Book Review: The Peregrine by Poul Anderson
It is the distant future, and humanity has scattered to the stars. Spacefaring human civilization is currently focused in one of two groups, the Solarian Union, which is focused on mental development and social stability (helped by their troubleshooting Coordinators), and the Nomads, eternal wanderers who are constantly on the lookout for new worlds to see and trades to make. Individual planets, of course, have their own cultures. Other intelligent life exists, but is not particularly hostile due to the immense distances involved. (There is no faster-than-light communication.)
Peregrine Joachim Henry, a Nomad captain, has noticed a worrying trend. Ships are disappearing in the Great Cross sector, which has been little explored. Now admittedly, ships disappear all the time due to mechanical failure, mutiny and hazardous space objects, but this set of disappearances is statistically improbable. More interestingly, while Nomad ships, those of some friendly aliens, and other small traders have vanished, no Solarian Union ships, civilian or military, have done so. Joachim suspects a hostile force of unknown origin is responsible. Thus, he’s given permission to take his ship, the Peregrine, and her crew on an investigatory mission.
One of the crew, Sean, has fallen in love with an alien woman named Ilaloa, who has some telepathic abilities, and she is also taken along despite not being of the Nomad culture.
Also along for the ride is Trevelyan Micah, a Coordinator agent (“Cordy”) as despite no Union ships going missing, the Solarians have also figured out something is going on. He manages to get aboard the Peregrine by openly being a Cordy. Joachim doesn’t fully trust him, but could use his skills.
And so the ship and its inhabitants sail into the Great Cross sector, looking for clues. Will they succeed in unraveling the mystery of the missing ships, or is this all a trap set by the unknown civilization?
This was Poul Anderson’s third-written novel, under the title of “Star Ways.” It was optioned by a publisher that sat on it for a few years, then released and offered to a different publisher which heavily edited it for length and (for the time) eroticism to print in 1956. For the 1978 edition, Mr. Anderson was allowed to make some changes, but since he’d long lost the original manuscript, mostly kept it as was. The name was also changed to avoid confusion with the Star Wars franchise.
Though the human characters have some culture clash between the “law and order” Coordinator and the “freedom to leave is vital” Nomads, each acknowledges that the other has some good points. And both realize that a third viewpoint, tempting as it is, is not compatible with human civilization.
There’s a certain amount of muted sexism. Nomad women don’t have the vote, but do have property rights and a considerable amount of freedom to choose who or if they will marry. That said, Sean’s sister-in-law Nicki is considered kind of out there with her independent ways.
It’s hard to write about the philosophical themes without discussing spoilers, so I will just say that philosophy is important here. Content note: The downsides of colonialism are touched on but not fully explored.
This is early Anderson, and somewhat mangled, so not the best example of his work. But it does fit in to his future history so will need to be engaged at some point if you’re reading through that.
