Unlike many other science-fiction books, Childhood's End is very mild. It isn't the events that are mild (arrival of aliens, extinction of the human race and the destruction of earth— how can you call these mild?), but the way that the author describes these events.
Every event just connects so wonderfully and smoothly that no information is really shocking (or was I not in a good mental condition to feel the shock?).
This is not to suggest, however, that the book is boring. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Throughout the book I kept anticipating what would happen to the human race, and this suspense maintained until the very end. I also like the way that the book is full of logic. There is almost nothing that I find illogical, and all the explanations make a lot sense to me.
In conclusion, this isn't the most dramatic novel I had read (and I like dramatic novels), but it is very special in a sense that it has a good, solid plot as well as a unique way of presenting the events. I am quite satisfied with it.
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