Science Fiction Books - Page 5

Fearless (The Lost Fleet, Book 2)

Jack Campbell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Where is Honor Harrington? 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

OK, here's the good. Jack Campbell describes fleet operations in a believable manner. Frankly, I believe his fleet structure would work better than the pseudo ship of the line fleet structure used by David Weber.

But Weber has already done it (and done it, and done it, and...). Weber also included a rich universe, a good deal of romance, and a lot of involved politics. Mr. Campbell has thrown in some cardboard cutouts to ask leading questions of his hero.

Oh, yeah. Are there aliens in this universe? I don't know. Stick around for book six.

There's nothing new here. There is no personal story here. There is no human story here. There's a lot of inspirational interludes where the author uses the mythical "Black Jack" to opin on the santity of life and playing by the rules of war. There's also a number of set up characters who (amazingly enough) turn their life around just knowing that good old Black Jack believes in mercy and honor.

Please.

Sorry, for a writer with an easily readable style, I think Mr. Campbell is wasting his talent. After he finishes paying some bills, I would like to encourage him to write a well balanced novel that depends on human characters and emotions almost as much as the battle scenes.

Editorial Review:

Captain John "Black Jack" Geary tries a desperate gamble to lead the Alliance Fleet home-through enemy-occupied space-only to lose half the Fleet to an unexpected mutiny.

Day by Day Armageddon (A Zombie Novel)

J. L. Bourne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 188 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Big Disappointment 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Day By Day Armageddon was on my birthday list this year, solely based on Amazon's description. I didn't even read the user reviews because, after all, opinions on books (especially zombie books) are subjective. After trudging through (because thats what you will do with this book) I was sadly disappointed.
The spelling and grammatical errors are tough to get over, even in a book written in journal-style formatting. The journal-style doesn't even work in this book. You have pages with fake smudges, and pictures, and random drawings and typed pages, but then all of our main character's thoughts are typed out nice and neat.
The inconsistency is a minor flaw compared to the story that shambles not unlike a real zombie would. It's very slow to unfold, all of the characters are two-dimensional at best, and I was really hoping that one of them would get bitten just to add some excitement to the story.
Overall, this was poorly written and dull. I definitely would not recommend wasting your money or time.

Editorial Review:

START INTERCEPT_ Sporadic news reports indicate chaos and violence spreading through U.S. cities. An unknown evil is sweeping the planet. The dead are rising to claim the Earth as the new dominant species in the food chain. INTERCEPT COMPLETE_ Survivor, In your hands is the handwritten journal depicting one man's struggle for survival. Trapped in the midst of global disaster, he must make decisions; choices that ultimately mean life, or the eternal curse to walk as one of them. Enter if you will into his world. -The world of the undead.

The Last Centurion

John Ringo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The fine lines between fiction, fantasy, politics, and style 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

One of the things that first trip up the casual reader is the first-person narrative by Bandit Six. Described as "blog-style", the story begins with a massive set-up of back story on the character and the world he lived in. It's long, and it's hard to read through if you've read it before, but as an introduction it works. Anyone who has read any online journals with people going on and on and on about a certain event in their life can sympathize. It's the nature of the beast that a blog is either going to be train-wreck interesting or completely boring to the outsider.

Another thing is the politics. Read Mr. Ringo's bio and discover that he has a definite conservative bent. Read this story and discover that the main character has a definite conservative bent. Bandit Six comes off as preachy at times, but then again, it's his "blog" and his rules apply. I repeat conservative because it might appear to some that there is a Republican bent. To my eyes, there isn't. Bandit praises specific politicians regardless of party affiliation, and crucifies those that offend his sensibilities. He even points out the dangers of having elected officials' family following closely in "daddy's" footsteps.

The next crack in the sidewalk is the science. In the future that this book is set in, of course the science is valid. Bandit's lived it, studied it, and makes the attempt to present it in layman's terms. In our present, is it true? Maybe, maybe not. But there's one thing that this book emphasizes over and over: Can we afford to turn a blind eye to the opposing viewpoint. Read the bit about scientific facts, theories, and hypotheses and apply that to what is presented to the public in regards to global weather changes and pandemic disease. Then make up your mind.

