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Matter, Space, and Time
The Shadow Girl
A mysterious tower appears in the middle of a city, bearing a troubled girl from the future in search of help from today. One of Cummings' best works, THE SHADOW GIRL remains thoroughly readable and enjoyable even though it was first published more than eighty years ago.
130 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
3 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Ray Cummings
336 books22 followersRaymond King Cummings. His career resulted in some 750 novels and short stories, using also the pen names Ray King, Gabrielle Cummings, and Gabriel Wilson.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 3, 2014
You read "For the tower was a time-bridge that brought a tyrant's future metropolis face to face with a piratical colony of the past - to make today's city their battleground!" from the back cover and get the popcorn ready for a holleringly fun time, but the truth is more...well, no. The truth is entirely different from that sentence. The battleground is Great New York City of 2445 AD and is between the inhabitants of that city (supplemented by sympathetic time travellers from 1962 and 7012 AD) against imported ruffians and brigands from Earth's past.
But by the time it has reached the brutal war in New York's future, the wheels have popped off the story and it is trailing blue smoke and making horrifying grinding/screeching noises. Questions hang about: "Why would the villain ever do this?" "Assuming he's crazy enough to want this, Why would he go about it like this, if he has a freaking time machine?" "How many henchmen could he have possibly picked up in one time machine that could threaten some sixty-odd million people?"
The spectacle is entertaining as the implausibilities multiply, between the impossible logistics and bizarre non-motivations and ridiculous physics and the weird twists of the story over time and place. It doesn't know where it's going or how to get there, but damn, does it ever travel in style.
But by the time it has reached the brutal war in New York's future, the wheels have popped off the story and it is trailing blue smoke and making horrifying grinding/screeching noises. Questions hang about: "Why would the villain ever do this?" "Assuming he's crazy enough to want this, Why would he go about it like this, if he has a freaking time machine?" "How many henchmen could he have possibly picked up in one time machine that could threaten some sixty-odd million people?"
The spectacle is entertaining as the implausibilities multiply, between the impossible logistics and bizarre non-motivations and ridiculous physics and the weird twists of the story over time and place. It doesn't know where it's going or how to get there, but damn, does it ever travel in style.
December 30, 2020
Kitapta hiç 5000 yılına gidilmiyor. Zaten kitabın orjinal adı "The Shadow Girl". Okumayın. Vakit kaybı. Madem kitap yazıyorsun biraz araştır. Kızılderililerle ilgili acayip ön yargılar var. Ayrıca yazar zaman yolculuğu hakkında hiç düşünmemiş. Cummings'e saygımdan başka bir şey yazmıyorum.
February 17, 2020
To be blunt, it's exactly what you'd expect for a sci-fi novel from the early 60s.
It's still a pretty good read, but it does require that you suspend some modern storytelling conventions - like how the narrator is telling what goes on when they're not present, leaving some threads slightly unfinished, and having very vague conversations.
It's a time travel novel, where is doesn't really explain how the time travel works, and in the end it doesn't really matter because the main characters go back to their time and live out their normal lives (only now they're rich). The characters are all likeable enough, for the amount of personality they're given, and the plot is very standard but still fun.
For me, at least, the chapter of the momentous battle was a bit of a slough. Otherwise, the writing was okay. Not my favourite, but then again, it IS from the 60s and I'm usually not a big fan of the writing style from the 50s and 60s.
Honestly, despite the fact that I didn't love it, I liked it well enough, and if someone is a fan of classic sci-fi, then they'd probably like this book even more. It's got all the tropes down, and it all worked out well together in the end.
It's still a pretty good read, but it does require that you suspend some modern storytelling conventions - like how the narrator is telling what goes on when they're not present, leaving some threads slightly unfinished, and having very vague conversations.
It's a time travel novel, where is doesn't really explain how the time travel works, and in the end it doesn't really matter because the main characters go back to their time and live out their normal lives (only now they're rich). The characters are all likeable enough, for the amount of personality they're given, and the plot is very standard but still fun.
For me, at least, the chapter of the momentous battle was a bit of a slough. Otherwise, the writing was okay. Not my favourite, but then again, it IS from the 60s and I'm usually not a big fan of the writing style from the 50s and 60s.
Honestly, despite the fact that I didn't love it, I liked it well enough, and if someone is a fan of classic sci-fi, then they'd probably like this book even more. It's got all the tropes down, and it all worked out well together in the end.
August 11, 2020
1962 yılında edebiyatdünyasına doğan, bilimkurgunun klasik yapıtlarından biri imiş bu kitap. Elbette günümüz eserleriyle karşılaştırılınca oldukça sığ kalıyor. Yine de zamanda yolculuğu işlemesi bir ilginçlik katıyor. Onun dışında olay da, kahramanlar da çok sıradan ve cezbedici bir farklılığı yok.
October 14, 2009
Even as a little kid I was susceptible to the appeal of women as in various of the Grimm's tales and their Disney movie take-offs as well as in this science fiction novel.
July 11, 2019
ok story but a bit naive and superficial. The premise was better than the book I think.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews