Children of the Lens cover art

Children of the Lens

Lensman Series, Book 6

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 31 July, 2025 23:59 BST.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Children of the Lens

By: E. E. Doc Smith
Narrated by: Reed McColm
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July, 2025 23:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Twenty years have passed since the events in Second State Lensman. Kimball Kinnison and his wife, Clarrissa, now have five children - the "Children of the Lens". As the offspring of generations of selected matings, they are the most brilliant and capable minds in the universe. Their mission: to conclude the Boskonian war.

Children of the Lens is the sixth and concluding volume of the classic Lensman series, long recognized as the greatest space opera ever written.

Hi-fi sci-fi: listen to more in the Lensman series.©2006 The Estate of E. E. "Doc" Smith and Virginia Kidd, Inc. (P)2006 Books in Motion. This recording is produced by arrangement with The Estate of E. E. "Doc" Smith and Virginia Kidd, Inc. Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Triplanetary cover art
The Skylark of Space cover art
Midnight at the Well of Souls cover art
Between Planets cover art
On a Pale Horse cover art
Birthright cover art
Elric of Melniboné cover art
The Colour of Magic cover art
Deathstalker cover art
The X-Ship cover art
An Enemy of the State cover art
The Spaceship in the Stone cover art
The Lost Starship cover art
A Call to Duty cover art
Sodenia: The First Space Bastion cover art
Citadel: Omnibus: The Complete Citadel Trilogy cover art

Critic reviews

"The most towering figure in science fiction, thanks to the enormous scope of his novels." (Isaac Asimov)
"If you wish to understand the roots of modern science fiction, you have to read the Lensman saga." (Allen Steele)
"A finalist for a special Hugo Award for All-Time Best Series, 'Lensman' is considered by many sf heads to be the greatest of the space operas and clearly a source for such successors as Star Trek and Star Wars." ( Library Journal)
All stars
Most relevant  
I’ve read reviews complaining about the narration by Reed McColm, but it fits the story perfectly. Remember that these books were written in the golden age of pulp science fiction, 75 years ago for some of them. His cadence matches the (purple) prose well, and his accent fits it too, I can’t imagine EE Smith’s books narrated by any other than a northern American. Listening to this brings back the smell of the musty secondhand paperbacks I read the original in when I was a boy.

A good as I remember

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have enjoyed the Lensman series of novels since first reading them in paperback back in the 1970,s. Listening to them via Audible is an added pleasure. I cannot say I have enjoyed Reed McColm's style of reading. Like so many other listeners I find his style bland and at times irritating, but I enjoy these stories so much I guess I'll just put up with it.

Great Series, Great Conclusion.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Have acquired all 7 audiobooks in the Lensman series as always loved the books. I have kept them for this reason. However, the narration is poor, inaccurate pronunciation, appalling ‘voices’ for those of other races and worst of all horrendous phrasing. Did anyone actually listen to these books before putting them out? I have the last book to listen to but will need to give myself a break before steeling myself to endure the above faults again. It is such a shame that these books are spoiled by the narration.

Narration could be better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
a must read story

the grand and masterly conclusion to the epic classic lens men saga

great space opera conclusion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I first read the Lensman series over 40 years ago . The story still lacks nothing overall but it is clearly even more dated now (in some ways), than it was back in the 1970s. All of that said, these are still ripping good yarns!

The only downside (other than the dated science in places) is the narrator's slightly over-bearing/ bombastic tone coupled with stumbling pronunciation - although he is not unique in this.

No school like the old school?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I first read the Lensman Series over 30 years ago and the Audible version did not disappoint. Classic scifi and a really good listen.

Classic Scifi

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
as usual E E Doc Smith's portrayal of the Lens men and women is exceptional it's just a shame the app is so poor

app woes

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.