Smith is hugely profligate of human and alien life, with whole cities often destroyed along with their occupants as a casual byproduct of battles between adversary spaceships. This is not praised or glorified, but seen as an inevitable consequence of technological war, easily forgotten when the peace treaty is drawn up. I suspect this is a motif built on his observations of the First World War, expanded many times over to accommodate new weaponry.
By coincidence I saw the HG Wells film Things to Come based on his story of similar name a few days ago and this shares many common features. Where the books still shine is in the fast pace of their plots. They always remind me of old western films migrated up into space. Idealised heroes and villains utter pithy stereotyped lines in improbable settings — but they do so with great energy and excitement, and it is easy to get caught up in the swing of the tales and emerge at the far end slightly breathless.
Well worth reading by those interested in tracing the development of science fiction through the years, or else anyone who wants a space-based yarn without needing believable dialogue, and who is not troubled by recent scientific findings. This is old school pulp sci-fi in its rawest sense. Written in the 30s, when spaceflight was described in ways that made it feel like sea-travel, but without the water, and written long enough ago that, in the context of this story, a computer is a person that performs the calculations for a spaceflight, rather than the electronic box of tricks we're familiar with.
The plot is quite fun, totally unrealistic, and really the main reason one reads these old pulp novels anyway. After an ambush in sp This is old school pulp sci-fi in its rawest sense. After an ambush in space, our heroes are castaway on Ganymede, but are soon rescued. The rest of the story describes how the brave men of Earth help the helpless men of Titan overcome the enemy that is the monsters of Jupiter, with the help of the men of Venus and the men of Mars. Quite a busy little solar system. Apparently, E E "Doc" Smith was proud of this story because he regarded it as one of his "hardest" SF stories, relying on science rather than magic in the plot.
I can't imagine why. At the end of the day, however, the book isn't terribly well written. This by turns grates and creates laughable prose. I found myself highlighting some of the funnier sections in my Kindle just so that I could return to them. The dialogue in particular, where the protagonists frequently refer to each other as "ace", "buddy", and, most hilariously, "old golf-shootist", has really aged badly. But ultimately, the quality of writing is what pushes this down to a 2 star rather than up to a 3 star.
The story isn't really enough fun to make it worth pushing through the bad writing. Bombastic does not even begin to describe it. There is hardly one single line of dialogue, especially between the two protagonists, that is not overflowing with cheesy epiteths like "ace of my bosom", "my little dove" and other rather ridiculous exclamations. The story isn't so bad. Of course, the scientific knowledge of the time makes for a rather funnily ingenuous story, which is not unlike reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' martian chronicles.
But there are some original ideas, like the inhabitants Bombastic does not even begin to describe it. But there are some original ideas, like the inhabitants of Titan being used to thin and frigid atmospheres so that they marvel at the hotness of human bodies. However it's the style in which this book is written that really makes it a tough read for me, and that's because of how pompous and overflowing with the above mentioned epiteths and exclamations it is.
There is hardly one single page in which any one character does not say "all x! I've read a lot of authors from the 20's, and none of them were ever this horribly cheesy.
My first and last encounter with this author: Jul 17, Darth rated it it was ok. Ususally the Doc Smith books are bad science, good fiction. But this was just SO bad I couldnt find anything redeeming about it. The science was of course badly dated, and embellished badly, even for the time it was written in. The fiction was wooden and uninteresting.
The dialogue was so over wrought with gitchy dated phrasing as to make you reread some parts to figure WTF he was talking about. And I thin Ususally the Doc Smith books are bad science, good fiction.
Spacehounds of IPC by E.E. "Doc" Smith
And I think I got my fill of "All X" or some minor variant by page 50, but it didnt keep it from showing up 3 times a page till the end. This was so bad I found myself skimming and just trying to get it over with. Unless you are a hardcore completist, and E. Apr 17, Tiffany rated it did not like it Shelves: I rate this book 1 star, and that's being generous by allowing for the era in which it was written. Silly concepts, sexist and patronising toward women and simple, simple storytelling.
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It starts with whole pages of dialogue and discourse from the main male protagonist in an attempt to tell the story. It assumes the reader is stupid so he has to show how smart he is by boasting to the main female protagonist about how much he knows. Then, as EE 'Doc' Smith progresses into the story it becomes laz I rate this book 1 star, and that's being generous by allowing for the era in which it was written.
Then, as EE 'Doc' Smith progresses into the story it becomes lazy and he resorts to pages of description using similes; but similes of the era! Who would have thought a cantilever truss could ever be as horrifying and awesome as an alien spacecraft? I only read it because I needed something to put me to sleep - which it was very successful in doing.
Only recommended if you feel like having a good laugh. Mar 26, Red Siegfried rated it really liked it. Contrary to popular belief, Smith is pretty accurate in his portrayal of chicks. I think some people have some skewed perceptions about girls, especially the silly jades in Smith's books. If you're one of the politically correct individuals laboring under one or more of these sad delusions about babes, allow me to enlighten you.
The first mistake folks like you usually make is thinking that any of this has anything to do with reality. Your second mistake may be believing tha Observations so far: Your second mistake may be believing that anyone's impressed by your sensitivity toward fictional characters. Your third mistake may be thinking that women can't handle this book and need to be warned about it or that men need to be appropriately chastened for enjoying it.
None of this is true. Anyway, those are just my initial thoughts. Apr 15, Bhakta Jim rated it liked it. If you enjoy Star Trek you should know that Roddenbery owes a great debt to E. Smith, and Star Wars owes more to him than it ever did to Joseph Campbell.
