What do you think?
Rate this book
Cities in Flight #4
A Clash of Cymbals
Arrow 1974 paperback, vg++ In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
199 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
About the author
James Blish
471 books331 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
February 24, 2024
The Triumph of Time (aka A Clash of Cymbals) is the last of the four books in Blish's Cities in Flight series. It was published in 1958, but the books really should be read in chronological, not publication, order. I don't think it would be possible to get much from this one without being familiar with the earlier books. It's a big-idea book, even more so than the other ones in the set, with little attention paid to characterization. It's a cosmic story about cities that have been fitted with "spindizzies," giant motors that allow them to travel through space, and there are life-extending drugs that keep the main characters going for hundreds of years and across multiple volumes. In this one Blish is concerned with the death and rebirth of the cosmos, the nature of matter and anti-matter and time, and so many high-brow concepts that he almost forgets to throw in something of a plot. There are even charts to help you pretend to try to understand the mathematics. I've never been tempted to re-read it, but I'm still glad I tackled it once. It was a very ambitious project, and despite advances in technology and changes in social understanding it remains one of the classics of earlier days in the field.
June 15, 2019
And so, I get to the last in the Cities in Flight series, an imaginatively written but so far uneven set of novels created by fixing up stories first published between 1950 and 1962. A Clash of Cymbals was published as The Triumph of Time in the US in 1959 and then in an omnibus edition in 1970.
After the award-winning (but for me frustrating) novel Earthman Come Home (reviewed here) this is the book most disliked in the series. I’ll try and examine this point later.
In terms of the plot, A Clash of Cymbals is set around 4000 AD. Where we left the story last (in Earthman Come Home, reviewed here) Mayor John Amalfi and the flying city of New York had grounded itself on a planet renamed ‘New Earth’, seemingly never to travel between the stars again.
This story begins with Amalfi, now over a thousand years old due to the use of anti-agathic drugs, clearly getting restless.
We also see the return of the planet He, which we last saw in Earthman Come Home as a slave-planet, travelling away across the galaxy. Their return shows that the people have matured from their god-fearing state which Amalfi left them in to something akin to the people of Old Earth. Having had to discover things themselves, they have developed a means of transport that allows them to not only change their course of travel but also catch up with Amalfi.
They also bring with them a dramatic discovery – that their scientific studies show that the end of time, of everything, is on its way - and soon. Their universe of matter is colliding with a universe of anti-matter, with catastrophic results.
Working with Amalfi and the scientists of New York, together they calculate that the two universes have three years before they end. The rest of the book shows us the consequences of that prediction, of the countdown to it – and what happens afterwards.
So, on its own, as the fourth book in a series, A Clash of Cymbals is perhaps not the best place to start. You can read it alone, but it may leave you a little mystified, although the book begins with a summary of what has happened in the series up to this point.
Allowing for this, the story is easy enough to follow. The end of the universe is coming and how Amalfi and his compatriots deals with it is the story.
So why is this book often disliked? Well, the slight plot is one of the things that lets the book down, in my opinion. I think that part of the reason for the book’s unpopularity is that although the scale of the story is vast, there’s actually little plot.
I did wonder why, with such an epic scale plot point – the end of the universe, time and everything – the story has such a relatively narrow view. In the end, this huge event seems to depend on about half-a-dozen characters, which didn’t sit easily with me. For such an important event, how arrogant is it to suggest that everything in the end depends on the actions of a mere few. Moreover, who is it that merely accepts that these half-a-dozen can take action and make choices for the whole universe – no, universes?
The reason for this plot, of course, is to show how the philosophy underpinning the series plays out. It has been known from the outset that Blish’s inspiration for writing this series has been the ideas of philosopher Oswald Spengler, and in particular that the growth and decline of empires are not due to the passage of time but through individual cultures which grow and decline before the next one develops. Though the ideas of Spenglerism have always been there throughout (and there’s a very useful explanation by Richard D Mullen at the end of the omnibus edition to show this) this time in A Clash of Cymbals it is the overriding feature rather than the background setting of the overall book.
For some readers therefore it may be that Clash is the logical culmination of the series, where the ultimate purpose of the Cities in Flight series is uncovered. It seems that Blish’s intention all along was to write a Future History, like many before him, but one that is deliberately different to say, Asimov’s and Heinlein’s versions. Readers of the whole series may be impressed by this, whilst others not getting the Spenglerian references will be at best confused and at worst bored.
Even though I got the references, I found myself struggling with the intense debate in the middle of this book. I found that most of the middle part of the book is given to philosophical musings and mathematical meanderings, which seemed boring, even if I could follow what was going on. This is perhaps the first of the series where philosophy seems to dominate plot.
More worryingly, I also found myself disliking some of the characters, more than ever before. To me, Amalfi, at over 1000 years old, is now so beyond human that his overbearing arrogance becomes unpleasant. At the same time there were abrupt about-turns in character that seemed unexpected, and even inappropriate. Most noticeably of these to me was when Dee Hazleton admits to a secret love for Amalfi whilst her husband Mark is an ineffectual counterpoint.
Slightly less annoying is that we also have “Okies – the Next Generation”, represented by Web Hazleton and Estelle Freeman, two new characters who are the grandchildren of two families we have met before. Whilst it is important to show that the death of the universe potentially creates no future for them, they also show that at times new thinking is required, in order to solve problems. Their relative innocence is a welcome relief to the darker unpleasantness generated by the older characters.
What is perhaps most memorable is the feeling that an end is in sight. Amalfi feels it from the beginning of the novel, and throughout there is a tone that suggests that the world – no, the universe – is running down to some sort of ending. The story is filled with ideas of fatigue and tiredness to reflect this.
With that in mind, the ending of the novel is both appropriate to its UK title and in its relevance to the ideas of Spengler in action. Some readers will be dissatisfied by the fact that it is abrupt.
I found the book appropriate as a conclusion to the series, but one that for all its cleverness was a tough read to finish. Many of the reviews at the time admired the book’s ambition yet felt that it was lacking in energy and plot. I can only agree.
