The novel “The Weapon from Beyond” by Edmond Moore Hamilton was published for the first time in 1967. It’s the first book of the Starwolf trilogy.

Morgan Chane is a Starwolf who grew up on Varna, a high-gravity planet whose inhabitants develop a great strength, but he’s of terrestrial origin. In a brawl he kills another Starwolf and at that point he gets hunted by his former comrades, who want to kill him. Wounded, he can only hope for the help of the first spacecraft passing by but it has a crew of mercenaries.

The commander of the mercenaries sees that Morgan Chane is a Starwolf but agrees to keep as his identity secret in exchange for his help in a job. The mercenary group is given the task of saving a planet from an enemy who seems to have found a weapon of unprecedented destructive power.

Edmond Hamilton was a master of the classic space opera, the kind in which the adventurous side was the most important and offered much sense-of-wonder with trips among the stars and exotic planets. The Starwolf series belongs to the last phase of Hamilton’s career, the most mature one in which the author had perfected his style.

“The Weapon from Beyond” is set in a fictional universe in which there are many species of humanoids. One of these species live on the planet Varna, where gravity is very high so the people develop physical abilities much higher than the Earthlings. Morgan Chane’s parents were Earth’s missionaries who go to Varna to try to convert the natives but succumb to the planet’s gravity. Their son is young enough to be able to adapt and become a Starwolf, a pirate like all varnians.

The novel begins with Morgan Chane fleeing from the Starwolves. Following a disagreement over the division of the spoils of a raid, he killed another Starwolf and suddenly all of them consider him a stranger to kill with no mercy. Luckily, he’s rescued by a passing mercenary starship but he must hide his identity because the rest of the galaxy declares a holiday when a Starwolf is killed.

The only one who knows Morgan Chane’s secret is John Dilullo, an Earthling, precisely from Brindisi, Italy, in command of a group of mercenaries. His instinct is to kill Chane but he realizes that a man with his skills can be useful as a member of his crew. The two of them end up making a deal to help each other even if they don’t trust each other.

The space operas of the time were based on telling about space trips with great adventures and a limited interest for character development. Unlike other space operas of the time, Edmond Hamilton also shows little interest in the technological side so there are no explanations for the propulsion of the interstellar starships or for the various products of alien technologies encountered in the course of the novel.

Edmond Hamilton also focuses particularly on the Morgan Chane’s escape from the Starwolves and his “job” with the mercenaries but at least he tries to create a character that goes beyond stereotypes, also in his opposition to John Dilullo.

Morgan Chane is in many ways an anti-hero and despite being the son of missionaries is basically amoral like the other Starwolves. However, at the beginning of “The Weapon from Beyond” what he considered his people are trying to kill him: this makes him an alien wherever he goes and forces him to think for the first time in his life about his situation.

John Dilullo is a commander who is highly regarded among mercenaries but he’s starting to get old. In his position, failing to complete a job means losing the confidence of the other mercenaries. If his colleagues started thinking that he’s no longer what he once was, for him it would be the end and it’s not just an economic problem but also a prospect he fears a lot because his reputation is very important.

These particular circumstances brings Morgan and John Chane Dilullo to face various adventures together. Their relationship is strange because at least initially they don’t trust each other and their collaboration is forced but gradually the two of them learn to respect each other.

“The Weapon from Beyond” is one of the best examples of adventurous space opera. It’s certainly not as sophisticated as some space operas of recent years but the sense-of-wonder created by Edmond Hamilton is truly remarkable in a story that flows very well with a high pace. For these reasons I recommend it.