Slan
Author: A.E. van Vogt
Genre: Science Fiction
Year: 1940
Rating: 9 of 10
Super fun golden age action. This wonderful novel was first published in Astounding Magazine and was awarded the Retro-Hugo for best novel of 1941. I don’t know why it took me so long to read van Vogt but I know this won’t be the last of his books that I read. I tore through this in a few days because it was really hard to put down. While the plot had a few twists and convenient technologies fall out of the sky that were quite frankly ridiculous, it didn’t really matter that things seemed implausible solely for the fact that this was such a fun story. I have heard that Philip K. Dick was a big van Vogt fan and Slan made it clear that this must be the case, as the movement of the story has a very Dick feel, especially how the book wrapped up (trying to avoid spoilers). If you are interested in Golden Age science fiction classics this book from the highly prolific Grand Master is not to be missed.
Purchase: Buy!