Re-imaginings of classic novels seems to be very much in
vogue in science fiction and fantasy in recent years. From Dan Simmons’ tribute to Homer, Illium, to the more quirky Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from
Seth Grahame-Smith, the genre seems to be enjoying this in all of its
varieties. At the same time, shared
world environments also seem to keep on trucking along, from the huge successes
of late in Warhammer fiction to the occasional release of a new Wild Cards book
from George R.R. Martin, even to the Kindle Worlds program and the output of
fan fiction flowing out. Hal Colebatch
and Jessica Q. Fox, in Treasure Planet,
have created an intersection of these two trends.
Peter Cartwright and his mother live in an inn, where his
friend Marthar spends a lot of time.
Peter and Marthar are at the same grade in school, and have a lot of
common interests, but the two have a key difference: Peter is human, while
Marthat is kzin, part of a species of feline-like aliens that fought a vicious
war with humans. However, on Wunderland,
the planet the Peter and Marthar live on, the war is ended, and the two species
live together in peace.
However, when an old spacer is killed at Peter’s inn, and
pirates begin chasing Peter and Marthar with talk about a treasure planet,
Peter, Marthar, and a host of other characters begins an exciting, dangerous
mission to find the secret pirate treasure planet and solve the mystery found
there.
Treasure Planet is
a science fiction version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, following a young hero on an adventure full of
pirates, intrigue, and treasure. It is
set in the Man-Kzin War shared universe, created by Larry Niven, and does
feature some characters from multiple volumes of the series, but this novel is
very new reader friendly, not expecting the reader to come into it with any
prior knowledge of the characters, the conflict, or the setting.
Treasure Planet
captures the excitement and adventure of its literary forebear, and is
wonderful fun to read. The adventures of
Peter and Marthar are truly fun, and the novel makes for a great adventure tale
just like the original it is based on.
However, Treasure Planet also
suffers from being a little too closely related to Treasure Island at times.
With a peg-legged kzin pirate named Silver, a mysterious omen of
treasure from the very start, even having the novel start with the protagonist
at the inn, all speak to how diligently Colebatch and Fox stuck to their source
material, but it also leads to a fair amount of predictability. At times, this made the book a little tricky
to get through, but the story at its heart, and the wonderful adventure writing
from its authors, wins through, and builds to a very satisfying ending.
Fans of pure adventure science fiction will truly enjoy this
novel, as will those who are fans of Stevenson.
With this novel working as an entry point to the Man-Kzin universe, it
is very reader-friendly, and is more than worth the read.
