
Triplanetary
Lensman Series
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Narrated by:
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Reed McColm
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By:
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E. E. Doc Smith
About this listen
Listeners also enjoyed...
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Triplanetary
- First in the Lensman Series
- By: E.E. Doc Smith
- Narrated by: Phil Chenevert
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added six new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. It was put into Gutenberg just last year.
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Audible performance review
- By ron Roscoe on 10-14-18
By: E.E. Doc Smith
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The Skylark of Space
- A Pulp-Lit Classic Edition
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith, Lee Hawkins Garby
- Narrated by: Finn J.D. John
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a fortuitous laboratory accident, crack scientist Richard Seaton has unlocked the secret of atomic energy. Now, partnered with his wealthy engineering-genius friend Martin Crane, he's preparing to give the world the gift of limitless, virtually free energy - and of space travel. But others want Seaton's secret for themselves.
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So dissapointing
- By D. Wells on 08-30-22
By: E.E. "Doc" Smith, and others
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The Pursuit of the Pankera
- A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Jennifer Jill Araya, Richard Ferrone, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In the book Zeb, Deety, Hilda, and Jake are ambushed by the alien "Black Hats" and barely escape with their lives on a specially configured vehicle (the Gay Deceiver) which can travel along various planes of existence, allowing them to visit parallel universes. However, unknown to most fans, Heinlein had already written a "parallel" novel about the four characters and parallel universes in 1977.
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Stupid production
- By Arthur W. Smart on 06-21-20
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Spacehounds of IPC
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Harry Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith.
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For me this book was a gift!
- By Roger Lorette on 06-24-15
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The Number of the Beast
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Emily Durante, Malcolm Hillgartner, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The wickedest, most wonderful science fiction story ever created in our - or any - time. Anything can begin at a party in California - and everything does in this bold masterwork by a grand master of science fiction. When four supremely sensual and unspeakably cerebral humans - two male, two female - find themselves under attack from aliens who want their awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies - and zoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller-coaster ride of adventure, danger, ecstasy, and peril.
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One Aching Pain Short of Heaven
- By ... on 08-12-12
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The Apocalypse Troll
- By: David Weber
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
There he was in his sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic, all alone and loving it. Well, there was a US Navy carrier group on his southern horizon, but he was a Navy guy himself, so he didn't mind. Then came the UFOs, hurtling in from the Outer Black to overfly the carriers at Mach 17. Their impossible aerobatics were bad enough—but then they started shooting at each other, and at the Navy, with nukes. Little ones at first, but winding up with a 500 megatonner at 90 miles that fried every piece of electronics within line-of-sight.
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It Is What it Should Be
- By John E. Green, III on 02-16-24
By: David Weber
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Triplanetary
- First in the Lensman Series
- By: E.E. Doc Smith
- Narrated by: Phil Chenevert
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added six new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. It was put into Gutenberg just last year.
-
-
Audible performance review
- By ron Roscoe on 10-14-18
By: E.E. Doc Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- A Pulp-Lit Classic Edition
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith, Lee Hawkins Garby
- Narrated by: Finn J.D. John
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a fortuitous laboratory accident, crack scientist Richard Seaton has unlocked the secret of atomic energy. Now, partnered with his wealthy engineering-genius friend Martin Crane, he's preparing to give the world the gift of limitless, virtually free energy - and of space travel. But others want Seaton's secret for themselves.
-
-
So dissapointing
- By D. Wells on 08-30-22
By: E.E. "Doc" Smith, and others
-
The Pursuit of the Pankera
- A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Jennifer Jill Araya, Richard Ferrone, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In the book Zeb, Deety, Hilda, and Jake are ambushed by the alien "Black Hats" and barely escape with their lives on a specially configured vehicle (the Gay Deceiver) which can travel along various planes of existence, allowing them to visit parallel universes. However, unknown to most fans, Heinlein had already written a "parallel" novel about the four characters and parallel universes in 1977.
-
-
Stupid production
- By Arthur W. Smart on 06-21-20
-
Spacehounds of IPC
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Harry Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith.
-
-
For me this book was a gift!
