sdlotu
10/8/2022
This novel is a compliation of two earlier stories, The Girl in the Goldn Atom, written in 1919, and The People of the Golden Atom writen in 1920 respectively. The novel was published with the original story's title.
Overall, this in an interesting exploration of the concept that every atom is its own universe. By shrinking down far enough, you can enter another complete and recognizable world, and then return.
The science of this dual transformation is handled in a rather off-hand way, and there are lots of questions about how it works that the writer does not address.
The style of writing is quite dated now, and moves slowly with lots of extra conversation that does not serve to move the story along.
Overall, it has a feel of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to it, and given its publication date, this make a lot of sense. There is a lot that is trite and cliché about the plotting, but the author makes an effort to step outside the mores of the time at least while in the atomic wolrd.
Probably best enjoyed by those wanting to read an extremely early, formative speculative fiction work by a very prolific author.