Search For The Star Stones [Mass Market Paperback]

The late Andre Norton was best known for her fantasy novels, including the brilliant Witch World series. However, she also published 'hard' science fiction. The adventures of the Free Trader 'Solar Queen' are my favorites as well as "Beast Master"/"Lord of Thunder," and the 'Warlock' books.

"The Zero Stone" and its sequel, "Uncharted Stars" are a little harder to like. The plot hinges on a series of incredible coincidences such as when our hero, Murdoc Jern, an apprentice gem dealer launches himself into space with nothing but a space suit between himself and eternity--and happens upon an ancient Forerunner life boat that lands him on a planet which happens to have two caches of zero stones just like the one he inherited from his father.

As Murdoc Jern himself says in the sequel, the zero stone started "me on a series of adventures so wild that, had another recited them to me, I would have thought them the product of fash-smoke breathing..."

His companion, Eet was born of a Free Trader ship's cat after she had swallowed a curious black stone. Eet himself (or herself) is telepathic and also seems to have swallowed a copy of the 'Encyclopedia Galactica.' Usually Norton's aliens are a bit more likeable or at least a bit more inscrutable than Eet. He's a sort of an obnoxious, know-it-all mutant cat. He's the master and Murdoc is the slave.

The two reel improbably through space with the Thieves' Guild and the Patrol breathing down their rockets (as I think Norton put in another one of her SF novels), all in a race to learn the ultimate source of the Zero Stone.

In "Uncharted Stars" Murdoc tries to rectify the master-slave relationship with Eet that had developed in the previous novel. He purchases a battered old space yacht with his reward from previous adventures and tries his hand at purchasing gems on one planet and selling them for a higher price on another. He decides to purchase Zorans on Lorgal, sell them on Rakipur to the priests of Mankspher, in order to buy the pearls of lonnex crabs. Et cetera. Of course his first venture is almost a complete disaster when another trader shows up and beats him to the market. Murdoc, his drug-addicted pilot, and Eet must chart a new course.

Through a series of hair-raising adventures, including the rescue of a dying Zacathan archeologist, Murdoc and Eet end up on Waystar, the mysterious stronghold of the Thieves' Guild. They are taken prisoner while on the hunt for the source of the Zero Stone, and also for the archeologist's stolen artifacts.

Where better to hunt for treasure than in the great galactic storehouse of loot, and property stolen from current and long-vanished stellar Empires? Of course, Murdoc and Eet must somehow stay alive in this flamboyant and dangerous den of thieves in order to achieve their objectives.

"Search for the Star Stones" takes place in the fantastically populated universe of Norton's Free Traders and Forerunners. Wandering the fabulous storerooms of Waystar with this author makes up for any traces of antiquity in her science or tough-guy jargon. Eet serves as a sort of deus ex machina whenever Murdoc gets himself into really serious trouble, and there is a satisfying surprise ending for those readers who have grown attached to the intrepid gemologist and his mutant cat.

Search for the Star Stones (2008) is an omnibus SF edition of the Murdoc Jern duology, including The Zero Stone and Uncharted Stars. Murdoc is the son of Hywel Jern, a former prime assessor to a sector boss of the Thieves' Guild who bought out when his patron was assassinated. Hywel migrated to Angkor and married the daughter of a local hock-lock operator. He maintained a low profile, operating from the same modest hock-lock.

The Zero Stone (1968) is the first novel in this series. One day, the first officer of a spaceliner brought in a ring with a dull stone that was found in interstellar space, far from any star, on the finger of a spacesuited corpse. The crude stone is plain and cloudy, but has a remarkable hardness. The stone gives an impression of great power to Hywel and Murdoc, but not to the rest of the family.

Hywel is obsessed with the stone and arranges an apprenticeship for Murdoc with Vondar Ustle -- a master gemologist who searches for new sources of precious stones -- so that Murdoc can search for more information on the ring and stone. Murdoc is well satisfied with his life as apprentice to Vondar. Returning for a visit, Murdoc finds that he no longer fits into his family.

One evening, Hywel stays home to conduct some business while the rest of the family goes to a party. Leaving the party earlier, Murdoc returns home to find his father tied to his chair, bloody and dead. Murdoc takes the ring and stone from its hiding place and leaves his home forever.

In this novel, Murdoc and Vondar have come to Koonga City on Tanth searching for gems. They are dining in a taproom when the Green Robes, native priests, enter, spin their selection wheel to point between Murdoc and Vondar, and try to take both men. Murdoc kills one priest, fights his way clear, and then finds sanctuary with the priests of Noskald.

These priests arrange for a Free Trader -- the Vestris -- to take Murdoc off-world. The crew treats him in a distant, but civil manner, but his only companion is the ship's cat, Valcyr. When the ship sets down on a primitive planet, Valcyr accompanies Murdoc as he explores the area.