- By Roger Lorette on 06-24-15
-
The Number of the Beast
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Emily Durante, Malcolm Hillgartner, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The wickedest, most wonderful science fiction story ever created in our - or any - time. Anything can begin at a party in California - and everything does in this bold masterwork by a grand master of science fiction. When four supremely sensual and unspeakably cerebral humans - two male, two female - find themselves under attack from aliens who want their awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies - and zoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller-coaster ride of adventure, danger, ecstasy, and peril.
-
-
One Aching Pain Short of Heaven
- By ... on 08-12-12
-
The Apocalypse Troll
- By: David Weber
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There he was in his sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic, all alone and loving it. Well, there was a US Navy carrier group on his southern horizon, but he was a Navy guy himself, so he didn't mind. Then came the UFOs, hurtling in from the Outer Black to overfly the carriers at Mach 17. Their impossible aerobatics were bad enough—but then they started shooting at each other, and at the Navy, with nukes. Little ones at first, but winding up with a 500 megatonner at 90 miles that fried every piece of electronics within line-of-sight.
-
-
It Is What it Should Be
- By John E. Green, III on 02-16-24
By: David Weber
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Methuselah's Children
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality…
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A delight to revisit a science fiction classic
- By Anne on 02-16-13
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Between Planets
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Don Harvey is a citizen of the Interplanetary Federation - yet no single planet can claim him as its own. His mother was born on Venus and his father on Earth, and Don himself was born on a spaceship in trajectory between planets. When his parents abruptly summon him away from school on Earth to join them on Mars, he has no idea he's about to be plunged into deadly interplanetary intrigue. But the ship Don is traveling on is unexpectedly diverted to Venus, where the colony has launched a revolution against Earth's control.
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Like a breath of fresh air
- By MikeFarr on 03-28-17
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The Rolling Stones
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly.
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Good story well told
- By Frank on 07-14-15
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- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In what is considered one of Heinlein's most hair-raising, thought-provoking, and outrageous adventures, the master of modern science fiction tells the strange story of an even stranger world. It is 21st-century Luna, a harsh penal colony where a revolt is plotted between a bashful computer and a ragtag collection of maverick humans, a revolt that goes beautifully until the inevitable happens. But that's the problem with the inevitable: it always happens.
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Heinlein's Masterpiece
- By Peter on 12-04-06
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Sixth Column
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
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- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million - but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander....
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The Yellow Peril as it was
- By Thomas Martin on 04-16-12
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The Cat Who Walks through Walls
- By: Robert Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
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When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Richard Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.
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Abridge Version
- By Klipper421 on 10-05-12
By: Robert Heinlein
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Glory Road
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
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- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
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. C. “Scar” Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia, but he hadn’t given up his habit of scanning the personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him: "Are you a coward? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential...."
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Heinlein's great story, a glorious spin by Pinchot
- By BRKyle on 09-19-12
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- Narrated by: Zach Villa
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
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Jim Marlowe and his strange-looking Martian friend, Willis, are allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tunes in to a treacherous plot that threatens all the colonists on Mars, and it sets Jim off on a terrifying adventure that could save - or destroy - them all.
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RED PLANET--- by Robert A. Heinlein
- By Stephen Hickman on 12-29-16
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Time Enough for Love
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- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Time Enough for Love is the capstone and crowning achievement of Heinlein's famous Future History series. Lazarus Long is so in love with life that he simply refuses to die. Born in the early 1900s, he lives through multiple centuries, his love for time ultimately causing him to become his own ancestor. Time Enough for Loveis his lovingly detailed account of his journey through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Using the voice of Lazarus, Heinlein expounds his own philosophies, including his radical ideas on sexual freedom.
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Age changes perspective
- By Candis on 08-27-16
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Dune
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Story
Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Maud'dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.
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This classic deserves better
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To Sail Beyond the Sunset
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- By: Robert A. Heinlein
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Maureen Johnson, the somewhat irregular mother of Lazarus Long, wakes up in bed with a man and a cat. The cat is Pixel, well-known to fans of the New York Times best seller The Cat Who Walks through Walls. The man is a stranger to her, and besides that, he is dead.
