*** Saved (maybe) by the ending
Very
strange book this one by van Vogt. It starts well and intrigues you, despite
the taste of teen novel, then it gets stuck. While the plot runs too fast, the
narrative becomes boring and it’s awfully easy to get distracted and then lose
the thread, given the rapid pace of events. While the characters and their
actions at the beginning seemed absolutely credible, then they tend to become
too “easy” in the central part of the book, losing all their plausibility and
touching absurdity.
The touch
of a great author, however, is seen in the way he tells the story: the style,
the words capture you. But the story itself seems naive, like those of young
adult novels, but unsuitable for the latter given the complex issues dealt in
it.
Maybe the
60 years passed since its publication are the cause of this apparent naivety.
Moreover, the combination of spaceships with telephone booths is a bit funny.
But since the beginning it is not so difficult to accept this retro vibe in the
scope of science fiction, the problems are others.
I will not
go into the details of the plot, not to spoil the reading of the book. I will
just say that there is a certain approximation in the concatenation of the
facts, which at times are simply summarized by giving improbable and forced
excuses to justify the action going to a certain direction.
What really
saves the novel and inspired me to give it at least 3 stars is the ending. I’m
not talking about the final chapter (which is terribly far-fetched), but just
the last page, even the last sentences, outlining a plot twist that allows
closing the story with a bang.
Slan (Kindle ebook)
on Amazon.com.
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