Triplanetary: A Tale of Cosmic Adventure (Lensman Series, Book 1): Smith, Edward E., Donnell, A. J.: 9781882968091: Amazon.com: Books

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Triplanetary: A Tale of Cosmic Adventure (Lensman Series, Book 1) Paperback – January 1, 1997

by Edward E. Smith (Author), A. J. Donnell (Author)

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From the atomic age in Atlantis to a world remote in space and time, two incredible ancient races, the Arisians and the Eddorians, are in the midst of an interstellar war with Earth as the prize. The Arisians, using advanced mental technology, have foreseen the invasion of their galaxy by the corrupt and evil Eddorians, so they begin a breeding program on every planet in their universe. Their goal...to produce super warriors who can hold off the invading Eddorians.

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Print length

287 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Old Earth Books
Publication date

January 1, 1997
Dimensions

5 x 0.75 x 7.5 inches
ISBN-10

1882968093
ISBN-13

978-1882968091
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is the first of E. E. "Doc" Smith's six Lensman books, and although it isn't as fast-paced as later Lensman novels, it sets the stage for what is perhaps the greatest space-opera saga ever told. Through a series of vignettes spanning millions of years, readers will learn how the titanic struggle between the good Arisians and the evil Eddorians first came to pass, and about how humanity was chosen (and bred) to assume the awesome power of the lens. A short foreword by science fiction scholar John Clute puts the entire series into perspective.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Old Earth Books (January 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 287 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1882968093
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1882968091
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.75 x 7.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,861,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #192,933 in Science Fiction (Books)
- #198,027 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
829

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

829 global ratings

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Amazing introduction to classic space opera.

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2017

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Okay, it's sometimes hokey by today's standards but this is a classic example of one of the best of its day. This is not the best book of the series, but it is good and it is the introduction to the series that has had an influence on space adventure to this day. The scope of the series is grand. It is also a touchstone to an era in science fiction when it was believed that engineering could solve everything. The characters may seem outdated, especially when it comes to women, but again it is a product of the era in which it was written. No less than Robert Heinlein has praised "Doc" Smith and his stories. Great fun. I'd love to see a proper movie made of each novel in the series.

5 people found this helpful

Space Opera at its best from the 1930

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2024

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The MC was almost God like in his abilities, the science based on what they thought was possible, based on their tech. There is quite a bit of hyperbole In their description. The story was entertaining, though it did become tedious at times.

An oldie but goodie

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2020

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For a book which was written in the 1930's it remains quite readable. I first read this book (along with it's sequels) in the early 50's and was totally hooked. It appealed to me as a freshman in high school with lots of action and a long term tale (in six volumes). Today the writing is a bit purple but it would still appeal to younger set. It is great fun.

One person found this helpful

James H. H. Lampert

The "non-Lensman" version. Affordable, and decent enough typography, but there are typos.

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2023

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I'd received suggestions that I read some "Doc" Smith, particularly his "Lensman" books, and Triplanetary was suggested as a good place to start.

Affordable copies of "Doc" Smith's works are rare, and those that exist are what you would expect of books published as a "labor of love," to keep low-demand books in print, long after they'd fallen into the public domain. In this case, the typographic design is not bad at all, but there are unfortunately a rather large number of typos, hence the 3-star rating.

At the time I bought this, I was not aware that there are two versions of the text: the original version (from before the "Lensman" series existed), and the revised and expanded version, that incorporates it into the "Lensman" series. This is the original version (something not necessarily obvious from the listing). There is perhaps something to be said for reading both versions.

Kindle Customer

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2021

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Interesting to read again after so many years. Good to see such a wide vocabulary. I wonder if people actually spoke like that in Smith's day or that was Smith's presentation of his Triplanetary era. Alas, if only there was such a thing as an inertia-less drive...

Wow, Where's This Novel Been All My Life, 240 Pages, Publ 1948

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2006

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Alright, so this is 1940's pulp science fiction, but after having read some of the others this is one of the best of that time period. Yeah, some of the ideas are now dated, but the author takes what concepts there are and writes LARGE. This is a classic epic battle between good and evil written not just on a intergalactic scale, not just on a universal scale, but on a multiple space-time continuum scale. Terms like "space-time continuum", commonly used in Star Trek and now steadfast in science fiction lexicon are used here and this is the earliest publication date that I can recall having read it. Sure Smith uses the term "ether" instead of just "space", but with the latest theory in science being that interstellar space is a seething soup of particles and anti-particles constantly forming and annihilating each other, who knows, maybe one day the term ether will come up again.

