Skylark DuQuesne

Sometimes we finish a book with disappointment, only to realize later that the disappointment was our failure to understand the writer. SKYLARK DUQUESNE is such a book for me, with the most jarring final sentence I can remember - a sentence so unlike the usual Doc Smith firecracker, I was for a long time angry and sad that the old boy had so badly "lost it" at the end of his life. Yet I now smile at the idea that this space opera pioneer was still reaching for new high notes - and I think he succeeded. If you consider this book as the beginning of a new Duquesne cycle, rather than the end of the Seaton cycle, suddenly you see that Doc has left us with wonderful new possibilities to imagine. For, as the song goes, "the minute you let her under your skin, then you begin to make it better."

I enjoyed reading "Skylark Duquesne" as a kid and still enjoy this, last, novel in the Skylark series. While some of the interactions and explanations are somewhat dated, it does not interfere with the enjoyment of this story. Doc Smith pulls out all the stops and has Seaton and DuQuesne work together to rid the universe of the evil Chlorians. The book is fast paced and the scale is HUGE! While Seaton is still the hero of the series, DuQuesne takes on a complexity of character that is amazing. The resolution of the novel, and the series, is satisfactory. It does help to read the rest of the series first. However, I recommend this book without qualification.

Science fiction can be a serious examination of social issues, or a study of human character in a changing world, or a simple tribute to the majesty of all that we know and all that we don't. Then there's Doc Smith. His super-powered Frat Boys in Space, Seaton and Crane, leap with ADHD attention span from one world-shattering cataclysm to the next - including the ones they cause themselves. They vanquish the evil-doers of the universe from their planet-sized battlewagon, but make sure there's a white picket fence in there somewhere for The Little Woman. They save the downtrodden good guys on planets everywhere, and we know they're good guys because they look Earthian right down to reproductive compatibility. Caucasian, too, in case anyone wondered whether they really were good guys. They aren't prejudiced by the standards of when these books were written, though. Some of those otherwordly humans are green (not their fault, y'know, can't hold it against them) and some Asians from earth, because only Earth has non-anglo faces on it and because every grand hero needs a housekeeper. The finale has The Earth Guys getting rid of The Bad Guys by crashing something into their galaxy and ruining the property values. They were careful to evacuate all of Our Sort, of course. It was a pretty big galaxy, with billions of inhabited planets to evacuate and/or destry, so the job took two or three guys the whole afternoon. Phew - they were afraid it might have been a tough one. By being true to its 1950s spirit (despite 1960s authorship), this will offend modern sensibilities in a half-dozen ways. I sure don't want those days back, but that quaint naivete is part of the series's charm. If anything it's even more alien to a modern reader than all those improbable beings from unfriendly planets. -- wiredweird

This was the last of the Skylark books and it goes WAY over the top - I mean atleast 2 unstoppable alien races, discussions of why people are people, sex, love, witches, mining, ESP, Fenacrome, world domination, how to run a civilization - it's got it all! They even blow up not one but TWO galaxies! talk about bodycount! Personally, I could never imagine this as a live-action movie but there's any number of japanese anime directors I'd love to have do this - but that's just me. Anyway, this is the last and possibly the best from one of the first in the field and he put his heart and soul in it and it's well worth the price at any price! And best of all, even if you absolutely hate it; compared to today's foot-crushing books this'll be a real quick read - it's only afew hundred pages, and boy, will it suck you in when you start reading them!

This is the last of the Skylark books, and in true Smith style the scale is grander than ever. Seaton and Duquesne, who have long been enemies, must pool their resources and work togeather against the most formidable opponent either has ever seen - not a hostile ship, or ruler, or even a planet, but an entire galaxy militarized by the Chlorians! This has all the qualities readers have come to identify as E.E. "Doc" Smith - powerful weapons, powerful enemies, and unstoppable heros, but in this novel the character of Duquesne assumes more complexity than any other Smith character I can recall. He is definitely the most interesting - a criminal, power hungry, brilliant, yet at the same time he will never break his word, even when it could mean achieving his goals. Cold and heartless, logical to a degree unapproached by any other human character Smith wrote save Fernidad Stone, yet possessing no hatred for even his archrival, Seaton. This book is very highly recommended!