Skylark DuQuesne: Skylark Series #4

wow great to the end it's a shame it had to end it's a great read

This is not one of E. E. "Doc" Smith's best works, but if you have read the 3 previous books, it you will probably want to read this one to complete the story. My one main gripe is that after awhile "incalculable" becomes cliche'd, and running back and forth all over the entire known universe in short periods of time becomes hard for even a diehard sci-fi fan to suspend disbelief.

Reed McColm does a good job in this performance. He provides a lot of energy to the reading, and I kind of found myself eager to get back to the car to pick up the story because he reawakens the wide-eyed wonder of my childhood reading these old stories from the early days of pulp science fiction. It is obvious that he enjoys these stories himself, and that redeems this audio book to the point where I am sure I will listen to it again in a few years.

Overall, as an audio book performance, this book is an enjoyable listen. Just don't expect great depth of character or ideas that make you stop and think. It is worth a credit, though.

Doc Smith's "Skylark DuQuesne" is a wonderful fun melange of 1920s space opera and 1960s science fiction, brought to life by Reed McColm. As usual in the Skylark stories, the villain Marc "Blackie" DuQuesne dominates the story, which truly begins to roll when he returns from extra-dimensional incorporeality and gets his body (and his mile-long spaceship) back. No deep meanings, no subtext, no subtlety -- but lots of massive spaceships, bizarre aliens, equally bizarre humans, and galaxy-spanning battles. Possibly not for the modern, sensitive reader in search of subtle characterizations, but definitely for the reader who'd like a few hours of fun reading.