The Legion of Space [Hardcover]

Jack Williamson (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Fantasy Press (1948)
• ASIN: B000JVB8X8
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Legion" a classic of pre-Campbell science fiction, April 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Legion of Space (Paperback)

Isaac Asimov was fascinated by "The Legion of Space" as a boy, but found it unreadable when he came back to it as an adult. This isn't particularly surprising. "The Legion of Space" is a perfect snapshot of 1930's space opera, or "super science stories" as they were known at the time. Reading it for the first time recently, I can only imagine what mind-blowing effect this breathless tale would have had on an imaginative twelve year old in Depression-era America. No doubt inspired by the sort of adventurous, gadget-oriented science fiction that E.E. Smith began in the late 1920's with "Skylark of Space" and the stories John W. Campbell, Jr. was writing a few short years later, "Legion" takes us into the 30th century with a swashbuckling fight for the solar system. Owing much to "The Three Musketeers," the few remaining members of the Legion travel via hyperspace (remember, this is 1935!!!) to a wandering star populated by the Medusae, who are classic pulp BEMs (Bug Eyed Monsters), complete with gelatinous tentacles. They get to rescue a beautiful girl who is able to build a secret weapon known only as AKKA. Needless to say, the good guys win. The "super science story" became comic-book fodder within a few years when John W. Campbell, Jr. became editor of "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine (later "Analog"). Campbell presented the world with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and a host of other writers who took science fiction in a much more serious direction. Williamson, unlike many others, managed to adapt to the world editor Campbell was building. Others did not, or didn't even try (like E.E. Smith). I was struck by the parallels of "Legion" with the "Star Wars" series of films. The remnant of a kind of knighthood, the villainous relative who in the end redeems himself, and a secret weapon powered by (as we learn in the novel's 1936 sequel, "The Cometeers") "the force" . . . is the similarity a coincidence? Possibly. Imagine it is 1935. You're twelve years old. You pick up a copy of "Astounding," and you discover within its covers a distant future, and a group of fierce Legionairres who are determined to save the world. Enjoy.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When to be alien was to be evil, February 4, 2002

By 

jrmspnc (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The LEGION OF SPACE (Collier Nucleus Fantasy & Science Fiction) (Board book)

It is always interesting to read science-fiction written before Childhood's End and Stranger in a Strange Land, back when anything that wasn't human was necessarily evil and bent on humanity's destruction. Most of today's sci-fi's writers go to great lengths to create and explain alien civilizations; not so in The Legion of Space. The aliens are ugly and they want to kill us. Period.

"A reader" has already accurately summed up the novel. I will add only that The Legion of Space is an interesting read for its gender portrayals. As one would expect from the 1930s, the male characters are all obsessed with how fragile and vulnerable the heroine is; they must do whatever they can to protect her and shelter her and the thought of her in danger or even uncomfortable fills them with chauvinistic horror. Williamson allows the men to carry on this way throughout the book, all the while giving us a woman character who needs no protection whatsoever and saves the day herself. No weeping in hysterics for this heroine; Leia-like she leads the escape from the alien fortress while the men hesitate. She and she alone has the secret to the weapon of ultimate destruction, and she unhesitatingly builds it and deploys it. Not bad for 1936, eh?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Old Fashioned Space Opera, March 4, 2005

By 

Bromptonboy "Bromptonboy" (Doylestown, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Legion of Space (Paperback)

Jack Williamson is one of the most noted Grand Masters of Science Fiction. This is one of his earlier works, and has the unmistakeable feel of the era (Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers). It is very dated, but still a 'ripping good' read.
This book introduces one of my favorite characters in all Sci-fi: Gile Habibula - who is loosely based on Falstaff (according the JW himself).
Sit back with this book, and enjoy as the Legion legens (John Ulnar, Hal Samdu, and Giles) - fight the evil members of the reactionairy Purple Hall.