At first glance, Second Stage Lensmen seems like more of the same from Doc Smith, which isn't a bad thing: we get action, intrigue, grand strategy, disguises, and larger-than-life characters.
But it turns out that we actually get more: extended looks at the enemy and its operations; the appearance of the first female lensman; more details about space battles, from heavy cruisers down to individual dogfights; and direct mention of Eddore!
I went into this book with a mistaken presupposition: I thought "second stage" lensmen would be descendants of original lensmen, but it turns out the lens actually has some more tricks up its sleeve, to be learned by additional trips back to Arisia by accomplished lensmen.
We get a bit of a re-frame of the ending of the last book (trying to avoid spoilers...) and discover that Kim's work in the last book actually set the enemies' superiors in motion!
So, Kim has to get back to work.
He starts by helping to stop an attack on Earth, then goes on to track a zwilnik leader to a strange all-women planet (which doesn't go how you'd expect!), and continues following leads through two more disguises, and more.
There are some great lines in this book...
On an expert pilot landing a superdreadnought under difficult circumstances: "Not music? --the bellowing, crescendo thunders of those jets were music to the hard-boiled spacehounds who heard them."
Of one of the terrifying Lyranian women: "This girl was just about as safe to play with as five-feet-eleven of coiled Bushmaster, and twice as deadly."
Demonstrations of respect and professionalism between lensmen: "But we would like to study it, and perhaps copy it, if you so allow." "Gladly."
From Cardynge (scientist) to Kim: "Your reasoning is fallacious, your phraseology is deplorable. I am correcting you in the admittedly faint hope of teaching you scientific accuracy of thought and of statement."
In addition, we get some of the usual real-science tidbits, such as a sudden reference to nitrogen iodide (which I had to look up).
We get introduced to a new lensman, Nadreck, who brings some crazy ideas to the team, including a powerful thought-shield drill.
On the minus side, Smith's rather unsatisfying "arms race" method continues in this book, with more counter-X devices leading to counter-counter-X devices, and so on...
But, all in all, this book was a very entertaining addition to the series, and if you've liked any of the earlier entries, you'll almost certainly enjoy this one. Most of the books have had their endings "updated" in one way or another, and this one finally has a very satisfying ending without any input from the next book!
Grab the super-giant Lensman pack here.
No comments:
Post a Comment