When Murdoc finds some bits of a curiously dull black substance that forms an extremely hard but fuzzy oval, Valcyr takes the largest specimen and starts to lick it. Murdoc tries to take it away from her, but gets clawed for his efforts. When a crewman tries to get the specimen, Valcyr runs off with it and hides. Murdoc and the crewman find her again, but she then swallows it.

When they return to the ship, the Medico tests Valcyr and the specimens; he determines that the black ovals are alive at a low level as if hibernating and that Valcyr is now pregnant. Since there is a possibility that Valcyr is not carrying ordinary kittens, she is locked in a cage within the sick bay.

About four weeks later, she disappears from the cage and is next seen in Murdoc's cabin with a newborn animal, Eet, that is not a kitten. And then Murdoc finds himself covered with purple blotches and feeling feverish. At this point, Murdoc and Eet leave the Vestris, Murdoc in a spacesuit and Eet in a clear-sided box, to escape the plague-fearing, frantic crew.

Uncharted Stars (1969) is the second SF novel in this series. Murdoc and Eet are back on a civilized world. At the suggestion -- and with the assistance -- of Eet, Murdoc has bought an old, yet functional, starship from a scrapyard near the spaceport on Theba. The ship has been serviced and waits at the port for a pilot. Murdoc doesn't have the skills and Eet cannot operate controls of the ship, so they try to hire a licensed pilot to no avail.

Murdoc is preparing himself for an excursion into the seamier part of town to locate a black-listed pilot when a Patrol agent suggests an alternative: they will furnish a pilot. But Murdoc suspects that the Patrol is responsible for their lack of a pilot and rejects the offer.

Eet has found a pilot at a dive in the worse section of the Out-port. Kano Rysk is a Free Trader pilot and a fash-smoker. Fortunately, fash is expensive and he hasn't smoked any for a long while. Murdoc and Eet manage to smuggle him into their ship without anybody -- other that a Patrol watcher -- noticing their presence.

In this story, Murdoc has Rysk take them to Lorgal, where he trades for zorons. Unluckily, another gemtrader is there before him and gets the better gems. Worse yet, Akki is heading for Rakipur, the same world that Murdoc has intended as their next stop.

Murdoc decides instead to go to Sororis. Rysk is familiar enough with that world's reputation to avoid the only spaceport. Still, Murdoc was not planning on landing the ship itself, but taking the lifeboat down to Sornuff.

After trading for greenstones, they space to Lylestane and its auctions. But Murdoc finds that he is listed and cannot legally sell his gems. Then they learn of a Jack raid and arrive too late to save most of the Zacathans at the archaeological site. Still, they find that the Jacks are heading toward Waystar and Zilwrich -- the only survivor -- has the coordinates.

The creature Eet is rather unique in the author's space adventures, having a human level of intelligence, yet possessing an animal body. Eet combines the friendly alien, symbiotic animal, and mutated talents aspects of these tales, all in one body. Sort of a highly evolved version of the meerkats in The Beast Master.

These stories are not among the author's best works, but they are still worth reading. Murdoc and Eet overcome some daunting challenges in their search for the zero stone source. Enjoy!

Recommended for Norton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of far star systems, future societies, and a determined young man.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Uncharted Stars, the second half of this omnibus collection, was the first science fiction book I ever read, and it still remains a favorite. One of the things that I really liked about Norton's science fiction is that over the course of her writing career, she created a huge, complex universe that appears as the background to her stories. The books in which she created this universe are not related per se, but they all take place in the same milieu. This allows her to toss off allusions to the greater universe which provide tantalizing glimpses of places, people, and adventures unseen and unresolved, at least in the current story. It gives a feeling of an adventure taking place among a larger and much more complex universe, providing greater verisimilitude to the tale.

I am not going to recap the book, as several of the previous reviewers have done a much better job of that than I could. The thing that I wanted to emphasize about this book is that it is primarily a coming of age and adventure story. It was originally written as a book aimed at the mid-teen market, but I think that it stands up well even for more adult readers. One of the previous reviewers criticized the book for containing incredible coincidences and totally wild situations. I believe that the point he missed was that all these things were NOT coincidences, but were situations brought about by the protagonist's companions and the zero stone itself. Part of the charm of the book is the portrait of an ordinary young man caught up in a series of incredible adventures over which he has but little control. However, the situations he finds himself in all stem from his peculiar heritage as the son of his father and the legacy of the stone his father left him.

This book may seem a bit simplistic and straightforward in our more jaded and cynical time, but I love the unapologetic way that Norton writes her adventure story. This is a great book for a casual read or a light break in your hectic holiday schedule. Think of it as a literary equivalent of a summer action movie or a light romantic comedy -- not particularly deep or philosophical, but an rollicking adventure story.