Book Review - Come, Hunt an Earthman (JS)

Come, Hunt an Earthman by Philip E High

As I mentioned once in an earlier review, the first real books that I read were all Science Fiction. Where other girls were reading about horses and small cuddly animals, I was usually deep in a book about space battles and aliens. I blame the fact that I had an older brother and the only things around to read were star trek books.

After Rob’s recent review, where he mentioned that he had problems finding good science fiction to read, I decided that I had to start doing reviews on the books that I know and still enjoy. This is one such story:

You may consider yourselves experienced hunters. Many of you have hunted on many planets, but here things are different, for there are no mindless monsters or charging carnivores, but a devious, intelligent and dangerous prey. A prey who is out to get you before you get him Man!

In this tale, the earth has become a hunting ground for aliens, all the main weapons have been destroyed and the only defences the Earth have are small-outdated arms and the brains of the defenders. In charge of the aliens are the Hunt masters who ensure that the hunt rules are followed- i.e. females and the young are left alone. Things seem impossible for the humans, but still they fight on.

The story is told from the point of view of one of the hunt masters, through him the reader soon realises that there is more to this particular alien than first thought. He influences certain humans and though he does not give them the means to fight back, he encourages the resistance of the human race against the hunters.

This is a fun story, and moves along briskly without being bogged down in too much technical detail. There is a fair amount of action and some violence, but what do you expect, aliens are trying to kill people after all.

The humans to a certain extent are secondary characters, the main is definitely the Hunt master, but Vincent Walsh and the scientist Singleton are still strong enough for the reader to be interested in them and so cheer for the home team.

It is not a long book and is very easy to read; I have had my copy for years and still enjoy reading it, and would recommend this as a story for those who want a Sci-Fi book without too much science.

9 out of 10