Logan's Run: Vintage Movie Classics

Great read . Short n easy

The jacket on this copy shows the two actors from the later full-length film based on this novel, but the film in fact is not really all that faithful to the original. The original Logan's Run - only a novella by today's bloated standards - was written in 1967, a time of considerable social unrest, especially among students, for example. This book takes things that much further. Somehow globally, the old and middle-aged are ousted and euthanasia becomes mandatory in specially-designated 'sleep shops' the minute each citizen reaches their sell-by date, shown by the crystal embedded in their palm going black, as they reach 21. This is rather different from the 30th-birthday threshold depicted in the film, and where these 30-year-olds meet public, violent deaths dressed us as 'renewal.' Needless to say, this rationale for how such a short life span is accepted worldwide is scarcely credible and the film does far better, by making the tale post-acocalyptic and having its citizens live in hermetic domes, where presumably resources are extremely limited. That apart, this original tale does read better than I expected, with a poetic and sparse turn of phrase that can be refreshing - the fast-paced aventures of Logan and Jessica all take place within the 24 hours it takes for Logan's crystal to start bleeping Last Day to turning totally black. Logan, as a 'sandman' whose job it is to track and kill 'runners', who naturally don't want to die, is scarcely a sympathatic character to begin with and does not hit it off with the heroine, Jessica, straight away for many good reasons. One important theme of the book, as it is in the film, is about recognising the need to question accepted norms of behaviour, as the hunter becomes the hunted. On the face of it, this is just a silly adventure tale with a flimsy plot, but judging from the various sequels and remakes, there is something here that has allowed Logan'S Run in its various incarnations to become a cult classic. What could this be? One possibility is that this story deals with the recognition that for most of us, Last Day could arrive sooner than expected, along with the reckoning that may accompany this and that it is perhaps not a good idea to take any prevailing world-view too much on trust. This is an entertaining and enjoyable read, though there are probably novels that can explore the themes discussed here in quie a bit more depth.

great book, short and sweet. if you have ever played bioshock you can see where Levine and his team borrowed alot to influence there game. btw this is much better than that rubbish movie, (sorry to any dedicated fans)

Not the best fiction or fiction writing but interesting to read as the basis of the film.

Great to read the book and see the differences from the movie

Really enjoying the book as I've read some of Nolan's short stories, though I never knew he'd wrote this. It's a dystopian novel, though of a lesser rank than writers like Orwell, Wells, Huxley et al, but it's a pacy little read none the less, and very enjoyable. Hope you enjoy it too.

This book is an excellent read I enjoyed it very much

Not even finished it yet and its already one of my favourite books ever. If you like sci-fi and dystopian/utopian futures this is the one for you!

Movie was than overall story of book but ending was better than the movie

Sérieux et rapide, je vous recommande ! A bientôt pour d'autres commandes j'espère ! Et le site me demande de broder alors que l'essentiel est dit, mais bon voilà, j'imagine que ça suffira !

It's not so strange now to admit a love for science fiction movies but it was not really the same when I was growing up. Even after the success of Star Wars, those of us who spent Sunday afternoons watching old SF classics on TV like Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, and Soylent Green were considered a bit off. Still, that didn't stop us. One of my favorites from that era has always been Logan's Run. I've seen it too many times to count. Something about the premise--a world where people are allowed all kinds of free pleasures but had to die at age 30--is compelling. The film has weaknesses but makes up for it with energy, fun, and commitment to its world. Despite the fact that I probably read much more SF than I watch, I've always avoided reading the Logan's Run novel. I usually avoid novels on which movies are based if I've seen the movie first and liked it. Since the novels are always better, it can take away from the movie experience. However, my experience of this movie is so long and ingrained that I felt I could take a look at the book. In the end, I really needn't have worried. Yes, the book is tremendous, but it is also so different from the movie as to be almost completely separate. Certainly, one can see how this story inspired the movie. Most of the big pieces are here--Cathedral, Arcade, Sanctuary, flashing crystals embedded in the hand ("flowers"), Sandmen, runners (yet no carousel)--but so much is different as to be completely unrecognizable. Some of the differences are somewhat superficial but create big shifts in tone. For example, in the movie the age of death is 30 and most of the characters seem near that age, but in the book the age of death is 21 and many of the characters are very young. It gives a very different feel to the novel. More importantly, in the novel Logan's character is completely different. In the movie, he's kind of a dupe who loses years and is basically forced to run, commanded to find Sanctuary. In the novel he's much darker. He is actually coming to the end of his life and chooses to search for Sanctuary, not to save himself but to destroy it and end his life as the best Sandman who's ever lived. Granted, his attitude changes as he runs but, as a reader, you're not sure what he's going to do as the novel draws to a close. In fact, all the characters are significantly different in important ways, including Francis, Jessica, and the "old man" they find as they search for Sanctuary. Ultimately, the advantage the novel has over the movie is that it all makes sense in a cohesive way. Two scenes in the movie have never really sat well with me. First, there is the scene with Box the robot who tries to kill Logan and Jessica in the frozen caves. Why is the robot there? Why does he make carvings? Why does he try to kill and freeze them? It's easy to come to some logical speculations about these things but it's not very satisfying. Then, there's the ending, which really isn't an ending. The dome is destroyed and people stream out to surround the old man. Then what? What is it supposed to mean? In the novel, things are different and everything is explained. We understand the history of how this world came to be. We get inside of a nursery instead of just seeing a glance of one as happens in the movie. In the book, there is no dome. The young people have control of the world and they travel all around it. Logan and Jessica travel to cities and sites all across North America on their run. Box's place in this world makes some sort of sense. And the ending is completely satisfying, but since it has no connection to anything that happens in the movie I won't spoil things by giving it away here. As always, the novel is better than the movie. In fact, even someone who doesn't like the movie of Logan's Run might find this novel very satisfying. It is more cohesive and thematically deep than anything you might expect from the film. It deserves an honored place among the dystopian novels of the 20th century.

I read it as a kid. Now I have reread it and it is better than I remembered

I know it goes against the grain to say this but - I found the movie adaptation was better than the novel. I found the novel to be more fantasy rather than sci-fi. I thought the novel was going to give more insights or develop more the setting than the movie, but no.