The Earth has been torn away from the Sun, kidnapped by a runaway planet , whose inhabitants - enigmatic, utterly alien Pyramids - have their own plans for Earth's resources. And humankind, depending for warmth on a constantly renewed but woefully inadequate Moon, wracked by hunger and ruled by a slavish conformity to tradition, is dying out. But there are those who defy convention and refuse to give in. Feared and persecuted by by the ordinary citizens, these 'Wolves' are preparing to fight back against the Pyramids.
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About the Author
Frederik Pohl was born in 1919. An American SF author and author, he has won the Hugo, Nebula and Johh W Campbell Awards. Frederik Pohl was born in 1919 and has been professionally involved in sf as an editor and writer since his teens. Among his many books are A Plague of Pythons, Gateway, Man Plus and JEM: The Making of a Utopia. C.M. Kornbluth (1923-1958) was the bureau chief of a Chicago news agency until 1951 when he took up fiction writing full time. He established himself very quickly as a brilliant short-story writer with works such as 'The Little Black Bag', 'The Marching Morons', 'The Cosmic Charge Account' and 'Two Dooms'. Pohl and Kornbluth started writing stories together in 1940 and their collaborations include The Space Merchants, Search the Sky and Gladiators-at-Law.
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Roget Germyn, banker, of Wheeling, West Virginia, a Citizen, woke gently from a Citizen's dreamless sleep. Read the first page
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Roget Germyn, banker, of Wheeling, West Virginia, a Citizen, woke gently from a Citizen's dreamless sleep. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Behan
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This was my first delve into Pohl and Kornbluth's collaborations, having read some of Pohl's highly-praised later works. Having come across the original Ballantine paperback, it is this version and not the revised re-issue ofWolfbane (Gollancz S.F.) that I refer to. All in all, I was very much impressed.
Firstly, for a book written in 1959, it is remarkably well-preserved; the Matrix-like concepts in the second half of the book show that cyberpunk was not invented in the 1980's by William Gibson after all, and a good deal of the physics still holds up; sadly, we've made it to 2011 and thorium reactors are still a thing of the future...
The main issue I had with the book is that the story is a bit slow to get started and the dystopia described in the initial chapters is somewhat contrived. This whole book is knowingly bizarre and the contrast between the Wolf and Sheep societies is heavy-handed enough that those who require total plausibility in their SF may be put off. However, I found that soldiering on through this initially bewildering story paid dividends, as it is a well-written book that mines deep veins of satire, analysing the risks of ignorant piety, rugged individualism and dependence on technology, all lessons that hold up today.
Everything you could ask for in an SF novel is here, in an ambitious flourish that spirals from the humdrum horror of a conformist dystopia out to the reaches of space and the deep range of human consciousness. Marvellous.
Firstly, for a book written in 1959, it is remarkably well-preserved; the Matrix-like concepts in the second half of the book show that cyberpunk was not invented in the 1980's by William Gibson after all, and a good deal of the physics still holds up; sadly, we've made it to 2011 and thorium reactors are still a thing of the future...
The main issue I had with the book is that the story is a bit slow to get started and the dystopia described in the initial chapters is somewhat contrived. This whole book is knowingly bizarre and the contrast between the Wolf and Sheep societies is heavy-handed enough that those who require total plausibility in their SF may be put off. However, I found that soldiering on through this initially bewildering story paid dividends, as it is a well-written book that mines deep veins of satire, analysing the risks of ignorant piety, rugged individualism and dependence on technology, all lessons that hold up today.
Everything you could ask for in an SF novel is here, in an ambitious flourish that spirals from the humdrum horror of a conformist dystopia out to the reaches of space and the deep range of human consciousness. Marvellous.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book has stayed in my mind since I first read it as a teenager. As we move into the 'information age' the power of what we gain and the 'nature' that we forsake are powerfully suggested here. Also, there is a very clear message delivered about society being what we choose to construct it to be.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
11 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Miss The Deeper Point!
8 Jan 2007
By S. Singer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's easy to miss the point of Kornbluth and Pohl's "Wolfbane". Sure, a starving humanity stratifies itself into "sheep" and "wolves." Still, the falsity of that stratification and - in fact - all dualities is at the heart of the book and really what these two brilliant sci-fi authors are trying to tell us.
The good news for sci-fi fans is we get a fascinating problem. A rogue planet pops into the solar system and steals Earth from orbit and there's nothing mankind can do. After all our weapons prove useless and no one returns from an invasion of the rogue planet, most of the human population dies out due to a dwindling food supply in the dwindling starlight as the solar system fades into the distance. And so we have a post-apocalyptic vision - shuffling drones and those few who rebel.
