Negative Positive
Title: One of a Kind, Trail-Blazing SF
Review: This one's a bit of an oddity. It's a dense, first person account of an extraordinary out-of-body odyssey that spans the entire life of the cosmos and beyond. We meet myriad worlds, alien life-forms ranging from crustaceans to conscious galaxies, and even the Star Maker himself, the great Creator. I don't know what Mr Stapledon was smogged on when he wrote this but I've never seen this many SF ideas packed into one novel. He penned it in 1937, which is kind of staggering because it means he probably coined more SF concepts in Star Maker than anyone else has in a full career.It's tough going in places due to the relentless bombardment of ideas without a proper narrative. The author also drifts outside SF throughout; he's spiritually/philosophically inclined. But he's also a poet, and I really lapped up the eloquence of his prose. My imagination reeled for days after finishing it. As trailblazing SF, it's a one of a kind.
Is the review positive or negative? 