Rating: 
Summary: Disgusting political lampoon
Review: After reading one of the most brilliant science fiction novels "When Worlds Collide", I couldn't wait to get my hands on the follow-up "After Worlds Collide". Boy, was I disappointed. This book, written in 1933, is a most disgusting abuse of a great SF concept as political propaganda. I wonder how this crap ever got published after WW2.
Rating: 
Summary: See When Worlds Collide (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)
Review: Also see the Amazon entry:
When Worlds Collide (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)
For 43 reviews and "Look inside this book"
Rating: 
Summary: Never read the 1st book, but...
Review: AWC picks up almost immediately after the end of "When Worlds Collide", in which a hearty band of pioneers rockets from an earth doomed by its collision with a rogue star and finds asylum on a planet towed by the star into our solar system. The planet is a bit of a refugee as well - but it luckily settles into our system without a hitch, a bit of orbital engineering short of miraculous. The next lucky break turns on the planet itself - it had been inhabited by an advanced civilization of aliens (the sequel makes a slim effort to show how the human refugees were to survive once the made their trip). Though the planet's original inhabitants didn't survive the interstellar move, their cities weathered it just fine. Unfortunately, our pioneers were not the only terrans with a rocket ship and a plan - we soon learn that other space-arks safely made the trip from earth. One of these, launched by hardcore Stalinists, sets itself in one of the planet's largest cities (incidentally, it's a city that supplies power to the smaller city occupied by our heroes) and goes about setting up a new politburo.This book was horrible. Besides its dated subject matter (communists aside, there's the rambling of the sage inventor who assumes a Moses-like veneer among the other survivors, and brands the then-unknown enemies as "Midianites") there's the weak plot: our characters don't do anything. They simply find a city, find out that it's stocked with edible food, and find out that they've got Communists to worry about. Then they find out that one of the characters (a seeming minor character unimaginatively inserted into the story) saves the day, mostly because the head communist has a weak spot for women. "After Worlds Collide" just leaves you with questions. That's not bad in itself - except that the biggest question is why the book was even written.
Rating:
Summary: Never read the 1st book, but...
Review: AWC picks up almost immediately after the end of the novel "When Worlds Collide", in which a hearty band of pioneers rockets from an earth doomed by its collision with a rogue star to find asylum on a planet towed by the star into our solar system. The planet is a bit of a refugee as well - but it luckily settles into our system without a hitch, a bit of orbital engineering short of miraculous - but only the first of the many plot devices that drive this book. The next lucky break turns out to be the planet itself - it had been inhabited by an advanced civilization of aliens (the sequel makes a slim effort to show how the human refugees had planned to survive once they made their trip). Though the planet's original inhabitants didn't survive the interstellar move, their cities weathered it just fine. Unfortunately, our pioneers were not the only terrans with a rocket ship and a plan - we soon learn that other space-arks safely made the trip from earth. One of these, launched by hardcore Stalinists, sets itself in one of the planet's largest cities (incidentally, it's a city that supplies power to the smaller city occupied by our heroes) and goes about setting up a new politburo. This book was horrible. Besides its dated subject matter (communists aside, there's the rambling of the sage inventor who assumes a Moses-like veneer among the other survivors, and brands the then-unknown enemies as "Midianites") there's the weak plot: our characters don't do anything, woth the plot driven less by plot elements than mere devices that are never explained. Our heroes simply find a city, discover that it's stocked with edible food, and learn that they've got Communists to worry about. The good guys then find out that one of their passengers characters (a seeming minor character unimaginatively inserted into the story) saves the day, mostly because the head communist has a weak spot for women. "After Worlds Collide" just leaves you with questions. That's not bad in itself - except that the biggest question is why the book was even written.
Rating: 
Summary: In general the book was very good as far as content but.....
Review: could have been better written when I firstread the book as a 13 year old in 1972 I thought it was mysterious and fantastic. Reading it again recently as an adult I realize that the basic story line is still fantastic but the writer could have gone into a little more detail in certain area's, perticularly the ending with the overthrow of the "midinites" by there English serf's.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Yes, Mysterious is Right.
Review: I came across the first of these two books about ten years ago, after seeing the film, and I enjoyed it very much. I didn't realize there was a sequel, however, until recently, and I was lucky enough to find a copy. It was worth the effort. The character development is good, the question of what happened to the new planet's previous inhabitants underlies everything, and the element of conflict is pretty good too, especially for the times. The authors raise several interesting questions. What would you do about the repopulation problem and the unequal man/woman ratio? How would you rebuild a civil government? And so on. "After Worlds Collide" is definitely a worthwhile and entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: This was the first Sci-Fi book I bought as a kid.
Review: I have read this story many times and have often wished that it was made into a movie (as the prequel was). Watching the movie 'When World's Collide' on TV caused me to buy the sequel book around 1972. I couldn't stop thinking about the scope of 'After Worlds Collide' when I was 12 (like so many others have noted here). This story spurred me on to read more Sci-Fi like Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". I plan to enjoy reading this book with my daughter when she is 12. Definately five stars all the way!
Rating:
Summary: This was the first Sci-Fi book I bought as a kid.
Review: I have read this story many times and have often wished that it was made into a movie (as the prequel was). Watching the movie 'When World's Collide' on TV caused me to buy the sequel book around 1972. I couldn't stop thinking about the scope of 'After Worlds Collide' when I was 12 (like so many others have noted here). This story spurred me on to read more Sci-Fi like Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". I plan to enjoy reading this book with my daughter when she is 12. Definately five stars all the way!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome and mysterious!
Review: I picked up this book and it's prequel "When Worlds Collide" because of the 1950's motion picture of the same title. The story far surpassed the movie with both it's well-drawn characters and stunning descriptions of our world coming to a slow but violent end. "After Worlds Collide" proved to be the better of the two and a pleasant surprise. Not only did I get to revisit the characters from the previous book, but, I got to see them grow further. The big surprise was that this new planet featured the remains mysterious ancient civilization, something I never dreamed existed there when I saw the original movie as a kid. The exploration of the cities and the piecing together of the alien's society and history reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's brilliant "Rama" series. I wonder, did Clarke read this book in his younger days and strive to capture the same spirit of awe and mystery the Bronson Beta city presented?
Although a reflection of our society nearly 70 years ago, and the science may be a little out of date, the thrill of desperate survival when pitted against both nature itself and the nature of man remain universal. I highly recommend both books.
Rating:
Summary: A sci-fi classic must-read!
Review: I read "When Worlds Collide" and "After Worlds Collide" as a teen in the sixties. In a time of war and the Cuban missle crisis, these books gave me hope, and the fantasies tantalized the far reaches of my imagination. I dreamed of being on a far-off world and finding a domed city to explore. A fairy tale, perhaps....hey, it COULD happen! I couldn't find these in the local library, so I'm buying them to read with my sons, now in their early teens! Sweet dreams!
|
