Clifford D. Simak: Destiny Doll (1971, G. P. Putnam's Sons)
English language
Published Dec. 29, 1971 by G. P. Putnam's Sons.
The Planet beckoned them from space—and closed 'round them like a Venus fly trap!
Captain Mike Ross finds himself leading an interplanetary expedition to an anonymous planet that welcomes them with a homing beam and then seals shut around them. Their ship is sealed against them and they are hurled into a wholly inhospitable desert.
"Assailed by strange perils and even stranger temptations, the little group stumbled towards its destiny—Mike Ross, the pilot, Sara Foster, the big game hunter, blind George Smith, and the odious Friar Tuck. Before them was a legend made flesh, around them were creatures of myth and mystery, close behind them stalked Nemesis. The doll, the little wooden painted doll, was to be their salvation. Or their damnation, for each might choose, and find, his own Nirvana."
An interesting plot and characters overall. However the main character's air of superiority and attitude towards the female lead character through most of the book kept pulling me out of the tale. The character was deliberately written that way and does eventually change a little bit it was very distracting for me.
