Rating: 
Summary: The Good and Bad
Review: I'm giving this one 3 stars. This book was very difficult to quantify, but I'll try to give you my reasoning...First of all, the book is excellent when you consider the backdrop. World War II was in swing, Hitler was rounding up the masses, Americans would be doing the same to the Japanese. Jim Crow Laws were still in effect. I've always admired pulp scifi for being able to get a positive message out to the average joe with preconceptions, who wouldn't otherwise consider the point without the techno-babble disguise that speculative fiction offers. Slan has a great premise on racial reckoning, on doomsday, on judging by appearances. That being said, on to the actual execution of these ideas... The book was written as a serial and it's obvious. While there is nothing wrong with serials, cohesive plots are harder to maintain and it shows. Every chapter ends with a sudden spectacle. Details are not fleshed out enough and are often ambiguous or contradictory. My example for this lies in the case of the tendrilless slans. Jommy makes the highly important discovery of their existence, and everyone he talks to about them show no incredulence for this dicovery. When he meets them, they actually refer to themselves as 'tendrilless slan' - the name Jommy gives them. All this makes for an easy plot to follow over several issues, but makes it seem a bit confusing and harder to accept when combined as a whole unit. Some of the language is confusing. I will not refer to outdated technology because I do not feel this is a valid criticism - nor do I refer to the two references I found that were blatantly sexual by TODAY's idiom. These things of course should be taken in stride and considered in context of when they were written. The one example I'll cite that made me stop and reread the page a couple of times occurs when Jommy is dodging a mine (as in BOOM!) only in the next paragraph to spot a mine (as in digging for ore) to land his ship near. There were a few instances similar to this. I know that some of these can be justified by the fast pace of a serialized story, and I wish that I had read Slan as it was written and not in this form. Recommended to those who are interested in scifi as a vehicle for social/ethical criticism.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge disappointment
Review: If I hadn't read "Slan" many years ago and knew it to be one of the great works of science fiction, I would not have known that from listening to this audio edition. It was extremely disjointed, leaving huge gaps in the story (and filling many of those gaps with long stretches of silence or what I suppose passes for New Age music). I recognize that this wasn't simply a narration of the book but a "theatrical presentation," but "The Time Machine" and "War of the Worlds" were both infinitely better presentations than this. I simply cannot recommend this book at all. If you want to find out about Van Vogt's great work, I suggest you read the book and not waste time on this.
Rating: 
Summary: Van Vogt's best from the Golden Age of SF.
Review: Jommy Cross is a Slan, hunted as all Slan are by the normal humans that hate and fear them. Sounds common, maybe, just that Van Vogt was there WAY before Stan Lee and the X-Men. And better. It's hard to say why this is so good, but Van Vogt has a style of story-telling that is just hard to describe. It's as unique as Van Gogh's painting -- you can read a Van Vogt without looking at the author and know exactly who wrote it. Other books of his (The Weapons Shops of Isher, The World of A) also have this One Man Against All theme, but this is his masterpiece. Among the cream of the Golden Age of SF, still in print after 50 years, and still just as readable.
Rating:
Summary: Remember it was writen in the 40's.
Review: Slan is a great exemple of practically a perfect simple-plot , one-hero , sci-fi story. Now , before you're clicking "not helpfull" , you have to understand that you are used to a writing style that has taken over the sci-fi scene in the 40's and 50's. A style led by John w.Campbell , and writers like Asimov , Clarck and Heinlin. Those people decided for you what sci-fi should be. Generally , they were right , most of the writers at that time had lower standards for sci-fi stories. But not Van Vogt. Allthough his style is'nt compatible with "Campbellian" standards , his writing has a different magic. Enormous scope , fantastic imagination , and very special lead charecters , are only part of something that I cannot put into words , and flows free in his works. You should not judge "Slan" by today's standards , instead , give it a chance and enjoy the magic of the early style science fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Part of the Foundation of Modern SF
Review: Slan is excellent, especially when you consider it was written over 50 years ago. When you read it, you will think "Hey, I have seen these ideas and plot devices before." That's how much influence Slan had on the formation of SF. If you want to understand where SF came from, the book that sets all the conventions is Slan.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book written by a wonderful person.
