Dorsai!

by Gordon R. Dickson

Paperback, 1978

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

Sphere (1978), Paperback

Description

The result of hundreds of years of controlled genetic development, Donal Graeme--the finest of the galaxy's elite Dorsai warriors--embarks on a mission vital to the survival of the human race.

User reviews

LibraryThing member bigorangemichael
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
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"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 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.
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LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
This is the first of the Childe Cycle, a series of 11 books that was written across almost 50 years. I've read most of the series, some books twice, but I've never managed to read them in order or even within the same decade. By some odd chance, I wound up getting the entire series, except for the
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last book, so I think I'll read them all again in published order, since I haven't seen any list that suggests a better one. If anyone has an opinion, I'd be interested in hearing it shortly. I'm starting "Necromancer" now.

This is one of the better, if not a definitive books in space warfare. In reading it 50 years after it was first published, I'm amazed at how many of the ideas have been used by others. I'm also surprised at how well it aged. Much better than so many other old SF books, so I'm giving it 5 stars for being the start of something real good. The old rating was 4 stars, which is probably more realistic.

Childe Cycle
1. Dorsai! (1959)
aka The Genetic General
2. Necromancer (1962)
aka No Room for Man
3. Soldier, Ask Not (1967)
4. The Tactics of Mistake (1971)
5. The Spirit of Dorsai (1979)
6. Lost Dorsai (1980)
7. The Final Encyclopedia (1984)
8. The Chantry Guild (1988)
9. Young Bleys (1991)
10. Other (1994)
11. Antagonist (2007) (with David W Wixon)
Dorsai Spirit (omnibus) (2002)
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Dickson's Dorsai universe is a fun place to visit, and is an example of the general paradigm of population evolution, biologically speaking. A Population of a species is split among several isolated ecologies, evolves for the special circumstances of that environment, and is then re-united with the
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other strains of its parent stock. Either the differences prove to be irrelevant to the species as a whole and disappear or they are useful and the new wrinkles are added to the basic equipment of the parent species. Thus the pattern is applied to talents in human society. As I said, adequate entertainment.
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LibraryThing member ElementalDragon
An interesting read, and an interesting start to what I hope to be an interesting series. This is actually the second book in this series I have read (I read Soldier, Ask Not a while back, not initially knowing it was part of this series), and I must say I'm intrigued by the concepts put forth in
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this book.
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LibraryThing member jaalto
Donal Graeme, young soldier, gets caught up with Anea Marlivana, a Select of Kultis, and her owner, Prince William of Ceta who is dangerous to all of human civilization. Donal isn't aware of his destiny, but powers of his intuition guides him to rise up the military rank to meet his to-be-opponent
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William.

The events are set in a predictable pathway, which is engaging enough, but don't expect any dramatic tension. In the light of published year, 1959, the writer has been wise to concentrate on humanity in general to keep the story classic. Terseness helps to keep the book from seeming dated: there is little description, a good thing to keep imagination at work. If you can keep in mind the publishing year, it's easy to forgive few dints that are typical to the era. Anea is emotional woman which Donald can't understand; still the woman is facinated by this stronger male. The interactions between the two are shattered by bursts of conflicts and Donal is eager to prove her wrong by taking more challenges. This traditional love story in its lightness is somewhat dulcet and fits to the overall tone of the novel. Donal is designed to win every obstacle which can suck all the suspense right away from some of the readers. But that was pretty obvious from the start.

Four (4) stars. The story goes beyond being just a soldier adventure and therefore offers only glimpses from the military angle. The gist of the red clew is to unwind Donal's purpose in the development of the humanity as a whole. Instead of expecting suspense this is more like modern prince, princess and fight against evil dictator to take his throne. A tale well told. Good, fast read, enough sweeping action and excitement, hints of romance which is sparkingly left in the shadows, female characters are used as catalysts. The story is left intriguingly open to see what is the course to follow this new genetic human, Donal.
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LibraryThing member Rubygarnet
Old school and spectacularly cheesey; I read it mostly to get a passel of filk injokes.
LibraryThing member empress8411
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
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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 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 live. 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.
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LibraryThing member brakketh
Found it very refreshing to read some classic sci-fi after reading a number of present day thrillers. Can see some impacts of this text on many later science fiction classics.
LibraryThing member antao
(Original Review, 1980-08-24)

