City
- 256
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
- International Fantasy Award for Best Fiction
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Our view
“City” is a thoughtful chain of eight linked stories about the far future of humans, dogs and robots. Clifford D. Simak framed them with notes written for the book, which form a story of their own. Some readers single out how far into the future it reaches and the historical puzzle posed in its opening pages.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
City is a 1952 science fiction fix-up novel by American writer Clifford D. Simak. The original version consists of eight linked short stories, all originally published in Astounding Science Fiction under the editorship of John W. Campbell between 1944 and 1951, along with brief "notes" on each of the stories. These notes were specially written for the book, and serve as a bridging story of their own. The book was reprinted as ACE #D-283 in 1958, cover illustration by Ed Valigursky.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 95 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 39% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.1 | 7 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 88 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is City?
It has 256 pages — shorter than 85% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.8, the closest to this book.
