Slan & Slan Hunter
By A.E. Van Vogt & Kevin J. Anderson

Van Vogt left his sequel to ‘Slan’ unfinished at his death and his wife asked Anderson to finish it. Following the style of Van Vogt I think Anderson did a fine job, with relatively minor adjustments in the story line and apparently no change in style. ‘Slan’ was modified to remove references to the regrowth of tendrils on the tendrilless Slans and insert them at the end of ‘Slan Hunter’…which makes sense at this point. And we do have much more action in ‘Slan Hunter’—even ignoring the tendrilless Slan invasion of Earth. As a tribute to Anderson ‘Slan Hunter’ reads as if it were written by Van Vogt.

Ultimately, if you like Van Vogt, you’ll like these stories; if you like ‘Slan’ you’ll like ‘Slan Hunter’. If you’ve never read Van Vogt then you might find them moderately dated in style…there’s only the most chaste emotional interactions and certainly no sex. The dialog is pretty advanced for the 1950’s, is much better executed and slightly less stilted than the traditional Space Opera and is still enjoyably readable today.

Obviously I liked ‘Slan’ (I’ve read it at least 3 or 4 times over the past 50 years—whenever I came across it) and feel that ‘Slan Hunter’ completes the saga satisfactorily. I can’t help, though, quibbling about a few plot items: the heroes seem almost never to use their telepathic skills with each other and there is still the old Space Opera folderol about the super-science of the Slans being able to solve all problems…in mere moments.

Even 40 years ago I would have given both stories 5-stars; but today I have to admit that they’re dated and must downgrade them to 4-stars.

Note: taking other reviews of the books into account, I will agree that the Slan hunter, John Petty, is displayed as trite and is treated too cavalierly by the others. But the ‘40’s & ‘50’s was not the time for detailed character psychoanalysis and if the heroes and villains had been “fleshed out,” as we’ve come to expect today, the books wouldn’t be A.E. Van Vogt. The stories are what they are, as a reflection of a simpler age of Science Fiction. ( )

Slan: I can definitely see why this book is considered a classic. Although some of the perspectives and ideas that Vogt has about the future are a bit dated, the story itself is clearly the basis of every other book I have read about human evolution. When I read Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear, I thought it was so original, but now I see that it is not. It's still a good book, but Vogt came up with the major themes many years earlier. The book is very short, but packed with ideas. No word is wasted, and the story moves quickly. Very impressive, and I am glad I read it.

Slan Hunter: So incredibly disappointing.

Vogt started this book, but couldn't finish due to Alzheimer's. Anderson finished it, and it is difficult to imagine how he could have done a worse job. Not only is the book not even remotely consistent with the first book, it isn't internally consistent. Anderson took the real people that populated Vogt's book, characters with complicated motivations for their actions, and turned them into silly caricatures. The plot consisted mainly of people frantically running from place to place so that when they got there, they could sit around and explain things to each other. The tone was sentimental and insipid. The ending was horrifyingly atrocious. On the plus side, I recognize the genius of Slan even more after reading this horrible sequel. That's the most positive thing I can think to say.

I am giving this book three stars, but consider that 5 stars for Slan, and 1 for Slan Hunter, with 1 meaning don't bother reading it, unless you have fondness for stupidity. ( )