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97th out of 763 books
—
659 voters
Galactic Patrol (Lensman #3)
The Galactic Patrol has been given the ultimate weapon in its war against the evil pirate Boskone: The Lens. But even though the Patrol's Lensmen are the most feared peacekeepers in the galaxy, they aren't quite sure how to use their unique gift. Things are about to change, however. Kimball Kinnison has just graduated from the academy, and now that's he's earned his Lens,...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
October 1972
by Panther Science Fiction
(first published 1938)
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Apr 16, 2009
Mary JL
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
any SF fan but especially if you like classics of SF
Recommended to Mary JL by:
Found it myself at age 15
Shelves:
main-sf-fantasy
This is listed as Book 3 in the Lensman series but it was actually the first written. It appeared originally in the Sf magazines. When the series was later issued in book form Smith re-wrote parts of Book #1 Triplanetary to strengthen it's coonection to the series and book @2 First Lensmen was written AFTER Galactic Patrol.
So, If you are curious about the Lensmen series, read book 3 first. You can go back and read the prequels later. This third book is where the action really starts to pick up.
Y...more
So, If you are curious about the Lensmen series, read book 3 first. You can go back and read the prequels later. This third book is where the action really starts to pick up.
Y...more
Imagine you are Humphrey Bogart in the 1948 film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre... But instead of prospecting for gold, you are prospecting for books.
You just looked up and down the Library stacks for some great Science Fiction books and can't find a thing. Then you happen to look strait down to see you're standing on stacks for "S" (as in Smith)...
There it is, right under your feet: Galactic Patrol: The Lensman Book 3.
Just like Bogart did, you pick it up and realize what you were standing o...more
You just looked up and down the Library stacks for some great Science Fiction books and can't find a thing. Then you happen to look strait down to see you're standing on stacks for "S" (as in Smith)...
There it is, right under your feet: Galactic Patrol: The Lensman Book 3.
Just like Bogart did, you pick it up and realize what you were standing o...more
Dec 16, 2008
Manny
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
children
Dreadful space opera trash - none the less, this book holds a special place in my heart because of the circumstances in which I read it. I discovered E.E. Doc Smith when I was 8 (this is the right age to appreciate him), and was so entranced that I brought Galactic Patrol with me to school so that I could read the exciting conclusion during morning break. A few days later, I was mortified to hear my teacher tell my parents how cute it was that "I was pretending to read this adult book that was o...more
The granddaddy of all space operas, and, to my thinking, a much better place to dive into the series than book #1. (Books #1 and #2 were published later, and spoil some of the surprises in the remaining four; I think the series is much better read in publication order than in chronological order.)
This isn't great literature that plumbs the depths of the human soul, but it sure is fun. It's from the 1930s and shows its age in a lot of places -- if you're looking for gender equality, you won't fin...more
This isn't great literature that plumbs the depths of the human soul, but it sure is fun. It's from the 1930s and shows its age in a lot of places -- if you're looking for gender equality, you won't fin...more
Originally published on my blog here in September 1998.
With the third of his Lensmen series, Smith introduces the man who will be the hero of the next four books - Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensmen and (to a lesser extent) Children of the Lens. Kimball Kinnison is the one for whom the Arisians have been waiting and working, the culmination of the human breeding programme they set up many centuries earlier. Galactic Patrol deals with the earliest stages of his career, from his g...more
With the third of his Lensmen series, Smith introduces the man who will be the hero of the next four books - Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensmen and (to a lesser extent) Children of the Lens. Kimball Kinnison is the one for whom the Arisians have been waiting and working, the culmination of the human breeding programme they set up many centuries earlier. Galactic Patrol deals with the earliest stages of his career, from his g...more
You know, I really was beginning to think that there must've been a wholly different standard of judgement back when this series came out. I mean, Triplanetary was a mess, a decent mess, but a mess nevertheless. I couldn't even get into The First Lensman because it read like a mix of responses to criticism and a first draft of notes being converted into a novel. It just didn't work for me, though I am going to get back to it at some point now that I know not to give up.
