The Black Star Passes (Ace SF Classic, F-346)

The story is interesting at times but relies so heavily on the technical science side of things that it bleeds into being a term paper and not a book. Dozens of pages discussing matter density, experiments, application and construction; so much so that you can easily forget what they are even building this stuff for. Feels as though the author wanted to prove his ability in understanding of engineering and so forth instead of displaying an ability to craft a compelling story.

I found this book back in the 70s and had a bunch of fun reading it. Campbell wrote it in 1930. This edition is 1953. Earth gets to go to Mars and battle beings that have aircraft with multi-mile-long wings and twenty pusher style propellors on each wing. The monster ships are powered by solidified light, no less. Now before you start laughing your head off, don't forget that light is made up of particles. Theoretically, they could be brought together to form a solid substance. Now if you want to laugh at the idea of a society of martians living on Mars with the knowledge we have today, well, go ahead. The story is very original and clever. I think it would have been great as a movie. I give it four out of five stars merely in light of what we now know about our planet neighbors. It's a good "what if" tale, though. Get it while it's cheap and enjoy it for the pure entertainment value that "The Black Star Passes" is.