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creadsagain's review
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
chrismacilzeg's review against another edition
3.0
Although I bought an omnibus edition of the stories, this, the first written (although chronologically the third book), is somewhat of a standout. It details a cross-galaxy romp with the city of New York, now converted into a giant ship of sorts.
It must be stated this is a very sci-fi book, and as such has more pertinent information about the way this new system works, socially, economically and, most baffling, scientifically than it actually has narrative. For those that can stomach this a nice balance is reached-the story is never lost track of, but at times it is not the focus.
A lot of the plot that does take place are heavily convoluted xantaos gambits, so whilst having to keep track of all of the thick world building, the plot is very hard to follow. Not necessarily a bad thing-I just sat back and assumed everything would be explained, letting events surprise me. The prose does suffer from this, and gets a bit thick at times. Not a book to get for the writing style.
Characters do have depth, but this is not something executed very well. Tensions do brood, but they do so subtly that when they reach a peak it almost feels as if it comes out of nowhere.
In the end it depends if you can put up with endless amounts of information and how much the concept grabs you. The rest of the Cities in Flight sequence does not quite live up to this novel however.
It must be stated this is a very sci-fi book, and as such has more pertinent information about the way this new system works, socially, economically and, most baffling, scientifically than it actually has narrative. For those that can stomach this a nice balance is reached-the story is never lost track of, but at times it is not the focus.
A lot of the plot that does take place are heavily convoluted xantaos gambits, so whilst having to keep track of all of the thick world building, the plot is very hard to follow. Not necessarily a bad thing-I just sat back and assumed everything would be explained, letting events surprise me. The prose does suffer from this, and gets a bit thick at times. Not a book to get for the writing style.
Characters do have depth, but this is not something executed very well. Tensions do brood, but they do so subtly that when they reach a peak it almost feels as if it comes out of nowhere.
In the end it depends if you can put up with endless amounts of information and how much the concept grabs you. The rest of the Cities in Flight sequence does not quite live up to this novel however.
hucklebuck411's review against another edition
4.0
Though far-fetched and a bit dated, the continuing adventures of the spacefaring city of New York with its never-aging, indomitable Mayor Amalfi, is a true action-packed space opera.
markyon's review against another edition
3.0
Of the books that make up The Cities in Flight series, this is the longest and perhaps the one most widely recognised today. My first copy had a tremendous Chris Foss cover on it.
This novel, like many of its time, is made up of a number of stories fixed together into a novel. Readers may recognise parts of the novel as ‘Okie’ (first published in Astounding in April 1950), ‘Bindlestiff’ (first published in Astounding in December 1950), ‘Sargasso of Lost Cities’ (first published in Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in Spring 1953) and the titular ‘Earthman, Come Home’ (first published in Astounding in November 1953).
By this third book in the series we are now about 2000 years in the future. Kept in extended lifespans with anti-agathy drugs, many of Earth’s cities have left using spindizzy drives to travel around the galaxy. Our focus, as in the previous books in the series, is on the city of New York, who with its mayor John Amalfi were one of the first to leave Earth. Now, with Amalfi having being mayor for hundreds of years, we are well away from the human’s home planet. Because of this, there is an uneasy relationship between the independent free-wheeling cities known as Okies and the Earth space-police, who see the Okies as rebels who have broken contracts. Whilst they are still ‘enemies’, the cities are too spread out and have travelled too far for the police to be able to do little more than patrol and occasionally deal with infractions as they occur.
The travel of the cities across the galaxy is not entirely to avoid the police. As distance has grown between the cities and their home planet we have seen them wheeling and dealing for trade as they encounter other colonies. The first part of the book deals with one of these situations. New York encounters the planet of Utopia, which is in conflict with one of the few alien races in this series, the Hruntians. The police arrive to deal with the Hruntians, and Amalfi, rather surprisingly, appears to side with the rather unpleasant Hruntians. There is a wider issue at stake here, which Amalfi uses to his advantage, of course.
New York escapes Utopia and the police and heads towards The Rift, the vast area of unnavigable starless space where cities appear to disappear. Some cities have thrived whilst others have gone rogue. On their travels New York discovers a planet being attacked by a ‘bindlestiff’, a pirate city gone rogue. They go to help and discover that the stricken planet is called He, which has a society regressed to primitive tribalism – all naked and god-fearing, kept in control by a repressive religious order. Amalfi acts to free the planet.
The rest of the book has an ongoing situation that involves New York attempting to repair a malfunctioning spindizzy. They visit Murphy, a repair planet, to find it deserted and Amalfi has another run-in with the police.
