Judgment on Janus by Andre Norton
Naill Renfro lives in The Dipple, a ghetto on the pleasure planet of Korwar (same setting as in Catseye). He and his mother arrived there years ago as refugees when their home was destroyed by a space war. Now his mother is dying and she’s in a lot of pain and anguish. To purchase a final gift and a peaceful death for his mother, Naill sells himself into indentured servitude on a frontier planet called Janus.
When Naill arrives on Janus, he is put to work in the fields where the citizens seem to be battling the forest. They are chopping down trees as fast as they can.
Naill and the other servants are warned not to touch any artifacts they find as they work. These items are called “treasures” and they’re destroyed as soon as they’re found because they’re cursed. According to the overseers, they make people get sick and die.
Naill wonders where the treasures came from because, as far as he knows, humans are the first sentient beings on the planet. He doesn’t believe the artifacts are cursed, so he wonders why these beautiful treasures must be destroyed.
When Naill tries to keep a treasure he found, he does, indeed, get sick. His supervisors, who consider this to be punishment for his sin, leave him out in the forest to die.
But Naill doesn’t die and, when he recovers, he has been changed. His skin is green and he seems to have acquired the memories of a man who was a warrior long ago for an ancient tribe that used to live in the forest on Janus.
As Naill struggles to keep the two halves of himself separate, they instead begin to fuse. Then Naill feels compelled to find others like him and take back the planet from the people who are destroying it.
Judgment on Janus (1963) is the first novel in Andre Norton’s JANUS duology. The two novels, Judgment on Janus and Victory on Janus (1966) have been published together in an omnibus edition called JANUS (Baen, 2002) which has been released in audiobook format by Tantor Audio (2021). I really like the narration by Gabriel Vaughan.
Judgment on Janus isn’t one of Norton’s best works, but it’s not one of her worst either. It’s fairly entertaining and would be a good introduction to classic science fiction for middle grade kids or young adults. I don’t think the books were originally targeted toward younger folks, but I suspect that most adults who are science fiction fans will find them, though entertaining, lacking in complexity and challenge.
It’s easy to feel an immediate connection with Naill, a homeless refugee whose mother is dying. There’s also an agreeable, strong, and smart female character (not particularly common in science fiction novels published in the early 1960s). Mind-speaking with animals (a common Norton trope) is another feature of Judgment on Janus that kids are likely to appreciate. I’ll be reviewing the sequel, Victory on Janus, very soon.
I remember reading this when I was in middle school (which we called junior high). I really liked it. I was captivated when he assumed the memories of the warrior.
I am so happy that these are finally being released in audio format!