Oddly, with the passage of time (see what I did there?), A Clash of Cymbals may be seen more favourably than when first published. In the e-book edition there is an Afterword by author Stephen Baxter, which explains the importance of the series to SF. It is a series of books that are an indicator of how SF was changing in the 1950’s, and when compared to many of the stories of Blish’s contemporaries it is a deeper, more intellectual work than many. In 2007, in the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the British Science Fiction Awards, A Clash of Cymbals won the Best Novel of 1958 category.
In summary, A Clash of Cymbals is the logical summation of the series. Broad in scope and elaborate in ambition, it is an intellectual exercise that, whilst impressive, for me lacked the engagement and interest that earlier books engendered.
Nevertheless, reading the series, particularly the earlier books in the series, has been found to be a worthwhile experience. There’s a lot to like and, despite the weaknesses, you have to admire Blish’s intellectual ambition and determination to tell a story his way. The Cities in Space series blazes a trail that has clearly influenced other science fiction writers and created ideas that we can recognise in contemporary novels. But whilst I appreciate its importance to the genre, this book in particular is one I won’t be in too much of a hurry to reread.
After the award-winning (but for me frustrating) novel Earthman Come Home (reviewed here) this is the book most disliked in the series. I’ll try and examine this point later.
In terms of the plot, A Clash of Cymbals is set around 4000 AD. Where we left the story last (in Earthman Come Home, reviewed here) Mayor John Amalfi and the flying city of New York had grounded itself on a planet renamed ‘New Earth’, seemingly never to travel between the stars again.
This story begins with Amalfi, now over a thousand years old due to the use of anti-agathic drugs, clearly getting restless.
We also see the return of the planet He, which we last saw in Earthman Come Home as a slave-planet, travelling away across the galaxy. Their return shows that the people have matured from their god-fearing state which Amalfi left them in to something akin to the people of Old Earth. Having had to discover things themselves, they have developed a means of transport that allows them to not only change their course of travel but also catch up with Amalfi.
They also bring with them a dramatic discovery – that their scientific studies show that the end of time, of everything, is on its way - and soon. Their universe of matter is colliding with a universe of anti-matter, with catastrophic results.
Working with Amalfi and the scientists of New York, together they calculate that the two universes have three years before they end. The rest of the book shows us the consequences of that prediction, of the countdown to it – and what happens afterwards.
So, on its own, as the fourth book in a series, A Clash of Cymbals is perhaps not the best place to start. You can read it alone, but it may leave you a little mystified, although the book begins with a summary of what has happened in the series up to this point.
Allowing for this, the story is easy enough to follow. The end of the universe is coming and how Amalfi and his compatriots deals with it is the story.
So why is this book often disliked? Well, the slight plot is one of the things that lets the book down, in my opinion. I think that part of the reason for the book’s unpopularity is that although the scale of the story is vast, there’s actually little plot.
I did wonder why, with such an epic scale plot point – the end of the universe, time and everything – the story has such a relatively narrow view. In the end, this huge event seems to depend on about half-a-dozen characters, which didn’t sit easily with me. For such an important event, how arrogant is it to suggest that everything in the end depends on the actions of a mere few. Moreover, who is it that merely accepts that these half-a-dozen can take action and make choices for the whole universe – no, universes?
The reason for this plot, of course, is to show how the philosophy underpinning the series plays out. It has been known from the outset that Blish’s inspiration for writing this series has been the ideas of philosopher Oswald Spengler, and in particular that the growth and decline of empires are not due to the passage of time but through individual cultures which grow and decline before the next one develops. Though the ideas of Spenglerism have always been there throughout (and there’s a very useful explanation by Richard D Mullen at the end of the omnibus edition to show this) this time in A Clash of Cymbals it is the overriding feature rather than the background setting of the overall book.
For some readers therefore it may be that Clash is the logical culmination of the series, where the ultimate purpose of the Cities in Flight series is uncovered. It seems that Blish’s intention all along was to write a Future History, like many before him, but one that is deliberately different to say, Asimov’s and Heinlein’s versions. Readers of the whole series may be impressed by this, whilst others not getting the Spenglerian references will be at best confused and at worst bored.
Even though I got the references, I found myself struggling with the intense debate in the middle of this book. I found that most of the middle part of the book is given to philosophical musings and mathematical meanderings, which seemed boring, even if I could follow what was going on. This is perhaps the first of the series where philosophy seems to dominate plot.
More worryingly, I also found myself disliking some of the characters, more than ever before. To me, Amalfi, at over 1000 years old, is now so beyond human that his overbearing arrogance becomes unpleasant. At the same time there were abrupt about-turns in character that seemed unexpected, and even inappropriate. Most noticeably of these to me was when Dee Hazleton admits to a secret love for Amalfi whilst her husband Mark is an ineffectual counterpoint.
Slightly less annoying is that we also have “Okies – the Next Generation”, represented by Web Hazleton and Estelle Freeman, two new characters who are the grandchildren of two families we have met before. Whilst it is important to show that the death of the universe potentially creates no future for them, they also show that at times new thinking is required, in order to solve problems. Their relative innocence is a welcome relief to the darker unpleasantness generated by the older characters.
What is perhaps most memorable is the feeling that an end is in sight. Amalfi feels it from the beginning of the novel, and throughout there is a tone that suggests that the world – no, the universe – is running down to some sort of ending. The story is filled with ideas of fatigue and tiredness to reflect this.
With that in mind, the ending of the novel is both appropriate to its UK title and in its relevance to the ideas of Spengler in action. Some readers will be dissatisfied by the fact that it is abrupt.
I found the book appropriate as a conclusion to the series, but one that for all its cleverness was a tough read to finish. Many of the reviews at the time admired the book’s ambition yet felt that it was lacking in energy and plot. I can only agree.
Oddly, with the passage of time (see what I did there?), A Clash of Cymbals may be seen more favourably than when first published. In the e-book edition there is an Afterword by author Stephen Baxter, which explains the importance of the series to SF. It is a series of books that are an indicator of how SF was changing in the 1950’s, and when compared to many of the stories of Blish’s contemporaries it is a deeper, more intellectual work than many. In 2007, in the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the British Science Fiction Awards, A Clash of Cymbals won the Best Novel of 1958 category.
