betty reviewed The Sioux spaceman by Andre Norton (Game of Stars and Comets #2)
Review of 'The Sioux spaceman' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I have spent so long trying to figure out how on earth to review this book that it has begun to haunt me, so I shall simply stick my entire mess of thoughts on this book in, and try to sort them thematically.
One: This book is pretty much what you'd expect if you've ever read a book by Andre Norton. The characterization is what could be charitably called 'slight', the main engine of the book is plot, which is tremendously linear and uncomplicated itself.
Two: This book is called 'Sioux Spaceman.' I bought this book because I was with my mother at the time, it was $0.50, and every time I said 'Sioux Spaceman', she twitched. You sort of have to croon the name. The cover exhorts you to 'Beware the Horsemen of the Stars!' and appears to be about Hawkman's radio-controlled harem boys. Everything about how it is …
I have spent so long trying to figure out how on earth to review this book that it has begun to haunt me, so I shall simply stick my entire mess of thoughts on this book in, and try to sort them thematically.
One: This book is pretty much what you'd expect if you've ever read a book by Andre Norton. The characterization is what could be charitably called 'slight', the main engine of the book is plot, which is tremendously linear and uncomplicated itself.
Two: This book is called 'Sioux Spaceman.' I bought this book because I was with my mother at the time, it was $0.50, and every time I said 'Sioux Spaceman', she twitched. You sort of have to croon the name. The cover exhorts you to 'Beware the Horsemen of the Stars!' and appears to be about Hawkman's radio-controlled harem boys. Everything about how it is marketed is ridiculous, although obviously it was aimed at the reading audience of some fifty years ago.
Three: However, what really caused me to bog down in my attempt to review is this book as a cultural artifact. Inside the book, the protagonist, Kade, is never referred to as Sioux, he's Lakota. Also contrary to what the cover would have you believe, there are no white people in this book, although there are a half-dozen humans. (There are also no women, or even female aliens. There are female horses, however!) Kade's goal is to undermine Alien Species A's attempt to colonize Alien Species B. (Via horses. So, really, you don't need to beware the horsemen of the stars.) I am aware of a certain species of book by white authors in which they send their (white) protagonist back in time to prevent some historical atrocity committed by white people, or some variation on that theme, but Kade doesn't seem designed to assuage liberal guilt.
Three-and-a-half: HOWEVER, there are some, um, infelicities. Kade is often doing things "with the [fill in the blank] of his ancestors," sometimes of his "savage ancestors." One of Kade's superiors is described as "Afro-arabian" and his name is "Abu." I don't speak Arabic, but I'm pretty sure that means 'Father," which seems like a funny name.
Okay, now this book can stop haunting me.