the Venusians capture the Lord Advisor and thousands of his troops and prepare to hang them, Clane appears in their camp and displays the awesome power of the Atom Gods. With the war won, Clane returns to Earth with his findings. In spite of Clane’s warnings, the Linnan Empire is taken by surprise by an invasion of barbarians from Europa, the largest of Jupiter’s moons. The invaders kill the Lord Advisor and Clane must take command of the imperial forces. Disguised as a slave, Clane sneaks into his townhouse in the city of Linn and touches an artifact that he found on Venus. With the power it gives him he compels the barbarian chieftain, Czinczar, to surrender, but not before Czinczar shows him the body of an alien, one of a species that Czinczar believes caused the cataclysm that devastated human civilization thousands of years before. The Europan threat is vanquished, but now Clane has a new worry. The story continues and concludes in The Wizard of Linn. Reviews In 1956 Kirkus Reviews had this to say about the novel: Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale faulted the novel for its odd internal contradictions, in particular a scene where "a fleet of spaceships makes a strafing run over the enemy, loosing flights of arrows from point-blank range." Notes Sources External links Transgalactic: A Baen collection of A. E. Vogt stories, edited by Eric Flint and David Drake, which includes Empire of the Atom and The Wizard of Linn. 1957 American novels Novels by A. E. van Vogt 1957 science fiction novels Post-apocalyptic novels Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact