Citadel by Aldris Budrys, Science Fiction, Adventure, Space Opera, High Tech

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Born in 1931 in East Prussia, which is now Lithuania, Algis Budrys died in 2008. He is widely recognized to have written an early classic of the genre, Rogue Moon (1960). Under his own name and a number of pseudonyms, Budrys published frequently in Astounding in the 1950s and 60s, he is, of the Golden Age writers, far closer to chroniclers of the Cold War like Graham Greene, or careful examiners of the human condition in the nuclear age, like William Golding. Citadel is a story of deception, manipulation and broken promises; its cynical anti-hero Marlowe is in every way, a man of the post Cold War generation – powerful, manipulative, cold-hearted, lonely and friendless. According to Marlowe, humans are a race of maniacs. And that is why Earthmen rule the galaxy. For our treaties are not binding, and our promises are worthless. Our government does not represent our people. It represents our people as they once were. The delay in the democratic process is such that the treaty signed today fulfills the promise of yesterday – but today the Body Politic has formed a new opinion, is following a new logic which is completely at variance with that of yesterday. An Earthman’s promise – expressed in words or deeds – is good only at the instant he makes it.

– Amy Sterling Casil