Fury

Published in 1950, this book is a classic if not well know work of science fiction from Henry Kuttner, an author who deserves to be remembered -- and read -- more often than is the case these days. Fury is the story of a man named Sam Reed, a resident of Venus in a future when all that's left of Humanity exists in domed keeps under the seas of that world. Earth was destroyed seven hundred years before the tale begins, and the survivors colonized Venus. Sam is an angry man, one who uses his anger and his formidable intelligence as tools to carve a niche for himself in a society that is steadily decaying around him. Life in the keeps is too easy, lacking in meaningful challenge; the human species is slowly fading away. The salvation of Humanity exists in colonization of the hostile lands of the continents of Venus, places with insanely dangerous creatures that are sometimes both plant and animal. How Sam becomes involved in this colonization scheme, and the consequences of his involvement, make up the tale told in Fury.

Fury is very much character driven, and these characters have something in common. None of them are heroes in any sense of the word. There are no simple good guys or bad guys in this story, though Sam Reed certainly qualifies as an anti-hero. Each has motives and morals that, when they intersect, move the story forward.

While it is clear from its style that this book was written before the current obsession with "show, don't tell," the book reads well all these decades later. It doesn't even matter that the Venus of Kuttner's imagination is impossible. When Kuttner wrote this book (likely in the late 1940s) the possibility of a swampy, jungle Venus had not yet been ruled out. The book is beautifully written, the characters thoroughly realized, and the exotic setting works even in the face of current knowledge. Well worth the time it would take to read this short (less than 200 pages) novel.

Note: Fury was later (1958) republished under the title Destination: Infinity. The original title definitely suits the book better!