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Cities in Flight

By James Blish

(6)

| Hardcover | 9781585670086

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Book Description

Long out of print, the science fiction masterpiece by Hugo Award winning writer James Blish

Originally published as four volumes nearly fifty years ago, Cities in Flight brings together the famed "Okie novels" of science fiction master James Blish. Named after the migrant workers of America'Continue

2 Reviews

Four "pieces" written between 1955 and 1962
“They Shall Have Stars” (1957) is the pre-quel: as space exploration has come to a halt in the absence of new technologies and because of lack of political interest, a rich senator decides to fuel weird and/or neglected scientific theories; the chapters a ... (continue)

Four "pieces" written between 1955 and 1962
“They Shall Have Stars” (1957) is the pre-quel: as space exploration has come to a halt in the absence of new technologies and because of lack of political interest, a rich senator decides to fuel weird and/or neglected scientific theories; the chapters about the building of a bridge on Jupiter (!) are thrilling; the overall is tasty, with well sketched characters.
“A Life for the Stars ” (1962, the last written!): no rockets or starships for leaving Earth, naaaa, whole cities leave the [agonizing?] Mother Planet toward a very uncertain future. Epic.
"Earthman Come Home" (1955, the first written): long and, frankly, boring; it consists of a serie of adventures of the inhabitants of one of this Flying Cities (NY, really weird!); too much, too fast, too blurry and superficial; the characters are all supermen ad wonderwomen, they know what to do, always... Yawn...
"A Clash of Cymbals" (or "The Triumph of Time"; 1959): a very-very ambitious epilogue; the adventures of the superheroes proceed toward... The End of Time! Better than the previous, but still exhagerated and, in addition, packed with maths and physics (bullshits? I cannot give my opiion)
After all, 3 stars, no more

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Claire Zachanassian said on Jun 13, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Contains "They Shall Have Stars", "A Life for the Stars", "Earthman, Come Home" and "The Triumph of Time"

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AndyHat said on Apr 23, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback