Book Review: Cycle of Fire by Hal Clement

This was a similar read to the previously reviewed “Total Eclipse” in that it really belongs as a short story or novella than a full work.

The story revolves almost exclusively around two individuals, one human, one an alien, who are “shipwrecked” on part of a planet from where they need to return to a safer location. They go through the typical marooned issues—food, distance, environment, communication, and so on. Eventually they encounter a full civilization of other “aliens” with which they interact and need to figure out as well as these other “aliens” overseers.

It all reads as a very Star Trekky endeavor and like “Total Eclipse” there is a global mystery that must be worked out. Its all pretty rudimentary and neither the plot nor writing are particularly complex. As a work for teens it may spark some thinking and interest. As a work for adults its a bit of a slog to get through as you keep waiting for something to actually happen or some revelation of interest to appear. Its back cover of course compares it to Robinson Crusoe but it carries none of the depth of description nor weight of loss of hope. This is a fairly lesser work of 70’s SciFi and can be passed by without loss.