Okay people, I know that most people are not quite as interested in the “Planet of the Apes” universe as I would be so if you didn’t like to the films you are not going to like this. However, if you did like, would you like this novel?

First off, this novel is only partially original. It does cover what happened to Taylor in between two of the films and that is the new part, along with extra stories from the apes. But quite a lot of it is reading what you already know from the films. This makes the first one hundred pages quite laborious to read. There is also the fact that the world will be destroyed at the end, somewhat of a downer to say the least. It’s hard to care about what happens to the apes when you know it’s all pretty pointless as they are all about to die apart from Zira and Cornelius. This is covered in one of the films.

It does clarify that the earth destroying bomb was made when mankind was in the ascendancy and that even the mutant humans didn’t realize they were destroying the planet. As this is fantasy, one must suspend disbelief. The fact that the creation of such a bomb is improbable and who would really build it? Even during the Cold War, there came an upper size limit to the bombs as they became too heavy to transport and so large that they endangered the planes that dropped them.

Also it’s still not explained how humans ended up with faster than light travel during the sixties on the one hand while still celebrating the moon landing on the other.

But, the novel does have many good points. It expands the ape civilization and intriguingly reveals that the upper echelons of ape society knew that humans originally had the upper hand and had a penchant for self destruction. It now makes more sense that they were intent on killing them rather than enslaving them.

I’m still not sure where the White Ones came from though!

Overall, I’d give this novel 3 stars out of five.

Going to start reading my next novel “Of mice and men” later today. It’s nowhere near as long as this behemoth, so my next review should be in a week or so.

Have a few short stories in my mind now too.

Hope all my readers are keeping safe and well.