Review: Slan is such a great tale! It moves so fast and is quite absorbing, and deals with racial hatred in an extremely subtle way that remains current today. I am lucky to have spent some time with Mr. Van Vogt a few years ago, and he is a really nice man, too. It's a great read!
Rating:
Summary: Whats the fuss about
Review: Tale about repressed group fighting another group derived from them, who live with humans who repress both groups, but is run by a member of the repressed group, but none of the humans know it. So confusion rules. Lot of action so half the time I was not sure how they got to be in such situations anyhow. I suppose it does deal with eugenics, and the fact that evolution happens regardless. For the time it was written it must have been innovative. Rather dated today.
Rating:
Summary: Slan
Review: There isn't much to say about my dislikes of the book. It read like a train, was amusing, and had a theme that I especially like in science fiction; mutants! What troubles me most in my search for good 'mutant'-novels, is the fact that sometimes, more often than not, authors use the term mutant to signify different types. Mutants are deviants, with a genetic structure often drastically different from that of normal humans (drastically, because it appears normal human beings, on the average, have 3 mutated genes which are totally unique) In most cases these mutations occur by accident; as part of evolution, caused by radiation, toxins, etc... And there are engineered mutations, like in this book. These mutations can be so extreme that they can't even occur in nature (e.g. hybrids, animals, aliens, and even plants!) There is also an apparant classification; psionic mutants, which, in my oppinion, should not be called mutants,(althought they are mutants) because I find the term misleading, just call them psionics, ESPers, or what have you.( examples for these are 'legio', if you ever read a book with the word mutant in the title or somewhere else on the jacket, chance is you have an ESPer on your hands, see, as example, More than human.) Then you have physical mutations, which are, to my oppinion, far more interesting. Here, I'm going to use terms from the excelent 'wild cards' books. You have Aces; these can be psionic, but we'll exclude them now, or have advatage mutations, ranging from supermuscles to wings. Then there are Jokers, who have flawed, malformed mutations ( which, in most cases, mutations really mean in non-science fiction) if appearing in science fiction, they are created by nuclear fall-outs (amogst others), and appear often in post-apocaliptic settings. These mutants I seek (jokers and non-psionic Aces) if you could give me any booktitles, kind reader, wherein these feature, please submit your own reviews on this book and post the titles. Also good book about mutants (although mostly psionic) is 'The Chrysalids' by Wyndham.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated and so-so
Review: This book starts well and is fairly interesting most of the time. The one serious problem with the book is that one is constantly reminded that it was written in the 40s, chapter after chapter - everything from the terminology to the technology. There are many references to what was at the time fascinating and cutting edge, like radio technology and plastic, as if they were futuristic, yet this story takes place several hundreds of years from now. I give the author credit for seeing into the future and conceptualizing computers, but to refer to an "electronic filing cabinet" again just reminds me that this is a really old book. Those techno. lapses along with outdated terminology (bad guys would often utter "good heavens!" under surprised duress) nearly spoiled the book for me, but the story is original. I also found the last quarter of the book a little rushed and disjointed. The final paragraph and especially the final sentence just made me roll my eyes. If you can get by lots of the stuff I've outlined above, you may like Slan. I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: The History of a Race
Review: This is the first book I ever read by Van Vogt, and it is certainly not what I expected. I had originally chosen the book as sort of a filler between my main reading books, but it's powerful message and unforgettable style made an immediate impression, making it a book I will always remember. Living near a reservation of people from a tribe in dispute with my own, I have often been able to liken my life to Jommy's, and in this way connect to the book. If anyone has ever been prejudiced against or treated badly because you were different in some way, you could probably find some similarities between this story and yours,and if anyone still holds out hope for the human race this story adds a refreshing new perspective. Van vogt ties in prejudice and segregation, much as was witnessed in the 60's, with advancing technology and an evolving civilization. He seems to hint at the fact that if a society tries to keep one part rooted in the past but still tries to advance, somewhere something is going to have to give in. This is definitely a highly recommended read, you will certainly have nothing to be sorry about, except maybe if you can't find more of Van Vogt's books when you are through with this one.
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