Appendix N+ Book Review- Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison

Harry Harrison- Planet of the Damned 1962

With Harry Harrison’s Planet of the Damned we have the first review of a book not mentioned in Appendix N, but representing the “+” in this series- basically Appendix N adjacent material I’m researching and reading.  This is pulpy sci-fi, no fantasy influence here, but I’m very interested in this book because it’s connected to a side project I’m working on- an Escape From New York inspired Braunstein RPG.  I’ve always been a huge EFNY fan, and in researching my game idea I found out that this book was a big inspiration for the film.  In the book, a heroic winner of a planet wide greatest warrior competition is dispatched to a primitive and dangerous planet that has been accused of having weapons of mass destruction capable of destroying a nearby inhabited planet.  He and his crack team of experts have mere days to navigate the dangerous new world, infiltrate its strange peoples and find out if in fact they do have the weapon and if so neutralize it before the planet is bombed to oblivion from orbit.   I have not read any Harrison before, I have heard good things about his Stainless Steel Rat series, but this is my first reading, and i must say he pulls off some things that in this day and age may seem tropey and overused, but as this was written in 1962, was probably seen more as an upping in the intensity and tension in pulp sci-fi.  The classic “timed mission” that will end in some kind of doomsday event is a theme explored in other genres such as war and action/adventure, andHarrison does it well.  The pressure of the short time of the mission, fighting fatigue but needing sleep, and a few tics in the story that shorten the already feverish pace of the story work well and don’t feel hokey.  Also, Harrison does a thing seen often in more modern stories- introduce a strong heroic character, then kill off said character early in the story as a way of disjointing the reader, and conveying an extreme sense of danger in their story.  Our protagonist is originally the subordinate of this character, the one in charge, the one with the plan, and  with his death happening in the first few minutes of landing on the planet, Harrison excellently and concisely brings the reader into the seriousness of the situation.  There are some cool sneaky/ infiltration scenes in the book, some great action/ fight scenes, and a great frenetic pace.  The chapter lengths are perfect, each a bite sized capsule that leaves you wanting to read the next, and some great descriptions of the desolate Road Warrior like planet and its dangerous hearty people.  A great fun ride that at the time likely pushed the envelope on edginess.  Must read for EFNY fans, you can definitely see things that influenced John Carpenter.