I’m continuing on my quest to read through all of the sci-fi Masterworks I have from Gollancz on my bookshelves. Hal Clement’s ‘Mission of gravity’ is the most recent one I’ve been reading.

There are great ideas here well executed. Given the book’s age this could so easily have fallen into the usual 1950s/1960s sci-fi trap of being a cheesy cross between the Jetsons and Lost in Space. But it isn’t. Thankfully the author has managed to do something truly timeless by ensuring that enough is left to the reader’s imagination with the world and its technology that nothing seems dated, even reading it now.

The execution of the science is particularly well done and still very believable, and I found myself drawn easily in and not distracted in any way by bad science that often plagues other books of this vintage. Overal I would say that this is a great read and has stood the test of time exceptionally well. I’d give it a good 7 out of 10. A book well worth reading.