Space Trilogy: "Islands of the Sky", "Earthlight", "The Sands of Mars" (Gollancz S.F.) [Paperback]

THE SPACE TRILOGY is a collection of three of Arthur C. Clarke's early novels. Long before 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) and RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA (1972), Clarke wrote THE SANDS OF MARS (1951), ISLANDS IN THE SKY (1952) and EARTHLIGHT (1955). Apart from the publishing history of these books, the theme of this collection is the fictionalization of Earth's future space exploration (which was, of course, also a theme of virtually Clarke's entire body of work).


ISLANDS IN THE SKY

In the near future where Earth has several orbiting space stations, a teenager finagles a trip onto one of them by winning a TV quiz show and then demanding a very literal interpretation of the contest's rules. Once on board he experiences a variety of relatively minor adventures which serve to demonstrate Clarke's view of how space travel would work rather than existing to provide tension or drama.

In his introduction Arthur C. Clarke states that he wrote this book specifically for the juvenile market but hoped that only the age of the protagonist would betray that. Unfortunately, I would disagree with Clarke's assessment, although this isn't a bad work at all. It certainly feels like something aimed at preteens and by the end of the story, it's hard to ignore the fact that very little actually happened.

As something that was deliberately written as pro-space exploration propoganda, ISLANDS barely succeeds, but isn't particular interesting as a piece of fiction. It's only down to Clarke's writing skills that it comes across as something better than simply a dry, speculative lecture. The success of the space program in the decades since the original publication do rob the book of a lot of its impact.

3 of 5 stars


THE SANDS OF MARS

In this story, Earth's Martian colonies are still in their infancy. To help maintain funding and support from an increasingly skeptical Earth, a science fiction author rockets to Mars and begins writing essays and reports for consumption at home. Naturally, during his stay on Mars he uncovers a conspiracy which has the potential to alter the balance of power in the solar system.

The plot and story of this book are incredibly slow-moving. However, this would appear to be deliberate as -- once again -- Clarke is more interested in world building and speculating about future colonies than spending time on detailed and intricate plot twists. Again, in the hands of a lesser writer, this could have been a painful experience. But Clarke manages to create an engaging book where the Martian colony is an interesting focal point (if not the actual characters who make it up).

3 of 5 stars


EARTHLIGHT

The concept of a human Federation of Planets, is something that has appeared countless times in science fiction stories. However, unlike many other such stories, here the Federation exists as a union of human colonies who form a bond as a counterweight against the much more powerful Earth. Spies and counterspies are infiltrating both parties in an attempt to uncover each side's secret attempts to gain a technological upper hand.

While the first two stories were interesting curiosities which gave the reader insight into Clarke's early style, EARTHLIGHT was something that I genuinely enjoyed as a story in its own right. In this, the author was able to combine marry his speculation of future history and an intriguing, exciting plot. This was by far my favorite of the three.

4 of 5 stars


THE SPACE TRILOGY is an interesting collection. While it's almost certainly aimed at the die-hard Arthur C. Clarke fans who would love to obtain some of his more obscure novels, general science fiction fans will also get something out of it. It's an fascinating look at where science fiction was in the early to mid 1950s with the usual unabashedly pro-science viewpoint and scientist, professor and researcher characters we would later come to expect from Arthur C. Clarke.

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