Tom Merritt

The story is good. It's compelling and suspenseful and fun. Sure it may have some small holes, but nothing you'll fall through and hurt yourself. But the world is magnificent. Especially to anyone who ever played video games, watched TV and movies or listened to music in and around the 1980s. This book is glorious.

I was a bit surprised at how satisfied I felt at the ending. I didn't like it so much as felt done. Which is very rare. I know some other of Abercronbies books take lace in the same world, and I look forward to that. I really enjoyed being in this world. But unlike some series Enders I didn't feel ripped off or hungry for another volume. I really felt oddly done.

I definitely see hints of George r r Martin in this book. The world is vast and sprawling and we know we're only seeing a hint of the whole story. I was compelled to get the next book he second I finished this. I'm also quite entertained by the paralell universe aspect. Angland in the north being the most obvious. It's certainly not Earth but the place names and situations have a nice distant familiarity without being straight parody.

What a thoroughly enjoyable story. From the respect of science, through the centering on Africa and China to the positing of how a world would be shaped by a loss of privacy and the experience of surviving catastrophe, I find very little unpleasant in Blue Remembered Earth. In fact at the moment I can think of nothing. It is. Mystery and adventure story with robots spaceships, intrigue and murder. And while you may guess certain points along the way it will surprise you often. Read it.

Well this book was a slog, just like a war but I feel quite satisfied after finishing it. I don't know why it took so long. It seemed every time I picked it up I got interrupted or had started too late in the evening to keep awake. But that's not to say the book put me to sleep. Far from it. Some of my favorite scenes in fantasy are in this book. The moment where Craw says his last goodbye to Beck is gold. And I very much like the way Mr. Abercrombie is weaving a lofty back story of Bayaz and the Dark ones high above the heads of these genre novels. Nice bits for us fans of the Dogman, Shivers, and Logen too. All in all an excellent read. Just don't expect to rush through it, i fyou're anything like me.

Overall an outstanding read. The end sections actually brought asmall tear to my eye.

Brooks does a very good job creating the idea that this is really an oral history. Writing from the perspective of so many different people, and keeping them with authentic voices is tough. Occasionally a voice doesn't ring true, or feels stilted, but not all that often.

Also the complicated matter of trying to execute a history through bits and pieces of recollections is well done too. I didn't find any glaring inconsistencies. This is a monumental task.

The only major criticism I might express, is that some of the ‘moral' lessons still seem a bit trite. Brooks obviously has a perspective on politics, religion and morals that seeps through. It doesn't detract from the overall value, but it does show that he's writing it rather than having it seem like a true history all the way through.

That said, the problem doesn't really distract you, only popping up in a few comments here and there that seem like they might e out of character and very obviously pointed at he pre-Z War audience. Overall I LOVED the book and highly recommend it to zombie afficionados and zombie newbies alike.

This to me is perfect scifi. There's enough acknowledgement to reality and physics and tech, and loads of evidence that the writer(s) is(are) a geek (are geeks) that I don't feel put upon with unlikely scenarios. On the other hand it's also not a physics textbook. I like physics textbooks, especially ones with stories, but that's a different choice of reading. When I want fiction, this is what I want. Adventure, differentiated and believable characters tight writing, and mystery that pulls you through.

If I had any criticism, it would be that I wanted more relation on the the evil schemes of Protogen. Also I want to know why all the ships constantly have to accelerate and pull Gs. Do they never each cruising speed ever? Ok ok. The chase scenes would not be very tense if they were “Reached cruising speed Captain” “Ah good,” said Holden, “I shall enjoy this soothing mint tea while we await the resolution of this chase.” so it doesn't bother me much.

There's an easy brilliance to the OMW series that I think shines at its best in Last Colony. At any moment you may feel like you're reading a light novel with snappy dialog and a straightforward plot. The phrase ‘beach reading' May even flit through your mind. But the. You'll realize that these characters are green super soldiers, alien generals with eye stalks and emotionless guardians of a teenage girl. Then it strikes you that the themes aren't just love and family and such but also war and oppression and politics and the meaning of being human. And that's when you realize that Scalzi is a devilish little genius with a clever plan behind his smile. I believe and fervently hope he uses his powers for good.

