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Starship: Mercenary (Starship, Book 3)

Mike Resnick

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The date is 1968 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, created by the human race but not yet dominated by it, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. Captain Wilson Cole, a man with a reputation for exceeding orders but getting results, found himself the victim of a media feeding frenzy, a political scapegoat despite years of dedicated military service. Faced with a court martial, he was rescued by the loyal crew of his ship, the Theodore Roosevelt. Branded mutineers, the Teddy R. has quit the Republic, never to return.

Seeking to find a new life, Wilson Cole first remade the Teddy R. as a pirate ship plying the spaceways of the lawless Inner Frontier. But military discipline and honor were a poor match for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole's principles naturally limited his targets. Seeking a better way of life, the Teddy R. becomes a mercenary ship, hiring out to the highest bidder. Whether it's evacuating a hospital before war can reach it, freeing a client from an alien prison, or stopping a criminal cartel from extorting money from a terrified planet, the crew of the Teddy R. proves equal to the task. Along the way they form a partnership with the once human Platinum Duke, team up with a former enemy, and make the unique Singapore Station their headquarters.

But the life of a mercenary is not always predictable, and eventually circumstance pits Cole and the Teddy R. against his right-hand woman, the former Pirate Queen known as the Valkyrie. Soon the fragile trust that has grown between these two legends is put to the test as they find themselves on opposite sides of a job.

X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 2 (Bk. 2)

Fabian Nicieza, John Francis Moore, Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Larry Hama, Chris Bachalo, Warren Ellis, Tony Daniel, Salvador Larroca, Steve Epting, Terry Dodson, Roger Cruz, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert, Mark Buckingham, Ken Lashley, Renato Arlem, Ian Churchill, Val Semeiks, Tom Lyle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This should have been the first volume. Brilliant! 4 out of 5 stars.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful.

First a plea to any new readers who might have been hoodwinked into purchasing the first volume of the AOA-Epic: PLEASE forget that cruel marketing trick and give this one a shot, this is the true (beginning of the) Age of Apocalypse, the crown jewel of the 1990s X-Men run that was so astounding that it took nearly a decade before another worth-while X-Men story would be written again.
In the Early '90s the X-Men reached their zenith of popularity, and although there were certainly low points in the early '90s run of the X-Universe (followed by an abysmally unreadable period of just under 10 years) it is unquestionably one of the time periods that justified the X-Men's place as the consistent top-seller, then and now. The Age of Apocalypse was the culmination, and the bristling climax, of one of the greatest eras in the X-Men's existence.

Synopsis: Forget volume one, everyone else but the marketing flunkies at Marvel did (or the poor saps who paid money for a collection of B-level story lines that leeched off of the glory of a truly well done comic book masterpiece). Here we are taken into a world that throws the importance of Xavier's dream right into our faces, a world where that dream was aborted and replaced with a blood-drenched nightmare. The Dark Lord Apocalypse threatens the globe, from his base from what was once America, with the aid of his Four Horsemen (Sinister, Holocaust, Abyss, and Mikhail Rasputin) and his mutant elite (including Cyclops, Havoc, and Beast). In Europe, humanity is meekly defended by a Human High Council (Brian Braddock, Emma Frost, Moria MacTaggart and Trask) that ratters a saber in the form of an army of Sentinels and nuclear missiles. The only true source of salvation lies with Magneto and the meager yet potent network of mutant resistance that he has thrown up against the genetic supremacist régime of Apocalypse that makes mass genocide and blasphemous dark science everyday occurrences. Despite their best efforts, Magneto, the X-Men and other heroes of this Dark Age are fighting a losing battle, and the hordes of the Dark Lord begin to crush even the most stalwart of spirits; and then one man, Bishop, delivers them the glimmer of hope needed to march on in their defiance of seemingly omnipotent armies of evil. In another world Xavier's dream was made real, and Apocalypse never rose to power.

This dark incarnation of the X-Men's' world is thoroughly explored in-depth, and the characterization is so well done that it even gives invaluable insight to the characters as they appear in the main-stream world of the X-Men. Some who were heroes break under the evil that has infected their world while others turn from their own paths of darkness when shown the extreme consequence of blind self-serving ambition. As death and horror flow in Apocalypse's wake and the leaders of humanity grow intent on mimicking his evil to feed their own thirst for revenge, Magneto and the X-Men will fight to the bitter end to save their world from this ultimate evil.

Yet if the gripping story is not enough to sell you, the art work is mouthwatering at best and breathtaking at worst.

Enjoy!

