World Without Stars

This one would have been brilliant if it had been about three times as long. As it is, it is a good read that just has too much packed into too small a space.

The spaceship Meteor, stranded on a planet in intergalactic space, where stars are not visible, only the distant, god-like Milky Way. Led by Hugh Valland, the survivors must navigate a planet-wide tribal war between primitive, kangaroo-like Azkashi and Niao, who are enslaved by telepathic beings, to build a new ship and return home, sustained by Valland's love for his Earth-bound sweetheart, Mary.

A sci-fi novella I read in high school from the 1970's. PA does a good job of explaining his universe, status of earth, the aliens, and faster than light travel. His intergalactic stars and planets were a unique plot. His characters were clunky but the way they defeated the bad guys in the one battle worked. The novel could have been expanded to describe the 40 year travail of getting off planet but that was done in one paragraph. The ending back on earth had a bit of a twist. An added surprise was that it occurred on the coast of Maine.