The Dragon in the Sea

by Frank Herbert

Paperback, 1979

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

English paperback sf

Publication

New English Library (1979), Paperback, 189 pages

Description

In the twenty-first century, the United States has all but used up its oil supply. A new source must be found. Our atomic subtugs begin stealing oil from underwater deposits in enemy territory. But none of the last twenty tugs sent to bring back the desperately needed mineral have returned. Ensign John Ramsey of the Bureau of Psychology is planted aboard the Fenian Ram S1881 as an electronics officer. His assignment: find the saboteur in the four-man crew and bring back the oil.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Jenney

Very good book. The Bureau of Psychology taking over the Bureau of Security which is projected here at the end of the book, finds fulfillment in The Whipping Star (1970)/ Dosadi Experiment (1977) series. Also the Herbert book, Destination Void (1956, 1978) transposes the theme of extraordinary

excitement transforming human nature into a spaceship setting.

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LibraryThing member jimnightshade

an amazingly written book. being that the main character is a psychologist it sounds like herbert must've studied human habits for months to be able to make this book as good as it is.

LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

Herbert, of course, is a science fiction writer famous for Dune and its sequels, an epic tale of an extreme environment where its people wear special suits to preserve and reclaim every bit of water. The oceans of our Earth are also extreme environments, one few science fiction authors have mined,

despite it being about as forbidding and unknown a place for exploration as the moon. Before this, the only such novels I'd read in the genre were by Arthur C. Clarke, such as his novel Deep Range. The New York Times review compared it to tales of the sea by C.S. Forester and Herman Wouk. This does have a feel more of a book like Clancy's The Hunt for Red October than Clarke's The Deep Range.

This was first published in 1955 under the title Dragon in the Sea (an allusion to the "Book of Revelations") and it is science fiction, dealing with a near future (for us now an alternate future) where oil is running out in the midst of a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Small four-man "subtugs" have been stealing into the East to steal oil--but now they've been disappearing, sleeper agents are suspected, and crew are going insane. So Lt. John Ramsey of BuPsych is sent aboard one of the subtugs, replacing a member of the crew who had gone insane to find out what's causing the problems. Thus the title given to other editions of the book, including mine, "Under Pressure." It's a good book, well worth reading--better than the later Dune sequels, even if not as far as I'm concerned as memorable and groundbreaking as the first in that series.

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LibraryThing member Shimmin

It's a sci-fi story, though with very little speculative science in it, to be honest. There's a very strong Cold War note to it, being a 1960s book, with American submariners fighting Eastern Powers for no apparent reason. The story itself is about an undercover psychologist joining a crew to see

why so many are disappearing (presumably destroyed, though you never find out). It's full of stuff about the nature of sanity, the madness of war, paranoia and a horror of radiation - all very of-its-time. It was okay, I suppose. I found it too long for the actual content, but I suppose he wanted to emphasise tone. Also quite dated. Also, the central mystery of the book never really gets an answer, as much as it acts like it does. Is the problem full-blown madness? Loss of survival instinct? Seeking any end to the horror of war? It just feels a bit strange and somewhat portentious (and pretentious), to be honest, as so many books of that era do. If this is a representative sample of Herbert's work, I won't be reading any more.

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LibraryThing member TheCrow2

In the 16th year of the war between the East and the West stealing of the enemy's underwater reserves are the only way to get oil. Herbert's first novel basically is an U-Boat drama with a hint of SF. Slightly outdated and average but entertaining...

LibraryThing member pussreboots

Last night I finished reading Dragon in the Sea by Frank Herbert (1956). Dragon in the Sea is quite a departure from Dune. It's more akin to The Santaroga Barrier (my favorite Herbert book) in Herbert starts with a few ordinary events and then turns them into psychological dramas. For this book, he

goes one step further and leaves off the chapter divisions to create a literary claustrophobia to match the claustrophobic conditions of the submarine. Some of the psychobabble to explain the captain's behavior was a bit silly but I'll forgive it for the otherwise enjoyable thriller with science fiction trappings.

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LibraryThing member ragwaine

Made it half way through this short novel before I gave up. I figured if not much had happened yet, then not much was going to happen. There was a cool line about submarines being like 2 guys in the dark with baseball bats but other than that, this book was putting me to sleep. The "new" cover

makes this look like it's really sci-fi but reading it seemed more like a military novel (not really my kinda thing). All the characters kind of blended together so the "somebody's a spy" part of the plot was hard to follow.

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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

Also called "Under Pressure", Mr. Herbert's breakthrough novel is a very suspenseful experience. For the Sci-Fi of the time, it has a lot of character development. The plot has still got relevance today, and the story line not impossible. It was a good time, and far ahead of the "New Science

Fiction" of the Sixties.

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LibraryThing member ikeman100

Not really SF. Deeps of the mind thriller. Not thrilling. As with any psychobabble book the answers are vague. Maybe the answers are in the authors head. Maybe I imagined not finishing this book.

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