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A review by miramanga
The City Among the Stars by Francis Carsac
2.0
I am always so keen to read classic Sci Fi, not least because my dearly beloved father was the one who got me into this genre, I'd sneak books from his pile of library books and devour them when I should have been sleeping. This is a translation of a "Golden Age Science Fiction Classic" and so I was pleased to get hold of a copy!
Although at the time of initial publishing this book it must have felt furiously futuristic, I'm afraid that as with many others of this time period - the book has aged horribly.
Tankar, our protagonist is misogynistic, self absorbed and indoctrinated. He makes dumb decisions that make no sense and blames them on the women in his life, who are all out to manipulate him, or get something from him or use him. He punches one woman and she falls in love with him, another woman tries to kill him but realises the error of her ways...it goes on a lot like this. Women are BAD!
The story covers deep space, a massive city in the stars (hence the title!) a Jurassic Park type planet, space wars and more. It has all those imaginative flashes of brilliance that must have been so cool to read back in the day. If only Tankar had been less of a miserable git!
I do think it's great that a classic novel like this is available in English for people to read. There is lots to learn about where we came from and it is impressive to see how authors like Francis Carsac were imagining our future in the stars so long ago. I appreciate these trailblazers that made way for the amazing scifi that was to evolve. That said, I got through it with gritted teeth and was relieved when it was done.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing a free ebook copy for review!
Check out Flame Tree Press on the web at https://www.flametreepress.com
&
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flametreepress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flametreepress
Although at the time of initial publishing this book it must have felt furiously futuristic, I'm afraid that as with many others of this time period - the book has aged horribly.
Tankar, our protagonist is misogynistic, self absorbed and indoctrinated. He makes dumb decisions that make no sense and blames them on the women in his life, who are all out to manipulate him, or get something from him or use him. He punches one woman and she falls in love with him, another woman tries to kill him but realises the error of her ways...it goes on a lot like this. Women are BAD!
The story covers deep space, a massive city in the stars (hence the title!) a Jurassic Park type planet, space wars and more. It has all those imaginative flashes of brilliance that must have been so cool to read back in the day. If only Tankar had been less of a miserable git!
I do think it's great that a classic novel like this is available in English for people to read. There is lots to learn about where we came from and it is impressive to see how authors like Francis Carsac were imagining our future in the stars so long ago. I appreciate these trailblazers that made way for the amazing scifi that was to evolve. That said, I got through it with gritted teeth and was relieved when it was done.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing a free ebook copy for review!
Check out Flame Tree Press on the web at https://www.flametreepress.com
&
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flametreepress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flametreepress