In summary, A Clash of Cymbals is the logical summation of the series. Broad in scope and elaborate in ambition, it is an intellectual exercise that, whilst impressive, for me lacked the engagement and interest that earlier books engendered.
Nevertheless, reading the series, particularly the earlier books in the series, has been found to be a worthwhile experience. There’s a lot to like and, despite the weaknesses, you have to admire Blish’s intellectual ambition and determination to tell a story his way. The Cities in Space series blazes a trail that has clearly influenced other science fiction writers and created ideas that we can recognise in contemporary novels. But whilst I appreciate its importance to the genre, this book in particular is one I won’t be in too much of a hurry to reread.
January 18, 2023
TLDR
Мне этот том понравился больше всего. Красивая кода, да еще и написана хорошо, с таким меланхоличным настроением. Описания вообще идут этому миру на пользу, все предыдущие три тома словно не хватало разрешения, а тут Блиш врубает FullHD (но нет, еще не 4K :) И этот том еще честная научная фантастика, с нейтрино и циклотронами. За что Блишу спасибо.
Детали
* Самая важная деталь была в послесловии. Там Ричард Маллен раскладывает культуру бродяг по этапам из теории Шпенглера. Эти две таблички в конце показывают, как Блиш добился большей глубины чем Азимов в Основании. Азимов взял только один культурный период, а Блиш прошел весь цикл. Красавчик.
* В этом томе много хорошей физики частиц (и даже формулы есть). Блиш упоминает Маха, Гребе, Шиффа, Альфера, Бете, Гамова. И всех по делу. Про Гребе мне даже пришлось переводить статью на вики с немецкого, чтобы понять, что он построил первый циклотрон в Германии. В общем, Блиш сделал факт-чекинг в этом томе.
* В какой-то момент я даже перестал поспевать за дискуссиями ученых в книге. Как и Амальфи. И это было прекрасно, потому что очень похоже на мой последний год на Физтехе, когда теорфиз уже тупо не помещался в мой мозг. В целом, физика после атомной бомбы стала супер математичной и замороченной. Ее выкупить уже могут совсем немногие.
* Дети на планете Он играют в Матрицу. И в этой игре нет виртуальной реальности. Шок!
* Зато вторая игра у них исключительно философская. Так что концепции Платона эти детишки выкупят очень рано.
* Ди стала чуть больше человеком чем в третьем томе. Но все еще недостаточно. Опять самый слабый кусок книги.
* Финальный твист точный по настроению, но
* Ну и напоследок,
Я прочитал эту книгу для обсуждения на эпизоде подкаста про научную фантастику «Худо Не Было». Подкаст можно послушать тут: https://share.transistor.fm/s/d7cbfa83
Мне этот том понравился больше всего. Красивая кода, да еще и написана хорошо, с таким меланхоличным настроением. Описания вообще идут этому миру на пользу, все предыдущие три тома словно не хватало разрешения, а тут Блиш врубает FullHD (но нет, еще не 4K :) И этот том еще честная научная фантастика, с нейтрино и циклотронами. За что Блишу спасибо.
life no matter how prolonged is at bottom only a local and temporary discontinuity in the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Детали
* Самая важная деталь была в послесловии. Там Ричард Маллен раскладывает культуру бродяг по этапам из теории Шпенглера. Эти две таблички в конце показывают, как Блиш добился большей глубины чем Азимов в Основании. Азимов взял только один культурный период, а Блиш прошел весь цикл. Красавчик.
* В этом томе много хорошей физики частиц (и даже формулы есть). Блиш упоминает Маха, Гребе, Шиффа, Альфера, Бете, Гамова. И всех по делу. Про Гребе мне даже пришлось переводить статью на вики с немецкого, чтобы понять, что он построил первый циклотрон в Германии. В общем, Блиш сделал факт-чекинг в этом томе.
* В какой-то момент я даже перестал поспевать за дискуссиями ученых в книге. Как и Амальфи. И это было прекрасно, потому что очень похоже на мой последний год на Физтехе, когда теорфиз уже тупо не помещался в мой мозг. В целом, физика после атомной бомбы стала супер математичной и замороченной. Ее выкупить уже могут совсем немногие.
* Дети на планете Он играют в Матрицу. И в этой игре нет виртуальной реальности. Шок!
* Зато вторая игра у них исключительно философская. Так что концепции Платона эти детишки выкупят очень рано.
* Ди стала чуть больше человеком чем в третьем томе. Но все еще недостаточно. Опять самый слабый кусок книги.
* Финальный твист точный по настроению, но
* Ну и напоследок,
Living seems to be a process of continually being born again. I suppose the trick is to learn how to make that crucial exit without suffering the trauma each time.
Я прочитал эту книгу для обсуждения на эпизоде подкаста про научную фантастику «Худо Не Было». Подкаст можно послушать тут: https://share.transistor.fm/s/d7cbfa83
September 25, 2014
As I argue in my review of They Shall Have Stars, the first volume in this series, what Blish really enjoyed was creating new heresies. If he'd been born a few hundred years earlier, he'd probably have ended up being burned at the stake. As it was, he became a pulp SF writer, which I guess is slightly less painful.
The theme in A Clash of Cymbals is nothing less than the end of the Universe.
The rest of this review is available elsewhere (the location cannot be given for Goodreads policy reasons)
The theme in A Clash of Cymbals is nothing less than the end of the Universe.
The rest of this review is available elsewhere (the location cannot be given for Goodreads policy reasons)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2021
What goes up must come down / Spinnin' wheel, got to go 'round
From the uttermost of the series' third book to the guttermost with this dismal closing chapter of the Cities in Flight saga. I feared it would be a let down, but I never suspected it would be so bad. The narrative bounced between impenetrable faux-physics to turgid romance to puppy love and parental handwringing. It was dreadful first page to last. Oh, and then the universe ends.
