The Invincible

Title: The Invincible
Author: Stanisław Lem
Translator: Bill Johnston
First Published: January 1, 1964
Publisher: The MIT Press
Pages: 233
Genre: Hard Science Fiction, Science Fiction
Format: Ebook
Source: Prime Reading
Rating:


Synopsis:

A space cruiser, in search of its sister ship, encounters beings descended from self-replicating machines.

In the grand tradition of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, Stanisław Lem's The Invincible tells the story of a space cruiser sent to an obscure planet to determine the fate of a sister spaceship whose communication with Earth has abruptly ceased. Landing on the planet Regis III, navigator Rohan and his crew discover a form of life that has apparently evolved from autonomous, self-replicating machines—perhaps the survivors of a “robot war.” Rohan and his men are forced to confront the classic quandary: what course of action can humanity take once it has reached the limits of its knowledge? In The Invincible, Lem has his characters confront the inexplicable and the bizarre: the problem that lies just beyond analytical reach.

Review

This book takes a completely new twist on evolution and the fight for survival. The group that is the most advanced will win, hasn’t that been the lesson from our own human history? Let me tell you man, I always find the insects that swarm in the present day pretty scary, the ones in The Invincible take it to a whole new level. It is truly horrific and kind of amazing the capabilities of this mysterious swarm, but at the same time the malevolence you typically get from any story is missing. It’s easy to hate something that is out to get our heroes because of some desire to do harm. The swarm isn’t targeting anyone out of spite or to destroy, it acts as any other creature would – doing what it needs to survive. This is what makes the events that take place that much more unsettling, calling into question man’s place as king of the food chain.

In essence, the idea explored in the story is whether or not it is man’s right to interfere with things that don’t affect them directly. A question that has been ever present in discussions about our right to meddle with nature. If history is any indication, we certainly do love to stick our noses where they don’t belong, even when it comes to our fellow man. Who or what has the right to survive?

It takes a while for the story to get rolling, but once it does it creeps up on you fast. There is a lot of action and the story is actually pretty tense, I was constantly wondering how things would play out and felt a deep sense of dread for the crew.

There were a lot of characters that come and go in the story and I found it hard to keep track of them. The only characters I found myself remembering well and caring about are Rohan and the commander, Horpach. I can’t decide if this is a good or bad thing, since the story is so focused on the point of view of Rohan it doesn’t become too bogged down. At the same time, all these other names are constantly tossed in and I gave up trying to remember who they were. It makes sense for there to be a lot of characters, this is a story about a star ship crew after all, but it would have been nice if there was a little more to these other characters. It makes the whole drama of the attacks a little less gut wrenching as I’m sure they could have been if it had been characters I actually cared about.

Despite my complaints about the characters and the slow start, I have a newfound adoration of Stanislaw Lem and science fiction.

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