"Nighmare Planet" eBook was published in 2017 (original paper edition was published in 1976) and was written by Donald S. Rowland (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?116971). Mr. Rowland published 19 novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the far future. The spacecraft Voyager from Earth is in route to the Brontus Major Constellation when it discovers an uncharted planetary system. The primary character is Ship Captain Kyle Barlor.

The planetary system was completely unknown and did not at first show up on their instruments. As they approach the system, things begin failing on their ship and they are fired upon from one of the planets. A party is landed on the planet showing signs of habitation, but soon after they land contact is lost. Barlor leads a rescue mission, but they too are soon set upon by hostile creatures. It soon becomes apparent that leaving the planet and surviving will be a challenge.

I spent only 5 hours to read this 191 page vintage science fiction novel. The writing had the distinct feel of an older work. It really does not hold up very well for today's reader. I don't think the cover art is very representative of the story. I give this novel a 3 out of 5.

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This is a old fashioned science fiction novel that reminded me of the original Star Trek.
The characters were very bland though.

I rarely do this, but I have to start with saying I love the cover for Nightmare Planet. It took me about two seconds to decide to get this book after I laid eyes on the cover. Fantastic job. (Though it doesn't hurt that after reading Deathworld by Harry Harrison I'm looking for more books where its man versus planet.)

Nightmare Planet was originally published in 1976, and you can tell. The language is just a bit off. Not enough that it drags you out of the story, but you’re conscious of the fact that this is an older work. None of the technology mentioned really dates the book (as happens in Man Plus with the massive IBMs), it's really just wording that screws it.

One of the problems that Nightmare Planet has is that it feels a bit amateur in the writing. Rowland definitely knew what he wanted to do with the book, but his writing just doesn’t feel very polished. Sometimes it’s also a bit stilted and formal. For example:

“The Chief Engineer seems to think we are travelling faster than indicated. He has a hunch. On what do you base your misgivings?”

I think if the author had paused to even just read the dialogue out loud, he would have discovered the problem. It also seems that the author had a bit of a prejudice against women. Every time one appears in the story, she's mentioned as being beautiful but annoying/irritating/helpless. Ugh.

The premise of Nightmare Planet is fascinating, and the first few chapters definitely grab your attention. The aliens are a bit laughable but yet I still applaud him for his imagination. You have monstrous tailless meat-eating kangaroos and creatures that resemble Thing from the Addams Family (plus more) inhabiting this utterly strange Nightmare Planet. The action never stops, with the author skipping time ahead as need be to keep things going.

With some tweaking of the dialogue and smoothing out of story flow, Nightmare Planet could be a fun read. Well, that and the Captain needs to be given a modicum of common sense. It's space adventure, man against aliens, and doesn't require any thinking to enjoy. However, I just can't recommend it in it's current form. It's not bad, it's just not good enough.

This is an okay book, it is a bit top heavy with dialogue but lacked any real interaction between the characters. Although a bit slow at the start, the final third moved at a nice pace, would have been nice to know who the original settlers were. It was a bit like an old Star Trek episode.

It didn’t take me long to suspect that this isn’t a recently written book, the language and style identifying it as an older work, reminding me of Hardy Boys and Biggles books that I read as a kid, just set in space. There are a number of old-school words used like “artificer” (technicians and engineers) and even the other use of “ejaculate” (to utter suddenly and briefly; exclaim) which I’ve not seen used in this context outside much older books. A quick look at the book’s copyright notice confirms that this book was first published in 1976, and more research told me that Donald S. Rowland (his actual name) is a veteran pulp writer who has used 55 pseudonyms to produce a very large number works of various genres. Few of these works have been science fiction which certainly shows through clearly in Nightmare Planet with it’s simple ideas and rather juvenile feel.

Now to the story itself, a short book which, I have to admit, is ably written and generally okay albeit basic in concept. The star-ship Voyager is on a journey with it’s fifty man crew to survey a distant star system for minerals. Earth’s resources of vital metals have become strained and many planets in our solar system and other systems near to Earth have been plundered for these. Survey ships such as Voyager locate the planets and other objects containing sufficient materials to warrant action, then push on to leave the following fleets of mining ships and transports to extract and take away the spoils.

Nine hundred light years out from Earth, yet still some distance from their objective, Voyager encounters a system of a star plus four planets which was previously unknown and mysteriously invisible to their sensors. The captain makes the decision to investigate the system for any mineral or threat potential. They are fired upon by missiles from the surface of the outermost planet which a landing party confirms to be barren and uninhabited. Further investigation detects life forms on the third planet and landing parties are again dispatched to check it out. What they discover there is interesting and becomes rather dicey when they find themselves in quite a spot of bother.

After much dangerous adventure, the remaining members of the landing parties cut their losses and make a hasty retreat back to the Voyager which is parked in orbit above the planet. In the end things conclude in a rather spectacular fashion and the book abruptly finishes without any of the big questions being answered. This was disappointing and quite frustrating, having gone through the detail of the planet-side exploits to be given no reveal or closure at the end. The final words of the book talk about what may lie ahead and it is “a future beyond Barlor’s (Voyager‘s Captain) wildest imagining” so maybe there are more adventures ahead for the Voyager and her crew which will solve some of the puzzles.

The characters are typical for a space ship adventure, with the Captain, his officers such as doctors, scientists, engineers and some security personnel and soldiers. We get to know most of them by name but they have little depth and we learn nothing about them as individual people. It’s a story with a decent amount of action yet gains no real traction with it’s plot or theme which is, again, disappointing.

I’d have probably enjoyed this a whole lot more as an adolescent, which I suspect is the market that this book was originally aimed at given it’s length and style. Maybe a similar audience is still in mind by the current publisher but I reckon that today’s young readers will struggle with it due to it’s dated language, basic theme and unsatisfying conclusion. For this reason I’m curious why the publisher has taken the punt in reintroducing it. Maybe with a reboot it could work, but in it’s current form I can’t see it doing all that well.

1/5 for concept
3/5 for delivery
2/5 for entertainment
= 2 out of 5