Space Prison

I remembered reading this books years ago and I wanted to reread it again, but I could not remember the title title or the author. I could not find a reference in 'Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction' by Brian W. Aldiss though there was a reference to Godwin in 'Alternate Worlds: The Illustrate History of Science Fiction' by James Gunn. All I remember about the book was the planet Ragnarok. A couple of days ago I got a hit from an internet search. The book title nor the author's name were not familiar., but the book was archived by the Gutenberg Project and reading the first paragraph I knew that I had found the book I was search for.

Before reviewing the book one must consider the time that the book was written, 1959. We were still at 'war' with Russia (The cold War) and atomic annihilation was still a possibility. In 1959 'Alas Babylon' by Pat Frank was published and 'On The Beach' by Nevil Shute was published in 1957. So there is a political agenda in these books though not as overt space prison.

The book is pretty typical of the times, though the plot is slightly interesting. One is going to need to realize that there is very little character development . It is better than some of the earlier writings it is still not a great book. It is still an important book when one considers the evolution of the science fiction novel from the early days of science fiction to the modern sci fi stories of today.