I think this book does exactly what it intends to, which is to explain the very surface of the current physics and what it means. I know a lot of people have tried to depict it as saying God doesn't exist. It does not say that. The book states that we do not need to use any kind of religion to explain the universe. In the same way that we do not need to use religion to explain the so many things. That does not mean that religion is unnecessary. But I see why so many get uncomfortable. It's the Sam discomfort that acknowledging that the sun is that the center of the solar system caused. At first it feels as if all of theology is threatened.

But if you set that aside you get a very good overview of cosmology, something Hawking is the world's thought leader in.

Some of the concepts of the Hyperion world are fantastic, especially the far casters, the Hawking drives, the biotech and even the meta sphere and the data core. I also think the writing is beautiful and compelling. But for some reason the overarching story in Fall left me a bit cold. I definitely enjoyed he characters and even geared up over the ending.I absolutely love Saul Weintraub's story. But the bits about the UI just fell flat for me and I'm not certain why. Maybe I'm just not understanding it well enough. Even so I recommend the book to anyone who wants challenging concepts and a grand universe. Especially if you can out up with a slight touch of poetic pretension.

I was skeptical that Suarez could recapture the utter immersion and fascinating construction of Daemon, but he did. I think one of the main ways he did so, was turning from an emphasis on technology to an emphasis on the socio-political themes that began to emerge in Daemon.

In the tradition of Brave New World and 1984, Freedom(TM) serves as a warning by exaggeration. It's not that the events and revelations of Freedom(TM) are accurate or even prescient, it's that the elements that could cause them to happen all exist right now.

The confluence of events that could make the world just like the one in Freedom(TM) are certainly unlikely, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to the warning.

Most definitely loved this book. Could not put it down. The elegance in which the war was recast is impressive. And the subtlety with which Tregellis balanced the blurred lines of right and wrong were impressive. Plus as a fan of wartime Britain novels, he did a more than fair job of capturing the essence of that time as I have seen it related in books from the era. Well worth the read.

I agree with many others who read this that it takes a bot of work to get into but I think it largely pays off. The world Bacigalupi creates is unique and intriguing. The setting in Thailand is quite exotic to my US-raised self, but I feel like I get an authentic taste of it. And the characters are captivating in the end, especially Emiko and the Captain.

Colfer shocked me. His capture of the Adams voice was good and his grasp of the characters was even better. Granted at time I felt a bit like I was listening to an impressionist, but I never got overwhelmed by that. And I rarely if ever thought that a character was acting in an entirely unexpected way. Hitchhiker fans should feel safe to test these watersz. Some may object that it's an uncanny valley of similarity, but overall I felt that the spirit was there and rather enjoyed it.

I thought this book was, well I'm not going to tell you exactly what I thought it was. That would distract you from the point. The point is I read this book and I enjoyed it. Isn't that more important? Enjoying something? Anything? I don't mean the empty enjoyment empty-headed morons talk about when they say they enjoyed the afternoon. They can't even remember half of what they did and only say they enjoyed it because they have no better sense. No I mean I read it in less than 24 hours because I couldn't put it down. That it proved thoughts and stirred emotions and desires to find out what happened next.

I must admit the first volume kept me interested because of the world and I had to turn a blind eye to a small amount of awkwardness and even some rather dates relationship dynamics. However by the third volume, The White Dragon all of it is worth it and I've fallen in love with Pern. It's clear that McCaffrey knew the world and its history.mit suffuses through everything that happens. I also like that its a world not a series. I don't feel pressure to keep going but instead know that whenever I need a pleasant respite from other worlds, I can easily visit Pern.

What a delightful world. The work that went into researching medieval Spain sows, as does theincrediblemimagination that went into turning the story into its own consistent telling rather than just a metaphor. Now layer on top of that a deep theological debate nested in an other-worldly system where the debate is not between monotheistic beliefs and their prophets, but polytheistic beliefs and the acceptance or rejection of a lucifer-like god as a force for good or ill. Top it all off with strong likable characters prevailing against the odds to save a kingdom a family and a world and you have a masterwork.

One thing that struck me while reading this was how much the Next Generation episode “Relics” drew from this. In Relics it's an actual Dyson sphere not a ring, but a lot of similar issues and problems exist.

But that's only a sideline. I like Niven's aliens. They're believably alien and consistent. Not just humans with weird skin and a different culture.

I was struck with the importance of luck as a predictive value. It's almost magic. Niven does his best to worj through it logically of course, but it's really fascinating.