©1983 review by Lawrence I. Charters
Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review, No. 13, April 1983, p. 32.
Landis, Arthur H. Home–To Avalon. DAW, NY, November 1982. 223 p. $2.50, paper. ISBN 0879977787.
Kidnapped by two thousand-year old spaceship with a speech impediment, Warlord Jarn Tybalt, of the colony world Drusus, finds himself traveling to the legendary planet Avalon. After crashing on Avalon, Tybalt notes how Earthlike it is — a remarkable observation since Earth was destroyed ages ago in a nuclear war. Determined to save Avalon from a planet-busting Nova missile, Tybalt teams up with a master miner (a dwarf), falls in love with a princess, and becomes embroiled in a dynastic dispute.
Aided by his samurai sword, martial arts skills, and an uncanny ability to speak mock cockney and bad Elizabethan English (Avalon is a feudal planet), Tybalt plunges into action. As for character development — after killing seven men in seven seconds, Tybalt “confesses” he does not consider himself “a killer of men.” By the time the novel limps to a close, there are enough gaping holes in the plot to fill endless sequels. They probably won’t be any good, either.