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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Earth's (REAL) Final Conflict!, August 27, 2003
This is classic science-fiction at its best!An American Intelllgence officer, a Scottish scientist, a renegade American turned NAZI and Karrin, the attractive racially mixed female NAZI agent confront one another, each side adamantly opposing the other when an apparent bolide crashes to earth. The group finds itself drawn toward the unidentified object which opens up and takes them in. The four slowly come out of stasis and find themselves in what appears to be a vessel which, however, has no obvious machinery or operations console. Managing to open the door, they find themselves in a strange desert world with the oceans flashing by overhead, giant worms and fragile, winged people! The Carcasilians (the natives to whose city they are led by a high priestess of the Light-Weavers)allow them entrance where they meet and are tricked by Flandy, an ancient human who has harnessed alien technology to give himself demigod-like powers. From Flandy, they learn that the ship from which they had escaped had been the first in a delayed invasion force untold millenia ago (i.e., in the 1940s). Everything in which they believed and for which they had fought was long gone and meaningless! This relatively short work is astonishingly lively with many unexpected twists - and none more so than the surprising end which combines a strong sense of loss, hope and belief in the human spirit! This is, undoubtedly, the best classic science-fiction work written and stands out even among such modern works as David Brin's SUNDIVER, Dan Simmons' HYPERION and Timothy Zahn's BLACKCOLLAR.
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by Henry Kuttner
