Thom reviewed After Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie
Review of 'After Worlds Collide' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Also short, this novel is more nationalism than science fiction, though it did correctly line up the future opponents of the USA.
The first part here echoes and continues the previous story - landing on the new planet, setting up camp, exploring, finding lush farmland and remnants of a former civilization. Then a plane flies overhead, and the novel kicks off in a different direction.
Russian, Japan and Germany banded together to build a separate ark, and from the moment they landed, they started investigating the former civilization. Everything is learned to further exploitation, leading to outright conflict later in the story. The American team slowly investigates a domed city (did Rendezvous with Rama draw from this?) and starts to learn things, though way behind the bad guys.
This conflict wraps up quickly in the last two chapters, one of which is titled "Justice Tips the Scales". While the people …
Also short, this novel is more nationalism than science fiction, though it did correctly line up the future opponents of the USA.
The first part here echoes and continues the previous story - landing on the new planet, setting up camp, exploring, finding lush farmland and remnants of a former civilization. Then a plane flies overhead, and the novel kicks off in a different direction.
Russian, Japan and Germany banded together to build a separate ark, and from the moment they landed, they started investigating the former civilization. Everything is learned to further exploitation, leading to outright conflict later in the story. The American team slowly investigates a domed city (did Rendezvous with Rama draw from this?) and starts to learn things, though way behind the bad guys.
This conflict wraps up quickly in the last two chapters, one of which is titled "Justice Tips the Scales". While the people are united, the story isn't really settled, leaving room for a future sequel.
One review I read indicated this story was published in serial form. A burst of nationalism seems to have affected the prose after a few issues, and the resulting novel suffers for it. A sequel was finally published in 2011, and I will tackle that eventually.