Language English Media type Print (hardback) OCLC 1295388 Cover artist Hannes Bok Genres Novel, Science Fiction | Publication date 1952 Pages 254 pp Originally published 1952 Publisher Fantasy Press Country United States of America | |
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Similar GOG 666, The Forbidden Garden, Seeds of Life, The Purple Sapphire, The Time Stream | ||
The Crystal Horde is a science fiction novel by author John Taine (pseudonym of Eric Temple Bell). It was first published in book form in 1952 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 2,328 copies. The novel is substantially rewritten from a version that originally appeared in the magazine Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1930 under the title White Lily.
Contents
Plot introduction
The novel is a science horror story that involves silicon crystalline lifeforms threatening to overwhelm carbon life on Earth.
Reception
Groff Conklin, reviewing the 1952 edition, gave a mixed opinion; praising "one of the most magnificent science-horror ideas ever created," but ridiculing the plot as "probably the worst yellow-menace-plus-Bolsheviks-plus-religious-prejudice melange ever to hit science fiction." Boucher and McComas similarly found the novel an unsuccessful fusion of disparate elements, "a dull and involved story of Chinese warfare" and "some amusing satire and a dazzling series of descriptions.". P. Schuyler Miller, however, praised the story as among Taine's best, saying "the wildest of fancy, liberally laid on a solid scientific core."
Everett F. Bleiler reported that the opening sections regarding the outbreak of crystal life "have a certain fascination, despite the horrible writing," but the rest of the novel "is a jumble that never achieves conviction."