Customer Reviews

Galactic Odyssey

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
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This book was great. I've never read a book by Kieth Laumer before, but after this I'm sure I'm going to read more. It all starts when a poor, sad, underdog is walking and talking about his misery. After this he wanders off to a mysterious farm and goes to sleep in a silo... or what he thinks is a silo. He actually just put himself into a spaceship. He wakes up to hear the rest of the crew talking about what to do with him. This book was very descriptive, and I would recommend it to any SciFi fan. I thought this book was incredibly well written. I was able to put myself in the main character, Billy Danger's, shoes. If you liked the X Files or Star Wars, you're going to love Galactic Odyssey.

I've read many books of various authorship and many of Kieth Laumers own, but this one is, by far, my favorite. It's a feel-great story about an underdog who persevere's despite overwhelming odds and comes out on top in the cheerable end. I've recommended this to friends who have agreed that it is a heck of a book. It is just so well told that you feel like you're there. I've even used the main character's name, Billy Danger, as a gaming alias for the 10 years since I first read Galactic Odyssey. Keith Laumer was truly a wonderful storyteller.

I was a kid in junior high back in the late 1960's when I first read this story. My older brother was a big Sci Fi reader and left this one behind in a stack of books when he went into the Marines. I had trouble reading and understanding some of my brother's books, but this one I could get into. Like the oddyssey of Homer, this story has a great series of adventures and dangers which lead up to the big confrontation at the end.

Now its a book I would re-read just for fun.

I have wished over the years that someone would make it into a great space-adventure movie.

Keith Laumer's long and varied career as a science fiction writer has seen all manner of interesting stories come and go. No matter what you think of his writing style, his ideas are as varied as one could possibly wish for.

Some of his books are better than others, like any writer, and I want to say that if you have enjoyed *anything* he has written, you owe it to yourself to find a copy of this book.

Now, I don't want to spoil the story - I don't consider the job of a book reviewer to tell you the plot, or even tease you with a little bit of the plot - so you will find no spoilers here. Instead, let me tell you that the book will leave you thrilled and awed, not to mention envious.

This isn't a new book, and it is so easy for SF to become dated. But that doesn't happen here, because although the story is certainly set in such a way as to be basically unrecognizable to us as "here" and/or "today" for the vast majority of the work, Laumer pulled off what few SF authors manage. That is create a book without any significant anachronisms or techno-blunders, areas where modern technology obsoletes an idea or even a plot line. The book actually reads just as well today as it did when it came out. Maybe better.

So if you're looking for a galactic odyssey, or a galactic adventure, this is the book to get and read. Prime grade-A good stuff from one of the most productive and interesting times for science fiction.

By the way, when young people express an interest in SF in book form, this is the first book I give them. Hooks 'em every time. *Every* time.

I spent twenty years tracking this book down so I could find out if Billy Danger rescued the damsel in distress from the aliens. It was worth the wait. A good solid scifi yarn with three-dimensional characters and an exciting storyline. Billy goes through more hell than anyone could seemingly endure to make good on his promise to rescue her. Definite recommend.

A simple tale of underdog, battles against all adversity picks up innumerrable skills along the way, Becomes hero, Wins girl. I have read many Sci Fi books from James Blish to EE Doc Smith but this is the most enjoyable and fun book I have read so far in the last 25 years

I've read this SciFi a over a dozen times over twenty years. I enjoy it everytime. The downtrodden hero goes through hell and wins his true love in the end. It's not a fancy or a particularly clever story, but it is entirely readable and doesn't disappoint. If only life turned out the same way.