Science Fiction Books - Page 16

Sandworms of Dune

Kevin J. Anderson; Brian Herbert

By: Hodder & Stoughton General Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $69.89

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 131 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Bad.....Yep, Bad..... 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

First -- they stretched one book over two. Bad move -- makes for a drawn out slow read. Second, it's just not that good.

There are a lot of opinions comparing Brian and Kevin to Frank Herbert. It's not fair -- Frank owned this material and he nailed it. Brian and Kevin are tackling someone else's work and, while I have enjoyed their other work, it does show through.

I would love to see the 'notes' and 'outlines' that are credited as being the base for building this book. I enjoyed the prequels and like the tie-in back to that. Maybe Frank intended something similar, mabe he didn't -- it doesn't matter at this point. I'm glad they tackled it. Unfortunately, it devolved into silliness related to the characters they brought back, etc. Oh well .....

As Enraged as an Honored Matre 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Wow. This novel (along with Hunters) was simply awful, plagued by a childish writing style and uninteresting plot developments. I was very disappointed with this work.

Seaworms? Honestly? You mean to tell me that after thousands of years of experimentation in sandworm propagation, that a half-baked Tlielaxu was the first to think of such a thing? What was the point in doing this? the seaworm plotline was unnecessary for this tale, and does much to diminish the worm mythology.

The rest of the story reads like an unbearably protracted curtain call for all the most famous characters of the Dune universe. The re-introduction of many of these characters was pointless, and contributed little to the development of the story. Such extreme disappointment. I would have preferred a beautifully illustrated coffee table book, containing prints of Herbert's actual notes. Harumph. I would wager that they wouldn't have much in common with this novel as it was published.

Stop milking the cash cow, at let the beauty of the original Dune novels stand on their own. Fellow readers, avoid the temptation to buy this book just to satisfy your craving for a hint of melange. Instead, find an old, beat-up copy of God-Emperor somewhere, and reacquaint yourself with the real deal.

The Clone Elite

Steven L. Kent

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ace Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $3.60

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> War
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Bring in the Clones...and keep them coming! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

"The Clone Elite" is the fourth in the series from Ace scifi author Steven L. Kent. It's more of the same...but that's a good thing. The story of interstellar civil war expands to intergalactic invasion as a mysterious army of aliens takes the Milky Way by storm.

Kent further develops the conflicted cloned character of Wayson Harris in a heroic tale where the fate of humanity is held in balance. There are new enemies (both foreign and domestic) to kill and lots of new hardware to help do the job.

"The Clone Elite" weaves a compelling plot that explores more of clone culture. The introduction of a new extra-galactic alien threat and the inventive path that the characters use to defeat it, provides for a very entertaining read.

If you're a military scifi fan, this series is a must read. I already can't wait for the next three books!

Editorial Review:

2514 A.D.: An unstoppable alien force is advancing on Earth, wiping out the Unified Authority’s colonies one by one. It’s up to Wayson Harris, an outlawed model of a clone, and his men to make a last stand on the planet of New Copenhagen, where they must win the battle and the war—or lose all.

100 Bullets Vol. 1: First Shot, Last Call

Brian Azzarello

Amazon Price: $9.99 List Price: $9.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vertigo Amazon Marketplace: 65 new & used starting at $3.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Drawing -> General
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Drawing -> General AAS
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Comic Strips -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great premise, too quickly abandoned 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I wanted to like 100 Bullets so much that I actually tried the second volume, even after being immensely disappointed with the first.

The set-up is great: A mysterious agent arrives in your life. He has incontrovertible proof of someone that's done some sort of horrible wrong to you, a big honkin' gun and 100 untraceable bullets. What do you do?

The moral dilemma is terrific, and the possibilities are endless. The good guys, the bad guys, the crimes... limitless stories. And the parts of the series that focus on these stories? Those are the good parts. And Azzarello is clearly a great writer - well up to the task of making this ethical conflicts as absorbing as possible.

However, the premise quickly takes a back seat, as 100 Bullets gets caught up in the larger narrative. Who is this agent? Why does he do this? Is this a... conspiracy?! Honestly? I don't care. Paranoia is old news in comics, whereas the insightful treatment of moral quandries is new and different. Stop world-building and write some stories!

I love the covers - they're stark and intense, using solid black/white tones to reflect the difficult decisions contained within. The interior art, however, disappointed me. It is too cartoony to be taken seriously, and too detailed to be abstract - as a result, it seemed to be disconnected with the subject matter.

Editorial Review:

What would you do if you were given the opportunity and the means to get away with murder, scot-free? Thats the question posed in 100 Bullets, a new graphic novel that combines elements of hard-boiled crime stories and paranoid espionage thrillers. The mysterious Agent Graves offers his clients a gun and immunity from prosecution, enabling them to get revenge against those who ruined their lives. Suggested for mature readers.

Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ballantine Books Amazon Marketplace: 1978 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Movie Tie-Ins
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 650 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Jurassic Park 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Jurassic Park is one of my favorite books! It has a lot of action and a lot of descriptions. The story is very similar to the ever famous Jurassic Park movie by Stephen Spielberg { sp? sorry } The terror and action the Crichton creates with the dinosaur chases is very thrilling. There are some parts where you think, what just happend? And then you have to reread it again. But all in all it's a very great book and I would recommend that you would read Lost World Jurassic Park and that you watch all three of the Jurassics because their all great!

Go Dinosuars! 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Have you ever read a book after the movie and actully liked the book better. It rarely happens but for this read the movie impressed me more. The beginning of the book is very different from the Speilberg blockbuster. It started out with some very good action and suspence but went downhill from that. After Alan Grant gets to a mysterious island filled with man-eating dinosaurs its almost too predictable what will happen, but hey that reason better be why you read the book, to see dinosaurs rip off peoples heads and slice open their stomach. After the dinos escape its a life or death race to get off the island. I definetly would suggest this book to a dino freak but no one else. The settings are hard to picture and leave you confused in the later chapters. The island is a prehistic landscape and is hard to picture since we don't know what it looks like. Another reason a thought it was bad was because it didn't describe the dinos well enough. It would be very helpful if Micheal included pictures of the dinos instead of just telling you it was a pretyhuioptyresasaurous. The only reason I like the book is because is has creature violence, which is my favorite, and it has many action sequences. The end is filled with action and has you guess who rein supreme, the humans or dinosaurs. So over all it had a good story line, hard to understand settings, unpictureable dinos, but a good action twist at the end. I definetly suggest it to sci-fi readers, but anyone else just stay away.

Editorial Review:

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy....
"Wonderful...Powerful."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Anakin in Action! (DK READERS)

Simon Beecroft

Amazon Price: $3.99 List Price: $3.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: DK CHILDREN Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $1.02

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Action & Adventure

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Good book for kids 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The DK early reading program is exceptional. Licensing popular franchises for different levels. Anakin is rated 2, while the companion book, Watch out For Jabba the Hut is level 1.

For those who have seen the Clone Wars, this is a good way to explain the story to young viewers. With art taken from the film, these books are topical, and use appropriate vocabulary. Want to raise a young Star Wars fan, pick these up and before long, you'll find your child reading any one of the Star Wars novels.

Great job. Simon Beecroft has a remarkable skill in writing for different age groups.

Keep up the great work DK.

Editorial Review:

Since the first time we heard Luke Skywalker ask Obi-Wan Kenobi "You fought in the Clone Wars!?" in Episode IV: A New Hope, fans the world over have been wondering exactly what the Clone Wars were and what clones in combat would look like. On August 15th, 2008, with the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, much will be explained. The Clone Wars take place between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Lucasfilm is now bringing the wars to life in an all-new CGI animated series.

The theatrical release will launch this groundbreaking computer-generated animated series, which will then debut on Cartoon Network and TNT in the fall. New characters like female Padawan Ahsoka Tano join old favorites Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and others as the Jedi cross lightsabers with the dark side yet again.

© Lucasfilm Ltd. ® & (tm)

Path of Daggers (The Wheel of Time)

Robert Jordan

List Price: $43.95 By: New Millennium Press Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $299.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Literature & Fiction -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1710 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

For millions of fans around the globe, the wait is over. Sequel to the international blockbuster bestseller A Crown of Swords, this epic volume continues one of history's greatest fictional journeys and the most extraordinary work of American fantasy ever published--The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and worldwide bestselling series--The Wheel of Time.

The phenomenal tale that is mesmerizing a generation of readers now continues.

The Seanchan invasion force is in possession of Ebou Dar. Nynaeve, Elayne, and Aviendha head for Caemlyn and Elayne's rightful throne, but on the way they discover an enemy much worse than the Seanchan.

In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before. But signs of madness are appearing among the Asha'man.

In Ghealdan, Perrin faces the intrigues of Whitecloaks, Seanchan invaders, the scattered Shaido Aiel, and the Prophet himself. Perrin's beloved wife, Faile, may pay with her life, and Perrin himself may have to destroy his soul to save her.

Meanwhile the rebel Aes Sedai under their young Amyrlin, Egwene al'Vere, face an army that intends to keep them away from the White Tower. But Egwene is determined to unseat the usurper Elaida and reunite the Aes Sedai. She does not yet understand the price that others--and she herself--will pay.