You see, supplicants, Gala...more
You see, supplicants, Gala...more
Wow, can you say space opera? If you like action and really don't care about characterization or description, this is the series for you! Published in the 1930's, you can really tell that black was black and white was white in people's eyes back then. No antiheroes, no pondering whether it was right to blast away the enemy. The protagonist, Kimball Kinnison, is a square-jawed, handsome wunderkind, just graduated from Galactic Patrol school and yet somehow put in charge of all kinds of missions o...more
Ok, I admit I read this when I was an adolescent many years ago and picked up quite a few Doc E E Smith books second hand - leading me to re-read this series (and check it out for possible reading for my children)
The fact is that while some of the science in this series (some over 50 years old now) is dubious or incorrect - and some of the attitudes reflect gender roles and thinking of the period - the stories and thinking behind this work is ground breaking and still reads well. The reality is...more
The fact is that while some of the science in this series (some over 50 years old now) is dubious or incorrect - and some of the attitudes reflect gender roles and thinking of the period - the stories and thinking behind this work is ground breaking and still reads well. The reality is...more
http://nhw.livejournal.com/689355.html[return][return]After I read Triplanetary, the first in the famous Lensman series of early sf novels, and didn't like it, several people told me that I should have started with Galactic Patrol. So I've been struggling through it for the last couple of weeks.[return][return]Sorry, folks, but this is really not for me. I found the writing turgid and the characters unengaging; and the setting may have seemed fresh and exciting in the 1930s but now seems underde...more
The Lensman books are like candy and Galactic Patrol is no exception. They are delightfully outdated and wonderfully futuristic but not to be taken terribly seriously. Do not read these books if you expect deep character development and certainly give them a miss if you want heart-throbbing romantics. Doc Smith gives us male-dominated action with women mostly present as spunky window dressing, but his books are satisfying anyway. Evil is vanquished, good conquers all and the strapping North Amer...more
This is book 3 and the first book of the original Lensman series. From here on out they will only get better.
I have to confess I have read this series 5 times over the last 20 years. Its a classic I keep on my shelf.
I have to confess I have read this series 5 times over the last 20 years. Its a classic I keep on my shelf.
1 like · like · see review
For young readers, feel free to add a star. For adults, drop one.
It's classic early-era space opera, with female characters written even worse than Heinlein (I love Heinlein, but he wasn't a deft hand at writing female dialogue - however 'Doc' is significantly worse).
Some interesting ideas with hammy execution. You can hear the radio-serial narrator at times, and descriptive sentences should really not end in exclaimation marks.
But given its target audience and the era it was written, it's not...more
It's classic early-era space opera, with female characters written even worse than Heinlein (I love Heinlein, but he wasn't a deft hand at writing female dialogue - however 'Doc' is significantly worse).
Some interesting ideas with hammy execution. You can hear the radio-serial narrator at times, and descriptive sentences should really not end in exclaimation marks.
But given its target audience and the era it was written, it's not...more
I think anyone considering reading this novel deserves fair warning. It goes:
"His eyes were blue, his hair was blue, and even his skin was faintly blue beneath his coat of ultra-violet tan. His intensely dynamic personality fairly radiated blueness- not the gentle blue of an Earthly sky, not the sweetly innocuous blue of an Earthly flower; but the keenly merciless blue of a delta-ray, the cold and bitter blue of a Polar iceberg, the unyielding flexible blue of a quenched and drawn tungsten-chro...more
"His eyes were blue, his hair was blue, and even his skin was faintly blue beneath his coat of ultra-violet tan. His intensely dynamic personality fairly radiated blueness- not the gentle blue of an Earthly sky, not the sweetly innocuous blue of an Earthly flower; but the keenly merciless blue of a delta-ray, the cold and bitter blue of a Polar iceberg, the unyielding flexible blue of a quenched and drawn tungsten-chro...more
Kimball Kinnison, recent graduate and inductee into the Galactic Patrol is given the assignment that can save the Patrol - discover the Boskone Pirates' secret to dominating the space lanes. Given the newest ship of the fleet, he sets out to either capture a pirate vessel and recover her secrets or die trying. But finding a pirate is only half the battle, as he must now escape with the vital information.
