By Mézières and Christin
Publisher: Cinebook
ISBN: 978-1-84918-118-1
Valerian and Laureline are visiting colonists at the very edge of the galaxy only to discover that their new existence is threatened by the collision of an incoming planet. When they investigate they find a barren rock; that is until they travel beneath the surface. Beneath the world's crust is where this planet exists, in a hollow globe where the planet's core takes the place of the sun. As the title suggests, this means the inhabitants of the planet have never seen the stars and have no knowledge of the universe beyond the planet's mantel.
The world is divided into two main factions based on gender, and they are at constant war with each other with no end in sight. Valerian and Laureline need to arrest the planet's plummet towards the occupied solar system, but it's going to mean splitting up and stopping a war first – all in a day's work, then.
There are some great ideas here, executed skilfully and thoughtfully. It must be remembered that these stories are 40 years old, so they have to be read in the context in which they were created, which like any classic sci-fi, or any story for that matter, is quite possible without detracting from the tale. When you bear this in mind it becomes apparent what visionaries Mézières and Christin were at the time of writing.
And if you liked that: Book 4, Welcome To Alfolol, is out soon
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