Customer Reviews

Gray Lensman (The Lensman Series, Book 4)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It does. Kim Kinnison gets his "Grays". The uniform color of an "Unattached", Gray Lensman. A Gray Lensman is beholden to no one. Wherever he goes, he is Judge, Jury and Executioner. At a whim he can call on the mighty forces of the Galactic Patrol to assist him. But sheer power alone is not enough to vanquish Boskone. It requires detective work, undercover spy work, scientific improvements and determination. Doc Smith bests himself with Gray Lensman. I have to give this book, along with Galactic Patrol and Second Stage Lensman an 11 because I've never read any as good. I have to reread these periodically to recharge my faith in Science Fiction. In this book you meet Wild Bill Williams, Meteor Miner, A Kim Kinnison undercover identity whose persona has formed the backbone of many sci fi novels that followed. Doc Smith tells a straight, action packed story with lots of intellectual contents but not in a soppy, sentimental tone. His heros know what is right and act on without questions. Don't look for much love and sex in Doc Smith books. Most romantic encounters are stated something like this, "They were young, they were together, and what follows is left as an exercise for the reader".

"Gray Lensman" is the fourth book in the Lensman series and it picks up right where "Galactic Patrol left off. As with the previous book, this is the collection of material that was previously published in "Astounding Science Fiction" from October of 1939 through January 1940. The book was first published in 1951, and was ranked 13th on the 1952 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll. The series as a whole was nominated for the Hugo for best all-time series in 1966.

In this book, Kimball Kinnison searches for traces of Boskone after the destruction of their base in our Galaxy. The search takes him to the Second Galaxy where he stops the Boskonians from destroying the Medonians. He also searches out remnants of Boskone within our own Galaxy, and he continues to learn how to better use the Lens. The book leads up to a climactic battle against the Boskonians in the Second Galaxy.

As with the previous books in the series, the science is the weakest part of the story. Despite this, it is still worth reading for the characters and fast paced storyline. This is a great example of Space Opera from the golden age of science fiction.

Kim Kinnison is Doc Smith's James Bond. What fun the author must have had putting this one to ink. Wouldn't bond have enjoyed using a negasphere, black hole-like wave of hyperspace, to destroy one bad guy planet? The next bad guy hideout planet squashed like a walnut between two colliding planets. What a gas! Your hero loses both hands and feet but not to worry. Brilliant geneticists discover how to excite the dormant pineal gland. Soon all body parts are regenerated (like a starfish grows new points) and the hero is good as new. Just in time to let him marry his beautiful, red headed nurse. Hollywood, here comes Kim Kinnison!

I (and many others) believe the best place to start with Doc Smith's "Lensman" series is Galactic Patrol; and as I've said why, at length, in my review of that opus, I won't repeat it here.

"Gray Lensman" begins where "Patrol" left off, and never flags, from the start to the finish.

Smith at this point is a massively improved writer from the author of the earlier Skylark series, and much more confident in his characters: Richard Seaton, for instance, never has the moments of self-doubt that trouble Kinnison, and would certainly never burst into tears (as the latter does when his nurse won't feed him beefsteak in hospital!).

Even more unexpected is the development of an impish sense of humour, manifested in several places, but most notably in the exploits of Wild Bill Williams of Aldebaran II, in the present volume -- surely one of the most entertaining episodes in the whole of Golden Age SF.

I've never understood critics -- including the normally-perspicacious Brian Aldiss* -- who say that Smith couldn't write. True, he probably never gave T.S. Eliot (his exact contemporary) any sleepless nights, and better authors have certainly stood on his shoulders; but the Lensman series is F-U-N, and without it the SF world would be a much duller place.

*in Billion Year Spree, later revised as Trillion Year Spree.

Started looking for these books online (read them all as a kid), and found them here. Bought all six at once, read them all through, *and they're just as good as I remember!*

Buy 'em all, and you'll never look at Star Wars, Star Trek, or any of the rest the same again. This is the original, the real thing.

Gray Lensman (1951) is the fourth SF novel in the Lensmen series, following Galactic Patrol. The initial work in this sequence is Triplanetary.

In the previous volume, Kim went back to Arisia for further training. He was selected for Unattached Status and issued his grays. Then he was injured and spent weeks in the base hospital, wanting out and pestering Clarrissa.

