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Title: Northwest Smith by C. L. Moore ISBN: 0441586139 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $2.75

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5

Rating: 3
Summary: Northwest Smith
Comment: Though she has a way with words, and knows how to throw her hero into the thick of trouble, the stories in this collection are far too similar to each other to warrant especial praise. Almost all of the stories here, starring leatherclad rogue Northwest Smith, feature vampiric female beauties that infest out solar system. Smith spends more time trying to keep his life-essence sucked away than ten other heroes of the spaceways I know. Only one story truly varies from this approach, though it was a relief.

One could almost write a twenty-page essay on these stories demonstrating how a woman SF author of the genre's Golden Age succeeded in a male-dominated field by camouflaging her name--totally understandable--and then deciding that what these male fans wanted most were alien beauties, meticulously described, enthralling the same tough-guy over and over again--not so understandable. The novelty here is that Northwest Smith does not face the shoot-em-up scenarios most gun-toting heroes have to blast their way out of; instead, he must engage in surreal battles of the mind, psychically fighting off either nightmarish visions or simply miasmic manifestations of vampiric energy. But the novelty is actually a constant, and I soon found myself wishing Smith would have to draw that gun of his (it changes names each story--heat-gun, ray-gun, and a third name for it of which I didn't keep track)! Or, failing that, perhaps he could need a magic key, or an answer to a cosmic riddle, to stay alive. No, his best defense is always strength of will...and it gets a bit old.

The stories are well-written, make no mistake. The rich prose reminds me a bit of what goes on in Clark Ashton Smith's imaginative tales. Strange, haunting alienscapes are wonderfully described, layer by layer (Smith is invariably trekking through to the inner heart of some jungle, or temple, or cavern-system, where the danger is). Moore is a bit addicted, here, to the words 'ripple' and 'unnamable', but at least there are no actual 'unnamable ripples'. She hasn't quite got the glittering, ever-changing vocabulary of Clark Ashton Smith, but she's close. Very close.

No, the real letdown in this book is the repetitive nature of the stories, which makes one wonder just what Moore thought of her Golden Age readers.

Rating: 4
Summary: This book is a classic that all sci-fi fans should read.
Comment: C. L. Moore garnered praise for her work in a time when women did not write science fiction. Her stories were powerful and poignant; her heroes and heroines were complex, well crafted individuals. She struck the perfect balance between adventure, science fiction, fantasy and mystery.

Northwest Smith is one of her more interesting heroes. He's an earthman who cannot return home and wanders the galaxy making the only living he can as a hired criminal. He's managed to become one of the best, and his employment continually sends him to the strangest most magical parts of the universe. Join in his adventures against the age old forces of the universe, which are often reminiscent of mythological tales.

This book is a classic that all sci-fi fans should read.