Arbieroo reviewed Into the Slave Nebula by John Brunner
Review of 'Into the Slave Nebula' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This SF novel from 1968 and by an American is clearly a product of its time and place, reflecting the civil rights movement and its origins a century and more before in the slave trade. Alarmingly, the allegorical aspects are at least as relevant now with the current "people trafficking" issue, which let's face it, is no different from the African slave trade: forcibly transferring people from one place to another and selling them into servitude, except that it's illegal.
It's attitude to women is also of its time; they are almost absent except as menials, victims or sex objects - with the exception of a minor character who perpetrates one crucial heroic act.
Bizarrely for such a short novel (its length being also typical of the '60s), it feels slow in the first half - but the second half is swifter. It's competent, amusing and very unexceptional.