Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Ace Books (1962), Edition: 1st Paperback, Mass Market Paperback
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: 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?.
User reviews
LibraryThing member bzedan
Apache v. Tartar! In space! And there are Reds, and coyotes! And some time travel, though mostly mental, oh my goodness Norton how I adore you.
LibraryThing member stevetempo
I thought this the weakest of Ms. Norton's Time Travel Series that I've read so far.
The story involves Western Agents, whose minds (through technology) have been reverting back to their Apache cultural past, along with Red Agents (presumably the USSR and China) and their Mongolian "mind slaves."
The plot centers on the Western Agents preventing the Reds from acquiring advanced alien technology. The story is mostly a lot of action and not much insight (not my formula for good reading. The book doesn't describe any new races or cultures (that haven't already been described by other books of the series.) It does compare and contrast the cultures of the Apache and the Mongol. Unfortunately the book doesn't develop this the way it could have.
The story involves Western Agents, whose minds (through technology) have been reverting back to their Apache cultural past, along with Red Agents (presumably the USSR and China) and their Mongolian "mind slaves."
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The Reds have also used a technology (it appears the same on Western Agents are using) for the Mongols to operate with their cultural past mindset. The reason for the culture linking technology is to prepare time travel agents to go back into time. The Reds though also have a technology that turns the Mongols into obedient slaves. The plot centers on the Western Agents preventing the Reds from acquiring advanced alien technology. The story is mostly a lot of action and not much insight (not my formula for good reading. The book doesn't describe any new races or cultures (that haven't already been described by other books of the series.) It does compare and contrast the cultures of the Apache and the Mongol. Unfortunately the book doesn't develop this the way it could have.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
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
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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 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
LibraryThing member ScoLgo
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
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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. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tatoosh
“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
The U. S. A. mission is entrusted to a crew consisting primarily of men and women of Apache heritage. The emergency requires shortcuts in 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.”
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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 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.”
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LibraryThing member JohnFair
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
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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 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
LibraryThing member MyFathersDragon
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
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 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.
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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 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.
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Subjects
Original publication date
1962
Physical description
6.9 inches
ISBN
0441061834 / 9780441061839
Other editions
Defiant Agents (Ross Murdock Series, No 3) by Andre Norton (Paperback)