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In The Defiant Agents, prolific science fiction writer Andre Norton offers up the best of both worlds: an action-packed read that is truly thought-provoking, as well. Subjected to an experimental procedure against their will, members of several ethnic groups have reverted back to the ways of their distant ancestors and are forced to try to survive on a primitive planet. Will they comply with the aims of this ethically dubious experiment, or will the test have unforeseen consequences?.
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2.5 stars. Originally posted at Fantasy Literature. http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-defiant-agents/
The Defiant Agents is the third book in Andre Norton??s TIME TRADERS series about a secret United States government program that uses time travel to solve geopolitical problems, especially those involving the Cold War with the Russians. In the first book, The Time Traders, we met Ross Murdock, a criminal who avoided his sentence by signing on with the Time Traders and discovering the source of the RussiansÂ?? new powers. In the second book, Galactic Derelict, we met Travis Fox, an Apache who joined the Time Traders and was sent to recover an alien spaceship.
In this third book, the United States has tossed all ethics out show more the window and decided that the end justifies the means. TheyÂ??ve used a process called Redax on Travis Fox and some other unknowing Apache volunteers which causes them to forget their modern selves and embrace their inner Apache. The government sends them to a newly discovered primitive planet where they hope the Apaches, now channeling their ancestors, will be able to subdue it. Meanwhile the Russians have used the same process on the descendents of the Mongols and sent them to the same planet. Thus we have a U.S. /Russian war being fought between Apaches and Mongols on a distant world.
Sounds a little silly, but if you can get past the premise (which I had trouble doing), you�?ll find a story containing the kind of action and angst that Andre Norton�?s fans love. There are even telepathic wolves, which is really cool. This is not one of Norton�?s best stories, however. It doesn�?t at all feel organic and, with the exception of Travis Fox, the �?Reds� and �?Mongols� are simply stereotypes. It feels more like Norton wanted to write a story about Native Americans in a science fiction context and, indeed, I�?ve read in several places that this book was written after one of Norton�?s friends complained that there were no science fiction books where Native Americans were the protagonists.
IÂ??m looking forward to book four, Key Out of Time, which again focuses on Ross Murdock. I want to find out about the advanced alien race that may be providing technology to the Russians.
All of the books in the TIME TRADERS series are now in the public domain and can be found for free online. I bought the free Kindle version and then used the Whispersync deal to buy the audio version with Paul BoehmerÂ??s narration for $1.99. IÂ??d recommend this version if you want to read The Defiant Agents. show less
The Defiant Agents is the third book in Andre Norton??s TIME TRADERS series about a secret United States government program that uses time travel to solve geopolitical problems, especially those involving the Cold War with the Russians. In the first book, The Time Traders, we met Ross Murdock, a criminal who avoided his sentence by signing on with the Time Traders and discovering the source of the RussiansÂ?? new powers. In the second book, Galactic Derelict, we met Travis Fox, an Apache who joined the Time Traders and was sent to recover an alien spaceship.
In this third book, the United States has tossed all ethics out show more the window and decided that the end justifies the means. TheyÂ??ve used a process called Redax on Travis Fox and some other unknowing Apache volunteers which causes them to forget their modern selves and embrace their inner Apache. The government sends them to a newly discovered primitive planet where they hope the Apaches, now channeling their ancestors, will be able to subdue it. Meanwhile the Russians have used the same process on the descendents of the Mongols and sent them to the same planet. Thus we have a U.S. /Russian war being fought between Apaches and Mongols on a distant world.
Sounds a little silly, but if you can get past the premise (which I had trouble doing), you�?ll find a story containing the kind of action and angst that Andre Norton�?s fans love. There are even telepathic wolves, which is really cool. This is not one of Norton�?s best stories, however. It doesn�?t at all feel organic and, with the exception of Travis Fox, the �?Reds� and �?Mongols� are simply stereotypes. It feels more like Norton wanted to write a story about Native Americans in a science fiction context and, indeed, I�?ve read in several places that this book was written after one of Norton�?s friends complained that there were no science fiction books where Native Americans were the protagonists.
IÂ??m looking forward to book four, Key Out of Time, which again focuses on Ross Murdock. I want to find out about the advanced alien race that may be providing technology to the Russians.
All of the books in the TIME TRADERS series are now in the public domain and can be found for free online. I bought the free Kindle version and then used the Whispersync deal to buy the audio version with Paul BoehmerÂ??s narration for $1.99. IÂ??d recommend this version if you want to read The Defiant Agents. show less
Somewhat dated but still eminently readable cold-war era adventure fiction. The only wrinkle is that it takes place on another planet and features a bit of hand-wavy whiz-bang technology. Otherwise, it is straight-up Cowboys & Indians - with the Indians & Cowboys ultimately teaming up against the Russian bad guys, (the 'Reds'). Doesn't sound very good when described that way but I breezed through this book in seemingly no time at all. Norton writes a decent adventure and does a great job of keeping things moving along toward a (somewhat) predictable outcome.
