Leave all feminist
thought at the door.  For that matter, leave all modern thought at
the door.  This is not a book for that.  This is a book from a
simpler time.  A time when good was good, bad was bad, men were men,
and women were emotional and threw themselves at the men, exclaiming,
“Oh, Ted!” or whatever the current hero’s name is.  I conducted
an informal poll and so far no woman I talked to has ever thrown
herself on a man exclaiming, “Oh, Whatsyerface!”.  No man has had
this done to him.  And no one has ever seen it.  But by the number of
women who do so in this novel, it apparently happened to Doc Smith on many occasions.  It was a time when saying, “What a gang!”
was a good thing.

Triplanetary is
the first of Smith’s Lensmen series and is one of the beginnings of
the space opera subgenre that would eventually be the precursor to
Star Wars—lots of different
planets and peoples fighting an intergalactic war for the betterment
of all.  The series was written between 1928 and 1954 and was
immensely popular in its day.  Smith was a pulp writer and it shows.
The writing style is simultaneous too ornate and too simplistic to
modern ears.  The characters don’t even hit a second dimention.  They
are a line.  The story is clearly set with good versus evil and
of course Earth is good.  And it is also clearly sexist and
racist.  The first female character to show up, on page 30, doesn’t
immediately faint.  But she almost immediately faints.  By page 36
she is dead, leaving the man to save the world.

And for all that,
it is still a good read, and not only for the historical perspective.
(At one point, having gotten the signal that nuclear bombs are
headed towards America—which is on the good side, of course—he
explains why America hadn’t struck its enemy first even when they
knew the enemy would eventually strike.  “Because America, being a
democracy, could not strike first, but had to wait—wait in instant
readiness—until she was actually attacked.”) 

Triplanetary
is a good read for the sense of wonder and fun that it invokes.
Smith was having a great time writing this book and he isn’t
concerned about bringing depth or subtlety to it.  He is out to give
the reader a rip roaring good time with lots of explosions, escapes,
and even a little romance (yes, first she faints, but she was
poisoned, then she waits while he kills the poisoner, and then she
throws her arms about him, exclaiming, “Oh, Conrad!”).  And after
a slow beginning (slower, that is.  It still has explosions and fights and such) that sets up the premise of the entire
Lensmen series, it does get down to just that.  A good tale.  Action
and adventure from the 1930’s.  An escape to a simpler time, when men
were men and women were women and we knew who all the bad guys were
and all their reasons for doing things were bad so it was okay to
kill them all and get the girl who will throw her arms about you crying "Oh, Whatsyerface!".