Andre Norton 3 hr 44 min read

Slathered in fragrant paste to trade with the aliens of perfumed Sargol, cargo-apprentice Dane Thorson of the Free Trader Solar Queen is about to face a deadly menace loose aboard his ship.

Andre Norton's 1956 novel, part of her beloved Solar Queen series, is a rousing colonization space opera. Vivid, exciting golden-age SF. Read it for classic Norton adventure, where free-trading spacers battle a mysterious plague and a frame-up across the trade lanes.

In its time

Published in 1956, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

3 hr 44 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).