Children of Tomorrow

This is a strange little novel, one which overlays golden age tropes onto an intriguing but unconvincing future scenario clearly responding to Vietnam War and 1960s counterculture issues.

This is a future in which the manly men have all become military starfarers, hot shot pilots and commanders.

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And it’s a good thing they have, because some ill-intentioned invisible aliens have followed our protagonist back to the solar system, and secretly gather intelligence in advance of an invasion. Sadly the career choice of these virile men has not been particularly easy for their loved ones, the logistics of space flight necessitate abandoning one's family for years at a time, leaving wives depressed and tempted and children lacking a steadying fatherly authority.

This is one of those books where nothing felt convincing. Unbelievable characters (both human and alien) interact in unbelievable ways and do unbelievable things. The plotting bounces back and forth between the contrived and the trite as it moves towards the rather silly ending.

The only thing I liked about the book was that while Van Vogt gives us a string of stereotype, he frequently then proceeds to play against them. The annoying slangy teen “outfits” which have evolved to provide group parenting by peers in the end prove surprisingly effective.

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One doesn't read Van Vogt for the unforgettable characters or the sometimes not so convincing dialogues, but for the always interesting ideas about organising a society that he unfolds. This time, the question is: what if a society, where most fathers have departed for years to fight a war in

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space, tries to find a solution for youth delinquacy and youth suicide thougths by organising them in groups, and make them responsible for their own education - with some adult back-up? The results are quite remarkable - especially for some alien invasion force, approaching Earth... It's not the best book I ever read, but worth reading.

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