[To Die in Italbar] is classified as 'science fiction' and whenever I pick up a random sample of that genre, I am always struck by its banality. 'SF', as its fans like to call it, must be the most vacuous form of the novel, interesting only to fantasists and to those who prefer the shadow of the novel to its substance (which is why science fiction is always shown to best effect on the screen). This particular narrative opens somewhere near Italbar, "a thousand miles distant from the space port", where Heidel von Hymack is making his way through the shadowy rain forests of Cleech…. (p. 670)

As long as the novel stays at the level of simple, linear adventure, it has all the merits of a fast and furious plot. But science fiction has two weaknesses which are inherent to it and which always do their best to...