Whilst still looking for a place for repairs, New York then reaches The Jungle, a place where many cities are currently stranded. When Amalfi arrives, he finds that they have formed themselves into a group of about three-hundred cities, led by the ‘King’ of the city of Buda-Pesht, who are determined to return to Earth and make demands for justice on behalf of the Okies.
Amalfi appears to be defeated in the discussion over the so-called 'March to Earth', although this is really a ruse. Amalfi really wants the March to go ahead. The Okies return to Earth and there is a battle, although a major issue, that of the reappearance of the ancient Vegan alien race, is resolved by Amalfi.
The last part of the book concerns New York, still struggling on failing and malfunctioning spindizzies, trying to find a last resting place that is away from the police and one that they can set themselves up for a sedentary life. They encounter an old city with a terrible past. Amalfi manages to achieve a number of things here – deal out justice, find an appropriate resting place for New York and convince the police that New York has been destroyed, which should leave the city free to prosper in the future.
---------------
My overriding impression on rereading is that Earthman Go Home is a rather uneven read, as you might expect from a novel created from disparate parts. Combining the stories together highlights both the stories’ strengths and weaknesses.
For me the novel does not hold together as strongly as the earlier tales, with some parts being illogical or baffling. It also doesn’t help that Amalfi appears to exhibit intellectual powers that verge on the god-like, which means that there are actions that may make the reader scratch their head trying to work out what is going on.
There’s also moments of science-flippery that are just pure pulp – for example, Amalfi manages to escape a meeting with an adversary by reversing the spindizzy effect and then sliding down a skyscraper in some sort of King Kong-in reverse-like effect. He also manages to alter the axis of spin of a planet by using the spindizzy drive in a pulp-like plot-prop that really means that with this throwaway science almost anything is possible. Whilst it is undoubtedly entertaining, there are parts where my credulity was stretched.
And yet, in the end, the ambition of the tale still remains. As we go on, Earthman Go Home reads more and more as an alternative response to Asimov’s Foundation – a tale spread across vast time and distance, yet still one of human expansion. It's a story that shows us wonders and allows us to explore the unknown, and perhaps most of all in this future, Homo Sapiens and human ingenuity still seems to reign*, which may be the novel’s main attraction. It is a very-Campbellian future, which not only explains why most of it appeared in Astounding but may explain its popularity with readers.
Out of the three books in the series I’ve read so far, it is perhaps the most popular – it won a Retro Hugo in 2004 for Best Novelette. I can see why – there’s action, adventure and big overarching themes, as well as the fact that human ingenuity conquers all. But it is not a complete success for me.
*There are some, but surprisingly few, aliens – another similarity to Foundation, where if I remember right, there were not any.
This novel, like many of its time, is made up of a number of stories fixed together into a novel. Readers may recognise parts of the novel as ‘Okie’ (first published in Astounding in April 1950), ‘Bindlestiff’ (first published in Astounding in December 1950), ‘Sargasso of Lost Cities’ (first published in Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in Spring 1953) and the titular ‘Earthman, Come Home’ (first published in Astounding in November 1953).
By this third book in the series we are now about 2000 years in the future. Kept in extended lifespans with anti-agathy drugs, many of Earth’s cities have left using spindizzy drives to travel around the galaxy. Our focus, as in the previous books in the series, is on the city of New York, who with its mayor John Amalfi were one of the first to leave Earth. Now, with Amalfi having being mayor for hundreds of years, we are well away from the human’s home planet. Because of this, there is an uneasy relationship between the independent free-wheeling cities known as Okies and the Earth space-police, who see the Okies as rebels who have broken contracts. Whilst they are still ‘enemies’, the cities are too spread out and have travelled too far for the police to be able to do little more than patrol and occasionally deal with infractions as they occur.
The travel of the cities across the galaxy is not entirely to avoid the police. As distance has grown between the cities and their home planet we have seen them wheeling and dealing for trade as they encounter other colonies. The first part of the book deals with one of these situations. New York encounters the planet of Utopia, which is in conflict with one of the few alien races in this series, the Hruntians. The police arrive to deal with the Hruntians, and Amalfi, rather surprisingly, appears to side with the rather unpleasant Hruntians. There is a wider issue at stake here, which Amalfi uses to his advantage, of course.
New York escapes Utopia and the police and heads towards The Rift, the vast area of unnavigable starless space where cities appear to disappear. Some cities have thrived whilst others have gone rogue. On their travels New York discovers a planet being attacked by a ‘bindlestiff’, a pirate city gone rogue. They go to help and discover that the stricken planet is called He, which has a society regressed to primitive tribalism – all naked and god-fearing, kept in control by a repressive religious order. Amalfi acts to free the planet.