Finally, the chasm of fiction and/or fantasy as entertainment. For this book, it depends on whether you feel offended enough by the lecturing tone to be bounced out of your willing suspension of disbelief and enjoyment of the story. If you can hold on and continue through the infodump, this is an entertaining story. If you can't, then maybe this type of story isn't for you. The lecturing and extensive back story did get to me after a while, but once I got through I enjoyed the hell out of the adventures of Bandit.

Editorial Review:

In the second decade of the twenty-first century the world is struck by two catastrophes, a new mini-ice age and, nearly simultaneously, a plague to dwarf all previous experiences. Rising out of the disaster is the character known to history as “Bandit Six” an American Army officer caught up in the struggle to rebuild the world and prevent the fall of his homeland—despite the best efforts of politicians both elected and military. The Last Centurion is a memoir of one possible future, a world that is a darkling mirror of our own. Written “blog-style,” it pulls no punches in its descriptions of junk science, bad strategy and organic farming not to mention all three at once

Extras (Uglies)

Scott Westerfeld

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Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fame

It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules.

As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn't care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself.

Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity...and extreme danger. A world she's not prepared for.

Unmanned (Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1)

Brian K. Vaughan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 65 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

No Greater Wrath..... 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Plague? Black Magic? Terrorism? Act of God? Could / would something simultaneously kill every mammal possessing a Y chromosome? Even unborn mammals in the womb? Well, according to Y: The Last Man, on July 17, 2002, that's exactly what happened...with the exception of one male human being and one male Capuchin monkey.

Volumes 1 through 5 of Y: The Last Man chronicle the life of Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand as they are thrust into a female-only society. And society is in chaos. The realization that the planet is doomed without a reproducing, intelligent species is not lost on its inhabitants. Some accept their fate; some fight to find a way to reverse the annihilation; and some even denounce any fight to survive as opposition to God's will.

Hence, to some, Yorick Brown is the ultimate opposition to God's will....A sole human male survivor. So when Yorick teams up with a government agent and a genetic scientist on a journey across the country to get to a laboratory to find out 'what makes him different', or to try to discover if there's a genetic 'solution' to this disaster, you can bet the band of travelers run into some hostile forces.

The stories in Volumes 1 through 5 (of 10 so far) are very well told, exciting, twist-filled and keep you pressing on for Volume after Volume. Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores comes out June 24th, 2008.

Rumor has it (according to [...], 1/29/2008, A chat with ... 'Y: The Last Man' director D.J. Caruso by Whitney Matheson) that a movie adaptation will come out in three films...the first of which could be released as early as 2009 (with Shia LaBeouf as Yorick).

The storyline is not without some controversy....Well, I see no controversy, but I'm sure that certain narrow minded groups might view the nature of a population unable to civilly function without men a bit 'controversial'. Hopefully, Hollywood will maintain the integrity of the series and not dumb down the fabulous tale that the authors created.

Paul of Dune

Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson

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Editorial Review:

Frank Herbert's Dune ended with Paul Muad’Dib in control of the planet Dune. Herbert’s next Dune book, Dune Messiah, picked up the story several years later after Paul’s armies had conquered the galaxy. But what happened between Dune and Dune Messiah? How did Paul create his empire and become the Messiah? Following in the footsteps of Frank Herbert, New York Times bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are answering these questions in Paul of Dune.

The Muad’Dib’s jihad is in full swing. His warrior legions march from victory to victory. But beneath the joy of victory there are dangerous undercurrents. Paul, like nearly every great conqueror, has enemies--those who would betray him to steal the awesome power he commands. . . .

And Paul himself begins to have doubts: Is the jihad getting out of his control? Has he created anarchy? Has he been betrayed by those he loves and trusts the most? And most of all, he wonders: Am I going mad?

Paul of Dune is a novel everyone will want to read and no one will be able to forget.