On the question of Dickson's Dorsai or Childe cycle: I understand that originally there were to be 9 books. 3 historical fiction, 3 present day fiction, and 3 SF. I also read that publishers were unwilling to put out SF books of the size of the 3 proposed so they were
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each split in half. So far only 4 books have been published (or so I believe, correct me if I am wrong). These are "Necromancer", "Tactics of Mistake", "Dorsai!", and "Soldier Ask Not". That is the order of their internal chronology (i.e., read them in that order), not the order of their publication. Dickson is said to be working on at least two more books in the cycle at this time. I don't know about anyone else but I EAGERLY await these two books. In addition to the books there are several short stories associated with the cycle. Three of these are gathered together with a thin connecting tissue in "Spirit of Dorsai" (I'm not positive of the title, it should be in books in print though), one of these is the very strong story "Brothers" from the collection "Astounding" published in memory of John Campbell. The related stories also include "Lulungomeena", "The Lost Dorsai" (published recently in Destinies), and "Man of War" (as usual I'm not sure of the title, this is an older story and I'm not sure where to find it).

Two other Dickson books, "Home From the Shore" and "The Space Swimmers", deal with a theme/subject (I don't know which word to use) similar to that of the Childe cycle.

Listing the future segment of the Childe Cycle is a confusing task. Over the years that Dickson has been writing it, he has published material from the cycle in a variety of forms, from short story to novel, and under several names. Now as the future portion of the cycle nears completion the various pieces are being brought together with the appropriate framing material. The confusion comes in determining out how older work has been rearranged, expanded, and retitled.

According to an Ace advertisement, they will bring out the 5 books of the future segment of the Childe cycle in trade paperback form. Currently, 4 of the 5 books are available. They are DORSAI!; SOLDIER, ASK NOT; THE SPIRIT OF THE DORSAI; and LOST DORSAI. LOST DORSAI includes excerpts from the fifth book to be entitled THE FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. Steve has explained THE SPIRIT OF DORSAI. A cursory bookstore examination of LOST DORSAI indicates that it is a minor reworking of the Destinies novella. The excerpt and illustrations fill it out to full size.

I am not sure how all of the earlier titles which Steve lists will map into the 5 Ace books, if indeed all of them will. However, I have one speculation to offer on the basis of the framing material in the SF Book Club's THREE TO DORSAI, a single volume collection of "Necromancer", "Tactics of Mistake", and "Dorsai!" I suspect that THE FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA will include the material in "Necromancer" and turn the future segment of the Childe Cycle into a non-recursive time loop.

The Dorsai books don't glorify war so much as humanity. Dickson claims to be describing the growth of a social consciousness. One of the major hallmarks of the Dorsai soldiers is that they win wars with the minimum of bloodshed. And that they honor their contracts, debts, and obligations. This extends to all phases of their lives. They also don't seem to hassle you for being whatever you are, unless you hassle them. Read the story "The Lost Dorsai" to see what I mean.

[2018 EDIT: I read the Dorsai cycle in its entirety back in the day several times over.]

[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.]
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LibraryThing member ikeman100
In my quest to review SF books from the Classic Era (1950s-60s) I am sampling authors I missed when I was reading SF as a teen. Dickson was one of them. I'm a little amazed at how much he wrote and how many awards for which he was nominated. He was born in the 1920s which made him a contemporary of
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most of the great Classic SF writers. He had short stories in over 20 different SF pulp publications and at least 40 novels.

I have been putting off reading this book. It just didn't interest me. Part of this is the senselessness of being a professional soldier just to be hired and die for any "dirt ball" tyrant that happens to be in power. In spite of this I found myself liking our hero as the story followed the progression of his career and life. Better then I expected but I will not be reading the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member kmartin802
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
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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 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.
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Awards

Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1960)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1959

Physical description

175 p.; 17.8 cm

ISBN

0722129823 / 9780722129821

Local notes

Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser nogle bevæbnede mænd på jorden under nogle høje bygninger, der er bygget af facon som paddehatte
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Dorsai-trilogien, bind 3

Pages

175

Rating

½ (277 ratings; 3.6)

DDC/MDS

813.54
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