Classic sci-fi book review of SPACE VIKING (1963)
Article by RABID TRIBBLE
Lucas Trask, a rich noble on the planet Gram, is scheduled to marry Elaine, the daughter of another noble house. As the wedding ceremony draws to a close, Andray Dunnan, a delusional man obsessed with Elaine, crashes the wedding, shooting and killing Elaine and wounding Lucas. Thus begins "Space Viking" (1963), by Henry Beam Piper.
Seething with rage and longing for revenge against Dunnan, Lucas Trask sells his vast properties to buy a brand-new starship which he names the Nemesis, to hunt down and kill Dunnan who has fled on board his ship called The Enterprise. Trask has hired a renowned space viking, Otto Harkaman, to fly his ship, and a ragtag crew of Harkaman's men to man the vessel. What follows is a chase across the galaxy, in the course of which Trask, Harkaman, and their crew conquer the half-civilized planet Tanith to use as their base and exploit its resources. Unlike the pillaging that space vikings usually do on such worlds, they decide to treat the inhabitants with respect and dignity because otherwise it would be counterproductive. From Tanith, they then launch missions to pillage neighboring worlds while keeping their eyes and ears open for the despised Dunnan.
"Space Viking" is an imaginative and ambitious science fiction novel. It combines riveting space battles between various ships with political intrigue and drama. The novel, with its feuds between noble houses, seems to have been an influence on Frank Herbert's "Dune" (1969). Also note that it features a starship named Enterprise and a "federation of planets", but it pre-dates the original Star Trek pilot by more than a year. It also features a planet called Hoth, though it pre-dates THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) by some 17 years.
Sadly, H. Beam Piper never got to see the influence that this book and his other science fiction novels and stories had on later authors. On November 6, 1964, depressed that his writing career wasn't taking off, he took one of his guns from his collection and shot himself in the head.
Please note: This novel is available for free download at Project Gutenberg.
