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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, Virginia, this is Lensman Canon!,
By
This review is from: Masters of the Vortex (Pyramid SF, X-1851) (Mass Market Paperback)
First, regardless what anyone says, "Vortex Blaster" (AKA "Masters of the Vortex"), IS a Lensman novel, as much any other of the standard canon. Kinnison is a background character in the book, there are Lensmen (Telluran and Rigellian) in the story, it is set in the Lensman Universe, and it was written by Doc Smith. If these criteria do not qualify it as a Lensman book, nothing else does.
We have a parallel case in the Narnia Chronicles. The second book, "Horse and His Boy" is an odd job: it is not part of the overall continuity, does not include the main characters except as background props, and is self-contained. Yet, we still consider it part of the Narnia canon. Similarly, we need to see "Vortex Blaster" as a full and bona-fide part of the Lensman canon. (At least, much more so than Kyle's "Second-Stage Lensman" Trilogy.) As to the book itself, I was blown away. I am tempted to say that THIS is the book you read if you want to get converted to the series. You get a taste of Doc Smith's gusto and operatic flamboyance, coupled with his sense of the unusual as Cloud meets the odd creatures that populate Doc's universe. Additionally, I found Neal Cloud and Joan Janowick to be far more vibrant and engaging characters than Kinnison and MacDougal. Since they are not the Arisian demigods, they are more relatable and more human. They remind me of Kierkegaard's comment, "This is the reason my soul always turns back to the Old Testament and to Shakespeare. I feel that those who speak there are at least human beings: they hate, they love, they murder their enemies and curse their descendants throughout all generations, they sin." Since the book is self contained, Cloud's and Janowick's romance is a steady flow, as contrasted with Kinnison and MacDougal start-and-stop relationship and marriage that is drug though three Lensmen books. Their mind meld is a sci-fi classic. Since Red Jacket, Old Earth Books, and Bison--all who have reprinted Doc Smith's works--have not reissued this book, grab the first yellowed paperback you can find, and cherish the book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Space opera at its best,
By wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Masters of the Vortex (Pyramid SF, X-1851) (Mass Market Paperback)
Set in the world of his Lensmen, Doc Smith creates another spectacular space-based swashbuckler. Dr. Neal "Storm" Cloud lost his wife, children, and will to live when an atomic vortex destroys his home. A super-human mind like his can't stay down for long, though, so he applies his super-mathematical skills to solving the equations of vortices and destroying them, one at a time.
That makes for plenty of interstellar zooming around, like a galactic Red Adaire blowing out nuclear fires all over the place. In time, a crew attaches itself to him, including woman with a super-mind suitably inferior to his own since he's the man. This leads to a runin with evil druglords, to solving the mystery of where the vortices originally came from, and to a new true love. This is a wonderful bit of trash reading from a master of the genre. No one has equalled Smith's frat-boys in space, bounding hither and yon with bold abandon and with wildly offensive stereotypes. Even Smith had gotten away from race-based type-casting by the time this book was written (1960), and he almost made it through the book without offending the women of the world. At one point, his takes on a female M.D. as ship's doctor. Since women in medicine have to be nurses, he makes sure that she's an R.N., too, but that wasn't too bad. Then, towards the end, it comes out the every woman in creation, right down to his cigar-chomping chief engineer, really just wants to have babies. Smith was a product of his time, though, and such stuff really makes me appreciate our own times even more. It's a brief read, especially by the standards of today's 800-page minimum. If you have taste for anachronistic, adventurous goofiness, it's well worth the few hours needed to read it. //wiredweird
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Space opera at its best,
By wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Masters of the Vortex (Mass Market Paperback)
Set in the world of his Lensmen, Doc Smith creates another spectacular space-based swashbuckler. Dr. Neal "Storm" Cloud lost his wife, children, and will to live when an atomic vortex destroys his home. A super-human mind like his can't stay down for long, though, so he applies his super-mathematical skills to solving the equations of vortices and destroying them, one at a time.
That makes for plenty of interstellar zooming around, like a galactic Red Adaire blowing out nuclear fires all over the place. In time, a crew attaches itself to him, including woman with a super-mind suitably inferior to his own since he's the man. This leads to a runin with evil druglords, to solving the mystery of where the vortices originally came from, and to a new true love. This is a wonderful bit of trash reading from a master of the genre. No one has equalled Smith's frat-boys in space, bounding hither and yon with bold abandon and with wildly offensive stereotypes. Even Smith had gotten away from race-based type-casting by the time this book was written (1960), and he almost made it through the book without offending the women of the world. At one point, his takes on a female M.D. as ship's doctor. Since women in medicine have to be nurses, he makes sure that she's an R.N., too, but that wasn't too bad. Then, towards the end, it comes out the every woman in creation, right down to his cigar-chomping chief engineer, really just wants to have babies. Smith was a product of his time, though, and such stuff really makes me appreciate our own times even more. It's a brief read, especially by the standards of today's 800-page minimum. If you have taste for anachronistic, adventurous goofiness, it's well worth the few hours needed to read it. //wiredweird
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