Editorial Review:

See your favorite through a dark glass as the epic that literally rebuilt the X-Men in eight miniseries and more continues! Apocalypse has conquered half of humankind and is ready to destroy them all! Magneto and his Amazing X-Men fight to protect humans and mutants alike, only to learn from Bishop that his world might need to be unmade! Plus: excerpts from Apocalypse's own files on the alternate-universe X-Men, and their friends and foes... but which is which? Featuring Blink and Sabretooth of the Exiles! Collects X-Men: Alpha, Age of Apocalypse: The Chosen, Generation Next #1, Astonishing X-Men Volume 1 #1, X-Calibre #1, Gambit and the X-Ternals #1-2, Weapon X Volume 1 #1-2, Amazing X-Men #1-2, Factor X #1-2, and X-Man #1.

Doctor Who: I Am A Dalek (Doctor Who (BBC Paperback))

Gareth Roberts

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Roman Daleks? 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

The Tenth Doctor and Rose plan to play some golf on the Moon but end up on the south coast of England in a bland, boring town which has nothing going on. Or so they thought.
It seems arhaeologists have found a Roman mosaic from 70 AD. It shows scenes from ancient England, people, grapes and, yes, a Dalek. Then a dead girl comes back to life. Then the archaeologists find a...well, that would be telling.
The story is short, swift and, because it has Daleks in the plot, delightful. The book shows that Gareth Roberts knows general Dr. WHO? history (with the use of a Time Ring) and Dalek history (as he uses the idea of the Dalek Factor at one point).
Too bad it took so long to get to me - I ordered it in April! While having 104 pages it took me less than an hour to read. Frankly, I would have liked a little more story for my money.

Editorial Review:

Equipped with space suits, golf clubs and a flag, the Doctor and Rose are planning to live it up, Apollo mission-style, on the Moon. But the TARDIS has other plans, landing them instead in a village on the south coast of England; a picture-postcard sort of place where nothing much happens. Until now... An archaeological dig has turned up a Roman mosaic, circa 70 A.D., depicting mythical scenes, grapes - and a Dalek. A few days later a young woman, rushing for work, is knocked over and killed by a bus, then comes back to life. It's not long before all hell breaks loose, and the Doctor and Rose must use all their courage and cunning against an alien enemy - and a not-quite-alien accomplice - who are intent on destroying humanity.

Forty Signs of Rain

Kim Stanley Robinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 64 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The bestselling author of the classic Mars trilogy and The Years of Rice and Salt returns with a riveting new trilogy of cutting-edge science, international politics, and the real-life ramifications of global warming as they are played out in our nation’s capital—and in the daily lives of those at the center of the action. Hauntingly realistic, here is a novel of the near future that is inspired by scientific facts already making headlines.

When the Arctic ice pack was first measured in the 1950s, it averaged thirty feet thick in midwinter. By the end of the century it was down to fifteen. One August the ice broke. The next year the breakup started in July. The third year it began in May. That was last year.

It’s an increasingly steamy summer in the nation’s capital as Senate environmental staffer Charlie Quibler cares for his young son and deals with the frustrating politics of global warming. Charlie must find a way to get a skeptical administration to act before it’s too late—and his progeny find themselves living in Swamp World. But the political climate poses almost as great a challenge as the environmental crisis when it comes to putting the public good ahead of private gain.

While Charlie struggles to play politics, his wife, Anna, takes a more rational approach to the looming crisis in her work at the National Science Foundation. There a proposal has come in for a revolutionary process that could solve the problem of global warming—if it can be recognized in time. But when a race to control the budding technology begins, the stakes only get higher. As these everyday heroes fight to align the awesome forces of nature with the extraordinary march of modern science, they are unaware that fate is about to put an unusual twist on their work—one that will place them at the heart of an unavoidable storm.

With style, wit, and rare insight into our past, present, and possible future, this captivating novel propels us into a world on the verge of unprecedented change—in a time quite like our own. Here is Kim Stanley Robinson at his visionary best, offering a gripping cautionary tale of progress—and its price—as only he can tell it.


From the Hardcover edition.

The Female Man (Bluestreak)

Joanna Russ

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

What do the women in Whileaway do with their hair? � 5 out of 5 stars.
27 of 29 people found this review helpful.

... They chop it off with clamshells. There was a time when speculative-fiction (or science-fiction, pick your term) was filled with writers who experimented and challenged the status quo. These writers, people like Harlan Ellison, Samuel Delaney, and Joanna Russ, are challenging, talented, and even funny when they want to be. If you are open minded, try reading them and their peers.

