Citadel of the Green Death

 

Citadel of the Green Death was quite the read. Joel Hakkyt is being sent to a prison camp for "maladjusted" people- where they experiment upon people until they perish- but in reality he's a mutant- and fate has other plans for him. He's offered a chance to to go to Asgard- a world circling Alpha Centauri- where he can live a life of labor rather than be experimented to death. Of course he accepts- and the fun begins. 

This is one of those books where something happens on nearly every page, and even as a novella (as it would be today) it tells a story that would take up three or four hundred pages nowadays. Not a lot of characterization going on here, lots of descriptions of sensual women, but you get a good story. The protag is a mutant- so popular back in Golden Age days- and Asgard is fascinating. A hot, stifling world with two suns- each a different color- with aggressive carnivorous trees and plant life, indigenous aliens with a secret, and some twists. I liked the characters here- the green haired VIP who falls for our protag was a riot- even if it is instalove.