As you may have read, there are two races of immortals, one is classically good, the other classically, well maybe not evil, maybe better said `just doesn't care about anything but themselves'. Meaning if you're in their way walking down the street and it's easier for them to kill you, to get you out of their way, they will do that. However, if killing you is less easy, then it would be considered in poor taste by their society if they did so. So ultimately power, and only power, matters to the society of the Eddorians. The good guys, the Arisians, realize one day when first contacting the minds of the Eddorians, as their respective galaxies are colliding (I'm not making this up), that they would not be able to defeat them head on. Thus they quickly erase the memory of their contact from the Eddorians minds, and strive to remain unknown to them. However, they begin the mechanism, hopefully, of a way to defeat them; and that's to seed and train species on other planets that will one day evolve to defeat the Eddorians and eventually replace the Arisians as the most advanced species in this, and maybe any, space-time continuum. And this is where humanity comes in, yup, as just that species.

Triplanetary (which by the way stands for the inner planet confederation of Earth, Venus, and Mars) starts out with the Eddorians disappointment in early Earth's progress as a sufficient slave race (due to subtle interference by the Arisians), and thus is the cause of large disasters in humanities past as a form of punishment. Atlantis was lost in the past due to a nuclear war between its neighbors. The Fall of Rome, and World Wars I and II are also due to the Eddorians. The possibly most controversial part of the book, is the projected Third World War being due to the Eddorians. To Liberals, any WW III scenario that does not lead to the absolute and complete destruction of humanity is considered pro-nuclear-war propaganda. So any introduction by big shot SF critic John Clute is not going to have nice things to say. This book is not as bad as he makes it out to be. Sure, the last four books in this six-book series are supposed to be even better, which were actually written before the first two. Smith's first story "Galactic Patrol" was published in 1937, and he then continued with related stories from there. In the late 1940's and early 50's he collected them into the Lensman series. The first two books were then written as an introduction to the series. To many purists, the series doesn't actually start until book 3. Book 1 in criticized as giving away too much of the plot too early. Well, if you've read any reviews here then you already pretty much who and what the Eddorians and Arisians are, so that criticism is mute.

Wikipedia gives a nice background on the history of the Lensman series.

12 people found this helpful

woesome charlie

Mandatory reading

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2018

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While the science of "Triplanetary" is largely outdated or simply wrong, the story told is so full of action, so fast-paced, so gripping, anyone reading it could and should easily ignore the anachronisms and pseudo science. It is, after all, science ficion, with the emphasis on fiction. Also, Smith's syntax could be somewhat challenging for some readers but once again, the story told is so mindbending as to draw one in and not let go. Characters in the book are fleshed out throughout the story and an empathy for them is unavoidable. Even some of the aliens introduced garnered begrudging compassion from this reader. I highly recommend this 1948 vintage yarn and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

One person found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

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rapern

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on August 20, 2015

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best old scifi

James Bowman

A Superb Space Opera, Great Alien races, great characters and a great story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2015

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The First in E. E. Doc Lensman Series, a superb tale of an Earth evolving and Two Immensely powerful Alien races The Edorians and The Arisians one trying to evolve the universe and the other wanting chaos and disorder in the universe, each having immense mental powers, one trying to evolve human kind to become ultimately the gaurdians of the universe by way of the Lens given only to special individuals evolved through a bloodline to lead and become lensman. Many Planets, many weird and wonderful races, many Battles. Doc was not great on the science behind his stories, but more than makes up with great Stories and adventures, l grew up on this SF and Doc is regarded by many authors who genuinely are greats as one of the best originators of Space Opera, read them all, you won't be disappointed then later you can write a rambling review like this one.

Komiker

A classic

Reviewed in Germany on January 7, 2015

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Enough said.

THE space opera of the Golden Age of Science-Fiction.

I was very happy to see that book as Ebook as I was looking for it in english for Ages.

Small Problem: no correction work done on the Ebook, hence quite often I had to deduce rather than to read. Would be nice to have proof-reading also for ebooks.

Shannon

Legendary Series - Many modern SF writers could so well to examine the writing style and flow of plots and sub plots

Reviewed in Australia on July 27, 2016

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E.E. Smith wrote with vision & the reader in mind. Always explaining the dialogue in meaningful terms, much like Asimov in including many known (at the time) scientific facts, theories (Einstein) (Pascal) etc.

Wolfgang Drescher

Gesendet

Reviewed in Germany on March 4, 2024

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Das Lesen des Textes ist etwas schwierig - Computertext auf DIN A 4 statt als Taschenbuch.

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