That background out of the way, of all the books in the speculative fiction genre I've read, this is my favorite. First off, yes, "The Female Man" is a feminist book. Guys, getting scared off at this point would be a bad idea. Jeannine's tragic life is something anyone forced into a role they can't stand will identify with. Janet's life is hilarious and exhilarating, filled with Whileawayan philosophy and sayings. Jael, aka "Sweet Alice", lives in a world that is as dark as Jeannine's and as strange as Janet's, but she has the power to take control of it. Lastly, Joanna, the author's mouthpiece, is the glue that ties the other three women together. The book is entertaining and nearly impossible to put down. The humor is perfect and the feminist ideas presented by Russ are still relevant today. Be happy that Russ has the ability to fling her readers across time and space then shoot them back, because few can make a book this fun and yet this sad.

Many of the reviews here on Amazon.com are from people who just don't seem to "get it". Russ and her peers didn't always write novels that were neat and orderly, and this one in particular can drive the close-minded insane. Russ' style is closer to a James Joyce than a Charlotte Perkins Gillman or an Isaac Asimov, so be willing to read this book on her terms and hers alone. If you can do that, there is little to fear. Russ is a rebel, and at one point in the novel she even predicts the negative reaction of literary critics on her book and provides examples of the reviews she believed they would write. Think about that for a minute, she put fake negative reviews for "The Female Man" in "The Female Man" itself to prove a point about our uptight society. That's just a classic moment, and when you see that it perfectly mingles with the rest of the content and doesn't upset the flow, you can bow before this great novel yourself.

Editorial Review:

It's influenced William Gibson and been listed as one of the ten essential works of science fiction. Most importantly, Joanna Russ's THE FEMALE MAN is a suspenseful, surprising and darkly witty chronicle of what happens when Jeannine, Janet, Joanna, and Jael--four alternate selves from drastically different realities--meet.

Fifty Degrees Below

Kim Stanley Robinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Bestselling, award-winning, author Kim Stanley Robinson continues his groundbreaking trilogy of eco-thrillers–and propels us deeper into the awesome whirlwind of climatic change. Set in our nation’s capital, here is a chillingly realistic tale of people caught in the collision of science, technology, and the consequences of global warming–which could trigger another phenomenon: abrupt climate change, resulting in temperatures...

When the storm got bad, scientist Frank Vanderwal was at work, formalizing his return to the National Science Foundation for another year. He’d left the building just in time to help sandbag at Arlington Cemetery. Now that the torrent was over, large chunks of San Diego had eroded into the sea, and D.C. was underwater.

Shallow lakes occupied the most famous parts of the city. Reagan Airport was awash and the Potomac had spilled beyond its banks. Rescue boats dotted the saturated cityscape. Everything Frank and his colleagues in the halls of science and politics feared had culminated in this massive disaster. And now the world looked to them to fix it.

Whatever Frank can do, now that he is homeless, he’ll have to do from his car. He’s not averse to sleeping outdoors. Years of research have made him hyperaware of his status as just another primate. That plus his encounter with a Tibetan Buddhist has left him resolved to live a more authentic life.

Hopefully, this will prepare him for whatever is to come....

For even as D.C. bails out from the flood, a more extreme climate change looms. With the melting of the polar ice caps shutting down the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, another Ice Age could be imminent. The last time it happened, eleven thousand years ago, it took just three years to start.

Once again Kim Stanley Robinson uses his remarkable vision, trademark wry wit, and extraordinary insight into the complexity between man and nature to take us to the brink of disaster–and slightly beyond.


From the Hardcover edition.

Murder in LaMut (Legends of the Riftwar, Book 2)

Raymond E. Feist, Joel Rosenberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Really Poor Book! 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have been re-reading some of the older Feist books in my library and decided to add the rest of his books. I have been reading them in series order according to the recommendation of Feist's site www.crydee.com

All I can say is that you will not miss anything by NOT reading this book.

All I can figure is that Feist decided to get a piece of the action off what this guy Rosenberg wrote by adding his name since it takes places in Midkemia that he created. It was slow to the point of dragging so bad that I fell asleep! I had the murderer picked out chapters before the murder was commmitted. There was so much analyzing of what characters were thinking that you could skip ahead and not miss a beat. Of all the Feist books the only other ones that have given me so much plot struggle were the machinations of the Great Game on Kelewan, but at least in that series there were great plot twists and story lines to help hook you back in to the story.

Editorial Review:

It should have been so simple . . .

Durine, Kethol, and Pirojil are three mercenaries who have spent twenty years fighting other people's battles, defeating the Tsurani and the Bugs and the goblins. Yet now it seems there are no more enemies to vanquish, leaving them with a few months of welcomed garrison duty as the Riftwar rages on in the west.

