The Humanoids (Paperback)

But the fourth positive is really what made me love this book... Some may laugh at me for writing this, but this author seems to have described "the force" in scientific terms waaaayy back in the forties. In fact, it's a better explanation than even Lucas' "Midichlorides" or whatever they were in 'Episode I'. I have to think that George Lucas read this book before writing "Star Wars".

Anyway... The author seems to have created fictitious sciences that actually make sense. I'm not a scientist, so that's probably why it worked for me. I almost felt like the answer to the universe was in this book... even though 2 of the 3 sciences don't really exist.

As for the ending, I though it was great. It was the only way the story would have made any sense. If the OPPOSITE of the ending had happened, the story would have been as pointless as most action movies. Contrary to another reviewer's dislike of the world at the end of the book, I thought it was actually a desirable place to be. I think that reviewer misunderstood what was goin on at the end.

I had to force myself to put the book down. It was that good. really quick, to the point, nothing to bog the story down. Just the events that needed to be there.

A very quick read. You have no reason not to try it.

Unfortunately, aside from the core concept and several excellent characters, including the marvelously conceived humanoids themselves, I found a few elements in this story to be somewhat disagreeable. Others may not find them so, but I did, and they somewhat marred my enjoyment of the novel. First, the main character of the novel was, to me, was an unpleasant individual. Now, it is entirely correct that it is important to the novel's plot that he not be especially likable. Nonetheless, he was a somewhat unpleasant character, and spending time with him even on a fictional level was not as much fun as one might like. I also was unhappy with the way the romantic elements in the novel developed. They struck me as quite implausible. Finally, I very much did not like the ending of the novel. Unfortunately, I cannot here go into my reasons without giving away too much of the plot. Suffice it to say that I am not certain that I would want to live in the world that the novel apparently endorses in its ending.

I will add that one character is one of my favorites in all of sci-fi, the wonderfully eccentric, amazing enigmatic Underhill. Williamson does a great job in Underhill of producing a character who is simultaneously marvelously innocent and suspiciously sinister at the same time. After I finished the book, his character remained far more vivid in my memory than any of the others.