The Spur: Loki's Rock

The Spur:  Loki's Rock
by Mark Ellis
(4/5 stars)

It's a space Western that's more Western than space. It's kind of like those old Star Trek episodes where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to some planet plunged in civil war and despite the Prime Directive wind up getting involved in it. Only in this case both sides of the civil war are evil.

On the desolate world of Loki, Colonel James Crockett and his crew go down to the surface to survey the place since the Federation-type entity in charge lost contact with the colony over a century ago. They find that thanks to numerous earthquakes and such the place is a wasteland. They come to the eponymous Loki's Rock, a kind of Thunderdome-type place ruled by a nut named Bonner.

Bonner's goons harvest human organs to trade to some neo-neo-Nazis who exchange them for supplies Bonner and his people need to survive. But of course Crockett's arrival upsets this precarious balance. There's a final showdown that takes place in a mountain stronghold shaped like Adolf Hitler.

Like I said, it feels a lot like Star Trek. Crockett is Kirk, his second-in-command/science officer Alex is Spock (without the ears and with female parts), and the "Native American" (a term not really applicable since he was born on Loki) doctor Quanrah is Bones. There's also an amnesiac psychic gypsy named Zeda and an android named Syne. It's a fast-paced, exciting adventure but largely formulaic. It lacks the humor of a "Firefly" but is still a fun read.

That is all.