post_apocalypse – Page 2

Emerald Sea

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 1, 2011
Post category:Book

This book is really a book (Emerald Sea) and a novella (In a Time of Darkness) both of which follow on from There Will Be Dragons. Emerald Sea is more self-indulgent than the previous book, and isn't as strong as the first. It is still quite readable. In a Time of Darkness has a very awkward set of subject matter (the keeping of a harem girl against her will), which will make many readers uncomfortable, and isn't as strong a story as either of the first two stories in this series. [isbn: 1416509208;9781416509202]

There Will Be Dragons

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 7, 2011
Post category:Book

I bought this book randomly when I saw it at a charity book sale. While the title is kid of odd, its actually quite a good read. The book is sort of a science fiction fantasy novel, set in the far future with a reasonably plausible plot line. There are a few elements that I feel could be explained a bit better, but overall the book is quite good. I'll be buying the next one in the series. [isbn: 0743488598]

The Stars Must Wait

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 23, 2009
Post category:Book

This book is a novelization of "Night of the Trolls", which I have already read as part of The Compleat Bolo and Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow. I'm pretty fond of the short story, and this book version didn't start out strongly -- there is a prelude to explain some background, and then the book launches into what feels like the exact text of the short story. You can tell it hasn't been edited much, because there are minor continuity errors between this first chapter and the prelude. There are other continuity errors as well -- the blurb on the back says that the main character goes into stasis in 2002, but his wife dies in 1992 which is meant to be after the main character goes into stasis, and the map that he uses once out of stasis is copyright 2011 (even though the main character claims to have bought it just before going into stasis). Note that these dates are different to those used in the short story. These errors are distracting although the underlying story is still a good one. However, the good bits of the story are all contained in the short story. This feels like a poorly…

Bolos 2: The Unconquerable

Post author:mikal
Post published:June 6, 2009
Post category:Book

This is another collection of short stories involving Laumer's Bolo artificially intelligent super tanks. None of these stories are written by Laumer, but they are written by some very good SF authors. I enjoyed the collection, although I do think Honor of the Regiment was marginally better.

Without Warning

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 24, 2009
Post category:Book

LibraryThing, of which I am a member runs a program where members are shipped early copies of books for free, with the preference for them writing a review when they're done reading the book. The books are shipped by the publisher directly to the reviewers. This isn't that uncommon in the publishing industry -- both of my books have experienced a similar process, although less formal. A pre-release version of this book was provided by this mechanism. The pre-release had some quite annoying typographical and grammar errors. I assume they are corrected in the final published version. I am a little conflicted about this story. On the one hand, the author comes from my home town, as do about 0% of popular authors. You can see he's Australian in the text -- several of the main characters are Australian, Greg Norman gets a cameo, and Tasmania is a hiding place of preference for refugees. On the other hand, I found this book a slow read. The story is good, and the ideas very interesting. The story is good too, with most chapters ending with a hook to keep you going. On the other hand, I just couldn't get into the…

Amtrak Wars

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 12, 2008
Post category:Book

A post apocalyptic struggle between the three groups of North American survivors -- a military society called "The Amtrak Federation", the mutes (the survivors of American poor neighborhoods), and Ne Issan (former Japanese who sailed from Japan when their islands were flooded). 1983: Cloud Warrior 1985: First Family 1987: Iron Master 1988: Blood River 1989: Death-Bringer 1990: Earth-Thunder

Earth Thunder

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 12, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the last book of the Amtrak Wars series. I'm much less comfortable with Steven's character in this book -- he's always been a bit mixed up, and I don't blame him for that given his background, but in this book he's actively disloyal to those he loves, which is something new. That made the first 50 or so pages of this book quite hard to read, because I find it hard to read books where I hate the main protagonist. A lot of people complain about the ending of this book, especially as its the last Amtrak Wars book written, but doesn't resolve the main plot line. I didn't think it was that bad though, although perhaps that's because the coda didn't appear in earlier versions? The coda resolves a lot for me, and although the ending is sad, I thought it was fair. I liked this book overall. [isbn: 0747400024]

Death Bringer

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 4, 2008
Post category:Book

I feel sorry for Jake Olsen. It must be hard having the ensign-in-the-red-shirt role. This book is as good as the rest of the series, and the First Family truly are bastards. I really liked this one. [isbn: 0747400016]

Blood River

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 30, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the fourth book in the Amtrak Wars series. Its pretty good, about the same level of writing as Cloud Warrior and Iron Master, which I guess means it was better than First Family (which was mostly a connector between the first and third books in the series). In this book we learn that the first family are even more nasty than previously disclosed, and that Cadillac is possibly the most annoying person on the planet. This book must not have been very popular in the US, because I've never seen it for sale in the US, but its reasonably common in Australia. That's a shame because the copy I have is about to fall apart, which means I'll have to wait until next time I am back home to try and find a replacement copy. Overall this book was quite readable, and I enjoyed it. [isbn: 0747400008]

Iron Master

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 9, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the third book in the Amtrak Wars series. I think this is a better book than First Family, which suffered from not having much plot development. This book on the other hand moves the plot along, whilst being interesting. You also get to learn more about the Iron Masters, as well as how dodgy the First Family is. A good read. [isbn: 0671653385;0722185189]