights above, knew that when the last of those yellow-red bolts fell, nothing human would be left alive down there. And so Shann Lantee, most menial of the Terrans attached to the camp on the planet Warlock, was left alone and weaponless in the strange, hostile world, the human prey of the aliens from space and the aliens on the ground alike.

I listened to it on my drive to and from work (so in chunks of no more than twenty-five minutes at a time) and my mind kept wandering. I'd try to pay attention when I realised I was doing it, but I definitely missed chunks. There were several "wait, how did they get over there?" moments. There were also quite a few interesting issues raised that I wished were explored more deeply (yes, yes, I know I've admitted to zoning out, but it wasn't for that long at a stretch.

I found it interesting that although the main character and the other human came from a fairly patriarchal society, the Warlockian aliens they encounter were aggressively matriarchal, to the point of males belonging to the females and not being able to think for themselves. I liked that Norton included that, although it's definitely one of the aspects I would've liked to see explored in more detail.

There was also some promising things happening with mind control and psychic communication. It made the story a bit more trippy, but that actually worked with the zoning out (confusion for all!). At one point, near the start, Shann makes a reference to having seen "mind-controlled" people before coming to Warlock and I kind of want to know more about that. On the other hand, it's entirely possible more was divulged while I was thinking about what to have for lunch the next day.

I strongly suspect that I would have absorbed more of this book if I'd read it with my eyes rather than my ears. I probably still wouldn't have found it particularly exciting (despite the interplanetary war...) but at least I would have taken it in more coherently. For audiobooks to work for me, I need them to keep me interested the entire time. I've mostly had good luck with that in the past, but not with Storm Over Warlock, unfortunately.

You can read more of my (proper) reviews on my blog. show less

I recently re-read this book (originally read when I was in high school). It was quite good for both the nostalgia and in some instances some great reading. I really like the handling of both the "Forbidden Planet" style Federation-style "Patrol" and the use of mutated Wolverines. I also liked the two alien concepts: Warlockian "Wyvern" lizard women and the enemy beetle-like Throgs. This sets the stage for the second book: Ordeal in Otherwhere.

Lantee, the junior member of an advance Survey team from Earth preparing a planet (Warlock) for human settlement, is the lone survivor of an attack by the vicious alien Throgs. He faces difficult physical challenges to survive in the wild with two intelligent wolverines, and joins up with a senior Survey officer to attack the Throgs. But what about the strange dreams and the possibility of an indigenous alien race?

Great descriptions of an alien planet. Terse, evocative writing style. It is a book for juveniles; but I first read this many years ago as a teenager and it is great to re-read it. My three star rating includes a bump up for the nostalgia factor, but I would hesitate to recommend it to others.

This was written the year I was born. I read it in junior high school and that was about the right time to do it. The story is fast - 2 or 3 weeks for the characters and one good sitting for the reader. It's a first contact story wrapped inside a space war vignet. Like a lot of Ms. Norton's work, it's appropriate for young readers. Unfortunately, I was slightly dissapointed; this short book affected me strongly when I first read it- I became a lifelong fan of sci-fi/fantasy. But it seemed thin. The powerfully gifted "warlockians" seemed to align themselves with the humans much too easily. I am a fan of heavier character interaction but I guess we are going to see the development of the relations between the species in the future books. show more I'm going to offer this one to Mom to see if she likes. show less