However, AFTER that set-up is when things really get good. The authors set up this almost insurmountable problem and then solve it. However, there's a deeper point here. At first, there seems to be an inherent criticism of meditation, but then the table turns in a way that you can only get in Sci-fi. Kornbluth and Pohl seem to ask us what's the difference between a wolf in sheep's clothing or a sheep in wolf's clothing - especially if you can't tell the difference? Thought-provoking stuff from sci-fi masters.
The good news for sci-fi fans is we get a fascinating problem. A rogue planet pops into the solar system and steals Earth from orbit and there's nothing mankind can do. After all our weapons prove useless and no one returns from an invasion of the rogue planet, most of the human population dies out due to a dwindling food supply in the dwindling starlight as the solar system fades into the distance. And so we have a post-apocalyptic vision - shuffling drones and those few who rebel.
However, AFTER that set-up is when things really get good. The authors set up this almost insurmountable problem and then solve it. However, there's a deeper point here. At first, there seems to be an inherent criticism of meditation, but then the table turns in a way that you can only get in Sci-fi. Kornbluth and Pohl seem to ask us what's the difference between a wolf in sheep's clothing or a sheep in wolf's clothing - especially if you can't tell the difference? Thought-provoking stuff from sci-fi masters.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Pohl-Kornbluth Winner
15 Sep 2011
By Elliot
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth are probably best known for two of their collaborations, "The Space Merchants" and "Gladiator-at-Law," two scathing satires of 1950s American capitalism which were not only funny send-ups of advertising (Merchants) and the legal profession (Gladiator) but also fast-paced adventures set in a future (but all-too-recognizable) America. "Wolfbane" is not nearly as well known, but is at least as good as those two classics, albeit very different in tone. The social satire is not nearly as pronounced in "Wolfbane," a story of a future earth that has been literally stolen from its orbit by unseen aliens. The sociological element is still there-- the book begins by imagining the type of society that would grown up in a world full of privation, in which humans are helpless victims of aliens who are unseen and inscrutable-- but the caustic criticism of 1950s America is replaced by an almost elegiac tone. As the book goes on, the tone changes, as one man slowly learns that it is possible to rebel against the aliens. I hear echoes of this book in a lot of later science fiction (including the "Matrix" films), but the novel has dated much less than most SF of its era. Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Battling the Alien Pyramid!
22 April 2011
By Maximiliano F Yofre
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Unfortunately for sci-fi fans, Cyril M. Kornbluth had a very short life (1923-1958). Nevertheless he was able to deliver several very good novels alone or usually in collaboration with other authors as "The Space Merchants" (1952) and "Gladiator-at-law" (1954) in collaboration with his friend Frederik Pohl, "Gunner Cade" (with Judith Merril 1952).
Frederik Pohl (1919) the other co-author is one "Sci-fi Golden Age" writers. He is still producing new books, imagine! He has authored more than one success as the already mentioned collaborations with Kornbluth, the underrated but excellent "Drunkard's Walk" (1960) and Hugo & Nebula winner "Gateway" (1977).
"Wolfbane" (1959) was Kornbluth's last novel, written before his fatal heart attack.
The plot is as follows: Earth has been dragged into deep space by a rogue planet, losing the sun as star. Instead the moon is an alternate sun reignited every five years by mysterious forces, probably related with an alien pyramid laid on Everest's top.
Human race has dwindled to ten million souls divided into ten thousand "wolves" and the rest submissive "lambs". "Wolves" are defiant and trying to liberate humanity from its prostrate state.
The chronicle of this struggle is the subject of the story.
This book is more centered in plot than in characters and that is its strength and weakness at the same time. The reader can't feel a deep identification with any character, but what is happening to humanity grows in significance. One other point to notice is the "compound mind" devised by the authors and compare it with Sturgeon's "More than Human".
Enjoy this somehow underrated and little known sci-fi classic!
Reviewed by Max Yofre
Frederik Pohl (1919) the other co-author is one "Sci-fi Golden Age" writers. He is still producing new books, imagine! He has authored more than one success as the already mentioned collaborations with Kornbluth, the underrated but excellent "Drunkard's Walk" (1960) and Hugo & Nebula winner "Gateway" (1977).
"Wolfbane" (1959) was Kornbluth's last novel, written before his fatal heart attack.
The plot is as follows: Earth has been dragged into deep space by a rogue planet, losing the sun as star. Instead the moon is an alternate sun reignited every five years by mysterious forces, probably related with an alien pyramid laid on Everest's top.
Human race has dwindled to ten million souls divided into ten thousand "wolves" and the rest submissive "lambs". "Wolves" are defiant and trying to liberate humanity from its prostrate state.
The chronicle of this struggle is the subject of the story.
This book is more centered in plot than in characters and that is its strength and weakness at the same time. The reader can't feel a deep identification with any character, but what is happening to humanity grows in significance. One other point to notice is the "compound mind" devised by the authors and compare it with Sturgeon's "More than Human".
Enjoy this somehow underrated and little known sci-fi classic!
Reviewed by Max Yofre
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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