Childhood's End

I liked this book a great deal and loved the speculative parts of it. The ending is definitely one of my favorites among science fiction. Admittedly, I was not a fan of the characters and didn't empathize for them, but that didn't detract from the larger narrative.

It sounds like a story you've heard before: great alien masters descend on Earth and take control of the world, ushering in a golden age that may be cleverly disguised creative slavery. But Clarke's legendary novel (equal to _Rendezvous with Rama_ and _2001: A Space Odyssey_ in fame) isn't about a human rebellion against alien overlords, but the evolution of humanity into its next stage, and the ultimate dwarfing power of... Read Full Review

I was strictly a dabbler in science fiction, until this book grabbed me and pulled me in. To this day, it ranks as my favourite in the genre.The Overlords appear one day over every city on Earth, and with little resistance, mankind submits to the technologically superior race. After all, their demands are entirely benevolent; they seem to want no more than to end war, poverty, and the other evils that have always plagued... Read Full Review

The vision of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End is as remarkable and beautiful in the year 2001 as it was the day that it was written. I was doing some internet research on the great author when I stumbled upon some recent customer reviews on this masterpiece. It appears that many children in Illinois were recently coerced into reading this book by some Overlord of a teacher. (I'll bet that teacher looks like Satan, himself.)... Read Full Review

If you are an Arthur C. Clarke fan, you must read this. Characteristically, some of his main themes include the tension between rationalism and mysticism, which crops up repeatedly in his work, as in the ending of "2001: A Space Odyssey", or in "The Fountains of Paradise", to name just two examples. He seems to have a real love/hate relationship with this issue -- as far as I know, it may date from his experiences,... Read Full Review