The rest of the book has an ongoing situation that involves New York attempting to repair a malfunctioning spindizzy. They visit Murphy, a repair planet, to find it deserted and Amalfi has another run-in with the police.
Whilst still looking for a place for repairs, New York then reaches The Jungle, a place where many cities are currently stranded. When Amalfi arrives, he finds that they have formed themselves into a group of about three-hundred cities, led by the ‘King’ of the city of Buda-Pesht, who are determined to return to Earth and make demands for justice on behalf of the Okies.
Amalfi appears to be defeated in the discussion over the so-called 'March to Earth', although this is really a ruse. Amalfi really wants the March to go ahead. The Okies return to Earth and there is a battle, although a major issue, that of the reappearance of the ancient Vegan alien race, is resolved by Amalfi.
The last part of the book concerns New York, still struggling on failing and malfunctioning spindizzies, trying to find a last resting place that is away from the police and one that they can set themselves up for a sedentary life. They encounter an old city with a terrible past. Amalfi manages to achieve a number of things here – deal out justice, find an appropriate resting place for New York and convince the police that New York has been destroyed, which should leave the city free to prosper in the future.
---------------
My overriding impression on rereading is that Earthman Go Home is a rather uneven read, as you might expect from a novel created from disparate parts. Combining the stories together highlights both the stories’ strengths and weaknesses.
For me the novel does not hold together as strongly as the earlier tales, with some parts being illogical or baffling. It also doesn’t help that Amalfi appears to exhibit intellectual powers that verge on the god-like, which means that there are actions that may make the reader scratch their head trying to work out what is going on.
There’s also moments of science-flippery that are just pure pulp – for example, Amalfi manages to escape a meeting with an adversary by reversing the spindizzy effect and then sliding down a skyscraper in some sort of King Kong-in reverse-like effect. He also manages to alter the axis of spin of a planet by using the spindizzy drive in a pulp-like plot-prop that really means that with this throwaway science almost anything is possible. Whilst it is undoubtedly entertaining, there are parts where my credulity was stretched.
And yet, in the end, the ambition of the tale still remains. As we go on, Earthman Go Home reads more and more as an alternative response to Asimov’s Foundation – a tale spread across vast time and distance, yet still one of human expansion. It's a story that shows us wonders and allows us to explore the unknown, and perhaps most of all in this future, Homo Sapiens and human ingenuity still seems to reign*, which may be the novel’s main attraction. It is a very-Campbellian future, which not only explains why most of it appeared in Astounding but may explain its popularity with readers.
Out of the three books in the series I’ve read so far, it is perhaps the most popular – it won a Retro Hugo in 2004 for Best Novelette. I can see why – there’s action, adventure and big overarching themes, as well as the fact that human ingenuity conquers all. But it is not a complete success for me.
*There are some, but surprisingly few, aliens – another similarity to Foundation, where if I remember right, there were not any.
kihadu's review against another edition
1.0
Boredom developing to hatred when the women were carted in, naked, in a cage, and blamed for the problems of society, while Amalfi brings technology to this planet of people unaware of the fortune they are sitting on.
ianbanks's review against another edition
4.0
I'm reading this in an omnibus of all four books and while the quality is uneven, the series as a whole is tremendous fun. Hideously dated, easy to tell where the short stories it has been put together from begin and end, but still quite compelling and readable.
count_zero's review against another edition
4.0
Another really good book. The book follows the "series of vignettes" style of the last book, but with more of a serialized tone instead of an episodic one.
There are a few things I'm wondering though, which might not be answered in future books - in particular, what City was Interstellar Master Traders supposed to be, exactly? Florence? Rome? Jerusalem? Goodness knows that last one would have some serious Unfortunate Implications if that was the case.
Also, the comments about New York's subways in the story also kind of makes me wonder - when New York lifted for the first time, was it just Manhattan Island? Did some of the other boroughs come along as well? Inquiring minds want to know?
There are a few things I'm wondering though, which might not be answered in future books - in particular, what City was Interstellar Master Traders supposed to be, exactly? Florence? Rome? Jerusalem? Goodness knows that last one would have some serious Unfortunate Implications if that was the case.
Also, the comments about New York's subways in the story also kind of makes me wonder - when New York lifted for the first time, was it just Manhattan Island? Did some of the other boroughs come along as well? Inquiring minds want to know?
internpepper's review
3.0
Not as good as the second book, but still all right. I'm not sure why wrote off a character so highly developed in the second book... There was potential there.
nicholasbobbitt1997's review
4.0
Really solid book on antigravity and the like's impact on the future.
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