Okay, there was an attempt to shoehorn in some action and suspense with Jorn the Apostle's Warriors of God "jehad" against the powers that be. There was potential here, with rustic revolutionaries armed with portable "spindillies" that could tear a person apart or send aloft a portion of a city block, reducing structures to rubble. They even take Hazleton hostage. But the Amazing Amalfi makes a Zoom call to Jorn himself and everything is settled in short order. It was so slapdash and poorly developed an episode that Blish himself admits in his 1964 afterword that a magazine editor who expressed interest in serializing the novel wanted to cut the entire Jorn sequence. The editor was right. The Jorn chapters are like a false nose on the narrative.
Blish's strength is writing plot-driven stories. Here he tried to develop characters, and the results were at best unconvincing. Dee's awkward expressions of love for Amalfi were embarrassingly bad. New characters Web and Estelle were annoying in their Lake Wobegon above-averageness, from bringing youthful insights to the problems that baffled their elders to their serene expressions and soft voices. I never got a firm grasp on them as three-dimensional characters. And Dee's fretting over them was very much 1950's sitcom mom.
Other characters were just as blurry and vague: Jake, Schloss, Carrell, Gifford Bonner--who were these people? They just mouthed endless exposition none of which was especially interesting. Then the planet He shows up again with Miramon still at the helm. Never an especially interesting character, Miramon enjoys a larger role as the book unfolds. And his very model of a modern planetary emperor character was so unlike the unsophisticated village elder we met earlier he may as well have been a wholly different character.
There's a new philosophy in vogue that is capturing people's attention: Stochasticism: "the most recent of many attempts to construct a complete philosophy, from esthetics to ethics" (p. 29). This was certainly drawing upon Ayn Rand's philosophy Objectivism, which was also a complete philosophy that was detailed in her novel Atlas Shrugged, which was published in 1957, a year prior to this novel by Blish. Hazleton is swept up in this new philosophy, and this promised to be an interesting subplot with some satire and thoughtful critique, but... Like Blish's jab at the Jehovah's Witnesses with The Believers in They Shall Have Stars, the Stochasticism subplot is never developed. Just another throwaway plot device.
This book brings to a close the Cities in Flight saga and Blish brings the whole universe down with it. As the back cover of my old Avon edition screams: APOCALYPSE! Time must have a stop, and that will be three short years away. A blurb inside my paperback says this book is "a kind of cosmic On the Beach," but aside from characters facing an inevitable end there is little resemblance. Shute's novel (and the very good movie made from it) was character studies, and while Blish attempted that at various times, it just didn't work. Character study was not his strength.
Blish's interest in religion shone through in his choice to end this universe in AD 4004, since the traditional date of Creation is 4004 BC. And the closing line did result in a Spock-like raised eyebrow (fascinating). But that intriguing moment aside, reading this novel proved a chore and I was glad to close the book. I was so elated after the first three, and utterly deflated after this one. The Cities in Flight Chronology in the back did stir up good memories of the events of earlier volumes. The year I read the saga, 2021, was an eventful one: "Escape of the 'Colonials' from the Jovian system. Trial and death of Wagoner. Death of Corsi, under questioning" (p. 156).
Speaking of Spock, I have also been reading Blish's Star Trek novelizations, and while I haven't yet come across any snuck-in references to his own fictional universe, Blish's style and penchant for dated slang are evident throughout them. Another reviewer here suggested Blish was tapped to write those novelizations based on Earthman, Come Home, which was very Trek-like in Amalfi seeking out of strange new worlds and civilizations.
Ground Control to author Blish:
So long and thanks for all the fish,
And now it's time to say good night,
Let that spindizzy city take flight!
From the uttermost of the series' third book to the guttermost with this dismal closing chapter of the Cities in Flight saga. I feared it would be a let down, but I never suspected it would be so bad. The narrative bounced between impenetrable faux-physics to turgid romance to puppy love and parental handwringing. It was dreadful first page to last. Oh, and then the universe ends.
Okay, there was an attempt to shoehorn in some action and suspense with Jorn the Apostle's Warriors of God "jehad" against the powers that be. There was potential here, with rustic revolutionaries armed with portable "spindillies" that could tear a person apart or send aloft a portion of a city block, reducing structures to rubble. They even take Hazleton hostage. But the Amazing Amalfi makes a Zoom call to Jorn himself and everything is settled in short order. It was so slapdash and poorly developed an episode that Blish himself admits in his 1964 afterword that a magazine editor who expressed interest in serializing the novel wanted to cut the entire Jorn sequence. The editor was right. The Jorn chapters are like a false nose on the narrative.
Blish's strength is writing plot-driven stories. Here he tried to develop characters, and the results were at best unconvincing. Dee's awkward expressions of love for Amalfi were embarrassingly bad. New characters Web and Estelle were annoying in their Lake Wobegon above-averageness, from bringing youthful insights to the problems that baffled their elders to their serene expressions and soft voices. I never got a firm grasp on them as three-dimensional characters. And Dee's fretting over them was very much 1950's sitcom mom.
Other characters were just as blurry and vague: Jake, Schloss, Carrell, Gifford Bonner--who were these people? They just mouthed endless exposition none of which was especially interesting. Then the planet He shows up again with Miramon still at the helm. Never an especially interesting character, Miramon enjoys a larger role as the book unfolds. And his very model of a modern planetary emperor character was so unlike the unsophisticated village elder we met earlier he may as well have been a wholly different character.
There's a new philosophy in vogue that is capturing people's attention: Stochasticism: "the most recent of many attempts to construct a complete philosophy, from esthetics to ethics" (p. 29). This was certainly drawing upon Ayn Rand's philosophy Objectivism, which was also a complete philosophy that was detailed in her novel Atlas Shrugged, which was published in 1957, a year prior to this novel by Blish. Hazleton is swept up in this new philosophy, and this promised to be an interesting subplot with some satire and thoughtful critique, but... Like Blish's jab at the Jehovah's Witnesses with The Believers in They Shall Have Stars, the Stochasticism subplot is never developed. Just another throwaway plot device.
