Every single one of his books is the same (and they are all equally preposterous), but that must be part of the charm. ( )

Every single one of his books is the same (and they are all equally preposterous), but that must be part of the charm.

I bought this in a second-hand sale at our local co-op. A very weird book, but still quite readable, if dated.

I picked this book out of a large sci-fi shelf in a secondhand bookshop hoping to find an interesting new author. Oh dear.

Before I started reading, I knew that a sci-fi story written in 1965 probably wasn't going to portray women in a particularly positive light. I was right as the first few sentences show: 'Her hair was a brilliant green. So was her spectacularly filled halter. So were her tight short-shorts...' At the risk of sounding like a humourless feminist who sees discrimination everywhere, Smith's depiction of women in the book is deeply annoying. The two main female characters are at the mercy of their emotions - one is very kind and good; the other is wild and uncontrollable - and this prevents them from the attaining the depth of logical thought that the men achieve. When the uncontrollable woman 'grows up', she sees her life only in terms of being a wife and mother. The most respected couple are successful becuse of the female's 'empathy and sympathy' and the male's 'driving force'. I know that a reader has to consider the time in which a book is written, but it still made me angry!

I wish I could say that the book had redeeming features that took my attention away from the gender issue but unfortunately that wasn't the case. There is no depth to this story at all. A group of telepathic humans build a spaceship and explore the galaxy. They find many more planets populated by telepathic humanoids but express no surprise at this. We are given details of their exploits on a couple of these planets which consist solely in intervening uninvited into conflicts and wars with no discussion about the moral right they might have to do this (hmmmm, perhaps this book has more relevance to our times that I thought!).

When reading a sci-fi story I often accept that I won't understand the science bits and don't bother to try, just accepting that faster than light travel is possible etc. But there's usually some kind of development of theories that I can follow. Not in this book. A character suddenly says they have a theory which they don't really need to explain because their telepathic companions can instantly understand what they mean. The poor untelepathic reader is left none the wiser.

An awful book that's going straight into my give away pile. ( )

NIL