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In this story every planet and moon in the solar system is inhabited. A "computer" is a job for a human being. Space ships run on broadcast power. Relations between men and women have not advanced even to where they were when the story was written. Space ships have VERY thick armor to protect themselves from meteors. Yet there are tractor beams, presser beams, force fields, and other inventions that are the stuff of classic space opera.
A modern reader would be disappointed in this book, especially the love story. Someone who believes in abstinence-only sex education might even have second thoughts after reading it. Smith's Lensmen novels hold up better than this. I was unsure how this story was going to grab me. Sure, it was quite dated, but seeing as it was published shortly after WW2, it had a lot of imaginative ideas about space travel, combined with old-world mechanical technology. I found the characters to be likeable and even if the troubles they got into and out of seemed rather farcical, I still rate this story as very enjoyable.
Would be nice to see this turned into a movie some day! When you think that this work was first published in , much closer to the 19th Century than our own, you have to be impressed. So much is wrong with the science, especially the planetary science, that you just shake your head sometimes. Take this story in context and it's a great read. The "with it" banter and expressions are so far out of date that you have to laugh out loud, but that's half the fun. One person found this helpful.
A dated story written many many moons ago, but it was one of the first sci fi books I read as a child and I find that I still love it. Like Burroughs, the science in the sci fi isn't really there and the characters are rather one dimensional, but still enjoyable. Read and re-read books by this author in my early teens Skylark, Lensman series etc Enjoyed reading this book again - ok it is not the most sophisticated SF - but for the time when it was written it had some interesting ideas even if they are s simplistic.
An excellent space opera, one that contains variants of other things that were seen in other novels, such as the snake like beings that resemble Worsel and the other Velantians, pressor and tractor rays, and other things. There is a refreshing lack of ray guns no DeLameters here! This was an interesting read, I'd say a cut above the genre for the time period in which it was written. There are many dated catch phrases with it, but if you can get past that, the description of technology is interesting.
I'd say it's "All X!
Spacehounds of IPC
This stuff is written in the same era as John Carter of Mars. The science is harder, the hero damsel is equally giggle worthy. The assumption that any single man can build high technology starting with a couple of sticks to make a fire and a handy mine in this era seems pretty wild, but the time was more optimistic. The creatures are fantastic, the allies kinda strange, the technology far fetched, and it is a rollicking read for an intellect with imagination. They use ice as a building material and think of water as "molten ice".
Their blood is not blood as we know it, but a mixture of substances that don't freeze even at Titan's temperature. The substance that make up their blood are also very inflammable, to the point that if they were to stand unprotected next to an earth human they would literally burst into flame. The ship from Titan has taken damage in the fight and must head for home.
The Forlorn Hope is in pieces and at the end of its power beam, so the commander of the Titanian ship offers to tow the pieces back to Titan and help the people from earth rebuild their ship and get back to the Jupiter system.
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Steve and Nadia gladly accept, doing what repairs they can on The Forlorn Hope , and continuing to build the power tube on the long voyage to Titan. Upon arriving on Titan they find that one of the Titanian power plants has failed and their world is in trouble due to a lack of power. With great difficulty, due to the heat and gravity, the Titanians had built their power plants on the surface of Saturn.
It would cost many lives to go back to the surface and do the repairs, so being better able to survive heat, Steve volunteers to repair the damaged power plant. Of course he succeeds, and with the help of the Titanians, the repaired and upgraded Forlorn Hope heads back to Ganymede. When they are nearing Jupiter again they are attacked by six of the enemy spaceships. The enemy ships had moved in close and started beaming The Forlorn Hope , not knowing that while being rebuilt on Titan the Hope had been coated with the mirror substance that reflects the enemy beams and loaded with homing missiles.
Steve fires the missiles, and in short order, five enemy ships are destroyed. The sixth fights hard and does some damage to the Hope before it is destroyed. Steve finally gets the damaged ship back to Ganymede and lands next his power plant. He has finished the radio and has all the power he needs, so he starts sending out an " S. Soon help is on the way in the form of the IPV Sirius , an armed scientific vessel with two of Steve's scientist friends aboard.
While the Sirius is on the way, Steve sends them all the information he has on the weapons of the enemy ships and of the Titanians, so the scientists aboard can start working on making improvements to them and finding defenses against them. The Sirius has a chance to try out her new weapons and defenses as she arrives on Ganymede to rescue the castaways. They are attacked by an enemy globe, but with their own weapons, and the improved weapons of the enemy, they destroy the enemy globe and pick up Steve and Nadia.
It this point the story moves to the rest of the wreckage of the Arcturus , and the surviving passengers and crew. As the globe ship towing them nears Jupiter it is attacked by a human ship from the moon Callisto and destroyed and the passengers and crew rescued.
They are told by the Callistonians that the Jupiter system is in the final stages of a war between the Hexans and the humans of Jupiter's moons. The four major moons had all produced both Hexan and human species and they had battled from the first meetings. The war had been going on for ages and the humans had been losing. A few underground cities on Callisto and Europa were all that remain of the human populations of the moons. The men of the inner planets, and the men of the Jupiter system, join forces and with the now superior weapons and defenses available to both sides they start taking back the moons from the hexans.
During the war, the human's minor involvement is seen in a war between the Hexans and Vorkulians on the surface of Jupiter. The Vorkulians are a species completely unlike either hexans or humans. From the description of them, they could be the model for Worsel, the Velantian in the Lensman series. The story ends with the rebuilt Arcturus arriving on Mars only four hundred forty-six days, fifteen hours, eleven minutes, thirty-eight and seven-tenths seconds late.