Jandar Of Callisto
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Jandar of Callisto'' is a
science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...
novel by American writer
Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. Lov ...
, the first in his
Callisto series The ''Callisto series'' is a sequence of eight science fiction novels by Lin Carter, of the sword and planet subgenre, first published by Dell Books from 1972-1978. They were written in homage to the Barsoom and Amtor novels of Edgar Rice Burrou ...
. It was first published in paperback by
Dell Books Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, I Confess (magazine), ...
in December 1972, and reprinted twice through September 1977. The first British edition was published by
Orbit Books Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It is a division of Lagardère Publishing. History Orbit Books was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company. In 1992, ...
in 1974. It was later gathered together with '' Black Legion of Callisto'' into the omnibus collection '' Callisto: Volume 1'' (2000). The book includes a map of Callisto as envisioned in the story.


Plot summary

The story is told in the first person by the hero, Jonathan Dark, who is represented to be its author. Carter, the actual author, claims to have merely edited the manuscript, which, like subsequent works in the series, supposedly found its way to him from the ruins of the ancient city of Arangkhôr in Cambodia. Dark, a helicopter pilot transporting medical supplies in Southeast Asia, is forced down in the jungles of Cambodia, where he discovers Arangkhôr. There he slides into a well made of a mysteriously slippery substance, which proves to be a device of unknown provenance that teleports him to another world. The world in question is eventually determined to be the Jovian moon of
Callisto CALLISTO (''Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher Innovation in Stage Toss-back Operations'') is a reusable VTVL Prototype, demonstrator propelled by a small 40 kN Japanese LOX-LH2 rocket engine. It is being developed jointly by the CNES, French ...
, which beneath a projected illusion of airless desolation turns out to have a breathable atmosphere, an alien biology, and human inhabitants (presumably descended from victims of the well during the period before Arangkhôr was abandoned). Callisto is known to its inhabitants as Thanator. After nearly falling victim to a Yathib, one of the local predators, Dark is saved by a nomadic tribe of Yathoon, a race of intelligent insectoids. Rescue proves a mixed blessing, as he is also enslaved. While with them he learns Thanator's language, which is shared by Yathoon and human alike, and his captors learn his name, more or less. "Jandar" is the closest they can render "Jon Dark," and he remains Jandar through the rest of the series. Escaping, he encounters a beautiful woman in peril. For Jandar, it's love at first sight; she takes a bit longer to warm to him—three whole books, actually. She is the princess Darloona, who has been exiled from her native city-state of Shondakar by the conquering Black Legion. His attempts to aid her are not very effective, and they fall into the hands of another tribe of Yathoon. They are delivered from this second captivity by the appearance of an airship commanded by Thuton, prince of the city-state of Zanadar. The Zanadarians are "
Sky Pirates Air pirates (or sky pirates) are a class of stock character from science fiction and fantasy. The characters are pirates who use aircraft or airborne aircraft carriers as their primary vehicles instead of ships. They target other aircraft for l ...
"—raiders who use the aerial technology they alone possess to abstract the possessions of others, in this instance Jandar and Darloona from the Yathoon. Thuton proves well-disposed to his fellow royal, but less so toward Jandar, who jealously goads him into a fight. As the prince is a master of the sword and the earthman has never picked up that particular skill, the outcome is predictable—and humiliating. The upshot is that Dark is once again a slave, this time in Zanadar. In the Sky Pirates' city he manages to escape again, learns to fence, and raises his fellow slaves in a rebellion against their oppressors. In a bid to rescue Darloona, he takes on Thuton a second time. His comrades, who have taken over one of the Zanadarians' airships, are able to extract both him and the princess before he can be killed. Fleeing the city, they restore Darloona to her people, the Ku Thad, who have been living in the jungles of the Grand Kumala since their exile from Shondakar. The celebration is short-lived, however, as the princess is shortly afterward carried off by a raiding party from the Black Legion.


Reception

Reviewing this book along with the following two volumes,
Lester del Rey Lester del Rey (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the fantasy editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy an ...
found the series to be "fairly entertaining reading," but noted that Carter had "copied every trick of Burroughs, including those that are faults." Den Valdron, assessing the series in ''ERBzine'', calls this book, along with the other two volumes in the series's first trilogy, "quite good." He notes " e world and the hero are fairly vivid, the action moves quickly. It's hardly deep, but it is fun." On the down side, he views Jandar as "kind of an arrogant jerk ... a bit of an egotist ... constantly getting into trouble with half baked plans rom which heis regularly rescued by his friends or saved by dumb luck." Valdron also criticizes the relationship of the hero and heroine, between whom he detects no chemistry.Valdron, Den.
Lin Carter's Callisto Series (Part 1 of a series of 12)
in ''ERBzine'' 1731.


Notes


External links

*

{{authority control 1972 American novels 1972 science fiction novels 1972 fantasy novels Novels set on Callisto (moon) Novels by Lin Carter