This is a second, newer copy of the book. See other copy for review. I bought this intending to give it to a friend and never did. The printing date seems to imply it was printed May, 1970, but the fact that it is priced $1.75 proves it is much younger than my other copy. ( )

Usually the Dominic Flandry novels have Flandry as the one (or one of the few) Terrans still genuinely committed to saving the Terran Empire. In the beginning, this one looks different --more like an Andre Norton opening, with Flandry being bribed by a local crime boss on a sleazy border planet to make an unauthorized survey of a once-rich mining planet from the Polesotechnic era. A tough young sex worker named Djana is sent along as the crime boss's agent, but before she goes she has been taken over by another plotter. It turns out the former mining machines have developed into extremely hostile pseudo-animals, and later (inevitably) Merseian skulduggery is involved. The ending is more bitter than sweet -- (spoiler warning) --Flandry and Djana survive, but when Flandry suggests Djana become a permanent Terran Intelligence agent, she sees this as yet another being trying to manipulate her and rejects the idea (and him) in horror ( )

Early in Dominic Flandry's career, these things happened to him. It is an entertainment. ( )

A interstellar soldier/spy/adventurer at a remote outpost of the Terran (human) empire seeks personal fortune and military advantage over the alien Merseian empire. The main character Dominic Flandry embarks on a excursion to scout out a planet for mining resources for a local gangster. Along with him, in the role of sidekick, goes the prostitute Djana.

This could have turned out to be a terrible book, in particular its plot is abysmal and makes almost no sense. But unusual aspects improve the book. First, it is interesting to find out that the Merseians, although very similar to humans in many ways, are actually culturally superior to the human empire. It seems that the human empire is declining and the Merseian rising, and for all the right reasons. Second, Djana turns out to be an interesting character. She is ostensibly cast in the dual roles of "helpless female" and "experienced sex object", but turns out to have surprising strengths, including eventually latent mental powers. She unlike most of the other characters seems to be nice person. On the other hand, the protagonist, Dominic, turns out to be amoral, greedy, and self-centered.

Also interesting was the discussion of various alien races, the Merseians and others. The descriptions of aliens and their cultures tended to drap out too long, but certainly they were interesting in their own right.

After reading the book, I learned (from Library Thing) that this is the second of ten books on Dominic Flandry. Not sure if I want to read more or not. Certainly not all at once. ( )

I had read some of author Anderson's fantasy novels before, but never his science fiction, and I note that A Circus of Hells is the second of a series of something like ten Terran Empire novels with the protagonist Dominic Flandry. I was motivated to pick it up by the jacket copy, which described an "infernal chess game on a forsaken moon" with pieces that were "strange, inhuman creatures...controlled by a deranged and brilliant computer brain." I was hoping for a further spin on the living chess trope that is central to ERB's Chessmen of Mars, and stems originally from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Unfortunately, the chess adventure was over by the end of the eighth chapter out of twenty.

Far more important than the AI-driven robot chess game were the various intrigues with the human-rivalling Merseian race, and the exotic climate and native intelligences of the far-flung planet Talwin. The scenario and various emphases of the narrative reminded me of the SF role-playing game Traveller, and I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson's Terran Empire books were inspirational for the game authors.

While a lot of the astronomical information seemed pretty up-to-date for science fiction written circa 1970, and the xenobiological ideas were fairly inventive, the galactic imperial setting was much like many written twenty years earlier. I was especially disappointed to find Anderson assuming the survival of Roman Catholicism basically unchanged into humanity's interstellar far future. The conventional Christian piety of the prostitute Djana was an element I found difficult to credit, and it was quite integral to her character and her role in the progress of the story.

In any case, I found the book as a whole short and quick-moving, but insufficiently interesting for me to seek out any further volumes.