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Don't Dilly Dally, Dolly
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Performance
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Good nostalgia; pretty good YA sci-fi
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Critic reviews
"If you wish to understand the roots of modern science fiction, you have to read the Lensman saga." (Allen Steele)
"A finalist for a special Hugo Award for All-Time Best Series, 'Lensman' is considered by many sf heads to be the greatest of the space operas and clearly a source for such successors as Star Trek and Star Wars." ( Library Journal)
What listeners say about Triplanetary
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ryan
- 01-19-24
Slow burner
Starts out slow but picks up in the middle until the end. If you don’t look too closely at the details it’s an interesting story and you can see several influences to the emerging sci-fi genre. Several future technologies are also eerily accurate: wireless data transmission, beyond mere voice, retinal scanners, fingerprint spoofing, power armor, nuclear missiles unknown when this was written in the 40s and more.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Howard T Jefferson
- 07-13-18
Triplanetary odd orbit
A classic In science fiction.
Now listening to this some 60 to 70 years after it was originally written I would call this retro science fiction. It starts off slow and a little bit disjointed. This may have been because it was originally serialized for a magazine.
Another aspect that creeps into the story is the prevailing political climate of the time.
The narrator was a bit stiff also.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ilo B. Gassoway
- 03-26-16
One of my favorite books.
The reader was not great with alternate voices which made it a bit difficult to get into. But great space opera beginning.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ron Ruble
- 02-08-15
A great old favorite by E. E. (Doc) Smith
One of my oldest and dearest favorite Space Operas. The start of the Lensman Series!
Read it to your kids; the epic tale before Star Wars and other newcomers.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-17-13
Fantastic Science Fiction story
What did you love best about Triplanetary?
Squeaky clean, upright, honorable heroes and really evil bad guys.
Excellent space battles, puts you right in the action.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Triplanetary?
The brilliance of Conway Costigan, fighting skills, and the Service's trinkets!
Have you listened to any of Reed McColm’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Reed is an excellent reader! No monotone here; you can hear the feelings of the characters.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Any moment when the hero acted or did just like any of us would love to have done.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- James
- 07-10-08
Old Time Sci Fi at It's Best
The book is the grandfather of all space operas. It's story that takes place over 2 billion years and has every you could want from and old time Sci Fi yarn.
It has bug eyes aliens, Ultra weapons, Ether shields and plenty of battles.
The story is a little unwieldy in spots, and takes a little preserverance, but is well worth it.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Cindy
- 01-24-21
Fascinating but flawed.
Very dated.
Spoiler:
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*
And I get that but a little light genocide to rescue your girlfriend is a low point in Science Fiction.
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- naruvoll
- 04-14-22
Not the best recording or book
There is no rhyme or reason to the audio chapter breaks. They have nothing to do with the actual chapter breaks.
There are numerous instances where you can hear the narrator almost get a line right, as if they just couldn’t stand another take and this was deemed close enough.
As for the story, well, it’s a sci-fi classic. Prone to all the foibles that one expects from golden age sci-fi. If you’re ok with that, it’s merely average. If you’re not, it reads like an admission that the author never met a woman, let alone had a relationship with one. That is normal for the genre and time but this one felt particularly egregious to me.
What I can say of the book is that it was interesting enough that it’s flaws didn’t make me vow to never touch another Smith book again. But I can’t say I liked it either. It’s not just the characters that are cardboard cutouts (that’s expected). The plots and tension feel pretty one dimensional as well.
It may simply be that I am coming to this book after reading many books based on it but it felt clunky and wooden and significantly difficult to care about anyone. If it hadn’t been an audiobook, I doubt I would have finished it.
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Overall
- DJM
- 03-18-09
Lensman Series is Still Fun
Okay. The narrator of this series is not the best. Nevertheless, this story still works if you can get past some of writing (the "look of eagles" in the eyes of Lensmen for instance). If you've never dipped into these before, get Galactic patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensmen and Children of the Lens in that order. If you are still hooked, go back and pick up First lensman. You have to be a real diehard lensmen fan to slug through Triplanetary.
This is classic space opera, good versus evil, with the guys in the white hats destined to win. Smith wasn't very good at envisioning future technology, but he comes up with some fun ideas. The inertialess drive is an interesting solution to FSL travel and the negasphere is one of the best Sci_Fi weapons ever imagined. His aliens are fun too, especially the frigid planet dwellers. Considering that the series was started in the late 30s, it holds up amazingly well.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-23-19
excellent
read it almost 30 yrs ago was great being able to sit back and listen
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