Reviews

A Voyage to Arcturus was one of several recommendations I got from this great video. (This is what a bookshelf tour should look like! Hell with all those Booktubers who all read nothing but the same YA blockbusters.) According to Valentine and other reviewers, this book is a mind-blowing vision quest unlike anything else ever written. What I found instead was nonexistent characterization and shoddy writing. (For instance, why does the first chapter spend so much time on that medium we'll never see or hear from again?) Maskull leaves a trail of dead bodies in his wake for the flimsiest reasons and the philosophical portions did nothing for me beyond a few good one-liners. I am giving an extra star for Lindsay's incredibly imaginative depiction of an alien world and its inhabitants, which predates the psychedelic '60s by a good forty years. Someone needs to make an illustrated edition.

rachelbaack's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Summary: In this work of science fiction, Maskull, the main character, travels to the planet Tormance. When he gets there, he meets a being named Joiwind who tells him about Surtur, who, according to Joiwind, created all things. Maskull goes in search of Surtur, and, as he does, he passes through lands that contain different creatures who have varying moral codes. This book explored different philosophical systems of belief and being.

livingdeadenby's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

bopa's review

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adventurous challenging dark

4.0

sjnastri's review against another edition

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1.0

i assume a lot of us were brought here on a recommendation from lewis or tolkien.
but here's the thing-- while they saw that it was the first of its kind, they also knew it was a disaster. i used to be a "Never-Met-A-Book-I-Didn't-Like" kind of gal. this book has decimated that.

this book is poorly written, plotless, and cobbles together an incoherent philosophy of death, gender, and love.

dont read it. just dont.

bperl's review against another edition

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4.0

This book took me about five months to finish. I read the last half in two days. The philosophical and allegorical journey portrayed here is fantastic and mysterious, if ultimately hopeless.

It'll take several more reads before I pick up on all the obscure references and nods. I've seen Voyage to Arcturus referenced as the "great underground novel of the 20th century", and a strong case could certainly be made for such a claim. Its influence can be seen in Lewis' Space Trilogy, for one strong example.

However, David Lindsay has the audacity to accuse God of parasitic behavior, leading to an unfulfilling and despairing conclusion. This is the only reason the book receives 4 stars instead of 5.

ksilvennoinen's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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