This book is pretty preachy (if you're not a republican your wrong and you're what's wrong with the universe), and long. The story also centers around haunted warships, which is a bit of a leap for this series. On the other hand, its a good read if you can put up with those bits. Overall ok, but not the best in the series. [isbn: 9781416555711]
If you knew you were in deep trouble, had the technology to rejuvenate any soldier you wanted, and happened to be a late nineties Germany desperate for cannon fodder, would you return the SS to service? A harsh reality is that they're some of the only soldiers you have left with real combat experience, even if their politics is abhorrent. This book has an interesting underlying concept, but to a certain extent its ruined by the politics of the authors -- any concern for anything other that military strength is dismissed as another example of rampant nimbyism. However, the book tells a good story and made me think about some stuff I wouldn't have otherwise thought about, while being entertaining. So, overall a success I guess. [isbn: 9781416521204]
While it isn't immediately obvious, this book is quite similar to Johnny Mnemonic. The brain damage aspect is played up a bit, and gets repetitive, but the overall story is interesting and fun, even if the ending is a bit obvious from about half way through. [isbn: 044100105x]
This is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy after the first book of the same name. This book is very similar to the first in terms of style, although I think the start is a lot slower. Once you plow through the first 150 pages or so the book rapidly improves though, and I was happy with where it went overall. Good teen fiction. [isbn: 9781407109367;1407109367]
This is the first book of Ben Bova's that I've read. Before that I've only read "The Nonmetallic Isaac or It's a Wonderful Life" in Foundation's Friends. I bought this book randomly because I had run out of things to read on a business trip, and I don't regret it. The book is well paced, interesting and fun to read. It also explores alien life in a way which is particularly believable (unlike many other SF books I encounter). This book reminds me of Dragon's Egg without being so hard-SFy. A very good book. [isbn: 9780812579413;0812579410]
I picked this up in the US really cheap because I had run out of books to read on this trip. This book is pretty heavily hyped at the moment, but that's also why I got the book for $6 at a book store, so I can't complain. The book is an easy read, and fun. Its obviously aimed at teenagers, but I don't mind teen fiction as a genre and I read this book in a little over a day. The story line is similar to The Survivor in Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow, but is distinct enough to not be plagiarism. I enjoyed this book. [isbn: 9780439023528]
This is a Scalzi book, so its clever and funny, and has possibly one of the best first sentences I have read ever. It is a light read, and I finished all of it apart from the last 50 pages or so on a single flight. Scalzi also plays again with the idea of transferring consciousness, which is something which he deals with a lot in the Old Man's War series. I liked this book. [isbn: 9780765348289]
This is the continuation from Runner, and continues the story of the attempt to re-enable the star gates. It has the comicly incompetent Technosociety once again, as well as series of genetically engineered protagonists. I am bothered by why the star gate power supplies cause people to fall ill -- you'd think in a highly advanced society capable of building star gates they might have spent some time on shielding. Or did the shielding somehow fail on all the power sources sometime over the thousands of years of decay? The has a disappointing ending, but was a fun read until then. I find it hard to suspend disbelief about how the AIs present themselves, but apart from that the book was solid. This one is probably not as good as the first. [isbn: 0441015360; 9780441015368]
I've been reading this book for ages, but finished it last night. It feels a bit trivial to be writing this now, but I tend to read more when I am stressed, and I finished this while waiting for the kids to go to bed last night, so I may as well quickly write it up. This book is the Kingdom war promised in Shadow of a Dark Queen and Rise of a Merchant Prince. I was a lot more comfortable with this book, because its mostly not about Roo wanting to shag every woman on the planet. In fact, a lot of people get their comeuppance, which is nice. However, heaps of people who don't deserve it also die. Its almost like a A Hymn Before Battle or Legion of the Damned, which are both books which stick in my mind as being ones where most everyone dies. Overall a good book, which a good ending which I think is a little rare for large scale combat novels. [isbn: 0006482988]
I bought this book on impulse, and I am glad I did. The book is very Buddhist in its outlook, and characters believe in reincarnation, which makes it ok for people to die. There sure is a lot of that happening in this book, perhaps more so than in Dietz's combat books. The underlying story is very different from the other Dietz stuff I have read, and very good. The Legion of the Damned books suffer from very one dimensional characterizations of their female characters, whereas this book has a strong female as a leading and fully developed character, which is a nice change. I enjoyed this book. [isbn: 9780441014095]