Reviews

City by Clifford D. Simak

bookook's review against another edition

It was fine? Some interesting ideas, but there are other things I want to read more

misanthrope's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A moving story.  Well written.  The episodic nature of the text was not a weakness to me.  The shifting perspective kept it interesting.  I will read more from this author.

wildweasel105's review against another edition

3.0

A highly innovative view of mankind's future, complete with the familiar dealings with robots, etc. However, what makes this futuristic history of civilization so highly interesting is the addition of certain alterations of man's mental capabilities, the evolutionary enhancement of dogs, and man's attempted conquest of Jupiter, to name a few.
Unfortunately, I gave this novel a 3 1/2 stars out of 5 simply based on the difficulty I had in following the flow of the story line (which is HIGHLY unusual for a Simak novel!)
Nonetheless, this had some of the greatest of Simak's characteristic imagination!

nancie's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

intorilex's review against another edition

4.0

A solid classic with lots of things to ponder about, humanity and life itself. Everything you want from sci-fi.

vaughantay's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book goes to weird and pessimistic humanity-hating places but I enjoyed the pretty writing so much. Mr. Simak really knew how to write evocatively. I had no expectations for this book and that helped bc it ended up blowing me away. Yes, most of the sci-fi concepts are dated but that gives it a quaint feel that reading it now clashes with the frothing pessimism in its lines and makes for an interesting read. 

dcsilbertrust's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

aoc's review against another edition

4.0

Here we have an anthology of eight stories, albeit one connected by an ongoing narrative and threaded together with a peculiar premise – far off into the future mankind seems to have disappeared and our inheritors, intelligent dogs with their robot assistants, are piecing together what these strange beings were and how they relate to their “doggish” ways from said stories as they express varying degrees of disbelief and reverence. Quality varies on story-by-story basis and I didn't really care for the earliest ones, but as it escalates it becomes more engaging as we follow a family of Websters and their successes and failures across the centuries until they almost become synonymous with the ever-elusive humans. How did dogs learn to speak and become the new masters of the planet? What will they do when another threat rises to challenge their peaceful way of life? If you take into account my solid recommendation it falls on you to give it a read.

aceface's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0