This is the third of E E "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series.
This is the third of E E "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series.
In a way, I see in the predecessors to Galactic Patrol a "prequel problem" that exists in a lot of properties. I noticed, especially in First Lensman, a definite invincibility to the main characters which added to my somewhat muted outlook on those books, almost a determinism pointing toward the third book of the series.
Then came Galactic Patrol, which was, if I recall correctly, the first of the Lensman series proper, and about halfway through the book, that invincibility gets dashed. That made...more
Then came Galactic Patrol, which was, if I recall correctly, the first of the Lensman series proper, and about halfway through the book, that invincibility gets dashed. That made...more
Apr 02, 2013
Titus Fortner
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
2
Shelves:
sci-fi
I first read this series in Junior High School when a friend let me borrow his well loved and very old copies of what he claimed were his favorite books. I really enjoyed them at the time, though it appears the obvious order is not the best order in which to read the series, and since I remember little of the story, I've been looking forward to re-reading them.
This is a book compiled from pulp serials begun in 1937. It is short on real character development, fantastical in its plot and unsubtle...more
This is a book compiled from pulp serials begun in 1937. It is short on real character development, fantastical in its plot and unsubtle...more
Making my way through the Lensman series. Great fun, and a real straight arrow set... easy to recommend to anyone looking for a fiction series for their kids (or themselves) without worrying about some forgotten scene of debauchery. EE Doc Smith makes even a drunken space miner have a message ;-)
This is actually about the whole Lensman series. I found the books to be greatly engaging. I read them first as a child, then read them again in my 30's, then my 40's. Sure some (a lot) of the science is out to lunch now, but it is still a good action read.
Very pulpy, and painfully episodic due to the original serial format. And yet, for the most part it's surprisingly readable, thanks to featuring an extremely clever villain.
May 09, 2012
Peter
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
space-opera
This is one of the classic Space Opera series written by the doyen of space opera writes - style and content a bit dated now but still an exciting read
Where the series really starts and it hits the ground running. Epic, macho, galactic scale space opera done at a breathless pace.
Quite an amusing read. I did read this one in german ages ago and the ideas behind it still fascinate me. I recon I am as amused about the use of language, which is quite different from modern english as I am about the ideas.
Oops, I apparently forgot to update Good Reads for a while.
This was my second read through of Galactic Patrol. It's a fun pulpy scifi adventure. It's not amazing writing, but E.E. Smith spins a good space yarn and I had fun. The dialogue is dated, if enjoyable as a reflection of its time. The characters are rather 2-dimensional, but again, this is a product of the time it was written.
If you're interested in the history of science fiction, check this out.
If you want to read a carefree and fun spa...more
This was my second read through of Galactic Patrol. It's a fun pulpy scifi adventure. It's not amazing writing, but E.E. Smith spins a good space yarn and I had fun. The dialogue is dated, if enjoyable as a reflection of its time. The characters are rather 2-dimensional, but again, this is a product of the time it was written.
If you're interested in the history of science fiction, check this out.
If you want to read a carefree and fun spa...more
Don't trust my rating for this book. See this
review for why.
review for why.
I read this one a LONG time ago. The Lensman series is a classic which I periodically go back and reread. Love it!
Considering that this is actually the first written part of the Lensman series, I shouldn't have been as surprised at the diminished story here. It just doesn't make as much sense internally, and the characters are even less interesting (which is saying something considering how much I disliked some of the characters in the prior two books.) On the other hand, I did enjoy finding out how the magic Lens was going to make the wearers even more powerful. If I learned anything from Anita Blake, it's...more
Fairly entertaining, but fails to deliver for the contemporary reader.
Apr 12, 2012
Dreamer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
author-american
Read back in 1974 aged 17.. I expect I read the whole series.
Sep 26, 2012
Howard
added it
12
This one was quite enjoyable, for being close to a hundred years old. What an imagination this author had!
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Jun 11, 2010 02:34pm
After r...more
Jun 11, 2010 03:02pm
Jun 12, 2010 12:36am