Dorsai!

“Dorsai!” by Gordon R Dickson: thirty five years ago I loved this. Now it seems very thin

In 1957, two years before the first version of “Dorsai!” was serialized in in “Astounding Science Fiction”, Peter Graham coined the phrase: “The Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve.”

I started reading science fiction in the sixties when I was ten but I didn’t get to “Dorsai!” until my early twenties. I was still a twelve-year-old at heart and most science fiction excited me. I loved the puzzle-solving, the removal of constraints, the triumph of optimism. I was already being lured towards a different, more socially-based sensibility by writers like Ursula K Le Guin and her “Left Hand of Darkness” but I was still up for show more hard-core space opera when I read “Dorsai!”

At the time, I found it literally astonishing: the idea of a military race, bred to fight and lead and win, producing a genius who would shape the fate of many world’s by fighting as little as possible was new and fresh. The pace was brisk, The plot turned on its heals at lightning speed and the ending caught me completely by surprise. It was a celebration of what I was looking for in Science Fiction at the time.

So, when I saw the audio version on audible.com, I thought it would be fun to relive all of that.

It turns out, I’m not twelve any more. I was not thrilled. The plot is still clever and the pace is still brisk but how had I not seen how shallow the characters were, how ridiculously male-dominated the book was, how morally bankrupt the politics was and how dishonestly bloodless the fighting was?

“Dorsai!” is well read by Stefan Rudnicki and offers a pleasant way to while away the hours. It is a book of its time but that time is no longer mine. show less

This science fiction story was written in 1959 when men were men and women were cardboard cut-outs. It tells about the early career of Donal Greame who is a very unusual Dorsai.

Humanity has spread to fourteen worlds held together by contracts but diverging in many other ways. Donal, as a Dorsai, is a mercenary soldier from a planet that has few other exports. Dorsai are super soldiers known both for their rages and their honor. But Donal is something more; he has a unique intuition that leads him to see the big picture of human life.

His adversary is William of Ceta who has his own plans for humanity which Donal opposes and out maneuvers. The story follows his growing career from his first post as a mercenary to Secretary of Defense for show more all the human planets.

The story includes the battles he fought, the strategies he used, and the people he gathered to himself along the way.

It is the first book in the Child Cycle - Dickson's epic set of connected stories about the future of humanity. The Child Cycle was never completed but did encompass ten books written by Dickson from 1959 until 1994 with an eleventh volume completed in 2007 by Dickson's assistant David W. Wixon.

It was an intriguing story about an imagined future and the people who will live in it. show less

I don't know why I still torture myself with older sci fi.

In theory I should really like it, and I still hold on saying "I love sci fi," but sometimes the misogyny and the self-insert idealized male are just too damn much.

In Dorsai our main character is Donal, a man of a top tier race of warriors (so he's like super buff and powerful), but he's also ~nOT LiKe oTHer GiRls~ because he's just so like incredibly smart. He doesn't think like other people so when he joins the system of soldiers for rent he quickly climbs rank through his ingenious tactics such as basically committing war crimes and being ahead of schedule.

He's always so damn smart and strong that he's never in danger, which from a storytelling point of view is just a show more horrible main character choice. (Oh but he's so confused by a fickel female, jeez what's he gonna do about that?)

If you've ever watched a video review dissecting one of Onision's books, reading this was a similar experience to that.

There's a illogical woman (of course) but she's of "good breeding" so our dude is intrigued by her. He almost gets wifed up by some lady but he dodges that bullet (am I right men?), and proceeds to advance his career sociopathically

And he just cruises along doing war stuff, takes a brief break to walk on air, and then becomes the commander of chief of all the planets and some dumb "twists" are revealed.

There's a lot to unpack from this book, but in short, it's not good. show less

Dickson’s famous Childe Cycle began with Dorsai! I read this as part of Vintage Sci-Fi Month, sponsored by RedStarReviews. Held up as a prominent example of military science fiction, Dorsai! was nominated for the 1960 Hugo Award, but lost to Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein.
While the overarching plot is the Donal’s interactions with Prince William of Ceta, this is only the stage for the true story – Donal’s growth as a person and the discovering his extra human abilities. This is setting up the reader for the future books.
Flaws: As others have stated, most science fiction and fantasy pre-1980s is rampant with misogyny. This one is not overtly so, but sadly, of the few female characters, only one has any true part in the show more story, and she is stereotypical: emotional, illogical, and capricious. Her purpose in the story was as trophy to the strongest male or, for one character, a promised reward. This is disappointing. You could have replaced her with a box of gold and the story would have been the same. Shame on Dickson for not creating female characters as rich and complex as his male characters.
Good points: I greatly enjoyed Donal’s tactics, plans, and the way he executed his life. The way he outsmarted William of Ceta amused me greatly. He was clever and far-thinking. Dickson created a character who was smart and complex, and sat in a complex and well-built world. The FTL method, the concept of professional or talent being the commodity to trade between worlds, the specializations of human professions – this was brilliant! It captured my thinking, and seemed plausible and possible in our future.
Overall, I enjoyed this vintage sci-fi book, despite his disappointing female characters, and will probably read more by Dickson and more in these series. show less

This book is touted as the foundation of many modern military science fiction novels--really, the beginnings of a new genre within sci fi.

