I admit I'm a little torn on this one. Written in the late 1960s, this sci-fi thriller had an interesting message and seems to have influenced a fair bit of modern sci-fi, but it was done in a somewhat superficial manner. A synopsis: It's a couple hundred years after the 20th century and nobody is allowed to live past age 21. The entire world is connected by a giant subway system controlled by a powerful computer in the heart of a mountain in the middle of America. Everyone wears implanted "flowers" on their hands that are programmed to change color every seven years to denote different phases of life and, ultimately, to alert everyone to when a person is scheduled to go to Sleep, or surrender their lives at age 21. The people who refuse to go to Sleep are called Runners, and they are tracked down by an elite police force called Sandmen, who kill the Runner on sight. Presumably, all Runners are looking for Sanctuary, or the place where they can live out a natural human life. Logan is a Sandman who decides to run on his last day, teaming up with a female runner and going on an intense journey within the course of 24 hours that leads them to an underground railroad seeking Sanctuary.It reminded me a lot of the movie In Time, with regards to an artificially-set end of life for political and economic reasons. Whenever I read mid century sci-fi, I have to take a step back and remember that it's not derivative, but rather informative. Right now, this type of story seems completely overdone, but that's probably because it actually helped influence a fair amount of mediocre sci-fi currently being released. This story was a sort of "what if" scenario that doesn't really transcend time like 1984 or other great and beloved sci-fi stories have. Logan's Run was a result of the writers watching a cultural revolution take place in the late 60s, where young people changed the country, something not really seen before in America. With all the protests, riots, and incredible news coverage, the future probably felt incredibly tentative at that time. In that way, Logan's Run is an interesting historical document, looking into the minds of writers who were unsure what the cultural revolution could engender and wanted to pursue one outlandish avenue to its natural conclusion. Looking at that idea now, it seems ridiculous since all those hippies mellowed out and became the much-maligned baby boomer generation who grumps about the laziness of their kids and saps social security - basically what the authors of Logan's Run thought might be avoided if everyone committed suicide by 21. Ok, so maybe there still is something poignant about the story after all. On the flip side, I didn't love the writing. It was an action-packed thriller, low on character development and high on quick, sparse sentences and crazy-fast plot movement. The runners are dashing around the country, encountering new villains here and there and defeating them just as quickly as they meet them. It all felt more like a comic book than a novel, which just isn't my cup of tea. The authors (sci-fi guys William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson teaming up) do a decent job of quickly creating a vivid world and dystopian future, but it feels quite dated and more pulpy as opposed to literary. Though we are meant to have mixed feelings about Logan, who we know to be a killer but also a seeker of human connections, there's no real character arc that occurs and in fact, there's a strange climax to the novel where he maybe seems to go through some sort of inner turmoil, but it is very strangely executed and unclear whether or not his whole dash for freedom was planned by the Sandmen or not. This is part of the blurriness of the writing, where settings are much more fleshed out than people. The climax takes place in Washington, DC, which has become a tropical jungle due to a nuclear bomb explosion, and is infested with escaped zoo animals. I loved the imagery of this place, but everything that occurs there is like a fever dream of incomprehensible plot. I'll also say that Logan's fellow runner, Jessica, is a painfully useless character, playing the part of a beautiful, weak woman who constantly needs saving. *Eye roll*. It really makes me appreciate the new sci-fi heroines in the form of The Hunger Games and probably Divergent and stuff, according to the movie trailers I've seen. Because of its messy and immature writing style I can't say I really enjoyed it, but I do appreciate it as a valid influence on its genre and as a statement about the era in which it was written.
I always like the idea of reading old sci-fi more than the actual experience, and it certainly held true with this book as well. Logan's Run is, of course, iconic. Immortalized in a futuristic, and now cult-classic b-movie, it has cinematic influences on everything from Bladerunner to Minority Report. But there's really just not that much story here. Ultimately, that's what disappoints - that there could have been such an interesting story, but all we get is a chase through various decaying and exotic scenes.Still, there are some passages that stand out, one being a (1967) impression of the modern Internet, described thus:"Here was a constellation of winking fireflies stretching to infinity. Here was an immense electronic silence. In the endless, glowing dark was Tangier and London, Macao and Capri and Beirut, El Quederef and Chateau-Chinon and Wounded Knee. From these caverns leapt the motive force of a dispensary in Chemnitz, a glasshouse in Shropshire, a call box in Billings, Montana ... This vast mountain brain sent it's signals along Earth's nervous system to the distant places, the villages, towns and cities, bringing order out of disorder, calmness out of confusion.They beheld the world.The final realization of the computer age. A direct extension of the electronic brains at Columbia and Cal Tech in the 1960s, it was a massive breakthrough in solid-state technology. Computer was linked with computer in ever widening complexity."Brilliant.And a giggle-worthy description of a "dirty bomb":“Brigadier General Matthew Pope authorized the use of one vest-pocket tactical atomic bomb. It was the last act of his life, and no other nuclear weapon was used in the Little War. Ground zero for the bomb was the site of the Smithsonian Institute – and the resultant crater was thereafter known as Pope's Hole. It was a remarkably dirty bomb, and for two weeks Washington was virtually uninhabitable – until the Geiger count fell low enough for observers to re-enter the city and test the atmosphere. Already the zoo animals had begun to breed.”“Heat from the nuclear explosion stored in tidal salts beneath the earth was still leaching out after all these years. The furnace heat, combined with the high humidity, had created a tropical rainforest. Winter ceased to exist in Washington.”I like a little humor in my fiction.
