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jrug's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
Cliche soup, using a recipe different from Burroughs or Howard, but the same ingredients.
Cliche soup, using a recipe different from Burroughs or Howard, but the same ingredients.
pinahuiztle's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Having never read "traditional" space opera much and with the Green Lantern comics (which I don't really like) as my reference, I was pleasantly surprised with how fun this book was.
Bad parts first: The politics are very pre-WW2-American-liberal, including some casual (but not very prominent, I think) mysogyny and references to eugenics and phrenology. There's clear heroes and villains and neither side hesitates to kill the other. The Galactic Patrol are space cops who get to act as "judge, jury and executioner" on the basis that being able to wear the Lens of Civilization demonstrates their incorruptibility. I'm not sure which edition it was that I had (it was audiobook), but in any case I agree with a certain part of the introduction saying that Lensman was an exercise in avoiding imagining anything which might actually happen in the future. It's pure escapism written for a prior age, which can be interesting in and of itself. The first few chapters are slow and not that interesting compared to the rest of the book, but introduce you to the moving parts of the setting well enough.
The science fiction isn't "hard", but it's pretty internally consistent and sometimes realistic in ways that you wouldn't expect this kind of sci-fi, from this era, to be - E.E Smith had some grasp of physics and seemed mostly aware of when he was writing nonsense. Civilization is comprised of many alien races, some of which are humanoid, some of which are very much not. Surprisingly for me, I think the depiction of the benevolent Arisians must have been influenced by Lovecraft or other weird fiction. Boskone is a caricature, but individual characters are written compellingly and make for convincing villains. Once the plot gets going it rarely stops or slows down (I think the part with Kinnison in the hospital should've been shorter, for instance, but that's a nitpick). Prose is competent enough but not amazing. I will probably finish this series at some point.
Bad parts first: The politics are very pre-WW2-American-liberal, including some casual (but not very prominent, I think) mysogyny and references to eugenics and phrenology. There's clear heroes and villains and neither side hesitates to kill the other. The Galactic Patrol are space cops who get to act as "judge, jury and executioner" on the basis that being able to wear the Lens of Civilization demonstrates their incorruptibility. I'm not sure which edition it was that I had (it was audiobook), but in any case I agree with a certain part of the introduction saying that Lensman was an exercise in avoiding imagining anything which might actually happen in the future. It's pure escapism written for a prior age, which can be interesting in and of itself. The first few chapters are slow and not that interesting compared to the rest of the book, but introduce you to the moving parts of the setting well enough.
The science fiction isn't "hard", but it's pretty internally consistent and sometimes realistic in ways that you wouldn't expect this kind of sci-fi, from this era, to be - E.E Smith had some grasp of physics and seemed mostly aware of when he was writing nonsense. Civilization is comprised of many alien races, some of which are humanoid, some of which are very much not. Surprisingly for me, I think the depiction of the benevolent Arisians must have been influenced by Lovecraft or other weird fiction. Boskone is a caricature, but individual characters are written compellingly and make for convincing villains. Once the plot gets going it rarely stops or slows down (I think the part with Kinnison in the hospital should've been shorter, for instance, but that's a nitpick). Prose is competent enough but not amazing. I will probably finish this series at some point.
flaweddimension's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Adventure! Space! Nefarious interstellar warlords! Noble heroes bringing out the best in his alien comrades! It's pulp and it's so good.
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/689355.html[return][return]After I read Triplanetary, the first in the famous Lensman series of early sf novels, and didn't like it, several people told me that I should have started with Galactic Patrol. So I've been struggling through it for the last couple of weeks.[return][return]Sorry, folks, but this is really not for me. I found the writing turgid and the characters unengaging; and the setting may have seemed fresh and exciting in the 1930s but now seems underdeveloped. The only realy interesting characters is Kinnison's alien friend. I have another two Lensman books on the shelf but I think they are going to stay there (until someone relieves me of them).
danlemke's review against another edition
3.0
The biggest issue with this book is its original syndication format makes for a broken narrative -- really a series of short stories, or more precisely, vignettes.
Fun and entertaining to read, to say it is not original misses the point.
Fun and entertaining to read, to say it is not original misses the point.
ryano1124's review against another edition
3.0
I can definitely see where a lot of "new" science fiction got inspiration from this series whether they realize it or not. There are long sections of the story that have the characters stuck in a location or predicament for what I feel are way too long but, overall, I feel the story was well told and leaves a lot open for the next story to pick up.
bookwomble's review against another edition
5.0
Don't trust my rating for this book. See this
review for why.
review for why.
kesterbird's review against another edition
2.0
it was good clean fun till Kinneson got promoted to Jesus (I mean, to gray lensman)