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kundor's review against another edition
3.0
The first two novels (They Shall Have Stars, and A Life for the Stars) were the best. The third novel, Earthman, Come Home, was munged together from a variety of stories which were written years earlier than the other novels, which were written as novels. As a result, ECH suffers from a lack of plot arc, bad pacing, anticlimaxes, and is riddled with internal inconsistency. The author had some work to do on comprehending his scales, also (a major point is the difficulty of fitting 300 city-sized objects comfortably into a solar system; our heroes have to park 18 AU out. Except that these cities came, in the first place, FROM EARTH, so they are known to fit in a tiny fraction of a 1 AU orbit! Come on; they could all fit inside the orbit of Mercury and not even know the rest of them were there!) I also just didn't like the protagonist, Amalfi, that much; he never really shows us why he deserves to be in charge, repeatedly doing gross damage to the city, causing the deaths of citizens, etc. for no particularly compelling reason. People go on at length about atrocities committed by the "mad" city, IMT, thousands of years before, but Amalfi does things nearly as bad without even appearing to think about it, and nobody bats an eye.
So, Amalfi's presence is probably why I didn't like the last novel, Triumph of Time, either, despite it being written as a novel. The first two, however, are definitely worth reading. TSHS begins in 2013, so it's timely!
So, Amalfi's presence is probably why I didn't like the last novel, Triumph of Time, either, despite it being written as a novel. The first two, however, are definitely worth reading. TSHS begins in 2013, so it's timely!
brizreading's review against another edition
2.0
Good ol' boy sci-fi, where the rich vastness of the universe is nonetheless incapable of dislodging the narrative from narrow-minded white American male-ness.
In this, Protagonist is a stowaway on a massive (Miyazaki-esque) flying city contraption; almost a proto-steampunk visual. Too bad the city feels about as diverse as Pittsburgh. (I say this with much love and respect for Pittsburgh.)
In this, Protagonist is a stowaway on a massive (Miyazaki-esque) flying city contraption; almost a proto-steampunk visual. Too bad the city feels about as diverse as Pittsburgh. (I say this with much love and respect for Pittsburgh.)
joosty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/370816.html[return][return]The full series in a single volume, containing They Shall Have Stars, A Life For The Stars, Earthman, Come Home and The Triumph of Time (aka A Clash of Cymbals).[return][return]The first book, They Shall Have Stars, is set off from the other three by being set in the near future, on a recognisable Cold War earth; I was slightly amused to note mention of Eritrea and Latvia as independent states, which must have seemed rather less likely than the end of the Cold War back when it was first written in 1957. (Heck, here I am in the capital city of a country that nobody had heard of a hundred years ago.) Story not especially engaging, a reflection really on contemporary US politics, McCarthyism, the space program, J. Edgar Hoover, the likelihood that the West would lose to Communism. The central character, Senator Wagoner, starts a trend for the rest of the series by working out a complex plan manipulating his political enemies into allowing his ideas to triumph.[return][return]I think I first read A Life For The Stars perhaps even before I left primary school - I seem to remember having to look up the word "concubine" in my dictionary. It was the last to be written, certainly the best of the four I think. A Bildungsroman of young Chris deFord, who accidentally leaves earth with the flying city of Scranton Pennsylvania; using the techniques sponsored by Wagoner ni the first novel, cities have been flying around the universe for ages by now. Chris ends up on New York and saves the day. Generally good stuff, although Chris' only close friend (the one with the concubines) gets treated pretty badly by the author.[return][return]Earthman, Come Home is supposed to be the real classic of the series, with one of its component novellas winning a retro-Hugo last year. I didn't completely understand why (well, I suppose the fact that the other stories in the running for the retro-Hugo were much more obscure may help explain why). Mayor Amalfi of New York (Blish having disposed of Chris deFord in a casual half-sentence) feels a bit like Doctor Who but in a city-sized TARDIS, advised by the computers known as the City Fathers, zooming from one episodic scrape to another, in the penultimate episode saving humanity at the cost of eternal exile. I didn't think it really hung together all that well, and by this stage Amalfi's habit of working out a complex plan manipulating his political enemies into allowing him to triumph was beginning to annoy me.[return][return]The series ends with a bit of a whimper. The Triumph of Time has lots of grand ideas, stabs at character development both of the established characters from earlier volumes and of a romantic young couple, and the end of the world as we know it; but doesn't really deliver on any of them. A bit disappointing. There's a rather pointless essay postscript about Blish and the historical theories of Spengler, by one Richard D. Mullen; perhaps I was just tired by then but I didn't feel it had added much to my understanding of the book.[return][return]However the audacity of Blish's vision and his ability to make you suspend your disbelief in flying cities do help the series as a whole succeed. And apart from the end the plotting is generally solid. Good old-fashioned stuff.
ellisknox's review against another edition
3.0
Reminded me a bit of Heinlein--much of the book is about being independent, self-reliant. A bit preachy but good adventure.
michaeldrakich's review against another edition
4.0
With four novels in one book, the tendency to want to reviews this series, each book does stand alone, is to start with the first novel and go through to the last. After completing it, the thing that occurred to me is the only proper way to review this is not in the sequence in which the stories play out, but in the order in which they were written.