What do You think about Logan's Run (2000)?
I reread the trilogy every few years. All three books are pretty slim (which is the reason you usually find them together as The Logan Trilogy or whatever). They hold up pretty well. For people that only know the Movie (and the TV Series, which was corny but I remember it well from my childhood) the books are almost completely different, and well worth checking out. They expand a lot of the world and are ... well, more Adult( more sex, more violence (Different shots in a Deep Sleep gun, each one specialized to kill in a different way (man I want one of those flame props from the movie so bad!). The movie Sanitizes a lot of themore visceral stuff from the books. Its worth checking out if your a fan of the Movie. There are 2 sequels Logan's World and Logan's Search both written by William F Nolan. A Third book, Jessica's Run, by George Clayton Johnson is due out sometime in 2012 (hopefully), and supposedly is a direct sequel from the first novel and ignores the other 2 books.
—William Cameron
In the 23nd century, every person is fitted with a flower crystal that turns black when its wearer turns twenty-one. Once the flower turns black, the wearer has only two choices: Allow themselves to be put to sleep or run for their lives.Logan is a DS. He hunts down runners and makes certain they don’t survive their twenty-first year. It’s the job he’s worked for since childhood, but now that his own twenty-first is approaching, he’s beginning to question the rightness of all those killings and the point of his existence. Enter Doyle. Doyle’s a runner, and Logan’s on his case. Doyle’s a tricky hunt, but nothing that the DS man can’t handle. It isn’t until poor Doyle meets up with a bunch of drugged up cubs that his flight is ended. As he dies, Doyle gives Logan a key and whispers the word “Sanctuary.” With this new-found information, Logan believes he has found a way to give his life meaning before his swiftly approaching end. He plans to find Sanctuary and put an end to the runners once and for all—thereby making all the deaths and hard work worth it.Logan’s Run has a lot in common with Hunger Games, Wither, Divergent, and all those other YA Dystopian novels of recent years. The only difference is: It’s much more fun than any of them. Of course, I’m a bit leery about using the word “fun” because a lot of bad stuff goes down in this novel. It wasn’t written to teens and yet that’s probably who it would most appeal to. This really isn’t high art, but it is an enjoyable ride. The characters are kind of cut out, but the plot makes up for that. Everything moves at a breakneck speed—so fast that sometimes it’s a bit hard to keep up with where the heck these characters are and what is going on. Still, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and so it’s a bit difficult to hold those sort of faults against it. This was one of those books that I actually wish had been longer. (It was only 148 pages. I could have stood another two hundred.) I liked the weird world and would have liked to get a better picture of it. I also would have liked to see a bit more of Logan’s inner turmoil, but as the book was written in part by a screenwriter, I can see why that sort of thing might not have appealed to him as the author. Basically, this book was a breeze to read and just the sort of actiony scifi that I enjoy.I would recommend this book to those who enjoy the previously mentioned YA Fiction. Also, it weirdly reminded me a lot of the Obernewtyn Chronicles. So if that’s your thing, you might want to try this.Oh and before I finish, I just have to say that I might need to track down some of the Logan’s Run adaptations because there are some really awesome pictures from them online. It looks like the movie and the TV show might just be wonderfully entertaining (probably in an unintentional way).
—Melissa Prange
So I picked this up for 87 cents basically for two reasons:1. It's Logan's Run!!! What more need be said?2. Come on, 87 cents? Did I mention that it's Logan's Run?Ok, I hate reading the book after I've seen the movie (this pretty much goes with any book-to-eventual-movie combo), but really, I vaguely even recall the movie - I remember scant parts and I think most of the parts I remember aren't even in the book and I think the other parts I remember are those refreshed by stills wedged into the middle of the book after being reprinted in '76 to promote the movie. (Sigh, I hate movie promoting versions of books too, but oh well, it's not like I had a choice.)Now, despite what I can remember from the movie, I loved it and more than anything, I sort of picked this up for a good laugh. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. This was actually pretty damn good. It was short, fast-paced and amazingly gripping. Seriously, I couldn't put it down and rolled through in a few short hours...and now...well now I gotta go track down the movie again.There's few book/movie combinations I enjoy - it's usually one or the other, either the book was fantastic and the movie was nothing more than shallow hollywood droll or...well, the other doesn't happen very often. This is one of the few exceptions where both were superb.
—St-Michel
