I've talked a bit about the Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith already, and this time I've got a review of the first chronologically written Lensman book, Galactic Patrol. This book was serialized in Astounding Magazine in 1937 and 1938, then expanded and published as a stand-alone book soon after.
Since Smith was still gathering his stories together to make a coherent series (Remember, Triplanetary and First Lensman wouldn't be released until the late 1940s!), this one definitely feels a bit different from the two prequels.
For instance, we're dealing with the Boskonians, not the Eddorians (though it's likely the two are very closely related), and the Lensmen are already an institution.
The book revolves around the adventures of Kimball Kinnison, and his work with the Galactic Patrol. He completes several different and exciting missions: gathering info on enemy tech, saving a race of aliens from a species of monstrously sadistic fiends, and several action-packed attacks on enemy bases.
Kinnison is a bit of a super-man character, but he does face some serious opposition!
We are introduced to some interesting concepts, such as the Gray Lensman (basically, a galaxy-wide license to fight crime as they see fit), the Q-Gun, inertia-neutralizing suits, "saved" momentum from whenever a person or ship goes "free," and more.
Kinnison meets a good number of colorful and interesting characters, and even gets some advanced Lens training!
On the minus side, the story suffers from a bit of escalation fatigue: spy-rays lead to detector nullifiers, tractor beams lead to tractor shears, which lead to magnets, and stuff like that. These escalations weaken the attempt to establish stakes; it's common for something to get in the way, and the solution is that *poof!* a counter has just been developed!
The science in this book is even more slapdash than the two prequels.
Some of Smith's naming conventions could use a little polishing too, like his choice to name the Good Guys' base as Prime Base and the Bad Guys' base is Grand Base. A little confusing.
Finally, the book really doesn't have an ending. It just stops. I mean, it stops with a burst of machine-gun fire, but still.
One additional thing worth noting is that the Amazon version is missing the footnotes! The footnotes provide a little bit of extra background and worldbuilding, so if you want that, you'll need to seek out an old paperback or a scan of one!
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