Dark Piper

By Andre Norton

Book Overview

In a future where humanity has scattered itself across the stars and Earth itself is now a dimly-remembered place of legend, two worlds of near-supernatural strangeness challenge two naive but... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449243281
• ISBN13: 9780449243282
• Release Date: May 1981
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.09 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Time of Troubles

Dark Piper (1968) is a standalone SF novel. During the ten years of the Four Sectors War, Beltane had lost most of its security and technical men. Those that remained became even more work focused and pacifistic, especially after the Corfu incident. Now the war has ended, not by victory but mutual exhaustion. The Beltane population rejoices that their forced separation from the outside worlds will no longer continue. They are looking forward to word of new scientific advances and renewed trade with other planets. The end of the war will surely bring good things to their world. In this novel, Vere Collis is the son of the former Security Commander on Beltane. On the day that a fifth-rate tramp brings the Beltane survivors back home, Vere recognizes Griss Lugard among the other halt and lame. He was much too thin and had a partially restored face, but Vere recognized his father's former second in command. Lugard has been given title to Butte Hold and all that it contains in lieu of back pay. The old security hold is probably the sturdiest structure on the planet. Shortly before the war started, Lugard had discovered artifacts in a lava cave nearby. According to his papers, Lugard is assigned responsibility for continuing these studies. Vere gives Lugard a lift to his new home Their conversation during the journey does not forebode a peaceful future. Lugard discusses the ships and men that have lost their homes and now have no central control to restrain their actions. They talk of pirates and raids upon the central worlds. After seeing Lugard into his hold, Vere leaves with an invitation to return at any time. In this story, Vere brings the Rovers -- a study group for the younger set -- to visit Butte Hold. Lugard makes them welcome and invites them to return again. The Rovers are very interested in the Hold, but Vere puts a damper on any talk of forerunner treasure. This story introduces a homeless ship that asks permission to settle on Beltane. Despite Lugard's objections, the ruling council agrees to let the refugees have land in the vacant areas. Then two more homeless ships turn up asking to join their associates. Lugard invites the Rovers to explore the lava caves on the day that the council has scheduled a full meeting to discuss this request by the new refugees. Vere and the youngster arrive later than expected, but Lugard has a troop carrier ready for their journey. They have entered the cave and are enroute to the old underground shelter when the earth shakes. Annet panics and flees back toward the entrance, thinking that the tremors are from an earthquake. When Vere brings her back, Lugard corrects her thinking; he declares that disrupters -- a form of bomb -- had probably caused the tremors. Annet refuses to believe him, but she cannot deny that they are trapped in the tunnels. Then Lugard is fatally injured in a rock slide and Vere becomes the leader. This tale relates the actions of homeless men duri

Some things never change.

In Dark Piper, Norton's protagonist tries to prepare a group of scientists and others for an anticipated invasion. Norton might well have been taking the views, or in some cases the actual words, of those who thought we needed to be prepared for war with the Warsaw Pact and those who thought we could just ignore it to oblivion. As usual, Norton's protagonist comes into the story with baggage but no connections. One commenter said that all Norton's characters are looking for a family. As an attraction for young people, this can hardly be beaten. Norton's soldier recites a poem in which people are warned that the flashes against the horizon might be the helmets of the enemy, but they don't believe. The dust might be that of an army, but they don't believe. It is the soldier's poem--of Norton's soldiers' world--and it is depressing, because the people never believe, until it's too late, which is doubly too late for the soldiers who have to bail out their sorry butts at the cost of their own lives. I copied it and took it to a meeting of a Presbyterian social justice group, half ordained, and dared them to recall which book of the Old Testament it came from. None of them said it was a ringer. It was that good. I don't beleive many scifi writers want to claim their books are "torn from today's headlines" although many of them may be. This one certainly was. The story pulls the reader into a sense of frustration as the soldier is unable to make much headway with the oblivious civilians. You don't have to have been a soldier to feel for the guy. Norton did particularly well on designing this world. You can get yourself into most of her worlds, but this one is extraordinarily well done.

Thrilling and emotional

A Norton gem, though unjustifiably little known. The book races along at a fair pace, and has some great characterisation along the way, so that you really care about what's happening to them. It's an incredibly warm and human adventure story and the ending is particularly powerful. A great experience!