SHAKESPEARE'S PLANET - Book review

Clifford D. Simak’s novel Shakespeare’s Planet was published in 1976. After a thousand years in space, The Ship lands on a planet. Unfortunately, three of the four humans have died due to a malfunction in the cryogenic system, so when Horton is revived, he is alone – apart from the robot Nicodemus. Ship comprises the minds of three – a monk, a grande dame and a scientist. ‘It was only when the three were one, a one unconscious of the three, that the melding of three brains and of three personalities approached the purpose of their being’ (p1). It seems there’s a Biblical allusion here: ‘As the centuries went on, they were collectively convinced they would become, in all truth, the Ship and nothing but the Ship’ (p2). The three minds frequently ‘converse’, explaining how they became The Ship.

Horton and Nicodemus encounter a strange rather vicious creature that is named Carnivore. Not so long ago, Carnivore had shared the planet with a human who called himself Shakespeare, who was a bit of philosopher: ‘The emergence of intelligence, I am convinced, tends to unbalance the ecology. In other words, intelligence is the great polluter. It is not until a creature begins to manage its environment that nature is thrown into disorder’ (p119).

Sometimes Carnivore has an inverted way of expressing himself, much like Yoda in Star Wars: ‘You mean fix it you cannot?’ (p124).

Nicodemus is an interesting character in his own right. He is a basic robot though he can turn his hand to all manner of skills thanks to a number of transmogs that he can plug into – essentially computer apps.

Horton perceives a number of most puzzling aspects to this new planet, including the strange phenomenon of ‘the god-hour’, ancient derelict cities, a potentially sinister black pond, the mysterious arrival of the human female Elayne, and a wormhole that is blocked. ‘Just when you feel that you are ready to grasp some meaning of it, then it is all gone’ (p136).

There is not a lot of action, but there is plenty of mystery. Some of the best bits involve Nicodemus’s humour.

An imaginative excursion.