To do so, I must start with the third book in the series - Earthman, Come Home. Although originally a number of short stories, it was complied together into a novel in 1955. As a result, it does read as what it is, a number of short stories with a common theme and characters. Still, it is enjoyable as both a space opera, and to some degree, hard scifi. Now the series is known for its hard scifi, but in this novel, it is limited. They still use slide rules, for gosh sake! No, the real hard scifi shows up much more prevalent in the next two Blish wrote. Outside of the main character, Mayor Amalfi, the reader never really gets to identify with the others. It has a very omniscient feel. My opinion on this one, 4 out of 5 stars.
The second book released is actually the first book in the series - They Shall Have Stars. I'll tell you right now, this was my favorite. Not only did I identify with the characters, but the science aspects of this novel were excellent. Running along two tracks, anti-gravity, which leads to the creation of the spindizzies, and anti-aging, in essence eternal life. This story is split between things on Earth and events on Jupiter and its moons. Very compelling, with many references to politics of the time - McCarthism, the cold war, and more. A very solid 5 out of 5 stars. I loved this one.
The third book Blish released was the closer - The Triumph Of Time. A fair warning here.If you have any adversity to an abundance of techno-babel, I wouldn't read this. You will not enjoy it. Blish attempts to include just about every macro physics theory, as well as quantum ones, in conjunction with a lot of nonsensical math, do drive the average reader over the edge. With an ending that I am ambivalent toward, I cannot give this novel more than 4 stars out of 5.
Lastly, the second novel in the series is - A Life For The Stars. Written four years after the rest, this short work is clearly nothing more than solid space opera. Hard science doesn't play a part. In all honesty, I would recommend any reader of this collection to entirely skip this story. Far and away the weakest, but most disappointing is that the main character, who the reader becomes endeared to, disappears in the third book and is reported killed. I found this strange and wondered why the author did it. He could very well have used the character who replaced him in the third novel. For this one as a stand alone, 3 out of 5 stars, but in this collection, it drops to a 2 star.
Examining all four books as a single novel, it's less than a 4 star novel, but I'm not prepared to drop it to 3 as it is definitely better than that. So finally, I shall consider it a 4 star rounded up.
To do so, I must start with the third book in the series - Earthman, Come Home. Although originally a number of short stories, it was complied together into a novel in 1955. As a result, it does read as what it is, a number of short stories with a common theme and characters. Still, it is enjoyable as both a space opera, and to some degree, hard scifi. Now the series is known for its hard scifi, but in this novel, it is limited. They still use slide rules, for gosh sake! No, the real hard scifi shows up much more prevalent in the next two Blish wrote. Outside of the main character, Mayor Amalfi, the reader never really gets to identify with the others. It has a very omniscient feel. My opinion on this one, 4 out of 5 stars.
The second book released is actually the first book in the series - They Shall Have Stars. I'll tell you right now, this was my favorite. Not only did I identify with the characters, but the science aspects of this novel were excellent. Running along two tracks, anti-gravity, which leads to the creation of the spindizzies, and anti-aging, in essence eternal life. This story is split between things on Earth and events on Jupiter and its moons. Very compelling, with many references to politics of the time - McCarthism, the cold war, and more. A very solid 5 out of 5 stars. I loved this one.
The third book Blish released was the closer - The Triumph Of Time. A fair warning here.If you have any adversity to an abundance of techno-babel, I wouldn't read this. You will not enjoy it. Blish attempts to include just about every macro physics theory, as well as quantum ones, in conjunction with a lot of nonsensical math, do drive the average reader over the edge. With an ending that I am ambivalent toward, I cannot give this novel more than 4 stars out of 5.
Lastly, the second novel in the series is - A Life For The Stars. Written four years after the rest, this short work is clearly nothing more than solid space opera. Hard science doesn't play a part. In all honesty, I would recommend any reader of this collection to entirely skip this story. Far and away the weakest, but most disappointing is that the main character, who the reader becomes endeared to, disappears in the third book and is reported killed. I found this strange and wondered why the author did it. He could very well have used the character who replaced him in the third novel. For this one as a stand alone, 3 out of 5 stars, but in this collection, it drops to a 2 star.
Examining all four books as a single novel, it's less than a 4 star novel, but I'm not prepared to drop it to 3 as it is definitely better than that. So finally, I shall consider it a 4 star rounded up.
bruc79's review against another edition
2.0
Está quadrilogia é construída com uma abordagem tão Hard Sf que se torna desgastante, entediante e desinteressante de ler a partir do terceiro livro. Como explorava o conceito de viagem espaciais pensei que seria estimulante, como parte do eixo de invenção de um retardador de envelhecimento para permitir um conceito de imortalidade dentro de sociedades a explorar o espaço isso é um desafio para a manutenção do equilíbrio das sociedades. Depois apresenta a invenção da anti-gravidade e cria o conceito das cidades voadoras com uma cúpula que permite sustentar a sua sobrevivência a longo prazo. Mas ao contrário de Asimov que com a Fundação cria um interesse continuo na criação de um mundo via uma lógica e uma escrita simples mas muito apelativo a complexidade de Blish torna-se gradualmente desgastante. Foi uma triste desilusão
samsamsam's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0