Tom Swift: City in the Stars

Tom Swift III #1

by Victor Appleton

Despite attempts to sabotage his newly-invented fusion drive spacecraft, a young scientist investigates the sinister, eminent head of the space colony who is hiding serious flaws in his own new craft.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Childrens

191 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Jason Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great series for young adults. Tom Swift continues his adventures in outer space. A great adventure. I enjoyed these when I was in junior high.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this Tom Swift series when I was growing up, and think that I'd like to reread these again someday.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I don’t want any more trouble from you, Swift. Stay out of my way, stay out of trouble, and forget any testing or race. Just enjoy the view, then go home.”

I was about twelve when I discovered Tom Swift and his third series of sci-fi adventures on the shelves of a Waldenbooks in our local mall. The series (along with the similarly published new adventures of the Hardy Boys) became quick favorites and I collected every volume I could afford of the two series (which weren’t many). Forty years later, I chanced upon a complete set of the Tom Swift books online – selling for less than twenty bucks total! – and I just couldn’t resist rereading these old chestnuts to see if they were half as good as I remembered.

And while it could just be the nostalgia talking, the first book was pretty good!

Tom Swift: The City in the Stars takes the young inventor to the space colony of New America where Swift is developing a rocket ship (with an experimental fusion engine) to compete in history’s first ‘space race’. Tom escapes several brushes with death as the villainous Dr. Grotz seeks to thwart the young inventor. While the plot is pretty straightforward, it’s also kept interesting as Tom dashes past one dangerous encounter to the next, passing through a number of really great settings, while dropping a smattering of interesting science factoids along the way. Even as a kid, I remember really digging the variety of racers and their names and nationalities. The race itself is cleverly delivered and, even though the outcome is pretty much what you’d predict, I still liked this little tour of near-Earth habitats.

Looking back, I realize it was all just clever marketing, but as a kid I loved that the Swift books seemed to connect and build on one another. My other favorites, the Hardy Boys, were always standalone adventures; you could pick and choose a volume at random and dive right in. The Swift books, though, had connective tissue. I always got a little thrill at the end of one these and found the paragraph previewing the crew’s next adventure: ‘Little did Tom realize how soon he and his friends would be up there, making one of the greatest scientific discoveries in the history of mankind – and fighting for their lives – in Tom Swift: Terror on the Moons of Jupiter. ‘

Take my money Tom!

These books probably aren’t for everyone, and having read some of the previous Swift series, they probably stand as the ‘weak sister’ to the rest of the line. Still, for me, these tickled my happy place, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out how well they held up and were still able to make me smile.

[JalapenoSoup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite some of the nonsensical plot elements, this book is fun. It’s not aimed at adults, and that much is clear. If you can suspend your belief, there are moments- flashes in the book where the writer reveals potential to be good. He never quite makes it there, but it’s close enough to be a fun read.
But when I say you need to suspend your belief, hooo boy. You’re in for a job. Almost none of the decisions any of these characters make are even remotely sane. Buckle in, boys and girls. Let’s start with the fact that Tom is being repeatedly sabotaged. But does he EVER take that as an indication that MAYBE someone will sabotage him again?? OF COURSE NOT. DON’T BOTHER TO CHECK YOUR SHIP, TOM, I’M SURE IT’S FINE. Should Tom confront a blood-thirsty villain who has already tried to dispose of him on multiple occasions? And should he do it ALONE? OF COURSE HE SHOULD. And should the villain react to this confrontation by LEAPING OVER HIS DESK AND BLUDGEONING THE BOY until he loses consciousness? Yes, but only if he makes sure to NOT KILL HIM UNTIL LATER. What is even happening??? And may I remind you, pretty much all of these characters are supposed to be Super Geniuses. Super wacko is more accurate.
The sci-fi elements are kinda cool. I really like the space station. The design of gravity on the rim and low (no?) gravity in the center seems cool and not too zany. I also love the idea of being able to look up and see lakes over your head! There were a lot of other cool little throw-away ideas, too, like the weird showers and the hexagon-wall-brick-whatever things. I could really picture it in my mind (although I realize my description seems to disprove that statement).
As for the characters, Tom is kind of weirdly insecure which is a change from most versions of Tom Swift that I’ve known. And BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WALKING EAGLE is kind of bland and just there to do computer stuff and BE A NATIVE AMERICAN. As for Anita… She’s exactly like that scene from the LEGO Movie: “I’m so pretty! Blah blah. I like you, but I’m angry with you for some reason.” ‘Nuff said. She’s the worst.
Seriously though, I actually did enjoy this book. I am a Tom Swift nerd, so that certainly helps. It was an experience, let me tell you. And you will never, not ever, at any point in reading this story, be able to forget that it was written in the 80’s. My gracious.

[Noel Roach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok it was basically pulp trash back in 1981, and 40+ years of societal evolution since then have made one or two bits cringe worthy, but my 12 year old imagination was captivated by this story back then and I think it holds up well.

[Liz]

I love this one too!