Destiny Doll

 

By Clifford D. Simak

Four travelers are off an adventure to track down a long-lost man, Lawrence Arlen Knight. They are Captain Ross, experienced spaceship pilot; wealthy, beautiful Sara Foster, owner of the sleek spacecraft that Ross will own upon completion of their misson; George Smith, a blind man who hears a voice that speaks to him across the vastness of space; and Friar Tuck,  George's friend, companion and caretaker. They are four brave souls on a mission to solve the mystery of Knight's disappearance.

Following George's guidance they arrive at an uncharted planet and follow the planet's guidance beam down to a spaceport. It is centered in the middle of a large white deserted city. The huge spaceport is white too as are all they many vessels parked there.

They are immediately greeted by white hobby horses led by one hobby horse named Dobbin. He urges the travelers to quickly follow him as it is dangerous to remain in the open. Dobbin is persuasive and they hurry to remove their baggage and supplies from the ship. But as soon as they do, their ship is engulfed in an impenetrable coating of white, just like all the ships at the spaceport. Angry and upset, they follow Dobbin to safety to escape the beam Dobbin claims the city sends out to destroy any living creature caught out in the open.

But treachery ensues when Dobbin and the other hobby horses toss them through a warp door and onto a desert world where they encounter a very helpful alien creature that Ross names Hoot. And another creature that makes it very clear they are not welcome.

They make it back through the warp door, bringing along Hoot and angrily confront the hobby horses, forcing them into becoming their pack animals. And so they set off to take on a dangerous new world, led only by the voice in George's head.

This is a strange and enchanting story. At times it is like reading someone's fever dream. The title refers to a crudely carved wooden doll with an deeply sad face that George finds in a building on the white city's outskirts. The strange discoveries continue as the travelers try to make sense of the puzzles of this memorable, odd planet. 

The Goblin Reservation

By Clifford D. Simak

Peter Maxwell is a specialist in the "Little People": creatures like trolls, goblins and fairies. He travels by matter transmitter to a planet where a dragon has been sighted. In the process, unknown to him, he is duplicated. One Peter arrives at his intended destination, discovers the dragon sighting is false and soon returns to Earth. The other Peter finds himself on a strange crystal planet that is a storehouse of information, most of which is unknown to Earth. The owners of the planet desire to sell it to Earth, if their price can be met. Peter is sent back to Earth to handle the sale.
But when he returns home, he finds out about the other Peter and that the other Peter had arrived first and was killed soon after. Now Peter has no home, no job, and no legal status. And yet he has to carry on with his vital mission, a mission that becomes even more vital as Peter finds out that implacable aliens also desire to own the crystal planet.

This was a boring book. Mostly the character just sit around and drink and talk about their problems. Most of the action occurs at the very end of the story. And the ending seemed long way to go for very little.

A Choice of Gods

By Clifford D. Simak

Set about 5000 years in the future and humanity is no longer a presence on Earth except for a few isolated bands of people. At the beginning of the 5000 years, most of the people just disappeared, vanished in an instant. Those who were left behind discovered that they suddenly had magical new abilities like telepathy and teleportation. They could now go anywhere in the universe by just thinking it. And so they did. A few homebodies stayed on Earth with all the leftover robots, who now had nothing to do.
One of the universe-travelling people discovered a vast, implacable intelligence at the center of the galaxy. In his wanderings, he also discovered what had happened to all the people who had so mysteriously vanished thousands of years ago. He returns to Earth to tell the few people there what he has discovered and to warn them that they may now be in danger.

This was just a weird book. Suddenly everyone disappears and just as suddenly those left behind are now super-beings with magical abilities who live for thousands of years. Plus there are a bunch of robots who, built to serve humanity, now have no one to serve. So they become robot monks and set about trying to figure if God is real and other robots who are building a super computer which manages to contact the evil intelligence at the center of the galaxy. So much going on in this book, like a wandering boy able to heal everyone, including a "can of worms" who wants to have a soul, and Indians living in the forests of Minnesota and it all doesn't add up to very much at all, as far as a story goes. It is more like someone's wishful thinking. Just a fair read, I think.

The Fellowship of the Talisman

By Clifford D. Simak

This story is set on an alternate Earth where it's the twentieth century, but people are still living like it was medieval times. Duncan Standish, son of a lord, is on a mission. An ancient manuscript has been found. This manuscript is a diary of the life of Jesus Christ, written in ancient Aramaic. This eyewitness account could be the definitive proof that Jesus Christ was a real person and could bring inspiration and comfort to a suffering world. The only person who can authenticate the diary is in Oxenford (Oxford) and Duncan takes on the task of conveying the diary to Oxenford. His mission is urgent as the expert is a very old man in poor health. Duncan sets forth with his friend Conrad, a guard dog, a war horse, and a little donkey to carry the pack.
In this alternate Earth, evil is on the rampage. A mysterious, malign group known as the Harriers is killing everyone, destroying the countryside and Duncan's path lies straight through their territory. The Harriers are strange monsters and hellish creatures who are not of Earth. Their presence on Earth is the reason mankind has not advanced.
Duncan and Conrad head for Oxenford, encountering many strange creatures and have many battles with the Harriers. They are helped out by creatures that normally wouldn't help humans, like Scratch the demon, Snoopy the goblin, Nan the banshee, who all hate the Harriers more than they hate humanity. Somehow, though often out-numbered they manage to prevail against the Harriers. Duncan believes that the magic talisman he found on their travels is protecting them against the Harriers. Perhaps the talisman holds the key to the destruction of the Harriers. Or perhaps not...

This was an OK read. I got a rather tired of the endless battle scenes. I also didn't much care for the ending, it was a bit of a letdown. Other than that, it was an OK fantasy story.

Review from Kirkus Reviews.