Kim triangulated Helmut's beams to a cluster far outside the galaxy. He scouted the pirate base and returned to Prime Base to prepare for the attack. He had a special powered armor made for storming Helmut's stronghold.

In this novel, Kimball Kinnison is a descendant of Rod Kinnison. Kim is now an Unattached Lensman. He picks his own assignments.

Clarrissa MacDougall is a Galactic Patrol nurse. She usually works at the Prime Base hospital, where Kim met her during his treatment and recuperation. She is the love of his life.

Haynes is the Port Admiral of the Galactic Patrol. He commands all of the Patrol other then the Unattached Lensmen.

Peter van Buskirk is a Lieutenant in the Galactic Patrol. Bus was born on Valeria, which has a surface gravity of 2.5 gees. He is mostly muscle and bone, massing over four hundred pounds.

Worsel is a Velantian Lensman. He looks like a dragon with too many arms and teeth.

Tregonsee is a Rigellian Lensman. He looks like a leather oil drum with tentacles.

Eichlan is an alien being from Jarnevon, a planet in the Second Galaxy. This alien is the head of the nine Eich in the Council of Boskone.

In this story, Kim is nearing Lundmark's Nebula. He would have gone alone in his speedster, but Haynes insisted on sending others with him on the Dauntless. Haynes is worried about getting Kinnison back.

Kim is thinking of Clarrissa more than Boskone. But he goes to join the others watching their entry into the Second Galaxy. They intercept a signal from Eichlan of Boskone to a nearby warship.

Following that ship, the Dauntless soon finds a world under siege by twenty-one Boskonian vessels. Kim contacts the citizens of Medon with his Lens and learns that they are the last known independent world in that galaxy. Everything else is ruled by Boskone.

The Dauntless attacks the Boskonians and destroys all the enemy ships. Then Kim, Worsel and Tregonese visit the surface. At first, the Medonians are startled at the sight of the aliens, but their ruler notices the three are all wearing Lens.

While the Lensmen are talking to the ruler, other Medonians are busily working at a frenetic pace. When the entire planet goes inertialess, Kim learns that they are planning on hiding their world in a seldom visited corner of the Second Galaxy. Kim suggests that they instead flee to the First Galaxy.

When Kim returns with the Medonians, the Patrol finds them an orbit in the Alpha Centauri system. The Patrol learns some advanced technology from the Medonians. Soon the warships of the Patrol are being rebuilt again to incorporate the new devices and weapons.

Confirmation of the existence of Boskone within the Second Galaxy leads to a reconsideration of the situation in the First Galaxy. Kim thinks hard on the way back to Prime Base. Then he talks with Haynes about the drug rings within their galaxy.

This tale takes Kim into undercover assignments within the drug rings, seeking the higher levels of this hierarchy. He returns to Radelix and finds a woman in the upper crust wearing a thought screen. He learns the identity of the planetary boss from her.

This novel continues the action in the previous volumes. The next installment in this series is Second Stage Lensman.

Highly recommended for Smith fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space combat, alien environments, and young Talents. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

Okay, NOW I'm impressed. If you've been following all along, this is either the point where Smith starts outdoing himself in terms of pure imagination, or just goes plain nuts.

For those just tuning in, the premise of the Lensmen books is simple, the Lensmen and their ilk fight for all that is good and right in the universe (handily abbreviated as "Civilization") while the dread forces of Boskone do their darndest to take down the forces of Civilization by being generally evil at every turn. The plot, when taken as written, is pretty much the same for every book . . . the Lensmen get wind of stuff that Boskone is doing and after a lot of other things happen eventually get a posse together and utterly obliterate Boskone. Except . . . that wasn't the real Boskone but a smaller version that hides the real one. Keep repeating that and you've got a series of sci-fi adventure!

But what sounds boring when I describe it actually winds up being fairly exciting due to two reasons: one is that Smith has a decent imagination and keeps coming up with variations on what we've seen already and two, he does seem to be going somewhere with this. It's not just a random series of adventures that we're experiencing, but a struggle between two civilizations that only one can ultimately win. And that's where things get interesting.

