Triplanetary Audiobook by E. E. 'Doc' Smith

Title: Triplanetary
Subtitle: Lensman Series
Author: E. E. 'Doc' Smith
Narrator: Reed McColm
Format: Unabridged
Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
Language: English
Release date: 10-09-07
Publisher: Books in Motion
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 319 votes
Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Classic

Publisher's Summary:
From the atomic age in Atlantis to a world remote in space and time, two incredible ancient races, the Arisians and the Eddorians, are in the midst of an interstellar war - with Earth as the prize.
Hi-fi sci-fi: listen to more in the
series.
© and (P)2006 Books in Motion. This recording is produced by arrangement with The Estate of E. E. "Doc" Smith and Virginia Kidd, Inc.

Critic Reviews:
"The most towering figure in science fiction, thanks to the enormous scope of his novels." (Isaac Asimov)

"If you wish to understand the roots of modern science fiction, you have to read the Lensman saga." (Allen Steele)

"A finalist for a special Hugo Award for All-Time Best Series, 'Lensman' is considered by many sf heads to be the greatest of the space operas and clearly a source for such successors as Star Trek and Star Wars." (Library Journal)

Members Reviews:
Lensman Series is Still Fun
Okay. The narrator of this series is not the best. Nevertheless, this story still works if you can get past some of writing (the "look of eagles" in the eyes of Lensmen for instance). If you've never dipped into these before, get Galactic patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensmen and Children of the Lens in that order. If you are still hooked, go back and pick up First lensman. You have to be a real diehard lensmen fan to slug through Triplanetary.
This is classic space opera, good versus evil, with the guys in the white hats destined to win. Smith wasn't very good at envisioning future technology, but he comes up with some fun ideas. The inertialess drive is an interesting solution to FSL travel and the negasphere is one of the best Sci_Fi weapons ever imagined. His aliens are fun too, especially the frigid planet dwellers. Considering that the series was started in the late 30s, it holds up amazingly well.

Old Time Sci Fi at It's Best
The book is the grandfather of all space operas. It's story that takes place over 2 billion years and has every you could want from and old time Sci Fi yarn.
It has bug eyes aliens, Ultra weapons, Ether shields and plenty of battles.
The story is a little unwieldy in spots, and takes a little preserverance, but is well worth it.

A classic, but...
The Lensman series is a classic, one of the founding cornerstones of space opera. The performance of the book was good, the voices distinguishable and interesting.
The one thing that did annoy me, however, was the 12-minute lecture before the book ever began, snootily informing the reader that the novel was written in an earlier era, that attitudes towards women, etc were different then and the book reflects that. Which would not have been so bad (it's certainly true) if it was not so worded as to sound so contemptuously dismissive of the author.
So, my recommendation is to skip the self-righteous moralizing at the beginning and jump forward 12 minutes or so to the actual story.

Better as an Audiobook
I first read this book in High School many years ago. I haunted the Brooklyn Public Library until I read the entire series. This book is much better as an audio book. I re-read it about 10 years ago an found difficulty with the writing. As an audio book, Smith's stilted writing, especially about the emotions of the characters is not as bad.