Customer Reviews

Earthblood

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this many years ago a a teenager, I felt that it spoke to the yearning that many of us have to "do" something important with our lives. Over the years I have revisited this book several times until, during a move, it was lost.
Looking this book after a space of about 20 years I can more easily see its flaws (ethnocentrism), but in spite of that I believe that if anything this was an honest attempt to tell a good story.
This is one story that is begging to be made into a movie, I hope that someday it is and that the focus is maintained and the special effects are done as well as they can be with today's technology.

As with many other reviewers, I first read this book when it came out (I still have my SF Book Club edition) and re-read it every few years. It is as perfect an example of the 'space opera' genre as you could ask for: a tragic and somewhat flawed main character with a mysterious origin, driven to find what happened to the now-vanished Terran empire. One reviewer here (Steve Duff) criticized it as brutal and violent; I suggest he go read some biographies of Alexander the Great.

Again, as with others, echoes of this book stay with me. The child Roan growing up among aliens and Terran hybrids and struggling to hold his own. His joining, of all things, an interstellar circus, and then a crew of interstellar pirates. Searching for Terra, the homeworld, and what he finds there. And all along the way, making mistakes, hurting those who love him the most, and suffering bittersweet loss.

A great read, and one that will stay with you, too.

I first read this book at the age of 13. Before I was 20 I'd read it 14 times. Now, at 42, I've read it again, and my opinion has changed greatly. This novel has many things right with it but oh so many things wrong.

Unusually for a science fiction novel, it starts before the main character is born. The book is wildly colorful and bathed in blood from the very beginning, as Roan Cornay's future parents are attacked shortly after purchasing him as an embryo. After birth, Roan begins to learn of his unique heritage as a Terran, member of a race which once ruled the galaxy until they were challenged by the powerful Niss. The war between the Terrans and Niss ended, seemingly, in mutual destruction 5,000 years earlier, and now Terrans are rare in the galaxy.

Roan grows up in poverty among many races of aliens on a dirty, backwater world. Logical problems manifest themselves immediately, as the book begins to play on its theme of human superiority by showing us species with limited abilities, primarily lacking the capacity for creative thought and relying instead on pre-programmed instinct. Unfortunately, the point is carried to ludicrous extremes with a species called Gracyls (actually, the name for a species of crow) who, despite an ability to fly, cling to trees in blind panic when attacked by lumbering saurians. Laumer and Brown obviously gave little thought to the process of Darwinian evolution. On our world, even the stupidest flying insects fly away when attacked. In the Laumer and Brown universe, winged beings with written language and technology have failed to manage this instinctive response. So much for the science in this science fiction novel.

Rosel George Brown was a female writer who came late to the field of letters. Keith Laumer was a devotee of Raymond Chandler novels and aped his style. However, the melding of the two writers produced a hyper-macho tale with zero feminine edge. The style is brash and the plot soon decomes drowned in a sea of brutality.

When Roan is a teenager, he's kidnapped by a traveling space circus. This is probably the best extended sequence in the book. The beings are colorful and credit must be given to Laumer and Brown for doing good work on the backstories of various characters. The character of Iron Robert is especially compelling.

Laumer's affinity for the Chandleresque tough-guy style gives this book a meaner edge than any other sf adventure I've read, and in many ways a more believable one. The novel is driven by the passions of even relatively minor characters such as the angry Itch. This gives the book a certain gut-level realism that's refreshing in the often plot-oriented world of sf.

Roan Cornay proves to be a tremendous brawler. Unlike most other sf heroes, Roan is willing to go to any length, however vicious, to win a fight. He doesn't merely beat his opponents, he mangles, disfigures and cripples them. Indeed, he's something of a sociopath.

We can commend the bravery Laumer and Brown showed in creating such a flawed character. Roan, driven by the anger and violence within him, makes many mistakes and senselessly kills several people.

Roan is captured by space pirates who raid the circus. This eventually leads to a scene on the planet Aldo Cerise which, in my view, is the single most beautiful passage in the book. However, it also has its share of logic flaws.

As the book rushes towards its conclusion, the level of violence and illogical plot twists rises. Death loses its dramatic impact. Situations and plot twists become more contrived and unbelievable, and almost always result in someone (often many someones) being killed. The violence, the macho posturing and platitudes, become wearying. Also wearying is all the lunkhead tough-guy dialog.

