Iceworld |
Review by |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Astounding Science Fiction: October, November, & December 1951 Gnome Press: New York, 1953 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
collected in — The Essential Hal Clement, Volume 1 Trio for Slide Rule and Typewriter |
March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thinking hot and cold
The alien is observing from a starship:
![]()
The mitigating circumstances are mutual, because we have two viewpoint threads alternating here, that of Sallman Ken who is evolved to live comfortably on his quite hot home-planet; Ken is a science teacher, not a scientist or expert but possessing a good general scientific knowledge. The other viewpoint is that of several members of a Terrestrial family who of course are evolved to live comfortably on our quite cold planet. The characters all are engaging, and Iceworld weaves their viewpoints, thoughts, and actions very well. The family on Earth includes young people of various ages, so this is a fine novel for teenagers as well as adults. Sallman Ken has been brought to Earth — or at least as close to it as the Iceworld's destructive climate will allow — to solve a technical problem for a criminal syndicate of his race. They want a product found on Earth, one which is extremely valuable but so far unsynthesizable. What is it, in its natural state? How to boost their profits by getting or creating more of it? As defined, a general scientific problem, which is why the syndicate has engaged a schoolteacher with an all-around scientific knowledge. This in fact is Clement's own background and profession, so despite Ken's alienness, his character is drawn true to life. The obvious physical barrier and scientific challenge is the scarcely imaginable temperature contrast between the aliens and the world of their interest. A differently tricky difficulty is that the rather unadventurous Ken has been talked into acting as an undercover investigator for his homeworld police. Naturally, the humans on the ground have their own motivations. Very enjoyable.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2010 Robert Wilfred Franson |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coining at Troynovant |
Detection at Troynovant |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|