The City at World's End

(4 stars)

Sagittarius88

Satisfying read. An interesting conflict between the comfort of the tried and true and the curious eagerness to break new ground. One star less for its predictability. All the rating comments about the author having a sexist attitude are unfounded, given the time of writing and his portrayal of the strong female character in the story. On the contrary, this literary work evokes thinking of gender issues.

wonderful reading of a great scifi adventure

(5 stars)

Akku

I skimmed the reviews before starting this, some mention the scientific information being out of date and show the age of it. I'm no scientist so that meant nothing to me. what does date this story is social attitudes which have changed a bit since 1951. so I listened imaging this happened then not now, and I found that worked just fine for me. Its a great compelling tale and it's read wonderfully.

solid retro scifi

(5 stars)

Robert A

A really enjoyable story! the plot progression is fun to follow along with and the twists and turns keep you guessing. Lots less misogynistic than many, many stories of the era- even if it's very not perfect it's got some decent female supporting characters. It's fun to hear them describe nuclear fusion before the process was well enough understood to apparently have the name we know it by today. Narration is top notch.

A gem

(5 stars)

Tomaz Lasic

Brilliant narration by Mark Nelson and a classic that reminds why sci fi is such a wonderful way to explore the eternal themes of freedom, agency and identity. One can easily see how the latter juggernauts of Star Wars and similar have drawn on classic works like this to create their stories and universes. Highly recommend with outstanding narration to boot.

Great Fun !

(5 stars)

joseph zimmerman - salcha, alaska -

Love these great sci-fi story's .. Mark always reads the Great Ones .. Thank You For Your Precious Time ...

Saturday kids cinema

(4 stars)

MaxoJaxo

when I was a teenager in the 80s, every Saturday morning was double feature matinee at the local one screen cinema. weekly installments of the adventures of Rocketman, a couple of Loony Toons, ice cream intermission and then a Children's Film Foundation main feature. Usually about a gang of kids foiling bank robbers, catching smugglers, hiding a space robot in the forest. This story reminds me so much of that time and those type of 'Boys Adventure' stories, a bit dated, full of tropes, a few hours on an entertaining flight of fancy, well narrated and a throwback to easier times trying to fit into different and changing times.

societal norms

(4 stars)

Ernest

With all the talk of sexism, did anyone catch the interplay of authoritarians? First, the scientists tell the people that they have to leave or die. Then, they tell their rescuers that they'd rather die than leave. And why didn't Allen use the same "do you want your child to die" technique?

Well.. they didn’t get obliterated!!

(5 stars)

Patricia

Wonderfully narrated as usual by Mark:) He is a favorite of mine as his voice does not “boom” and obviously he uses excellent tech to save our ears! I love this story. The imagery is very easily imagined in minds eye:) None of the “sexist” things ppl may mention bothered me one bit- one must remember the author is writing for their time period. 50-100 years from now people will undoubtedly find many of today’s attitudes, the use of inclusive or exclusive language and scientific ideas to be redundant as I feel cultural trends will just become normalized and observed overall or discarded in the long term as silly or rude things to speak of. Similar to how women are mentioned in hysterics -one must remember the political and religious landscapes surrounding authors when writing their stories:) I enjoy listening and reading from other eras and about different ideas of my own whether or not I “believe” them now. This is a good story and says a lot about now as it said a lot about then.