Spartan Planet by A. Bertram Chandler

Spartan Planet Reviews

• 
  Tentatively, Convenience

  a review of
  A. Bertram Chandler's Spartan Planet
  by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 25, 2016
  
  I'm pretty sure that if I'd read the description of this bk 40 yrs ago I wd've shied away from it as entirely too lo-brow. NOW I think it was great, really inspired, hilarious. The basic premise is that there's a planet that'd been colonized by Earthlings long ago that'd developed into an all-male planet partially based on the male dominated militaristic city-state Sparta from ancient Greece.
  
  Blundering into this is a Federation Survey Spaceship captained by Chandler's recurring character John Grimes & carrying a woman doctor named Margaret Lazenby whose job it is to study this lost colony's culture. Lazenby is the 1st & only woman most of the planet's inhabitants have ever seen. Human reproduction is a science controlled by specialists: doctors, & 'effeminate' male nurses. Creatures lower on the food chain give birth by having their male offspring rip off from the side of the father's body after having grown there as a conjoined twin of sorts & this is what the Spartans have been taught was their reproductive ancestry before the doctors improved things:
  
  "["]it's just that some of us don't like to be reminded of our humble origins. How would you like to go through the budding process, and then have to tear your son away from yourself?"" - p 6
  
  "The larger of the scavengers, the parent, had succeeded in bringing one of its short legs up under its belly. Suddenly it kicked, and as it did so it screamed, and the smaller animal shrieked in unison. They were broken apart now, staggering over the cobbles in what was almost a parody of a human dance. They were apart, and on each of the rough, mottled flanks was a ragged circle of glistening, raw flesh, a wound that betrayed by its stench what was the usual diet of the lowly garbage eaters. The stink lingered even after the beasts, rapidly recovering from their ordeal, had scurried off, completing the fission process, in opposite directions.
  
  "That was the normal way of birth on Sparta." - pp 6-7
  
  Chandler gives a reasonably imaginative treatment to his idea of a lost colony isolated from their true past to the degree that things have become redefined. As such, colonists speaking English consider it to be Greek b/c their seemingly all-male society is partially based around ancient Greek culture:
  
  "Walking with calm deliberation the two men approached the barrier. The one with the trousered leg called, "Anybody here speak English?" He turned to his companion and said, "That was a silly question to which I should get a silly answer. After all. we've been nattering to them on RT all the way in."
  
  ""We speak Greek," answered Diomedes.
  
  "The spaceman looked puzzled. "I'm afraid that I don't. But your English is very good. If you don't mind, it will have to do."
  
  ""But we have been speaking Greek all the time."" - p 24
  
  The Spartans are accustomed to Spartan conditions - ie: stern & hard ones not inclined to comfort. They board Grimes's spaceship:
  
  "Brasidus remained standing until he received a grudging nod from his superior. Then he was amazed by the softness, by the comfort of the chair into which he lowered himself. On Sparta such luxury was reserved for the aged—and only for the highly placed aged at that, for council members and the like." - p 32
  
  Never having seen women before, the Spartans advance various theories about the 'deformities' on Lazenby's chest:
  
  "["]it's manned by robots with twin turrets on their chests from which they shoot lethal rays."
  
  ""They must be functional . . ." mused Brasidus, "I suppose."
  
  ""What must be?" demanded the librarian.
  
  ""Those twin turrets. Good day to you."" - p 47
  
  Now, it's probably all too easy to (potentially incorrectly) read personal details into an author's story. As such, I imagine Chandler writing this at a time when he was upset w/ a lover or a wife or getting divorced or somehow having trouble w/ the women or woman that he was intimate w/ in his life:
  
  ""A mere dozen of these malformed weaklings, without arms. . . . No, there can be no danger. Obviously, since they are member's of Seeker's crew, they can coexist harmoniously with men. So, we repeat, there is no danger."
  
  ""Sire!" It was the doctor who had raised the objection. "You do not know these beings. You do not know how treacherous they can be."
  
  ""And do you, Doctor Pausanias? And if you do know, how do you know?"
  
  "The Councilman paled. He said lamely, "We are experienced, sire, in judging who is to live and who is not to live among the newborn. There are signs, reliable signs. She"—he pointed an accusing finger at Margaret Lazenby—"exhibits them."" - p 67
  
  It's decided that these strange men w/ the protuberances on their chests are aliens from a planet called Arcadia - &, Lo & Behold!, they do exert a suspiciously entrancing fascination on the Spartan Brasidus & others - even to the extent of leading Brasidus astray from his boyfriend:
  
  ""Brasidus, I have to be on duty soon. Will you come with me to my room?"
  
