Four years ago I embarked upon my first Andre Norton experience with the novel Star Born. It made a strong first impression.

Several Norton stories later, I retain my fondness for Star Born and was thrilled to see the novel that set this story in motion, The Stars Are Ours, listed as the December read for the Classic Science Fiction Book Club of which I am a very absentee member.

It just so happened that I had a couple of different copies of this book in the basement, so I grabbed a copy and dove in.

The Stars Are Ours exceeded my expectations in part with a first half tale that went in a direction I had not anticipated, and then by setting up events nicely for the story that follows in Star Born. While this is a self-contained novel, I suspect that those who enjoy it will be glad to know there is more story to tell.

The Stars Are Ours, published in 1954, can certainly be seen to represent the political climate of its time. World War II was far from being a distant memory and the Cold War was in full swing. What is perhaps surprising is how relevant the novel is to today’s political and social climate.

In this period of the Earth’s future, the moon, Mars and Venus have been ruled out as potential places of human habitation and the bulk of society has reverted to a simpler, less technology-driven time due to the mass destruction of large cities. Many scientists have been killed, with those few remaining relegated to hiding while so-called Peacemen, members of the ruling Pax, hunt them down.

Lars Nordis is one such scientist, who hides his identity while working a farm with his daughter Dessie and his younger brother, Dard. Unbeknownst to Dessie and Dard, Lars is part of a coalition of scientists who are working in secret to launch a rocket into space to look for an Earth-type planet on which they can live free of the oppressive Pax.

Suspicious neighbors and a sudden breakthrough by Lars accelerate the team’s time table and Dard finds himself swept up in an adventure beyond his wildest imaginations.

Having read Star Born, I knew where the story would ultimately end, but what surprised me was how much of the book was set on Earth, allowing the reader to get to know Dard, and to a lesser extent Dessie. This story structure also served to establish the state of affairs of the Earth which engaged the reader in wanting to see the scientific team succeed. The second half of the novel takes place on Astra, an Earth-like planet that will prove to have challenges of its own.

The Stars Are Ours is a quick, but satisfying read. The reader will see what are now well-worn science fictional tropes–cryogenics, telepathy, interstellar travel–presented with little effort to justify them scientifically. The novel is not as complex or sophisticated as what might be written today, but it does not fail to entertain.

Dard is a nice everyman character who is easy to root for. He is the central character for the bulk of the story and through his eyes we can imagine what it might be like to awaken on a new world. Dessie is a very interesting character and it is unfortunate that she is so seldom a part of the story. She plays an integral role, which is projected early on in the story, but it takes most of the novel before she is allowed to be of any significant impact.

If you are interested in sampling classic science fiction, you certainly cannot go wrong with the works of Andre Norton. She is a skilled story teller and she utilizes the space she is given to tell a page-turning tale. The Stars Are Ours succeeds in being more than a simple adventure story in that it examines the behavior of humanity and the patterns in our history to show how far we’ve come, and how far we have yet to go.

I am glad I took the time to discover how the events of Star Born came about and, as with every Andre Norton novel I’ve read, I was not disappointed.
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Update: My friend Jim pointed out in the comments that both The Stars Are Ours and Star Born are available for free on audio here.