Zenya: The Dumarest Saga Book 11

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Book 11 begins with Dumarest in a library. He's looking for clues to Earth when he is accosted by a beautiful blonde, who we learn is Zenya. Zenya is a member of one of the warring clans of the planet. She takes him to see her grandfather, the clan leader. As is typical of the Dumareverse, the members of the clan are inbred and insane.

Dumarest is compelled by the threat of being handed over to the Cyclan to travel to a different planet in search of the clan heir, who disappeared decades ago in search of myth and legend. He arrives to find the new planet engaged in a civil war between the resident humans and an earlier wave of humanity who are degraded and have a telepathic gift. The planetary rules are convinced that these people - the Ayutha - are destroying its villages.

Dumarest, who has done everything at one time or another, steps in as military leader to stiffen the backbone of the hesitant and dampen the spirit of the excitable. It seems that he doesn't accept the narrative that the Ayutha are the culprits, given the passive disposition fostered by their weak telepathic powers.

Will Dumarest find the heir?

Will he save the Ayutha?

Will he avoid the Cyclan?

Will he get closer to Earth?

To find out, you will have to read the book, but realize that there are twenty more books to go.

This book is pulp, but there were some gems. For example, Dumarest intuits that a mutation in the local cash crop is causing problems:

“They mutate. In this case, the mutation has resulted in a subtle alteration of the pollen. A freak—it couldn't happen again perhaps for a million years—but once was enough. Now, some of the pollen isn't harmless. It contains a hallucinogenic of a particularly horrible nature. It affects the brain, turns people insane, makes them kill, and then causes them to die in turn. You have seen the effects.”

Later, he reflects on the character of Zenya, who is more of a Bond girl than character:

“For a while, he thought, until the novelty wore off and her own restless compulsion drove her to seek fresh titivation. And then, in order to retain his pride, he would have to fight and kill—that or beat her into submissive obedience. Two things which, for him, held no attraction. A wanton, he thought, looking at her. Amoral, warped by the society in which she lived, the inbreeding which had accentuated weakness. A bitch in every sense of the word, yet beautiful, as all such women were.”

The Dumareverse is galaxy-wide but very small. Every planet seems insular and run by a tight, inbred, oligarchy.

Why that should be the case is not explained, but the result of this social model results in a galaxy run by inbred psychopaths.

Dumarest lives in a harsh world. In fact, it is a film noir world, with femmes fatale and a single hero whose self-imposed rules represent the only morality in this nihilistic universe.