This is unfortunate. While it's true that "Earthblood" is entirely lacking in speculative rigor and instead intensifies the shopworn elements of space opera, it's also true that the scope of this book exceeds that of any other space opera I've encountered. This novel could have been a masterpiece if handled with more restraint, if it had been allowed greater length so as to avoid the rushed feeling of its conclusion, and if the characterization had been more nuanced. It would have been better without silly 'love at first sight' disease. It would have been better if...

There are too many ifs. In the end this is a very flawed book. In many ways it's a fairly dumb novel, a comic-book novel. The final scene is practically imbecilic. From my own experience, I'd say it's a great novel to read when you're a teenager. It would also make a fantastic movie. Older readers will want to think twice about this one.

Finally, I wanted to rate this book two-and-a-half stars, but that wasn't available, so for the sake of sentiment I went with a higher rating.

Like other reviewers, I first read this book in my teens in the late 60's. It immediately clicked with me and I've reread the book at least once every five years since.

We don't know what's happened to humanity, but its legacy is a proud one. And embryos with human genes are prized above all others. Roan is 'purchased' as an embryo, brought to term and raised by his adopted parents, and spends his life seeking his roots. His trials and adventures appeal to teenagers and teenagers-at-heart with questions of 'Who am I?', 'Where did I come from?', 'Why am I different from everyone else?', 'What makes me unique?'.

Roan's parents bankrupt themselves for the opportunity to purchase a son that may actually be human. As a boy living a poor, integrated neighborhood (with all forms of aliens), Roan experiences poverty, prejudice, fear, and dreams for a better life. A traveling, galactic circus gives Roan a chance to experience a new life, where friendship, love, loyalty, and competition give him a chance to develop and forge new relationships while exploring the possibilities of his heritage.

After a pirate attack on the circus, Roan learns to exercise some control over his environment and to become a leader. Roan ultimately traces his lineage back to Terra, where he acts to replace the decadent descendents of humanity with a race that will one day reclaim its place in determining the destiny of the galaxy.

Although I read this book over 30 years ago, the story has not been forgotten. I actually did a report on this story in grade school (Now I'm 47!) A really great adventure of imagery in true exotic science fiction fashion. Our hero is Roan Cornay, a very rare "pure blood Terran". Although a test tube baby born from an alien woman, his genes originate from the now mythic planet once known as Terra (Earth), a planet that at one time in the ancient past, ruled the galaxy. In the present ultra-future time, Roan learns of his legendary home world and then proceeds to dedicate his efforts to find his home world Terra, a planet most believe never existed. Many adventures along the way. The book is a true classic!

A top notch story that should be made into a movie. If done right it could easily be a box office hit and make millions! Any good screen play writers out there looking for work?

I first read "Earthblood" in college back in the late 60's, I had borrowed it from a friend. A few years later, I was looking to get a copy for myself but it was out of print! Then, years later, while walking by a Library sale of old books I came across a hard copy edition of it and purchased it for $.25! This is a book that should always be around for teenagers to read and love. Let it stay in print forever!

This is one of the few books I read more than once as a teenager. In fact, I was reading it on February 9th, 1971 at 6:01 a.m. when the big Sylmar earthquake hit. What a rude way to have a good book interrupted. Anyway, it's a great science fiction book and it doesn't always cause earthquakes.

Fast paced and marvelously inventive, with a wealth of characters, settings, and events. You'll look at the last page number and wonder where the authors put all that great stuff in a book of such ordinary length. Unabashadly self-congratulatory in its theme of humanity's superiority over all other species, largely due to the average human's refusal to give up in the face of pain or adversity.

This is a book i read many years ago.It has alway's stuck in my Mind as one of the greatest stories i have ever read.It has everything a good story needs. A beginning ,middle and a great ending. It fulfils all areas of the life of the main Charector ,and the supporting charectors.It never leaves you hanging on what or how or where they became a part of the story or why. I have bought about 4 copy's of this book in my lifetime so far.Everytime i lose one or wair one out.One young mans fight for survival,the history of mankind and the people and races he helps along the way.Including the human race. As our real forfathers did.It shows great kindess and justices ,even to the enemy's of his and mankinds.The words Duty,Honor<Justice,Love Kindness,And Humility Are all part of this story. If ever you read this it will be part of you forever.

E.M.(DOC) Smith

I first read this book many years ago as a teenager (was it Asimov who said the Golden Age of Science Fiction is thirteen?), and have read it again several times since then. It's even better with age. It's a classic, unapologetically politically-incorrect tale of a human child who claws his way to the top in a universe after the downfall of the Terran Empire. If you like classic Heinlein (not the bizarre self-indulgent stuff he cranked out in his last years), you'll love this book.