This book brings to a close the Cities in Flight saga and Blish brings the whole universe down with it. As the back cover of my old Avon edition screams: APOCALYPSE! Time must have a stop, and that will be three short years away. A blurb inside my paperback says this book is "a kind of cosmic On the Beach," but aside from characters facing an inevitable end there is little resemblance. Shute's novel (and the very good movie made from it) was character studies, and while Blish attempted that at various times, it just didn't work. Character study was not his strength.
Blish's interest in religion shone through in his choice to end this universe in AD 4004, since the traditional date of Creation is 4004 BC. And the closing line did result in a Spock-like raised eyebrow (fascinating). But that intriguing moment aside, reading this novel proved a chore and I was glad to close the book. I was so elated after the first three, and utterly deflated after this one. The Cities in Flight Chronology in the back did stir up good memories of the events of earlier volumes. The year I read the saga, 2021, was an eventful one: "Escape of the 'Colonials' from the Jovian system. Trial and death of Wagoner. Death of Corsi, under questioning" (p. 156).
Speaking of Spock, I have also been reading Blish's Star Trek novelizations, and while I haven't yet come across any snuck-in references to his own fictional universe, Blish's style and penchant for dated slang are evident throughout them. Another reviewer here suggested Blish was tapped to write those novelizations based on Earthman, Come Home, which was very Trek-like in Amalfi seeking out of strange new worlds and civilizations.
Ground Control to author Blish:
So long and thanks for all the fish,
And now it's time to say good night,
Let that spindizzy city take flight!
August 8, 2023
I'll leave a review for the whole series here, as reading it as a whole gave me a different appreciation for the series compared to individual reviews.
Bliss's "Cities in Flight" series (or Okie series) are a creation of its time. Not in a bad sense, more in the sense that the things Bliss clearly grew up with are major themes in the book. It is an interesting perspective through which the idea of human history can be seen. It is doubly of interest to readers of sci-fi, as it is clearly one of the earlier instances of the genre as a whole.
Of the series, I personally enjoyed book 2 and 3 the most, as they are the most eventful. Book 1 and 4 have the tendency to digress in long winded conversations on how the physics, math, and other involved science works, while book 2 and 3 follow a more "show-dont'-tell" approach.
The books are well-written and relatively short, which makes them easy to get through. Their story flow and structure is sometimes a little muddy, but overall a very decent sci fi series
Bliss's "Cities in Flight" series (or Okie series) are a creation of its time. Not in a bad sense, more in the sense that the things Bliss clearly grew up with are major themes in the book. It is an interesting perspective through which the idea of human history can be seen. It is doubly of interest to readers of sci-fi, as it is clearly one of the earlier instances of the genre as a whole.
Of the series, I personally enjoyed book 2 and 3 the most, as they are the most eventful. Book 1 and 4 have the tendency to digress in long winded conversations on how the physics, math, and other involved science works, while book 2 and 3 follow a more "show-dont'-tell" approach.
The books are well-written and relatively short, which makes them easy to get through. Their story flow and structure is sometimes a little muddy, but overall a very decent sci fi series
September 12, 2024
This is the last installment in the Cities in Flight series, and it presents the most dire problem for Amalfi and company: the end of the universe.
With New York permanently grounded on New Earth, Amalfi has resigned as mayor and is bored to death. He has a permanent case of wanderlust and is itching to get back to the stars. He's pretty psyched to see the wandering planet He make its way to the New Earth system. Meeting with them, he learns that they've made a discovery: the birthplace of continuous creation. He and some scientists head out with the Hevians to check it out and discover further that there's an anti-matter universe on the other side. And we all know what happens when matter and anti-matter come together.
But while all of the scientists are conjecturing about what, if anything, can be done, others are trying to come to terms with what this means. Amalfi isn't the only one who's grown unhappy with life on New Earth. He and Dee finally get to explore their attraction to one another since her husband, Mark Hazleton, is busy with work and a philosophical group known as the Stochastics. And a couple of young adults struggle with traditional bonds of love in the face of the end of the universe.
Eventually, the scientists come up with come up with a way to cope with the end. I don't want to spoil what discoveries they find and obstacles they encounter, but Amalfi tackles the end of the universe in a very Amalfi way.
With New York permanently grounded on New Earth, Amalfi has resigned as mayor and is bored to death. He has a permanent case of wanderlust and is itching to get back to the stars. He's pretty psyched to see the wandering planet He make its way to the New Earth system. Meeting with them, he learns that they've made a discovery: the birthplace of continuous creation. He and some scientists head out with the Hevians to check it out and discover further that there's an anti-matter universe on the other side. And we all know what happens when matter and anti-matter come together.
But while all of the scientists are conjecturing about what, if anything, can be done, others are trying to come to terms with what this means. Amalfi isn't the only one who's grown unhappy with life on New Earth. He and Dee finally get to explore their attraction to one another since her husband, Mark Hazleton, is busy with work and a philosophical group known as the Stochastics. And a couple of young adults struggle with traditional bonds of love in the face of the end of the universe.
Eventually, the scientists come up with come up with a way to cope with the end. I don't want to spoil what discoveries they find and obstacles they encounter, but Amalfi tackles the end of the universe in a very Amalfi way.
May 8, 2020
Не нашел нормального перевода на русский, поэтому читал на английском. Понял мало. Понравилось.
June 14, 2013
The city of New York has now settled on a planet called 'New Earth', and John Amalfi, once mayor of the city in flight, is reduced to a mostly figure-head role. Until the astronomists spots the newly arrived planet He, a travelling planet outfitted with a spindizzy drive previously in the series. Amalfi goes to meet with the scientist of He, and returns with the news that the Hevians have discovered a point in space which indicates the collision of two universes. The matter-antimatter collision of two opposing universes is set to annihilate both universes involved, and birth multiple new universes in another big bang explosion. The people of New Earth and a new opposing alien faction - the Web of Hercules - must compete to win control of the collision point and therefore bring the big bang event under their own control.
Since the city settled on the New Earth planet, Amalfi is depicted as feeling particularly restless, since he was once mayor of the city, but now has little to do with the running of the planet. And yet I feel that Amalfi often pretty much was a figurehead before, and none of his duties seems to have actually changed. Perhaps its more of a result of centuries of space travel and now being stuck on one planet, in one solar system. But still I find it hard to relate to the character, he is much too big for his boots sometimes with little to show for it.
Dee's confession of love for Amalfi comes out of the blue, possibly because we've seen little evidence for it, but then Dee barely has a personality anyway. Also possibly because there is little in Amalfi to love and I bear no sympathy for her feelings. Then again perhaps its just my incompatibility with Blish's writing, I enjoy the science-fiction aspects but fail to empathise with most of his characters.
You can certainly see that Blish's writing has improved however, over the course of writing this series, but you have to pay attention to the fact that the series was written in a completely different order to the series order. This 4th book was in fact written 3rd, and it shows a definate improvent (to me at least) over the 3rd book in the series, which was in fact the first book to be written.
As I said tho, I do enjoy the science fiction aspects, and in this novel the main plot line involving the collision of two universes was absolutely fascinating. Whether or not you believe in this theory of universe evolution, its certainly interesting to think about. That our universe will not go on forever, but will one day crumple and then explode outwards creating brand new universes, the circle of life, death and rebirth manifested on a incomprehensible scale. It certainly is a mesmerising idea, and apt to make humans feel significant. But the way that Blish deals with it in the resolution puts all the humanity back into it, and makes us feel like even in the death and birth of universes we can have some small part to play.
On the whole, I do recommend the series, as there are some really great sci-fi ideas, even if the characters are a little bland and flaky. And plus its very rare to find sci-fi writing that actually tries to be scientific, and not just make things up entirely, even if it is now somewhat out of date, most of it still holds up well, and still has the power to entertain.
Recommended - read the whole series!
See my other reviews of Cities in Flight:
← #3 Earthman, Come Home
Since the city settled on the New Earth planet, Amalfi is depicted as feeling particularly restless, since he was once mayor of the city, but now has little to do with the running of the planet. And yet I feel that Amalfi often pretty much was a figurehead before, and none of his duties seems to have actually changed. Perhaps its more of a result of centuries of space travel and now being stuck on one planet, in one solar system. But still I find it hard to relate to the character, he is much too big for his boots sometimes with little to show for it.
Dee's confession of love for Amalfi comes out of the blue, possibly because we've seen little evidence for it, but then Dee barely has a personality anyway. Also possibly because there is little in Amalfi to love and I bear no sympathy for her feelings. Then again perhaps its just my incompatibility with Blish's writing, I enjoy the science-fiction aspects but fail to empathise with most of his characters.
You can certainly see that Blish's writing has improved however, over the course of writing this series, but you have to pay attention to the fact that the series was written in a completely different order to the series order. This 4th book was in fact written 3rd, and it shows a definate improvent (to me at least) over the 3rd book in the series, which was in fact the first book to be written.
As I said tho, I do enjoy the science fiction aspects, and in this novel the main plot line involving the collision of two universes was absolutely fascinating. Whether or not you believe in this theory of universe evolution, its certainly interesting to think about. That our universe will not go on forever, but will one day crumple and then explode outwards creating brand new universes, the circle of life, death and rebirth manifested on a incomprehensible scale. It certainly is a mesmerising idea, and apt to make humans feel significant. But the way that Blish deals with it in the resolution puts all the humanity back into it, and makes us feel like even in the death and birth of universes we can have some small part to play.
On the whole, I do recommend the series, as there are some really great sci-fi ideas, even if the characters are a little bland and flaky. And plus its very rare to find sci-fi writing that actually tries to be scientific, and not just make things up entirely, even if it is now somewhat out of date, most of it still holds up well, and still has the power to entertain.
Recommended - read the whole series!
See my other reviews of Cities in Flight:
← #3 Earthman, Come Home
August 18, 2013
The Cities in Flight series rank alongside Asimov's Foundation Trilogy as classic works of science fiction where the writing is more than touch clunky, but the ideas are so magnificent, you don't care. When you come to this, the final book in the series, it follows the worst of the four, but this time the reader gets something very different.
For a start there is a lot more consideration of character than in the earlier books. Sometimes a bit heavy handed, but it's there - and the characters have a lot to take on, because they know the universe is going to end in 3 years time, which is enough to give anyone pause for thought. Blish does particularly well in looking at how a young adult couple face the end of everything. (I've never noticed before, but with delightful symmetry with the old Bible-derived 'start date', the universe ends in 4004.)
But what lifts the book is the power of the ideas. Driven by the best cosmology of the time, Blish envisages what would happen if a matter and antimatter universe come together... and provides a remarkable ending that ranks with the best modern speculation about cosmology. He may lay the made-up science on a bit thick sometimes, but there is wonderful imagination here. If you like weird and wonderful theories of how the universe came into being, you will love this book.
For a start there is a lot more consideration of character than in the earlier books. Sometimes a bit heavy handed, but it's there - and the characters have a lot to take on, because they know the universe is going to end in 3 years time, which is enough to give anyone pause for thought. Blish does particularly well in looking at how a young adult couple face the end of everything. (I've never noticed before, but with delightful symmetry with the old Bible-derived 'start date', the universe ends in 4004.)
But what lifts the book is the power of the ideas. Driven by the best cosmology of the time, Blish envisages what would happen if a matter and antimatter universe come together... and provides a remarkable ending that ranks with the best modern speculation about cosmology. He may lay the made-up science on a bit thick sometimes, but there is wonderful imagination here. If you like weird and wonderful theories of how the universe came into being, you will love this book.
September 18, 2017
James Blish’s Cities in Flight is a series of four novels that documents Earth’s discovery of technology that allows them to achieve long distance space travel and the ramifications of Earthlings traveling the galaxy and beyond.
The series comes to a crashing conclusion with this final installment. The city of New York has settled on “New Earth.” Another traveling planet, He, engages with the city to discuss their discovery of a point in space that indicates the collision of two universes—theirs and another that is an antimatter universe. The two are set to collide and destroy both, but it will also trigger another big bang and create a multitude of new universes in the wake of its destruction. Both cities will fight to gain control of the collision point, hoping to have control over the demise of the universe and everyone inside of it.
