Thom reviewed When Worlds Collide by Edwin Balmer
Review of 'When Worlds Collide' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This short novel is full of win!
First off, it is a grand adventure story, with all the elements you would expect - travel, landscapes, interactions with people. Next, it's a disaster story like no other - real end-of-the-world stuff. Lastly, it's science fiction - describing manned flight off-planet, weightlessness, and the rigors of take-off and landing. All of this written before 1932!
Yes, some of the science we know today is missing. Miniaturization, computers, radio communication through space. A modern version would have had several probes landing on the new planet, and the composition of the atmosphere (via spectral analysis) determined well in advance.
The main characters are fully fleshed out, and the "love triangle" between Eve, Tony and David is a good side story to the direct plot. Yes, some sexism is present. Also, the novel is "color blind" - very few racial descriptions are given.
These are …
This short novel is full of win!
First off, it is a grand adventure story, with all the elements you would expect - travel, landscapes, interactions with people. Next, it's a disaster story like no other - real end-of-the-world stuff. Lastly, it's science fiction - describing manned flight off-planet, weightlessness, and the rigors of take-off and landing. All of this written before 1932!
Yes, some of the science we know today is missing. Miniaturization, computers, radio communication through space. A modern version would have had several probes landing on the new planet, and the composition of the atmosphere (via spectral analysis) determined well in advance.
The main characters are fully fleshed out, and the "love triangle" between Eve, Tony and David is a good side story to the direct plot. Yes, some sexism is present. Also, the novel is "color blind" - very few racial descriptions are given.
These are but minor quibbles in a very readable story, most of the time hard to put down. First read this (and the sequel) as a young teen, and my imagination is just as fired by the re-reading. Found myself thinking of this as a movie (not the 1951 film). The plot would work today, with just a few minor tweaks to update the science. Highly recommended!