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, George R. R. Martin, Octavia E. Butler, Jonathan Lethem, Orson Scott Card, Gene Wolfe, Jack McDevitt, Tobias S. Buckell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not Free SF Reader 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Wastelands is pretty close to the perfect anthology, making just a touch over the magic 4.00 story average.

For an authoritative (the editor does say he is now an expert) look at the sub-genre, it is a bit light on for analytical non-fiction. For readers, less space taken thanking your mates, more time writing about the work would be appreciated, I think.

There is a fairly lengthy bibliography of various written works in and around this particular sub-genre at the back of the book. What is lacking here is one for short fiction, which is a bit odd, for an anthology. There is a good website for the book mentioned here, too, and it is useful, actually lists the contents and authors and other information like reviews. If there wasn't space in the book, then the website would be a natural for this sort of list. Minor issues, but you can't be perfect without 'em.

That said, the more important part is the fiction. This is an extremely strong selection, with a five star story by Doctorow, and several 4.5s to be found. Having many stories of this calibre in one book is not common at all. The pick of the rest include Bacigalupi, Martin, Wells, Barrett and Langan.

Overall this anthology is a great effort.

Wastelands : The End of the Whole Mess - Stephen King
Wastelands : Salvage - Orson Scott Card
Wastelands : The People of Sand and Slag - Paolo Bacigalupi
Wastelands : Bread and Bombs - M. Rickert
Wastelands : How We Got In Town and Out Again - Jonathan Lethem
Wastelands : Dark Dark Were the Tunnels - George R. R. Martin
Wastelands : Waiting for the Zephyr - Tobias S. Buckell
Wastelands : Never Despair - Jack McDevitt
Wastelands : When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - Cory Doctorow
Wastelands : The Last of the O-Forms - James Van Pelt
Wastelands : Still Life With Apocalypse - Richard Kadrey
Wastelands : Artie's Angels - Catherine Wells
Wastelands : Judgment Passed - Jerry Oltion
Wastelands : Mute - Gene Wolfe
Wastelands : Inertia - Nancy Kress
Wastelands : And the Deep Blue Sea - Elizabeth Bear
Wastelands : Speech Sounds - Octavia E. Butler
Wastelands : Killers - Carol Emshwiller
Wastelands : Ginny Sweethips Flying Circus - Neal BarrettJr
Wastelands : The End of the World as We Know It - Dale Bailey
Wastelands : A Song Before Sunset - David Grigg
Wastelands : Episode Seven Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of Purple Flowers by John Langan


Calm mind lost.

4 out of 5


Gold
Always believe in your soul
Youve got the power to know

3.5 out of 5


Immortal ruined future's lack of taste for pets.

4.5 out of 5


Bad snow and strange candy.

3 out of 5


Scapeathon.

3 out of 5


Only a rat.
Pretty big, though.

4.5 out of 5


Late ship stress.

3.5 out of 5


Holo advice from Churchill.

4 out of 5


Biowar makes geekfu and gruntwork a necessary combination afterwards.

5 out of 5


Mutoid zoo show minigirl metamorphosis.

4 out of 5


Author has done it himself :

"Apocalypse is the last gasp of bureaucracy."

4 out of 5


Bike lord's legend.

4.5 out of 5


Mushroom message to heaven's afterlife lockout anecdote answer.

4 out of 5


Tv total dead zone.

3.5 out of 5


Quarantine lack of collapse restraint.

4.5 out of 5


A post-apocalyptic motorbike courier, really, really should have read Ghost Rider in her younger days.

4 out of 5


Literacy despair youth hope glimmer.

4.5 out of 5


He dumped me, but he's still pretty tasty.

3.5 out of 5


Sextape speedup shootout repair hookup.

4.5 out of 5


No Triffids, Kraken, Cuckoos or Lichen.

4 out of 5


I said sing, Piano Man, not strangle.

4 out of 5


Batboy postapocalyptic pregnant prey girl's only chance.

4.5 out of 5

Editorial Review:

Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon - these are our guides through the Wastelands... From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.

