Rating: 
Summary: All the Lensmen books are fantastic, but...
Review: I read and loved this and the other Lensmen books when I was a boy in the 60's. I still grab one occasionally and read it cover-to-cover.Note that the main characters in this series are men, who are really MEN (even the aliens). They're unconquerably tough and nauseatingly noble. Most of the women introduced are, well... bimbos, to be blunt. They look ravishing and giggle a lot. And until the last book, the main female character comes to the forefront of her powers through some driving "feminine life force," and not because of her deeds or intelligence. Of course, she's also a "babe," or should I say, a "seven-sector callout." Still, the books in this series are science fiction classics, the precursors to Star Trek, Star Wars, and all the rest. If you can ignore the blatant downsides I just mentioned, I highly recommend the whole, extremely enjoyable series to everyone. They are a must-read for anyone really interested in scienc! e fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Depends on what you're looking for
Review: I read this book on the advice of a friend. Many of the points that other reviewers on this page make are good -- his characterization of aliens is very interesting, parts of his technological paradigm are fascinating (particularly the intertia-free drives), and the scope certainly is grand.
I did not find this to be an enjoyable read however, more because of the plot and the style than anything else. The plot is far-fetched in the extreme (Kim is given opportunities and responsibilities far, far beyond the realm of plausibility; some technological items that are 'invented' in the course of the story *would* have been invented long ago; many other examples), and the style is so laden with hyperbole that it was painful to read. Every page is full of ships moving at "speeds that stagger the imagination," weapons "blasting out at the maximum limit of its almost stupendous firepower," etc. It wears on one.
Neither of these deficiencies are to be found in the other two 'classic' works of sci-fi I have read (Ender's Game and Starship Troopers). I would reccommend both of those much more highly.
Rating:
Summary: The begining of my interest in sci-fi
Review: I was in English, in the 7th grade when I found this book. Since it was much more interesting than the teacher I read it- and all the other volumes. This series makes "Star Wars" look like a kiddy story- and this was orginally written back in the late 50's early 60's. I've been praying they'd do a reprint for the last 5 years as I've worn out my orginal copies. But do yourself the favor and start from the first book "First Lensman" before you read this on. Have fun!
Rating:
Summary: One of Sci-Fi's best!!!!
Review: Smith's imagination knew no bounds. He could present the best, most detailed history of the universe in a language that all readers could understand. He brought back the action in sci-fi.
Rating: 
Summary: Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
Review: Space Opera, from the days when writers were paid by the word, and operatic is definitely the world, action on the big, the vast scale, high drama, super weapons invented by a genius today, in mass production tomorrow and obsolete 30 pages later. Battleships the size of an asteroid disabled with a single hit, etc. But whereas Hubbard stayed a hack, Smith's writing, while never verging on literature, somehow transcends the genre conventions.
I first read this when I was about 13 or 14, and I can still read browse one for fill-in reading thirty years on. Like Asimov's Foundation (from the same period) this survives as a sort of celocanth of early SF. Totally dated, but still alive. Of the group (Smith, Hamilton etc.) Smith is about the only one still readable. Partly 'sense-of-wonder',(he can paint a great scene.), and the timescale he worked on, The other thing is he is one of the few writers of this type whose aliens are not 'people-in-rubber-suits' or red-indians-painted-green', cannon fodder for some proto-Rambo. Smith's better drawn aliens are like J.W.Campbell's definition, "..think as well as people, but differently." It's 'humanity-uber-alles' again (after all, these were run as serials in the 30's 40's Astounding) there are still moments where Smith can surprise you. In First Lensman, Virgil Samms realising that just because an alien doesn't have his FBI agent's view of the universe, doen't mean they are wrong. In the later books, my favourite character is probable Nandreck, though you don't get to see much of him. Nandreck is a very interesting entity for the period, a highly efficient agent/warrior, who finds personal violence most undesirable.
The earlier Skylark series is worth a glance (go for used copies)
The casual genocide of alien races is a symptom of the period, and the dialogue is even clunker than the Lensman books (Boy Scouts is Space!!!), but their one redeeming feature is the anti-heroic Blackie DeQuesne, far more interesting than Dudley Do-right Seaton and his pals. (Check out Harry Harrison's 'Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers' for an excellent parody of Smith's style)
Both the Lensman series (skip Masters of the Vortex, pure potboiler) and the Skylark series (esp Skylark DeQuesne) are a good way to pass a rainy weekend.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book if you are 14.
Review: There should be an age warning on this book: "Not for mature audiences." It is part of the Lensman series, probably the first extended space operas. I thought it was wonderful when I first read it, and would have given it five stars. However, I was about 13 at the time, Amazon didn't exist, and people were saying that there would never be a need for computers in the home. Most adult readers will find the prose, and particularly the dialogue, painful to read. The characters are less developed than in contemporary comic books. Still, if you know a young teenager who likes science fiction, you could make him happy by giving him this book. I'm not so sure that would work if the teenager is a girl; this series..., very much relects the prejudices and stereotypes of the times in which they were written.
Rating:
Summary: A great book if you are 14.
Review: There should be an age warning on this book: "Not for mature audiences." It is part of the Lensman series, probably the first extended space operas. I thought it was wonderful when I first read it, and would have given it five stars. However, I was about 13 at the time, Amazon didn't exist, and people were saying that there would never be a need for computers in the home. Most adult readers will find the prose, and particularly the dialogue, painful to read. The characters are less developed than in contemporary comic books. Still, if you know a young teenager who likes science fiction, you could make him happy by giving him this book. I'm not so sure that would work if the teenager is a girl; this series..., very much relects the prejudices and stereotypes of the times in which they were written.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book by a superior science fiction author.
Review: This book is believed to be the third in the great Lensman series. It is my opinion that other authors may come close, but, none can or will ever be able to surpass this author's story telling capabilities. The six Lensman series books I have are: Triplanitary, First Lensman, Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensman, Children of the Lens. Also, by this author: The Skylark Series: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, & Skylark DuQuesne. Single Books: Masters of the Vortex & Subspace Explorers In all of these books, E.E. "Doc" Smith has been a grandmaster of science fiction story telling.
Rating:
Summary: Space Opera at its best!!
Review: This book started it all. Many, many of the devices, plots, alien races, and moods of later science fiction come from this book, and indeed the entire Lensman Series. No one does it like Doc Smith!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent beginning Science Fiction Book.
Review: This is the penultimate Science Fiction story. Some of the technology is far fetched, but some of it is used in many sci-fi stories of the present. Inertialess drive is one of them. This story has efverthing a young reader would want in a story, Monsters, heros, big powerful space ships and bad guys, who are really bad. I believe if you have a youngster interested in science fiction, ala starwars, this entire series is for you
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