This installment was definitely my least favorite of the series. It felt like different writing; everything seemed disjointed and rushed in a way that didn’t fit with the time and development of other characters and storylines throughout the arc of the series. The ending is predictable, but really, how else could such a series conclude? I believe the overall sentiment Blish aims for with these books is the hubris of humankind, no matter how far out in the universe we may expand.
The series comes to a crashing conclusion with this final installment. The city of New York has settled on “New Earth.” Another traveling planet, He, engages with the city to discuss their discovery of a point in space that indicates the collision of two universes—theirs and another that is an antimatter universe. The two are set to collide and destroy both, but it will also trigger another big bang and create a multitude of new universes in the wake of its destruction. Both cities will fight to gain control of the collision point, hoping to have control over the demise of the universe and everyone inside of it.
This installment was definitely my least favorite of the series. It felt like different writing; everything seemed disjointed and rushed in a way that didn’t fit with the time and development of other characters and storylines throughout the arc of the series. The ending is predictable, but really, how else could such a series conclude? I believe the overall sentiment Blish aims for with these books is the hubris of humankind, no matter how far out in the universe we may expand.
April 25, 2018
This, the final book in the Cities of Flight quadrilogy, was a bit of a disappointment in my opinion. Moving forward from the first three it is suddenly heavily laden with jargon and an initially somewhat disjointed dialogue. Once things do get moving the story does improve, however it takes some perseverance to get there and it certainly isn't like the earlier fun to read space adventures.
Bit of a fizzler, didn't get much from the ending either.
Bit of a fizzler, didn't get much from the ending either.
May 10, 2025
The final Cities in Flight book is long on pontification, rumination, navel gazing, theory and quarreling, and very short on plot.
A rather dull conclusion to an otherwise enjoyable series.
A rather dull conclusion to an otherwise enjoyable series.
June 22, 2015
The Triumph of Time a.k.a. A Clash of Cymbals. Cities in Flight #4
The fourth and final book in the Cities in Flight omnibus, this is the end of the universe. In style this is very much like the third in the series. In the beginning it seems a little disjointed; conversations are sometimes a little baffling. There is the occasional spate of technobabble. After slogging around for awhile, it finally gets going. And then the universe ends, and so does the novel.
The fourth and final book in the Cities in Flight omnibus, this is the end of the universe. In style this is very much like the third in the series. In the beginning it seems a little disjointed; conversations are sometimes a little baffling. There is the occasional spate of technobabble. After slogging around for awhile, it finally gets going. And then the universe ends, and so does the novel.
June 18, 2026
I do admire the authors scope, not satisfied with immortality, antigravity, and cities flying between galaxies at multiple times the speed of light, this final volume (written 3rd) has a whole planet flying to the Metagalactic centre of the universe, a twin antimatter universe colliding with ours (each with 16 dimensions) to obliterate time itself. Breakfast at Milliways anyone.
The flying cities have gone but the arrogant know-it-all mayor Amalfi formally of New York City is still displaying his 1950’s mindset, running everything and dictating to everyone. It’s supposedly 4004 but despite the advances listed above his attitudes, references and even his metaphors precede 1960. This unfortunately forever dates the series.
His author note asks - how would people both young (he has a young couple) and old (those near immortals, like Mayor Amalfi who’s over a thousand) react if they knew the exact moment of their death.
In general, the story is better except for long passages of barely understandable scientific jargon, to explain the antimatter universe and why time is going to end. However, in the last micro seconds of time, those who can translates (in spacesuits) through the junction into the nothingness of no time with their deaths can seed new universes. In essence big crunch to big bang. And they have completion other being want to get to centre first so the new universes created are from them.
In essence we’re going from big crunch to big bang, The countdown from ONE HOUR to time ending makes a fitting story and series end but … the plethora of fascinating ideas often gets in the way of story even if the reader overlooks the dated attitudes
In retrospect, the entire series, except for #1 written 2nd as a prequel. From chapter 4 of #2 it’s about New York and increasing Mayor Amalfi, who although born 2298 never leaves the 1950’s
The flying cities have gone but the arrogant know-it-all mayor Amalfi formally of New York City is still displaying his 1950’s mindset, running everything and dictating to everyone. It’s supposedly 4004 but despite the advances listed above his attitudes, references and even his metaphors precede 1960. This unfortunately forever dates the series.
His author note asks - how would people both young (he has a young couple) and old (those near immortals, like Mayor Amalfi who’s over a thousand) react if they knew the exact moment of their death.
In general, the story is better except for long passages of barely understandable scientific jargon, to explain the antimatter universe and why time is going to end. However, in the last micro seconds of time, those who can translates (in spacesuits) through the junction into the nothingness of no time with their deaths can seed new universes. In essence big crunch to big bang. And they have completion other being want to get to centre first so the new universes created are from them.
In essence we’re going from big crunch to big bang, The countdown from ONE HOUR to time ending makes a fitting story and series end but … the plethora of fascinating ideas often gets in the way of story even if the reader overlooks the dated attitudes
In retrospect, the entire series, except for #1 written 2nd as a prequel. From chapter 4 of #2 it’s about New York and increasing Mayor Amalfi, who although born 2298 never leaves the 1950’s
August 13, 2024
I rated this novel " C+ " when I read it Feb. 16, 1977.
I considered this book, the fourth and last of the series, significantly weaker that the others. Still, most series have trouble maintaining quality / pace / reader consciousness even up to the third book, let alone the fourth. As examples, I cite - well, how much time have we got? Do you want a few examples, or dozens or ...?
The first failed series that comes painfully to mind is riverworld, by Philips Jose Farmer. The initial novel, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go", won a Hugo Award, and had some some very strong points - but even in that introductory segment, there were hints that all might not turn out well. It descended farther and farther with each successive book (perhaps leading to the discovery of black holes?). The final insult - the collection of riverworld stories, ranks with my very very least favourites.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
I rated The Triumph of Time " C+ ", which translates to a Goodreads score of 2 stars.
