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outcolder's review against another edition
2.0
Ridiculous, at times even toxic. Some moments of fun, in a Flash Gordon meets a crap knock-off of Damon Runyon kind of way. Strange hang-ups out of the 1920s ... “We look so weird in this different colored light” for example gets pages of attention while lower gravity is not much of a problem. That’s kind of amusing, for a minute. The fun or weird bits just weren’t enough to make up for the stupid plot, flat characters and questionable ethics/ politics. Respect, but I won’t be reading any more E. E. “Doc” Smith.
jinglebellrockstar's review against another edition
5.0
Was a but slow paced especially getting to space but pretty cool for its time!
tokyolundon's review against another edition
4.0
listened with uvulaaudio. interesting story before these kinds of stories.
nikkiethereader's review against another edition
5.0
A humble scientist's world is turned upside down when he discovers a rare and unknown chemical. This chemical is very potent and useful. Just a little bit can destroy an entire village. The chemical can also help build incredible ships to send people into space at incredible speeds! Sadly, a crooked company has caught wind of the discovery and will stop it at nothing to steal the chemical and take credit for its discovery for themselves.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very witty and clever. It took me a little bit to get into at first and I had to reread a lot of the first couple chapters a few times to make sense of it. Once it all became clear to me, I was hooked. I just had to find out what was going to happen to all the people involved in this! It is very unique! Especially for the time period in which it was written.
There were a few problems I had with this book. It kind of switched viewpoints without warnings. I mean after awhile it becomes more bearable and understandable, but at first, I was getting lost and confused. I had to reread quite a few times to see who's viewpoint I was in. It also took me awhile to realize that the two discoverers did not work for the greedy company. I had assumed that they did.
It was still an amazing read. I read somewhere that it was written in the 1920's. I'm so amazed I had never heard of it before now! I'm unsure if I'll read the rest of the series. I might one day if I come across them. I do recommend it to any science fiction lover out there. It's definitely a great piece of science fictional work.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very witty and clever. It took me a little bit to get into at first and I had to reread a lot of the first couple chapters a few times to make sense of it. Once it all became clear to me, I was hooked. I just had to find out what was going to happen to all the people involved in this! It is very unique! Especially for the time period in which it was written.
There were a few problems I had with this book. It kind of switched viewpoints without warnings. I mean after awhile it becomes more bearable and understandable, but at first, I was getting lost and confused. I had to reread quite a few times to see who's viewpoint I was in. It also took me awhile to realize that the two discoverers did not work for the greedy company. I had assumed that they did.
It was still an amazing read. I read somewhere that it was written in the 1920's. I'm so amazed I had never heard of it before now! I'm unsure if I'll read the rest of the series. I might one day if I come across them. I do recommend it to any science fiction lover out there. It's definitely a great piece of science fictional work.
zzzrevel's review against another edition
2.0
I had never read a book by this author before but there is
enough hype about it out there that I had to try it despite
it being written in 1928.
However, I found it rather simplistic and not really to my
liking overall. The plot itself was okay but things like
building language translators sort of on the fly and
actually traveling five thousand light years from
earth, well, that was a bit much.
Recommended as a classic old school science fiction
novel, but not so good by today's standards.
enough hype about it out there that I had to try it despite
it being written in 1928.
However, I found it rather simplistic and not really to my
liking overall. The plot itself was okay but things like
building language translators sort of on the fly and
actually traveling five thousand light years from
earth, well, that was a bit much.
Recommended as a classic old school science fiction
novel, but not so good by today's standards.
oleksandr's review against another edition
2.0
This is an early example of space opera, which attempted to add scientific elements. The father of the term ‘science fiction’ Hugo Greensback was dissatisfied with [a:Edgar Rice Burroughs|10885|Edgar Rice Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207155710p2/10885.jpg] style space opera, where other planets were just a setting for adventures. He wanted the story to educate readers and so this book was born. I read is as a part of monthly reading for May 2020 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group.
The story starts with an engineer genius Richard ‘Dick’ Seaton found out a solution of copper that allows for nuclear fission. The great energy source will definitely change the world. He gets backing of a multi-millionaire M. Reynolds Crane and build a space car (it is a hollow sphere, so the name is chiefly just before there has been no convention to call it a ship) Skylark. The evil opponents’ plot to steal the discovery and kill the duo and romance is added to spice the story.
The story is quite simple, characters are two-dimensional and they are so above the opponents in all respects that there is no thrill in their confrontation. At the same time, it is definitely a genre defining work that influenced the future SF authors of the 40s and 50s. Some ‘scientific’ ideas are ridiculous, like using spring floor to compensate high g acceleration (like thousands of g!) or unique colors created by light of other stars.
The story starts with an engineer genius Richard ‘Dick’ Seaton found out a solution of copper that allows for nuclear fission. The great energy source will definitely change the world. He gets backing of a multi-millionaire M. Reynolds Crane and build a space car (it is a hollow sphere, so the name is chiefly just before there has been no convention to call it a ship) Skylark. The evil opponents’ plot to steal the discovery and kill the duo and romance is added to spice the story.
The story is quite simple, characters are two-dimensional and they are so above the opponents in all respects that there is no thrill in their confrontation. At the same time, it is definitely a genre defining work that influenced the future SF authors of the 40s and 50s. Some ‘scientific’ ideas are ridiculous, like using spring floor to compensate high g acceleration (like thousands of g!) or unique colors created by light of other stars.
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