Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations

Reviews of Vintage Science Fiction (1945-1985)

Skip to content
  • About
  • SF Novel and Short Story Review INDEX
    • SF Book Review Index by Rating
    • Science Fiction by Women Review Index
    • Guest Post Series List
  • SF Cover Art
  • SF Articles and Lists
    • Science Fiction Novels/Short Stories about Immortality
    • List of Generation Ship Science Fiction Novels/Short Stories
    • Science Fiction Novels/Short Stories about Overpopulation
    • Science Fiction Novels/Short Stories about Sports and Games
  • TV and Film Reviews
Search

Book Review: The Warlord of the Air, Michael Moorcock (1971)

June 1, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

3/5 (Average)

Notable as an Early Steampunk/Jules Verne homage….

The Warlord of the Air is the first of a trilogy of steampunk novels (Land Leviathan, The Steel Tsar) by Moorcock collected in the omnibus edition The Nomad of Time and later as The Nomad Continue reading →

Book Review: Shield, Poul Anderson (1965)

June 1, 2010October 6, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 1 Comment

4/5 (Good)

I was impressed with Poul Anderson’s minor novel, Shield. Many other reviewers point out that the novel is dated. Yes. But so are almost all sci-fi novels written in the 1960s when it came to Continue reading →

Book Review: Interstellar Empire, John Brunner (published as a collection in 1976)

May 31, 2010July 19, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / Leave a comment

https://i0.wp.com/img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/c4/c20625.jpg

1.75/5 (Bad)

John Brunner is rightly famous for his dystopic works Stand on Zanzibar (won Hugo for best novel), The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and Shockwave Rider but most of his output Continue reading →

Book Review: Perseverance Island Or The Robinson Crusoe Of The Nineteenth Century, Douglas Frazar (1885)

May 31, 2010March 2, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / Leave a comment

A SUSPECT RUMINATION

O the joys of wanna be Victorian Robinson Crusoes…

3/5 (Average)

Douglas Frazar’s ‘Perseverance Island or the Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century’ (1885) is the American Victorian reinterpretation of Robinson Crusoe and it shares shelf space Continue reading →

Book Review: Iceworld, Hal Clement (1953)

May 31, 2010August 10, 2019 / Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

4/5 (Good)

(spoilers — however, most back covers also ruin the great surprise)

Hal Clement, an Oxford educated astronomer who contributed immensely to the hard-science fiction movement, is best known for his books Mission of Gravity and Needle, however Iceworld Continue reading →

Book Review: Methuselah’s Children, Robert Heinlein (1958)

May 31, 2010August 2, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

2.5/5 (Average)

Before you judge my review of this “classic” purely by the low rating please read my defense and reasons. First of all, if I was still a 13 year old boy this would have been very good, however, even then I would have been slightly disappointed by how much Heinlein has to offer and how little he actually develops in Methuselah’s Continue reading →

Book Review: Orphans of the Sky, Robert Heinlein (first published as a serial in Astounding Stories, 1941)

May 31, 2010March 11, 2012 / Joachim Boaz / 15 Comments

4/5 (Good)

Generation ships have always fascinated me. As a child I designed my own with predictions of social ramifications etc. for stories that never materialized except as amorphous plot-less constructs Continue reading →

Book review: Born under Mars, John Brunner (1967)

March 28, 2010August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 1 Comment
2/5 (Bad)

I have still yet to find in Brunner’s early pulp-ish novels any solid indication of his future brilliance that manifests itself so poignantly in his great novels of the late 60s and 70s (Stand on Continue reading →

Posts navigation

Newer posts →

Join 16K other subscribers

Archives

Categories

  • SF Book Reviews
  • SF Cover Art
  • TV and Film Ruminations
  • Updates + Articles

© Joachim Boaz and Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations, 2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Joachim Boaz and Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Most Recently Reviewed Science Fiction and Fantasy

Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
    • Join 16,038 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...