Very up in the air. The whole story is as much about them - the Apaches, and the Mongols - trying to regain their mental feet and relearn their new selves as it is about the external conflict. The scene where Manulito reminds Travis that he, Manulito, went to MIT is lovely - Travis has been thinking of himself as the only one who remembered current times. Though in this case he had a point, since Manulito was one of Deklay's followers, one of those a long way in the past. Anyway. Nasty setup, both what was done to the Apaches and what was done to the Mongols - makes me wonder what was planned for the American settlement. I do like Travis, even when he's being an idiot. The coyotes are a little too convenient - why do they stay by the show more towers? Authorial fiat, using then to steer Travis. The magic weapons are also a bit convenient, though they bring their own complications with them. And Travis' conclusion - the lonely guardians - is a bit ingenuous. Are there enough of them, with the two groups combined, to make a real long-term settlement? Do they really have what they'll need? Seems unlikely. And if they die out, they're not doing much guarding. Don't know, it's a very fuzzy ending. I like Travis better than Ross, as a person, but his stories seem rather pointless. Well, I'll almost certainly reread it, sometime, as part of rereading the series. show less
The sci-fi equivalent of a beach read: a fast moving plot that doesn’t stand up to much thinking, full of attitudes and stereotypes from the early 60s when it was originally written
A small group of Apaches, including Travis Fox, are regressed to their ancestral memories to colonize a planet before the Russians reach it. Despite their efforts, they do not arrive first. The Russians have done the same to a small group of Mongols, but they are being controlled - enslaved - by Russian overlords (Reds).
This book was published in 1962, so is representative of the Cold War. The Russian had a deep plant in the American organization that was planning to establish a colony on the planet Topaz. Once they discovered that the information about it had been copied, they rushed through the process to prepare the colonists regardless of the harm it might cause them. The Russians had done the same to theirs. Both sides did it in show more an effort to be the first to possibly discover something important left by a now gone extraterrestrial civilization, possibly weapons that could destroy the other side. The book shows some animosity between the two groups that have memories of having been enemies during the times before they were regressed, but they realize they must work together so they will all be safe. Enemies working together for survival is a relatively common theme, but it is an entertaining adventure, regardless. show less
This book was published in 1962, so is representative of the Cold War. The Russian had a deep plant in the American organization that was planning to establish a colony on the planet Topaz. Once they discovered that the information about it had been copied, they rushed through the process to prepare the colonists regardless of the harm it might cause them. The Russians had done the same to theirs. Both sides did it in show more an effort to be the first to possibly discover something important left by a now gone extraterrestrial civilization, possibly weapons that could destroy the other side. The book shows some animosity between the two groups that have memories of having been enemies during the times before they were regressed, but they realize they must work together so they will all be safe. Enemies working together for survival is a relatively common theme, but it is an entertaining adventure, regardless. show less
This book is set a year or so after Travis Fox's sudden introduction to the Time Agents and their travels into the past. With a working spaceship, the main focus of the Project has moved to colonising planets and with the journey tapes looted from the deserted alien city, the Western Confederation thought it had stolen a lead on the Reds. a position they find is in error when they find they have been hosting a deep buried enemy mole in their ranks. With the race now on to colonise suitable worlds, Fox and his fellow Apache volunteers find their schedule moved up and the dreaded Redax used to pull up race memories. When their ship crashlands after an attack from an already established colony, the apaches are left between two worlds and show more trying to make sense of a third, but they find that the Red colony was using mind control on it's regressed Mongol colonists to make sure they didn't stray too far. As Fox and his colleagues, now including a party of free Mongols, explore, they run across a Baldie outpost that offers the best chance to overthrow the Mongol's overlords. Although primarily an adventure story, we do get a look at the moralities behind some of the actions we see in this story, most notably, what sort of justification is there for forcing people into new paths, and the use of one evil to overcome an other, and the temptations access to this will have. This is one of the few Andre Norton books where females take up a leading role at this point in time. It's also the last time we get to see Travis Fox. show less
“The Defiant Agents” is the third in a series of science fiction novels involving space and time travel by Andre Norton. It follows “The Time Traders” and “Galactic Derelict”. In this episode, a “Red” spy has learned of the USA discovered a distant planet suitable for colonization and has plans to establish a colony on the planet. The espionage may have occurred as long as 18 months earlier, so American leaders are concerned that the U. S. S. R. may have completed a crash program and dispatched a crew to claim the planet. The government decides to send a crew to the planet immediately.
The U. S. A. mission is entrusted to a crew consisting primarily of men and women of Apache heritage. The emergency requires shortcuts in show more mission planning and crew training so while in transit the Apaches are subjected to a process that overlays their personality and understanding of the modern world with the attitudes, traits, and skills of their 19th-century ancestors. Their ship crashes on arrival, killing all the crew members who are aware of the indoctrination and purpose of the mission. Among the survivors, only Travis Fox, who has prior experience with space travel, retains his understanding of the regression procedure and modern social and scientific values. Some of the other Apaches retain a less clear understanding of modern science, attitudes, and values but those are completely suppressed in others.
