I thought I'd re-read some of C. L. Moore's Northwest Smith
stories this month. The three I read are "Shambleau," "Black
Thirst," and "The Tree of Life." All three are similar. At
the beginning of each one, Northwest Smith, a pale-eyed
interplanetary adventurer on the shady side of the law,
encounters a beautiful alien woman in need of help. For
reasons not necessarily chivalrous, he decides in each case
to help out, a big mistake.
(You'd think he'd learn.) What Smith nearly loses each time
isn't his life so much as some part of himself, maybe his
soul. These stories are all about color, mood, and emotion
rather than plot, and the mood is noirish, especially in
"Shambleau." The concluding lines of this one are, I'd say,
pretty despairing.
Bill Crider
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