Emi B. (wantonvolunteer) - , reviewed on 8/29/2010 + 84 more book reviews

The inside back page says Arthur C. Clarke is considered the greatest science fiction writer of all time, so I had high hopes for Childhood's End and was disappointed. I just don't like space fantasy enough to get past all this clumsy writing. There were so many cheesy lines like "you have been reading too much science fiction", "it was all like a Hollywood thriller", and "getting in touch with aliens wasn't as easy as in fiction" ugh. The breathless cartoonyness ...more The inside back page says Arthur C. Clarke is considered the greatest science fiction writer of all time, so I had high hopes for Childhood's End and was disappointed. I just don't like space fantasy enough to get past all this clumsy writing. There were so many cheesy lines like "you have been reading too much science fiction", "it was all like a Hollywood thriller", and "getting in touch with aliens wasn't as easy as in fiction" ugh. The breathless cartoonyness reminded me of how bad the movie Avatar's dialog was.

Arthur C. Clarke's writing led to the development of satellite technology, so I expected more dazzlingly prescient hi-tech like William Gibson does, but all I got was faxes, film and conveyor belts, meh. I gave it an extra star because I dislike the genre and he did have some good pages (164-167) when the action peaks and babies go out of control and freakish planets get described vividly. But then it wraps up with a lot more "he never learned the story of why blah blah blah" which read to me like the author just couldn't be bothered.

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