As for the story itself, it is well-paced, with characters who are interesting but not fully formed. We get glimpses of the various settled worlds and their unique societies, but we don't get an in-depth understanding of any of them. The main character, Donal Graeme, is a mystery to himself and others. His meteoric rise in interstellar military ranks drives the plot as much as his journey to discover and accept what makes him different from others.

The last book I read by Gordon R. Dickson was 18 years ago, that was 'Necromancer', also a Dorsai book. It was not a good book.

So now I'm attempting 'Dorsai'.

Oh Dear, Donal, the protagonist is a total plank. Now I'm sure he was written that way, but Gordon went a bit overboard.

Every Chapter the word 'Plank' entered my head repeatedly.

You could argue that 'Donal' is a chunk of wood, that's gradually being carved into a more developed shape.

In the end I did actually enjoy the book. It wasn't a stinkeroo like 'Necromancer' and I shall go on to read 'Tactics of Mistake' and 'Soldier Ask Not' which I'm assured have less plank like core characters.

3.5 Stars.

It's interesting that I'd book end the reading list for my SciFi and Fantasy book discussion group with two novels, published in the same year, both up for the Hugo that year and credited with the rise of military sci-fi. The two novels are Gordon R. Dickson's "Dorsai!" and Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers." Both are heralded as influential and classics of their particular little cul-de-sac of science-fiction literature.

But go into any bookstore today and you'd easily find multiple copies of "Starship Troopers" on the shelf. I'd dare say it'd be a bit more difficult to find a copy of "Dorsai." I'm not saying you wouldn't but it seems that "Troopers" has withstood the test of time while "Dorsai!" has become something of an show more afterthought.

And reading "Dorsai!," I can see why Heinlein's military science-fiction novel has withstood the test of time better than this one has.

It's not that "Dorsai!" is necessarily a terrible novel. I think the problem I had with it is, I don't necessarily think it's a novel. It's a lot of snippets and (at first) unconnected dots about a great military commander and his rise through the ranks. But early on, you'd be hard pressed to say exactly what the driving narrative of the novel is. At times, "Dorsai!" is terribly episodic in nature, with a few characters coming in and out at various points to connect things, but frustratingly not adding up to a complete narrative. The story does start to come together in the last third of the novel, but by then I was so frustrated with the book and the episodic nature that the best narrative tie-up in the world wasn't going to help things.

A lot of it stems from the fact that the main character, Donal Graeme, isn't all that terribly likeable. In the future as created by Dickson, various planets produced people who are more equipped for one particular job or role than another. This leads to a system of barter in the universe with the specialized planets working together out of necessity since while one group is great at one thing, they are terribly weak in another. In many ways, the societies are so limited and defined by one particular characteristic that it becomes a bit off-putting at times. Sort of the same issue you can have with classic "Star Trek" or "Doctor Who" stories--it's hard to believe the entire planet is reflected by one group of people that the heroes just happen to run across. (For example, why does the whole planet subscribe to the "let's all be gangsters" theory in the classic "Trek" episode).

Enter Donal Graeme, who is from the military caste and apparently has some great future. The novel gives us glimpses of his rise and how he's this great military leader. Hints come along that he may be more than he seems and there are moments when you can see the influence "Dorsai!" might have had on Frank Herbert in writing the Dune saga. Donal is clearly meant as some kind of messiah. And that may be where "Dorsai"! goes so wrong for me. It's hard to believe that other military commanders hadn't or couldn't come up with some of the "revoluationary" strategies Donal uses. For example, at one point he attacks a group earlier than expected. Seems to me the element of surprise might be one that military commanders had thought of before now. But the entire novel acts as if this is the greatest military strategy since slice bread.

"Dorsai!" does have a lot of other issues. For one thing, the characters are extremely wooden and the dialogue a bit stilted. A lot of this I chalk up to the era "Dorsai!" was written. The writers then may have had a lot of brilliant ideas, but sometimes writing a realistic conversation was a bit of stretch. But at least with Asimov and Heinlein, you had some characters that actually felt better realized than what we get here.

And if you're looking for some strong female characters, this is not the book for you. The universe here is extremely misogynistic. And there are some odd overtones, especially when woman after woman throws herself at Donal, only for himself to truly be his best around the men, esp. his servant, Lee. It could just be the mind-set of today talking but intended or not, it's still there. I wonder how readers in the 1960's might have reacted.

All of that said, I still don't think this is the worst novel I've read. Certainly there is Heinlein with stronger misogynistic slants and it's not like Asimov was always strong on the character or creating fully realized worlds. (While I love Foundation, the worlds there are, at times, extremely one-dimensional as well). But it's interesting to read a novel that clearly influenced a lot of other writers (the novel could even been seen as a bit of a pre-cursor to Stephen King's Dark Tower series), but yet isn't exactly still as well respected or remembered today.

I kept having to remind myself this was once up for a Hugo. But having a Hugo nominee not live up to the test of time isn't anything new. Looking back on recent Hugo nominees, it's puzzling sometimes at what does make the short list. I wonder how many of those will be like "Dorsai!" in a few years--seen in the shadow of the eventual winner. show less