"Ipomoea" is a science-fiction novel by John Rackham, (the pen name of John T. Phillifent), published in 1969, as one half of an Ace Double, with the other side being The Brass Dragon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Rackham was quite active with Ace in the 1960s, writing at least 15 titles for Ace. To spoil the end of my review, according to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, he was "a reliable producer of the second-rank but convention-savvy fiction".

Incidentally, "Ipomoea" is the name for the morning glory, which is where LSD comes from, because as this book's inside cover lets us know, space LSD turns people into immortal zombies, only that isn't really what this book is about.

Sam Hutton is a sociology professor whose father is an industrial baron on some far away colony worlds. He gets a message from his father to come help him, and sets off on a spaceship journey, during which he survives several assassination attempts, meets a mysterious guide and a lady reporter with moxie, and also gives and gets a number of speeches about the meaning of science/truth, and the moral and technological superiority of the Japanese.

When he reaches his home solar system, he finds his father is dead, and people are carrying around mysterious crystals that cause hallucinations, and also the space LSD thing is brought up again, and the mysterious guide has a bodyguard who is totally without ego, which makes him immune to mind control and also the envy of the Japanese, who believe the goal of life is to get rid of the self, and of course the conclusion is that a (space) cattle baron has found some ancient alien technology and wants to take over the world (and the universe), a plan he reveals to our heroes while they surreptitiously reach for their secret weapons.

Okay, so I didn't like this one. And I am pretty forgiving to the foibles of Ace Doubles. It wasn't terrible. The plot was discernible and the characters, while stock, were understandable. There was some interesting ideas thrown in, perhaps too many, as well as a clumsy attempt at social relevancy with the entire drug subplot. The mention of Japanese technological prowess, in 1969, was still a good prediction, although some of his statements about the Japanese are...overly complementary. Some of his descriptions of women, especially the statuesque blonde in a diaphanous gown go beyond the usual accolades given to bombshell blondes in 60's sci-fi and seem a bit too much.

So, anyway, despite my general fondness for this type of thing, I found this too cheesy and haphazard to enjoy.

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