When the trio is ordered to accompany a lady and her husband safely to the city of LaMut, it looks like an easy—even cushy—assignment. But in Midkemia, nothing is that straightforward, and the men find themselves trapped by a vicious winter storm in a castle with scheming lords and ladies, an unsolved murder, and nothing less than the political future of Midkemia at stake. . . .

Variable Star (Tor Science Fiction)

Robert A. Heinlein, Spider Robinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A never-before-published masterpiece from science fiction’s greatest writer, rediscovered after more than half a century.

When Joel Johnston first met Jinny Hamilton, it seemed like a dream come true. And when she finally agreed to marry him, he felt like the luckiest man in the universe.

 

There was just one small problem. He was broke. His only goal in life was to become a composer, and he knew it would take years before he was earning enough to support a family.

 

But Jinny wasn’t willing to wait. And when Joel asked her what they were going to do for money, she gave him a most unexpected answer. She told him that her name wasn’t really Jinny Hamilton---it was Jinny Conrad, and she was the granddaughter of Richard Conrad, the wealthiest man in the solar system.

And now that she was sure that Joel loved her for herself, not for her wealth, she revealed her family’s plans for him---he would be groomed for a place in the vast Conrad empire and sire a dynasty to carry on the family business.

Most men would have jumped at the opportunity. But Joel Johnston wasn’t most men. To Jinny’s surprise, and even his own, he turned down her generous offer and then set off on the mother of all benders. And woke up on a colony ship heading out into space, torn between regret over his rash decision and his determination to forget Jinny and make a life for himself among the stars.

He was on his way to succeeding when his plans--and the plans of billions of others--were shattered by a cosmic cataclysm so devastating it would take all of humanity’s strength and ingenuity just to survive.

Starship: Pirate (Starship, Book 2)

Mike Resnick

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The date is 1967 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, created by the human race but not yet dominated by it, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. After his latest exploit saved millions of lives but embarrassed his superiors, Captain Wilson Cole, a man with a reputation for exceeding orders but getting results, found himself the victim of the media feeding frenzy, a political scapegoat despite years of dedicated military service. Faced with a court martial, he was rescued by the loyal crew of his ship, the Theodore Roosevelt. Now branded mutineers, the crew of the Teddy R. has quit the Republic, never to return.

Seeking to find a new life for themselves, Wilson Cole and comrades remake the Teddy R. as a pirate ship and set sail for the lawless Inner Frontier. Here, powerful warlords, cut-throat pirates, and struggling colonies compete for survival in a game where you rarely get a second chance to learn the rules. But military discipline is poor preparation for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole’s principles naturally limit his targets. Seeking an education on the nature of piracy, Cole hunts more knowledgeable players. Enter the beautiful but deadly Valkyrie, Val for short, and the enigmatic alien fence known as David Copperfield. But hanging over everything is the fearsome alien pirate—the Hammerhead Shark.

With Starship: Pirate, five-time Hugo winner Mike Resnick continues the story begun in his very first military SF. Will the galaxy ever be the same?

X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 4 (Bk.4)

Scott Lobdell, Warren Ellis, Jeph Loeb, John Francis Moore, Fabian Nicieza, Larry Hama, Terry Kavanagh, Mark Waid, Judd Winnick, Chris Bachalo, Ken Lashley, Steve Skroce, Steve Epting, Terry Dodson, Salvador Larroca, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert, Carlos Pacheco, Roger Cruz, Trevor McCarthy

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent novel 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This novel does an excellent job finishing up the story. It gives all of the finishing details needed to find out how it all ends.

Great 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.

What can I say? I'm a big fan of alternative realities in the Marvel universe...

how to read 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

in volume 4 the age of apocalypse comes to an end in the issue xmen omega. however for some reason there are more issues included afterwards that really have little to do with AoA. the AoA series is great but i think these collections could have been better. they could have left out some of the stuff in volume one and all the stuff after xmen omega in volume 4 and made it into three volumes.

Editorial Review:

Learn who lives and who dies in either reality as the apocalyptic arc ends in treachery and tragedy! While certain heroic humans prove their mettle without armor or magic hammers, it's a race to see who the X-Men will destroy first: Apocalypse or themselves! But even with the crisis concluded, new allies and enemies emerge, guaranteeing that reality will still never be the same! Featuring the dawn of Gene Nation and a turning point for the Legacy Virus! Collects Generation Next #4, X-Calibre #4, X-Man #4 & #53-54, Factor X #4, Gambit And The X-Ternals #4, Amazing X-Men #4, Weapon X #4, X-Universe #2, X-Men: Omega, Blink #4 and X-Men: Prime