The Legion of Space

This book makes my top 100 books of all time not so much because it's great literature, terrifically innovative, or even unique science fiction... but rather because I read it at a time in my life (as a youngster around the age of 9-10) and it absolutely hooked me on science fiction & fantasy stories. I've since reread it a number of times, and always manage to capture that feeling of amazement and wonder that the story engendered in me so many years ago. I handed my beatup old copy to my son a couple of years ago and told him to give it a try... he loved it as well. That's about as sound an endorsement for ANY story as one can imagine.

Alcune idee sono geniali, però mi ha dato fastidio in modo pazzesco un personaggio in particolare, che si esprime in un certo modo lamentoso, divertente per due pagine e poi mostruosamente noioso... sempre le stesse frasi, e una volta per pagina, è decisamente troppo per i miei gusti. In realtà anche gli altri sono irreversibilmente uguali a se stessi, ma trovarmi a saltare le parti di dialoghi in cui parla un personaggio specifico è stato terribile! diciamo tra due e tre stelline.

Williamson, Jack. Legions of Space. 1934. Legions of Space No. 1. E-book ed., Gollancz, 2011.
In reviewing Jack Williamson’s Legions of Space, I cannot improve on Brian Aldiss’s snarky comment in The Trillion Year Spree: Williamson’s “greatest early success was with a serial in a 1934 Astounding, The Legion of Space, a Gosh-wow! epic that thundered along the cloven heels of Doc Smith.” Action trumps plausibility at every turn. But where would Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica be without such forebears? Gosh-wow! indeed. 3 stars.

Jack Williamson is one of the great Classic SF writers who formed the Golden Age of Science Fiction. He has been contributing good stories since the 1930s. He invented the terms "genetic engineering" and "terraforming" It's a surprise that he received no awards until the 1994.

World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement winner (1994)

Williamson, like all 1930s SF writers, began by writing space operas. His "Legion of Space" series is as fun and interesting as E. E. Doc Smith's Skylark series. They are great space adventures.

This is the first of the Legion books. It's style reflects the writing that was popular it the time. His world building is great and the story is interesting and exciting. The rest of the series is more serious and mature but show more this book is the place to start.

Is it great literature? No, it's fun and interesting show less

Not the most sophisticated or believable of Jack Williamson's novels. However it's an enjoyable example of pre-Golden Age space opera. Recommended for impressionable kids of all ages.

I've liked other JW. This is not one of those. It is just infantile. I would have liked this when I was ten.

http://www.fireandsword.com/Reviews/legionofspace.html

OK, this is so totally a guilty pleasure! I am just a sucker for old-time space opera, the broader the better. Jack Williamson is one of the diamonds in the crown of science fiction, but he took some polishing.