Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
The first book of Smith's Lensman series, Triplanetary traces the conflict of two powerful races, the enlightened Arisians and the evil Eddorians, as played out on Earth. The book follows snippets from Atlantis, Rome, the two World Wars, and a near-future in which men freely travel in space, finally culminating in a great space-battle. The writing is undeniably pulpy, as one might expect from science fiction written in the 1930s, but lots of fun for all that. Final verdict: a fun, if very campy, read.
2.5 Stars
2018 Review: In my last review, I noted that this felt like a prologue, and that's technically because it's a prequel. Good job on the research past me! Anyway, I agree with most of what I said, though there were some new things. I didn't note the Atlantean section, but that was pretty good. Also, the section during World War II is probably the worst part, but apparently, it's semi-autobiographical, so I guess that makes it slightly more interesting.
2012 Review: This book has some fantastic ideas that are way ahead of their time, and the rest of it is very pulpy 50s Sci-Fi. This book involves the start of one war and the entirety of another. The shadow war between the Arisians and Eddorians is by far the more interesting conflict. The idea of the Eddorians alone is awesome. Unfortunately, the second war is less interesting. The Nevians were cool, but the battles were overlong with too much running around. Also, there were far too many characters, so I never felt attached to any of them. Overall, it was a good read, but it really seemed like just a prologue to the rest of the series.
2018 Review: In my last review, I noted that this felt like a prologue, and that's technically because it's a prequel. Good job on the research past me! Anyway, I agree with most of what I said, though there were some new things. I didn't note the Atlantean section, but that was pretty good. Also, the section during World War II is probably the worst part, but apparently, it's semi-autobiographical, so I guess that makes it slightly more interesting.
Spoiler
Also, I didn't remark on it last time, but our hero Costigan kind of commits genocide... Like, the aliens do too, but they weren't aware of human sapience at the time. And, Costigan gets to be a Lensman in the next book, but the Nevian captain doesn't? Ah, the 30s/40s...2012 Review: This book has some fantastic ideas that are way ahead of their time, and the rest of it is very pulpy 50s Sci-Fi. This book involves the start of one war and the entirety of another. The shadow war between the Arisians and Eddorians is by far the more interesting conflict. The idea of the Eddorians alone is awesome. Unfortunately, the second war is less interesting. The Nevians were cool, but the battles were overlong with too much running around. Also, there were far too many characters, so I never felt attached to any of them. Overall, it was a good read, but it really seemed like just a prologue to the rest of the series.
Really disjointed and clearly cobbled together. The bits after Chapter Six were decent plot driven storytelling. But there was a real nonchalant attitude towards mass murder and death. Too many deus ex machina moments for me. Learning time seemed far too compressed for believability.
First book in the Lensman series, though I guess books 1 and 2 were actually written later. This has the feel of '30s sci-fi serials like Flash Gordon, with the super manly and intelligent hero and the plucky beautiful heroine (and of course they're madly in love). It works, though. There's a lot of sciencey jargon and each side in the space war is constantly modifying each other's tech, with endless description that has very little to do with real science.
The bad guys are extra bad, in some cases cheesily bad, but the core concept of the two alien races competing for the galaxy for eons is cool. This book also has vignettes at the beginning where secretly-trained and/or genetically bred agents are pitted against each other through major eras of human history.
I will definitely keep going with this series. It's fun.
The bad guys are extra bad, in some cases cheesily bad, but the core concept of the two alien races competing for the galaxy for eons is cool. This book also has vignettes at the beginning where secretly-trained and/or genetically bred agents are pitted against each other through major eras of human history.
I will definitely keep going with this series. It's fun.
adventurous
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Probably the original campy space-opera. Read it for the historical value, but don't expect great literature.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. Imaginative and action packed, it was also far too simplistic to be believable. The dialogue and action reminded me of an episode of the old 1966 Batman show.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
Read the first few chapters. Not enough going on there to justify reading more. I've heard that the last two-thirds is readable.