Neuromancer

William Gibson

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ace Hardcover Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $12.97

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( G ) -> Gibson, William
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( G ) -> Gibson, William -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( G ) -> Gibson, William -> Hardcover

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 453 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Still Good After All These Years 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I first read Gibson's "Neuromancer" when it first came out (about 24 years ago) and really enjoyed it. I just finished reading it again, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's weathered the intervening decades very well. This book created a genre by envisioning a wired world when, at the time, microcomputer's barely existed and ARPANET hadn't even started the move away from the Defense/Academic community to become the internet. It's truly amazing that such a book is still worthwhile today. It does have some minor problems with the characters and pacing, but those are insignificant compared to its historical significance. I rate it at a Very Good four stars out of five.

Editorial Review:

SPECIAL 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION --
THE MOST IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF THE PAST TWO DECADES

Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down. The winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer didn't just explode onto the science fiction scene--it permeated into the collective consciousness, culture, science, and technology.

Today, there is only one science fiction masterpiece to thank for the term "cyberpunk," for easing the way into the information age and Internet society. Neuromancer's virtual reality has become real. And yet, William Gibson's gritty, sophisticated vision still manages to inspire the minds that lead mankind ever further into the future.

Fleet of Worlds

Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner

Amazon Price: $16.99 List Price: $16.99 Not yet published

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> Space Opera
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fleet of Worlds marks Larry Niven's first full novel-length collaboration within his Known Space universe, the playground he created for his bestselling Ringworld series. Teaming up with fellow SF writer Edward M. Lerner, Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at the Human-Puppeteer (Citizens) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel. Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten’s people came from….  
A chain reaction of supernovae at the galaxy’s core has unleashed a wave of lethal radiation that will sterilize the galaxy. The Citizens flee, taking their planets, the Fleet of Worlds, with them.
Someone must scout ahead, and Kirsten and her crew eagerly volunteer. Under the guiding eye of Nessus, their Citizen mentor, they explore for any possible dangers in the Fleet’s path—and uncover long-hidden truths that will shake the foundations of worlds. 

Crossroads of Twilight (The Wheel of Time, Book 10)

Robert Jordan

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tor Fantasy Amazon Marketplace: 519 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( J ) -> Jordan, Robert -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( J ) -> Jordan, Robert -> Hardcover
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( J ) -> Jordan, Robert -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2418 Average rating: 1.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the tenth book of The Wheel of Time from the New York Times #1 bestselling author Robert Jordan, the world and the characters stand at a crossroads, and the world approaches twilight, when the power of the Shadow grows stronger.

Fleeing from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, whom he is fated to marry, Mat Cauthon learns that he can neither keep her nor let her go, not in safety for either of them, for both the Shadow and the might of the Seanchan Empire are in deadly pursuit.

Perrin Aybara seeks to free his wife, Faile, a captive of the Shaido, but his only hope may be an alliance with the enemy. Can he remain true to his friend Rand and to himself? For his love of Faile, Perrin is willing to sell his soul.

At Tar Valon, Egwene al'Vere, the young Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai, lays siege to the heart of Aes Sedai power, but she must win quickly, with as little bloodshed as possible, for unless the Aes Sedai are reunited, only the male Asha'man will remain to defend the world against the Dark One, and nothing can hold the Asha'man themselves back from total power except the Aes Sedai and a unified White Tower.

In Andor, Elayne Trakland fights for the Lion Throne that is hers by right, but enemies and Darkfriends surround her, plotting her destruction. If she fails, Andor may fall to the Shadow, and the Dragon Reborn with it.

Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn himself, has cleansed the Dark One's taint from the male half of the True Source, and everything has changed. Yet nothing has, for only men who can channel believe that saidin is clean again, and a man who can channel is still hated and feared-even one prophesied to save the world. Now, Rand must gamble again, with himself at stake, and he cannot be sure which of his allies are really enemies.

Those Left Behind (Serenity)

Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dark Horse Amazon Marketplace: 60 new & used starting at $4.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Popular Culture
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Comics & Graphic Novels
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

firefly rules 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 5 people found this review helpful.

firefly is one of the best shows of this decade. fox sucks for cancelling it. bring on more movies and bring back the show!!!!!!!!!!!

Editorial Review:

Penned by Whedon and Brett Matthews, who wrote several episodes of Firefly as well as Dark Horse's final Angel comics series and the animated Chronicles of Riddick feature "Dark Fury," Serenity follows a ship full of mercenaries, fugitives and one law-abiding prostitute in their pursuit for fast cash and a little peace along the fringes of space. The ragtag crew of Serenity take on a scavanger mission with the hopes of earning enough dough to disappear for a while. Only too late do they realize the whole gig is orchestrated by an old enemy eager remake their aquanitance with the help of some covert-operatives known only as the Blue Gloves. Artist Will Conrad (Marvel's Elektra and Witches) and colorist Laura Martin (Astonishing X-Men and The Ultimates) paint a rough and wild world of adventure across a strange and dangerous universe, in this not-to-be-missed tale straight from the brain of pop-culture mastermind Joss Whedon!