Review of 'Cosmic Engineers'

Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak

cosmic_engineers.jpg On the way to Pluto the crew of the Space Pup, Herb Harper and Gary Nelson (pilot), come across the shell of a spacecraft floating derelict. Boarding the ship they find the crew all dead save for Caroline Martin a scientist held in suspended animation for a thousand years. Learning that a series of undecipherable, urgent messages have been received from the outer edges of the universe Caroline reveals that during her years asleep she has been communing with message originators. With her help they follow the directions given by the remote sender to construct a device that allows them to travel the unimaginable distances to visit the people they call the “Cosmic Engineers” who reveal that our universe is on a collision course with another, and it is up to the humans to come to the rescue!

A classic SF pulp novel from the early 50s, “Cosmic Engineers” is not great literature but it is a good bit of fun assuming you set aside the artefacts of the period in which it was written (sexism, for example). The ideas here are incredible and stretch believably beyond breaking point but it is a good 'ol “boys own” adventure. A light, marginally enjoyable, read from an early master of Science Fiction – For goodness sake, don't think too hard about what you are reading and just turn the page…Simak wrote MUCH better than this so seek out some of his other works for a truer representation of his talent.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2019-12-29


Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Paperback Library

Publication Date: 1950