Storm from the Shadows

David Weber

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Editorial Review:

Rear Admiral Michelle Henke was commanding one of the ships in a force led by Honor Harrington in an all-out space battle. The odds were against the Star Kingdom forces, and they had to run. But Michelle’s ship was crippled, and had to be destroyed to prevent superior Manticoran technology from falling into Havenite hands, and she and her surviving crew were taken prisoner. Much to her surprise, she was repatriated to Manticore, carrying a request for a summit conference between the leaders of the two sides which might end the war. But a condition of her return was that she gave her parole not to fight against the forces of the Republic of Haven until she had been officially exchanged for a Havenite prisoner of war, so she was given a command far away from the war’s battle lines. What she didn’t realize was that she would find herself on a collision course, not with a hostile government, but with the interstellar syndicate of criminals known as Manpower. And Manpower had its own plans for eliminating Manticore as a possible threat to its lucrative slave trade, deadly plans which remain hidden in the shadows.

Praise for the Prequel, The Shadow of Saganami:

“These hugely entertaining and clever adventures are the very epitome of space opera. . . . Weber . . . remind[s] the reader that a hero can be anyone who does his or her job with honor, commitment and skill.” —Publishers Weekly

“The Shadow of Saganami may be military science fiction great David Weber’s best tale in the Honorverse . . an action packed tale with a fully developed multiple cast. . . .” —The Midwest Book Review

Dark Needs at Night's Edge (The Immortals After Dark Series, Book 4)

Kresley Cole

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Bestselling author Kresley Cole continues her seductive Immortals After Dark series with this tale of a vampire shunned even by his own kind and a beautiful phantom, bound together by a passion they cannot resist.

A RAVEN-HAIRED TEMPTRESS OF THE DARK...

Néomi Laress, a famous ballerina from a past century, became a phantom the night she was murdered. Imbued with otherworldly powers but invisible to the living, she haunts her beloved home, scaring away trespassers -- until she encounters a ruthless immortal even more terrifying than Néomi herself.

A VAMPIRE WARRIOR CONSUMED BY MADNESS...

To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Wroth's brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. But there, a female only he can see seems determined to drive him further into madness. The exquisite creature torments him with desire, leaving his body racked with lust and his soul torn as he finds himself coveting her for his own.

HOW FAR WILL HE GO TO CLAIM HER?

Yet even if Conrad can win Néomi, evil still surrounds her. Once he returns to the brutality of his past to protect her, will he succumb to the dark needs seething inside him?

Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 298 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Oryx and Crake, a science fiction novel that is more Swift than Heinlein, more cautionary tale than "fictional science" (no flying cars here), Margaret Atwood depicts a near-future world that turns from the merely horrible to the horrific, from a fool's paradise to a bio-wasteland. Snowman (a man once known as Jimmy) sleeps in a tree and just might be the only human left on our devastated planet. He is not entirely alone, however, as he considers himself the shepherd of a group of experimental, human-like creatures called the Children of Crake. As he scavenges and tends to his insect bites, Snowman recalls in flashbacks how the world fell apart.

While the story begins with a rather ponderous set-up of what has become a clichéd landscape of the human endgame, littered with smashed computers and abandoned buildings, it takes on life when Snowman recalls his boyhood meeting with his best friend Crake: "Crake had a thing about him even then.... He generated awe ... in his dark laconic clothing." A dangerous genius, Crake is the book's most intriguing character. Crake and Jimmy live with all the other smart, rich people in the Compounds--gated company towns owned by biotech corporations. (Ordinary folks are kept outside the gates in the chaotic "pleeblands.") Meanwhile, beautiful Oryx, raised as a child prostitute in Southeast Asia, finds her way to the West and meets Crake and Jimmy, setting up an inevitable love triangle. Eventually Crake's experiments in bioengineering cause humanity's shockingly quick demise (with uncanny echoes of SARS, ebola, and mad cow disease), leaving Snowman to try to pick up the pieces. There are a few speed bumps along the way, including some clunky dialogue and heavy-handed symbols such as Snowman's broken watch, but once the bleak narrative gets moving, as Snowman sets out in search of the laboratory that seeded the world's destruction, it clips along at a good pace, with a healthy dose of wry humor. --Mark Frutkin, Amazon.ca