For the last few books we've been following Kim Kinnison, the Best Lensmen Ever, who has been handily defeating Boskone and their pals for some time now. In the process he's become an Unattached (or Gray) Lensman, which basically means that he's his own man, he can go wherever and do whatever he wants in the name of justice because He's Just That Good. In the last book he killed Helmut, who spoke for Boskone but that victory lasted for all of two seconds before they realized that there's another Boskone out there and these dudes really mean business.

Having set the pattern, Smith does his best to up the stakes as quickly as possible. Kinnison is hugely effective, smart and fast and daring and nearly perfect and all of this would be terribly unexciting if Smith didn't give him enemies to match. The newly revealed (for now) leaders of Boskone are utterly clever and sneaky and give Kinnison a run for his money, seeing through his disguises and generally staying out of sight while he runs around trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Imagine if "24" didn't bother with the subplots but just spent all of its time focusing on Jack Bauer being awesome. That's what this is, only better.

Don't believe me? Okay. Where shall I start? For one thing, Kinnison goes under cover as a miner so he can do some infiltration and deliberately gets himself hooked on drugs and alcohol so he can fit in better. I'll let you read that one more time. He gets himself addicted to drugs in the name of justice and still can beat up a roomful of people. Still not convinced? He gets tortured and has multiple limbs amputated and does just fine until they can get around to putting him back together (and it's nice to see the Overlords of Delgon back again, who just have a cool name).

And lastly, they ram two planets together with another planet between. Because that seems like the best way to solve the problem they've having. Think about that.

Yes, the characterizations are, shall we say, quaint. No, there's not a whole lot of introspection. Women are meant to stand by their men or engage in a vital sense of duty. But if you're looking for those traits here, you may be better off heading to the literature section and picking up some Proust. The reason that Smith's novels are still read ages after they've been written are because he knew how to write action, he knew how to incorporate thrills and chills into his narratives, he knew how to think bigger and nuttier than anyone else and while I might smack Kinnison in real life, he's a heck of a lot of fun to follow around doing heroic things on an epic scale. For sheer verve alone this probably ranks as my favorite of the books so far and chances are he'll go even further with the last two. Geez.

I have the entire Lensman Series - and as an avid sci-fi reader for over 75 years, it rates no. 1 in my list. Oddly, it was this book that I stumbled across first, that captured me and made me get them all, so I have special fondness for it. I re-read the entire series every decade or so just to convince me that it is the new sci-fi novels and not me that is changed so much. Every time, I still rate them 5 Stars.
Old Timer

"Gray Lensman" is a terrific space adventure! It starts where "Galactic Patrol" ended. Kim Kinnison is promoted. Then the story gets rolling.
There is an 'interlude' of sorts where Kinnison recouperates from injuries and meets the love of his life. Then, the story takes off again.
The character of Kimball Kinnison becomes more complex as he recovers from injuries and falls in love. But, let us not forget that he goes undercover as a meteor miner for a while. Meanwhile, the weapons get nastier and more powerful and the scope of the story gets bigger.

Read this book.

Boskone, in case you're new to this classic series, is the shadowy presence commanding the invasion of our galaxy. They derive their root motivation from incredibly ancient and evil beings, whose only goal is more of everything. Our good guys have a secretive sponsor, too, the equally ancient Arisians, who created the mysterious power of the Lens.

Kimball Kinnison, the Gray Lensman, leads the counter-attack. Sometimes he does so by stealth, infiltrating Boskone-controlled comand centers and boring from within. Other times, he leads the biggest space-navy that Smith's fertile imagination has superlatives for. Oh, we've seen this part before. At each new volume in the Lensman saga, the Lens-given powers and weaponry escalate by yet another step. This time, it culminates in something that sounds equally like a black hole (but without the gravity) and antimatter - neither of which would have been familiar to the original readers in 1951. Then there's the other super-secret weapon, which I leave as a secret for the reader to explore.

Then there's the ineptly chivalrous and pre-feminist romantic angle. This truly caps the camp value of this series. The central relationship has progressed by fits (sometimes hissy fits) and starts, always to be frustrated by Duty. Today's readers risk hurting themselves giggling at the archaic relations and the 1950s view of future technology. If you like the herioc goofiness of the old Flash Gordon serial, you'll find a lot to like in this perennial favorite set of books.

-- wiredweird