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timinbc's review against another edition
5.0
I'm old enough to have read quite a lot of older SF. Maybe that's why I liked this one so much. Essentially it's yer basic late-50s space adventure except that the lead character is perhaps the most outrageous liar in all of fiction. Almost as bad as a modern politician. Also a bureaucracy-hater well past the Cpl. Klinger zone.
When I say "basic late-50s" I mean the kind where every pilot can fly any space ship, and the ships all have the key in the ignition, and it's understood that the super fast ship drive works by (hand wave, hand wave). The ship stands on its tail and people enter it by ladder. A randomly chosen planet will turn out to have breathable air and drinkable water. No one ever performs any excretory functions. You just have to let that go and enjoy the story.
This is the novel-length version of Russell's short story "Plus X", but doesn't feel like a stretched tale. There's a setup, a bit of travel to get Leeming where he needs to be, a bit of post-crash run-hide-run-hide, then he finally faces down the enemy and starts doing some truly righteous lying.
All that and it's funny, too. A wonderful light read.
When I say "basic late-50s" I mean the kind where every pilot can fly any space ship, and the ships all have the key in the ignition, and it's understood that the super fast ship drive works by (hand wave, hand wave). The ship stands on its tail and people enter it by ladder. A randomly chosen planet will turn out to have breathable air and drinkable water. No one ever performs any excretory functions. You just have to let that go and enjoy the story.
This is the novel-length version of Russell's short story "Plus X", but doesn't feel like a stretched tale. There's a setup, a bit of travel to get Leeming where he needs to be, a bit of post-crash run-hide-run-hide, then he finally faces down the enemy and starts doing some truly righteous lying.
All that and it's funny, too. A wonderful light read.
didactylos's review against another edition
2.0
Read this as a teenager and liked it a lot hen. Now has lost much of its freshness. The science fiction aspect really is a gloss for what could equally well be a story set in any modern conflict - the concepts and feel could equally be WW2 Pacific. Trapped in a time, but amusing.
tarana's review against another edition
5.0
This book was originally a short story called "the Space Willies" and expanded into a book. Loved it! If you love sci fi, you'll enjoy this book.
wormytoby's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Very silly and greatly enjoyable
egelantier's review against another edition
4.0
[reread]
it's one of my favorite adolescent books, for all it's tremendously dated (efr was very, very fond of putting radios on starships). in short, john leeming, a troublemaker lonely pilot, gets send on a scouting mission deep behind enemy star lines, crashes his ship on an unfriendly prison planet, and makes his way out armed only with barefaced lies, an enormous amount of chutzpah and a coil of wire. it's a hysterically hilarious thought experiment, and ode to the deep absurdity of army experience, a great and arrogant caper, and i love it to bits. (even though, on a current reread, i'm kind of weirded out by how there's not a single woman at all in this book, even in the passing. but, eh).
(efr also wrote some really amazing short stories - see almagusa - and some short stories that didn't really age well - see men, martians and machines, a great novel about peaceful resistance - and then there were none, somehow awkward novel about one-man-creating-havoc-from-behind-enemy-lines (wasp), and overall consistently turned out a great punchline and memorable wide brushstrokes characters in an essentially comic book storylines. his writing reminds me, retroactively, of rejto jeno - same mix of cynicism and earnestness, same snarky heroes).
and, well, you can see efr loved the army with deep and abiding love:
“Mallarqui took one look at me and yelled, ‘Haircut!’” Ruefully, Davies rubbed the short bristle covering his pate. “So I went and got one. What a Space navy! Immediately you show your face they scalp you. And what d'you suppose happened next?”
“They issued you with a brush and comb.”
“They did just that.” He massaged the bristle again. “What for?”
“Same reason as they do everything else,” explained Leeming, “B.B.B.”
“B.B.B? What d'you mean?”
“It's a motto adopted by the boys on inactive service. You'll find yourself reciting it about twenty times per day. Baloney Baffles Brains.”
and:
The automatic ladder was of no use in this predicament since it was constructed to extend itself from air-lock to tail, a direction that now was horizontal. He could hang by his hands from the rim and let himself drop without risk of injury but he could not jump fourteen feet to get back in. The one thing he lacked was a length of rope.
“They think of everything,” he complained, talking out loud because a justifiable gripe deserves to be uttered. “They think of everything imaginable. Therefore twenty feet of rope is not imaginable. Therefore I can imagine the unimaginable. Therefore I am cracked. Anyone who talks to himself is cracked. It's legitimate for a looney to say what he likes. When I get back I'll say what I like and it'll be plenty!”
it's one of my favorite adolescent books, for all it's tremendously dated (efr was very, very fond of putting radios on starships). in short, john leeming, a troublemaker lonely pilot, gets send on a scouting mission deep behind enemy star lines, crashes his ship on an unfriendly prison planet, and makes his way out armed only with barefaced lies, an enormous amount of chutzpah and a coil of wire. it's a hysterically hilarious thought experiment, and ode to the deep absurdity of army experience, a great and arrogant caper, and i love it to bits. (even though, on a current reread, i'm kind of weirded out by how there's not a single woman at all in this book, even in the passing. but, eh).
(efr also wrote some really amazing short stories - see almagusa - and some short stories that didn't really age well - see men, martians and machines, a great novel about peaceful resistance - and then there were none, somehow awkward novel about one-man-creating-havoc-from-behind-enemy-lines (wasp), and overall consistently turned out a great punchline and memorable wide brushstrokes characters in an essentially comic book storylines. his writing reminds me, retroactively, of rejto jeno - same mix of cynicism and earnestness, same snarky heroes).
and, well, you can see efr loved the army with deep and abiding love:
“Mallarqui took one look at me and yelled, ‘Haircut!’” Ruefully, Davies rubbed the short bristle covering his pate. “So I went and got one. What a Space navy! Immediately you show your face they scalp you. And what d'you suppose happened next?”
“They issued you with a brush and comb.”
“They did just that.” He massaged the bristle again. “What for?”
“Same reason as they do everything else,” explained Leeming, “B.B.B.”
“B.B.B? What d'you mean?”
“It's a motto adopted by the boys on inactive service. You'll find yourself reciting it about twenty times per day. Baloney Baffles Brains.”
and:
The automatic ladder was of no use in this predicament since it was constructed to extend itself from air-lock to tail, a direction that now was horizontal. He could hang by his hands from the rim and let himself drop without risk of injury but he could not jump fourteen feet to get back in. The one thing he lacked was a length of rope.
“They think of everything,” he complained, talking out loud because a justifiable gripe deserves to be uttered. “They think of everything imaginable. Therefore twenty feet of rope is not imaginable. Therefore I can imagine the unimaginable. Therefore I am cracked. Anyone who talks to himself is cracked. It's legitimate for a looney to say what he likes. When I get back I'll say what I like and it'll be plenty!”
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