Gray Lensman

by E.E. "Doc" Smith

Book Overview

Somewhere among the galaxies is the stronghold of Boskone - a network of brilliant space-criminals whose hunger for conquest threatens the continued existence of all known civilisation.But where is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• ISBN: B009NNQES2
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Pyramid
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Typical Lensman book

I have the entire Lensman Series - and as an avid sci-fi reader for over 75 years, it rates no. 1 in my list. Oddly, it was this book that I stumbled across first, that captured me and made me get them all, so I have special fondness for it. I re-read the entire series every decade or so just to convince me that it is the new sci-fi novels and not me that is changed so much. Every time, I still rate them 5 Stars. Old Timer

Terrific space adventure!

"Gray Lensman" is a terrific space adventure! It starts where "Galactic Patrol" ended. Kim Kinnison is promoted. Then the story gets rolling. There is an 'interlude' of sorts where Kinnison recouperates from injuries and meets the love of his life. Then, the story takes off again. The character of Kimball Kinnison becomes more complex as he recovers from injuries and falls in love. But, let us not forget that he goes undercover as a meteor miner for a while. Meanwhile, the weapons get nastier and more powerful and the scope of the story gets bigger. Read this book.

Read this second!

I (and many others) believe the best place to start with Doc Smith's "Lensman" series is Galactic Patrol; and as I've said why, at length, in my review of that opus, I won't repeat it here. "Gray Lensman" begins where "Patrol" left off, and never flags, from the start to the finish. Smith at this point is a massively improved writer from the author of the earlier Skylark series, and much more confident in his characters: Richard Seaton, for instance, never has the moments of self-doubt that trouble Kinnison, and would certainly never burst into tears (as the latter does when his nurse won't feed him beefsteak in hospital!). Even more unexpected is the development of an impish sense of humour, manifested in several places, but most notably in the exploits of Wild Bill Williams of Aldebaran II, in the present volume -- surely one of the most entertaining episodes in the whole of Golden Age SF. I've never understood critics -- including the normally-perspicacious Brian Aldiss* -- who say that Smith couldn't write. True, he probably never gave T.S. Eliot (his exact contemporary) any sleepless nights, and better authors have certainly stood on his shoulders; but the Lensman series is F-U-N, and without it the SF world would be a much duller place. *in Billion Year Spree, later revised as Trillion Year Spree.

Great books

Started looking for these books online (read them all as a kid), and found them here. Bought all six at once, read them all through, *and they're just as good as I remember!*Buy 'em all, and you'll never look at Star Wars, Star Trek, or any of the rest the same again. This is the original, the real thing.

After Galactic Patrol, you wonder, "How can it get better?"

It does. Kim Kinnison gets his "Grays". The uniform color of an "Unattached", Gray Lensman. A Gray Lensman is beholden to no one. Wherever he goes, he is Judge, Jury and Executioner. At a whim he can call on the mighty forces of the Galactic Patrol to assist him. But sheer power alone is not enough to vanquish Boskone. It requires detective work, undercover spy work, scientific improvements and determination. Doc Smith bests himself with Gray Lensman. I have to give this book, along with Galactic Patrol and Second Stage Lensman an 11 because I've never read any as good. I have to reread these periodically to recharge my faith in Science Fiction. In this book you meet Wild Bill Williams, Meteor Miner, A Kim Kinnison undercover identity whose persona has formed the backbone of many sci fi novels that followed. Doc Smith tells a straight, action packed story with lots of intellectual contents but not in a soppy, sentimental tone. His heros know what is right and act on without questions. Don't look for much love and sex in Doc Smith books. Most romantic encounters are stated something like this, "They were young, they were together, and what follows is left as an exercise for the reader".