I considered this book, the fourth and last of the series, significantly weaker that the others. Still, most series have trouble maintaining quality / pace / reader consciousness even up to the third book, let alone the fourth. As examples, I cite - well, how much time have we got? Do you want a few examples, or dozens or ...?
The first failed series that comes painfully to mind is riverworld, by Philips Jose Farmer. The initial novel, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go", won a Hugo Award, and had some some very strong points - but even in that introductory segment, there were hints that all might not turn out well. It descended farther and farther with each successive book (perhaps leading to the discovery of black holes?). The final insult - the collection of riverworld stories, ranks with my very very least favourites.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
I rated The Triumph of Time " C+ ", which translates to a Goodreads score of 2 stars.
October 27, 2022
This book brings the four volume "Cities in Flight" saga to a more than satisfactory conclusion. Although it is needlessly inflated by the subplot of Jorn The Apostle and his "Jehad" the main story is remarkable.
The Okies may not have believed they would live forever but they were certain it would be for millennia. Then they learn that in fact those millennia are about to be taken from them because the Universe itself is ending! In a remarkable twist, our expanding matter universe is nested inside a contracting antimatter universe and when they meet, to quote Blish, "Blooey!"
At the time of writing, the Big Bang theory had not been generally accepted, so Blish hedges his bets by incorporating both it and the rival Steady State theory into his cosmology.
However, the important point is that if anything survives the conjuction they will form the seeds of new universes. So Amalfi, the City Mayor, manouevres New York into a focal point where they can avoid instant obliteration and form said seeds.
And in a climax of emotional power, rare in SF, he does just that.
The Okies may not have believed they would live forever but they were certain it would be for millennia. Then they learn that in fact those millennia are about to be taken from them because the Universe itself is ending! In a remarkable twist, our expanding matter universe is nested inside a contracting antimatter universe and when they meet, to quote Blish, "Blooey!"
At the time of writing, the Big Bang theory had not been generally accepted, so Blish hedges his bets by incorporating both it and the rival Steady State theory into his cosmology.
However, the important point is that if anything survives the conjuction they will form the seeds of new universes. So Amalfi, the City Mayor, manouevres New York into a focal point where they can avoid instant obliteration and form said seeds.
And in a climax of emotional power, rare in SF, he does just that.
March 9, 2023
The prose had its highs, usually when describing the world and Amalfi's state of mind, otherwise it was lacking at best and completely beige when it came to dialogue and interpersonal relationships. Though the book is in no sense a political pamphlet, the underlying assumptions in the historical development of its societies are quasi-fascistic. I'd call Blish "a product of his time" but there were much better people with much better politics among his contemporaries. It's not the worst thing I've ever read, but it felt like at its heart it wanted to corroborate a philosophy of sorts, some sort of raging against the dying of the light (if not a cult of action for action's sake) as it were, but the getting there was pretty bland and the characters difficult to like.
May 1, 2023
Blish was reaching for Olaf Stapledon territory here. The amount of scientific discussion layered in somehow manages not to slow the narrative down, because it is so integral to the narrative...
Final book of the Okie quartet and, all Doc Smith, the stakes increase to where the universe itself is on the table waiting for the winning hand. Questions of anti-matter, gravitons, and the arrow of time figure into the very lives of the characters. (Today, he would have squeezed Dark Matter in as well.)
This novel represents both the point and the problem of this sort of SF. In my cynical opinion, work like this would never be bestseller material because most people wouldn't even know how to care about the fabric of what it tangles with.
Interesting. Dated, but interesting.
Final book of the Okie quartet and, all Doc Smith, the stakes increase to where the universe itself is on the table waiting for the winning hand. Questions of anti-matter, gravitons, and the arrow of time figure into the very lives of the characters. (Today, he would have squeezed Dark Matter in as well.)
This novel represents both the point and the problem of this sort of SF. In my cynical opinion, work like this would never be bestseller material because most people wouldn't even know how to care about the fabric of what it tangles with.
Interesting. Dated, but interesting.
October 27, 2023
It’s hard for a novel to be boring when it covers the end of the universe, a religious uprising, and starship battles against aliens but somehow this book managed it. Despite all that happened, the plot felt thin and the character work was not great (seriously, Dee was a completely new person here, the kids were flat, and Amalfi as the weary Superman was annoying). Kind of a dud for the series to end on after a promising beginning, but such is life. Too much exposition and info dumps killed an interesting idea.
June 19, 2017
I give the author high marks for the latter part of the novel's idea of the end and re-beginning of the universe. But as with the Earthman, the dialogue and character development is often strained with underdevelopment and constrained by sections of technobabble. The love relationship with Amalfi and Dee doesn't work.
April 29, 2021
This fourth and last book in "Cities in Flight" was my least favorite. The huge amount of scientific jargon was way over my head and the character interaction felt maudlin and jerky to me. The "end of the universe" theme was just over-the-top and felt abruptly added and not believable in the context of the other three books, even though it is Sci-Fi.
January 3, 2025
This has been on my to-read shelf for a while. Picking up and starting to read I discover that I have already done so: A Clash of Cymbals is an alternative title for The Triumph of Time
June 2, 2024
Old style Hard SF with great storytelling. The city of New York is finally grounded, and the crew are homesteading a new planet, when news arrives of impending disaster. Amazing story - one of my all time favourites!
February 23, 2019
Het onderliggende probleem is mij wat te theoretisch
January 6, 2023
speculative hard sci-fi dealing with the end of the universe. I liked it, makes me wonder whether I should try to read the first three in the series.
February 8, 2023
Fifty years since I first read this series...and I still enjoyed it.
April 17, 2023
A fitting, and unambiguous, end to this series.
December 20, 2024
An enjoyable book. I jumped into the series here (I think it's the last one) and could follow the plot without a problem. Good characters and a good plot.
September 4, 2025
So smothered in 1950s techno-babble as to be almost unreadable. Except for the final half page, which was excellent, and rates a star all by itself.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews