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lerat42's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
octavia_cade's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
3.0
I zipped through this little book in about an hour and a half. It's very nicely paced, so that helped, containing as it does the novelisations-in-short-story-form of six episodes from the original series of Star Trek. The best of them was, I think, "The Menagerie," the initial pilot episode that was so thoroughly reworked for the show proper. I've seen it several times, so no surprises there, but what was most interesting was how Blish altered the episode slightly, getting rid of the framing device. Most of the episodes in this series are straight retellings with little authorial editing or explanation, but Blish had apparently tried and failed to produce such a retelling, and felt exercised enough by the final product that he left a rather lengthy note explaining what he'd done. I always enjoy reading that sort of thing - being a writer myself I feel a sympathy! - and it's good to see how other writers deal with problems like this when things don't turn out as expected.
taaya's review against another edition
2.0
Nicht nur, dass Blish, wie auch bei den anderen Bänden der Reihe, die besten Szenen, jeglichen Humor und alles außer der reinen Action weglässt, hier ist auch noch die Übersetzung schauderhaft. Zur Verteidigung des Übersetzers kann man natürlich anmerken, dass das Buch zu einer Zeit erschien, als Star Trek in Deutschland noch nicht oder gerade erst angelaufen war, er sich also noch nicht auf die später kanonischen Übersetzungen stützen konnte. Das macht es beim Lesen nur leider nicht erträglicher.
jayshay's review against another edition
Read these in the library at lunch time in grade eight hiding from my tormentors. (A lifetime and five minutes ago.)
arbieroo's review
3.0
James Blish books are like chocolate: I think, I'll have a nibble. Then I have another nibble. Shortly there-after I find that I've consumed the entire bar (or book) and immediately start searching for another. James Blish is particularly good when I'm ill or feeling down; it's easy to read yet thought provoking. If I really don't want to think, then it's usually a rollicking adventure story, too.
I've read nigh-on everything else Blish wrote, leaving the Star Trek books to last because I thought they could not be as good as his independent material. It turns out they aren't, but they are still fun and enjoyable and distinctively Blish who seems to have, Zen-like, mastered Style - No Style in his writing. So this is like slightly cheaper chocolate, Cadbury's milk chocolate, rather than dark Cote D'Or or Lindt. But it's still chocolate...is there any more?
I've read nigh-on everything else Blish wrote, leaving the Star Trek books to last because I thought they could not be as good as his independent material. It turns out they aren't, but they are still fun and enjoyable and distinctively Blish who seems to have, Zen-like, mastered Style - No Style in his writing. So this is like slightly cheaper chocolate, Cadbury's milk chocolate, rather than dark Cote D'Or or Lindt. But it's still chocolate...is there any more?
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