In short: Starting life on the new planet: crops, animals, human genetic diversity, etc. The Communists have landed, established a beach-head and want to secure their own form of government.

The pre-WWII stereotypes and attitudes add a lot of background to this sequel (I found them “cute”)—even allowing that they invest a scenario that appears far-fetched by today’s standards. That the protagonist love-interests are willing to go along with the need to “share” their genetic material amongst other members of the survivors in order to preserve human diversity impresses me with the foresight of the authors to see that that would be necessary (in some form). Yes, the action is a bit simplistic; but there is enough believability written into the story to allow me to suspend disbelief in the sequel as I did in the first book “When Worlds Collide”.

It’s still a bit stodgy and hokey; and it’s still a good story. ( )

Read January 2005
Read December 2009

December 2009 Review:
the group from earth makes to to Bronson Beta, only to find they are not alone. Other groups from earth have also made the crossing, and some of them are inimically opposed to Henderson's group. After a time of figuring stuff out, the bad guys are taken out and the good guys have the planet to themselves, for their children. ( )

This sequel to "When Worlds Collide" offers similar pros and cons of the original: page-turning action scenes, awe-inspiring descriptions of the doomed cities of Bronson Beta, and, unfortunately, overwhelming streams of stilted dialogue and orations. If you can get past that, you'll be rewarded with an interesting tale of the last of the human race transplanted on a savior planet and struggling for survival. ( )

As much a lesson in life and the human condition as it is sci-fi, this book was a very good predictor of the future. Written in 1933, it predicted many things that have come to pass. Alas, humanity has not gotten past that nasty aggressive war thing and life goes on. ( )

A movie, "When Worlds Collide", was made for the prequel to this book. I enjoy it as much, if not more, than the first book. The word pictures of the sparkling dome-enclosed cities, with their skyscrapers and avenues, are what captured my imagination. ( )