Book Review: Clifford D. Simak - City

 

(Audio version of this book review to follow on the Book Review Podcast - Reading in Bed. Available on all of the usual places from start of April 2022)

Blurb:

On a far future Earth, mankind's achievements are immense: artificially intelligent robots, genetically uplifted animals, interplanetary travel, genetic modification of the human form itself.

But nothing comes without a cost. Humanity is tired, its vigour all but gone. Society is breaking down into smaller communities, dispersing into the countryside and abandoning the great cities of the world.

As the human race dwindles and declines, which of its great creations will inherit the Earth? And which will claim the stars?

Strengths:

First of all, this is a series of interconnected short stories wrote between 1944 to 1951 (with a additional short story wrote in 1971 as a tribute to its original editor John W Campbell) and the scope stretching over 10,000 years from man who abandons their homes in the cities in fear of the atomic bomb (which was a major threat certainly into the 50s) then most of mankind feeling to Jupiter, leaving a new order to be established by talking dogs and their robot helpers who by the end of the book now face the threat of a rising insect civillization.

The ambition of it is impressive and I did enjoy the use of the narrator inbetween the stories unclear himself on whether mankind actually existed throughout and the build-up of the talking dogs, mans eventual replacement was built up at a patient build up throughout the story.

I particularly liked the calmness of the stories which was a lovely change in pace in calmness and thoughtfulness and out of the nine stories, most of them had a really good ending which left me thinking afterwards left me thinking (I read one a day over 9 days which in hindsight was the right move).

I also liked the fact it went the other way with quite a bit of Science Fiction in the fact he looked at things at the decline of society with mankind dying out instead off the world being overpopluating and the gentle lesuire of the books left you deep in thought throughout the full of the world, not wars and the deaths of thousands, say millions of people but rather at the end of one of the stories when a character decides against wiping a race as they had being too much death in the generations before.

Weaknesses:

Sadly the book is dated somewhat now as the characters are borderline too thin in places and dated certainly (I didn’t realise how old this book was until I researched it afterwards) and the use of the ants in the last few stories didn’t really connect with me as their motives weren’t not explored really, but to do would have made this a lot longer a book than what we got (which was 280 or so pages).

Also worth of note was the fact that little of the technology in the book is not touched on, so for people who live their Science Fiction more technical this perhaps also is not the book, but perhaps is better for people who like their stories at a more lesirelike pace.

I’m giving this a 8 but I can admit it’s not for everybody.