Andre Norton is the primary pen name of science fiction, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction author Alice Mary Norton. She also used Andrew North and Allen Weston as pen names. A contemporary of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, Norton’s works, like many of theirs, were written for a teenage and young adult male audience. Her protagonists were typically a young male who varied in age from the mid-teens to mid-twenties. A unique feature of many of Norton’s tales is the telepathic connection the protagonist establishes with a large hunting animal: a mating pair of coyotes in The Defiant Agents. This allows Norton to magnify the sensory and fighting capabilities of the protagonist.
The Defiant Agents has aged better than much of the mid-twentieth century science fiction. It is better than the two proceeding novels in this series, for example, but it lacks the tension and innovation of better contemporary science fiction I have read recently such as Gerald Brandt’s “The courier” and Andy Weir’s “The Martian ” and “Artemis.” Readers interested in revisiting or gaining an initial impression of mid-twentieth-century science fiction could select this novel or Andre Norton’s “Daybreak, 2250 A. D., but better choices I have read recently are William Greenleaf’s “Starjacked,” and Robert A. Heinlein’s “Farmer in the Sky.” show less
The U. S. A. mission is entrusted to a crew consisting primarily of men and women of Apache heritage. The emergency requires shortcuts in show more mission planning and crew training so while in transit the Apaches are subjected to a process that overlays their personality and understanding of the modern world with the attitudes, traits, and skills of their 19th-century ancestors. Their ship crashes on arrival, killing all the crew members who are aware of the indoctrination and purpose of the mission. Among the survivors, only Travis Fox, who has prior experience with space travel, retains his understanding of the regression procedure and modern social and scientific values. Some of the other Apaches retain a less clear understanding of modern science, attitudes, and values but those are completely suppressed in others.
Andre Norton is the primary pen name of science fiction, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction author Alice Mary Norton. She also used Andrew North and Allen Weston as pen names. A contemporary of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, Norton’s works, like many of theirs, were written for a teenage and young adult male audience. Her protagonists were typically a young male who varied in age from the mid-teens to mid-twenties. A unique feature of many of Norton’s tales is the telepathic connection the protagonist establishes with a large hunting animal: a mating pair of coyotes in The Defiant Agents. This allows Norton to magnify the sensory and fighting capabilities of the protagonist.
The Defiant Agents has aged better than much of the mid-twentieth century science fiction. It is better than the two proceeding novels in this series, for example, but it lacks the tension and innovation of better contemporary science fiction I have read recently such as Gerald Brandt’s “The courier” and Andy Weir’s “The Martian ” and “Artemis.” Readers interested in revisiting or gaining an initial impression of mid-twentieth-century science fiction could select this novel or Andre Norton’s “Daybreak, 2250 A. D., but better choices I have read recently are William Greenleaf’s “Starjacked,” and Robert A. Heinlein’s “Farmer in the Sky.” show less
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Born Alice Mary Norton on February 17, 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton in 1934. She attended the Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve) for a year then took evening courses in journalism and writing that were offered by Cleveland College, the adult division of show more the same university. Norton was a librarian for the Cleveland Library System then a reader at Gnome Press. After that position, she became a full-time writer. She is most noted for writing fantasy, in particular the Witch World series. Her first book The Prince of Commands was published in 1934. Other titles include Ralestone Luck, Magic in Ithkar, Voorloper, Uncharted Stars, The Gifts of Asti and All Cats are Gray. She also wrote under the pen names Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston She was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and the Nebula Grand Master Award. She has also received a Phoenix Award for overall writing achievement, a Jules Verne Award, and a Science Fiction Book Club Book of the Year Award for her title The Elvenbane. In 1997 she was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. She died on March 17, 2005. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Ace (14234)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Schiffbruch der Zeitagenten
- Original title
- The Defiant Agents
- Original publication date
- 1962
- People/Characters
- Gordon Ashe; Buck; Florian Waldour; Deklay; James Ruthven; Travis Fox (show all 21); Lassiter Camdon; Hulagur; Jil-Lee; Nalik'ideyu; Naginlta; Kelgarries (Colonel); Menlik; Naginlta (coyote, He-Who-Scouts-Ahead); Nali'ideyu (coyote, Maiden-Who-Walks-Ridges); Tsoay; Nolan; Kaydessa (of the Golden Horde); Jagatai; Kuchar; Aljar
- Important places
- Topaz (planet)
- Dedication
- For P. Schuyler Miller
Who expressed a wish for some Apache colonists,
and Charles F Kelley
who has a liking for "time agent" tales.
For P. Schuyler Miller
who expressed a wish for some Apache colonists,
and Charles F. Kelley
who has a liking for "time agent" tales. - First words
- No windows broke any of the four plain walls of the office; there was no focus of outer-world sunlight on the desk there.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Travis told himself with defiance and determination - better so!
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Better so, Travis told himself with defiance and determination -- better so! - Disambiguation notice
- My copy is to early for ISBNs, but the ISBN on the spine is: 441-14234-125
It would be preceded with a
0 = Published in the United States,
441 = Ace Publishing Company and the
125 would be the 1.25 purchase pri... (show all)ce,
so 0-441-1423-4
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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