SOJALS rating:

Mediocre (2/5)

I first read this in 1968 and most recently in 2005

After three long years touring the cosmos, the "Franklin" has returned to the Solar System to discover that the Earth has become a burning husk and that all Earthbound life has been destroyed.

Encircling the ruined husk of the homeworld are fleets of deadly space torpedoes, targeted to attack any returning ships.

The ship must flee, but to where can they go? Which alien port will be safe when they do not know who their murderous enemy is? And why should they flee? What hope does this crew of three-hundred men have to establish any sensible future?

As it happens, and by a fortunate coincidence, at almost the same time, the "Europa" a ship with an all-female crew, is going through much the same thought process.

The next problem to solve is of course, how will they find each other, and build a new future for humankind?

Well, actually I thought (as a tender child) that this was pretty good. As an adult, well darn it, yes, I still enjoyed it.

What's it got? a nice dramatic backdrop (the dead earth hanging in the sky); a man's man Carl Donnan who steps to the breach while others falter; Sigfrid Holmen, the foreign babe with the exotic accent, and in fact her whole shipload of foreign babes with exotic accents. And strange aliens, including Ramri, birdman of the Monwaing. No sex though.