A Voyage to Arcturus

David Lindsay, from the Scottish borders, inspired C.S. Lewis and Phillip Pullman and many others. Where I really enjoyed C.S. Lewis's Planet trilogy, I found this a lot harder to relate to.

Published in 1920!, this book was named a Masterwor of Fantasy. It is similar to Gulliver's Travels, and like that story, I suspect an annotated version would help to pick up the philosophies and politics behind this one. Instead of meeting curious peoples and deciding how to help them, Maskull meets individuals and usually has a detrimental effect on them.

The story was hard to read, with the point of view occasionally leaving Maskull. This happens at the end also, adding to the confusion of the conclusion. Women are discussed as weak, even though examples of the feminine within the story are usually quite strong. My trade paperback was not cursed with the typos and mispunctuation that other reviewers have complained of, so that's a blessing.

I have read that this book is thought provoking and gains something on a second reading. I just don't plan to undertake that anytime soon.