  "The Sergeant looked at his friend. Achron was a pretty boy, prettier than most, but he was not, he could never be, an Arcadian. . . .
  
  "What am I thinking? he asked himself, shocked. Why am I thinking it?
  
  "He said, "Not tonight, Achron."" - p 85
  
  I don't want to spoil the plot for you but the ending cd be sd to have a wry ambiguity. Watch where those twin turrets are pointed! They might be coming after YOU!!
• 
  Thomas

  I have read eight or ten of this series featuring Captain Grimes. They are all entertaining, placing twisted plots from the classics into an interstellar setting. You would not think that something like this could seem dated, but these novels mostly do. It is like reading the Playboy Philosophy from the 1970s. Well-told, but campy. Will I keep reading them. Yeah.
• 
  Jared

  A pulp story that definitely pushed the boundaries when it was released. Strong female character, interesting future history and surprisingly not homophobic considering the premise and time period. Very happy these books are getting reprinted.
• 
  Al "Tank"

  A planet of men only, modeled after old Sparta, that has been out of touch with the rest of humanity, except for a neighboring planet, for centuries. Animals on Sparta reproduce by budding. Thanks to the birth machines, run by the priests, men don't have to go through that experience to reproduce any more.
  
  Into this rough world comes a survey ship from the Federation. And on that ship are some men and some "strange", alien men with bumps on their chests. Sparta will never be the same again -- if it survives the truth.
  
  I loved the twists that this setting provided. Chandler did a great job of handling the politics of Sparta along with the reactions of some of the Spartans to this visit from the "rest" of humanity.
• 
  Megan

  I actually liked the story of this John Grimes novel quite a bit. It wasn't from Grimes' point of view and he was in the story very little. I liked that the point of view was from a soldier in a pretty interesting society, it made the story exciting, this soldier has never seen a woman and he doesn't know much about space and his own people have been hiding stuff from him and everyone else. I don't really like John Grimes that much, so I was OK with him not being in the story. We do get to see his on again, off again girlfriend although they didn't seem to be together in this story. Overall 3 out of 5 stars. Hopefully the rest of the books in the story are this good.
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  Hank Hoeft

  Spartan Planet was first published in 1969, over 50 years ago. It is interesting to have first read it in 2023 at a time when cultural and political forces in society claim there are an infinite number of genders, because Spartan Planet takes place on a planet with literally one sex: male. (And one gender--in 1969, "sex" and "gender" were considered synonymous terms.) The story and the concepts are interesting, but they certainly aren't the greatest sf ever written. However, reading this slim novel now through the prism of the current debate on sex and gender makes this story more interesting and thought-provoking than it otherwise would be.
• 
  Alvin

  Part of a sci-fi mind candy series. This one didn't include much of John Grimes and way too much plot. Prefer my sci-fi adventures with action.
  
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  Binati Sheth

  A hilarious book in an unexpected way!
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  Tom Gaetjens

  Come for the lurid premise, stay for the homoerotic overtones.
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  Richard

  Still an interesting read, but the sexist and possibly racist aspects are still concerning me.
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  Karen-Leigh

  Lieutenant Commander John Grimes is Captain of a Survey ship Seeker III along with Maggie Lazenby doing census. They land on Sparta a lost colony of all males created by a birthing machine controlled by doctors who also create women for themselves. By the end of the novel, Grimes has given them the facts of life, the creche is destroyed and the world will have to be readjusted to normal which might be difficult considering women are so alien to the men.
• 
  Heather

  This series has not aged at all well. It's very sexist and ever so slightly rascist. What allows it to keep any stars at all is the feeling that the author was trying to imagine a world where there was true equality but played it far too safe.
  The attitudes towards women that come through in this are far too much to take for me.
• 
  carpe diem

  My first and last literary experience with this author. The type of reading to be had while waiting at the family doctor or during a flight. Not the type of book for fans of Ursula K Le Guin, Philip K Dick, Asimov and the likes.
• 
  SciFiOne

  Grade B+. Book Ge.
• 
  Steven Burke

  Not a great book, Kinda predictable ending. Interesting plot though.
• 
  Roo

  did not finish
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  Brenda

  Second time reading it, I seem to remember liking it more the first time. Imagine a world without women, where women are viewed as deformed and put to death at birth. Now imagine the fallout when visitors from Earth visit this world, with several deformed women are crew?