I was slightly disappointed in this novel. Still it is worth reading and pretty easy to read and I will save it for reading again some day2016 grade B
I was slightly disappointed in this novel. Still it is worth reading and pretty easy to read and I will save it for reading again some day.
The novel has less action and more intrigue and politics than the first two novels. But it does not have a corresponding increase in character development and world building.
I was also unhappy with the open ended nature of the final chapter and its three unfinished themes. (Is the Broom family still in trouble with the government or are they now OK given the unsurprising twist ending? What about the one Broom Cobra still off planet, which appears to be a more interesting storyline anyway. The first two books of that series have been published BTW. I'd give the title but it is a spoiler.)
Overall the story is not particularly engrossing and can be put down pretty easy. Some of the POV changes were initially confusing, probably because it was forgettable so I forgot the other POV even existed by the time I got there. ...more
Book two in the series is an enjoyable space opera war from start to finish. It is a classic multiple POV third person p2016 Grade B/B+
Series book CW2
Book two in the series is an enjoyable space opera war from start to finish. It is a classic multiple POV third person presentation taking place on two planets from different POVs on each. One planet is a newly settled very unfriendly jungle planet. The other is a city and rural planet of previous enemies. The two POVs don't even come together until about 2/3 of the way through when a third POV from book one enters the picture.
There is some character development and quite a bit of world building, which I like. In fact the world building was oversold a bit making it hard for me to suspend my disbelief at times that the feats of survival were possible. The jungle was a little too ferocious. In the city, the bent over and cold sewer and river journeys were more than any normal person could take. The Nissa character was underdeveloped and seemed a bit out character at the end. Otherwise the novel would have earned a B+. ...more
This is an action adventure SciFi novel with some of the characters augmented to effectively low level super powers. It al2016 grade B+
Series book CW1
This is an action adventure SciFi novel with some of the characters augmented to effectively low level super powers. It also has pretty good character and personality development making it a fun read. The story ends satisfactorily and can be read on its own. But it does up the next novel at the very end....more
This is a 5* grade A hard SciFi near future survival novel. Be forewarned though that I am a hard SciFi fan and this is very hard SciFi. I2015 grade A
This is a 5* grade A hard SciFi near future survival novel. Be forewarned though that I am a hard SciFi fan and this is very hard SciFi. It has math, physics, biology and chemistry dialog and others might find it a bit dry in places. The first six chapters only have one character and, even for me, it was getting a bit dry. But the author chose exactly the right spot to switch to the NASA point of view with more characters. Somehow the author managed to build character development into the story even though most of it has only one character. The end is grade A+.
I cannot recommend this book. It contains five individual episodes with repeating characters or history covering the integrat1983 grade B+ 2017 Grade C
I cannot recommend this book. It contains five individual episodes with repeating characters or history covering the integration of mind reading mutants into the “normal' population over a period of about 100 years. The stories are bound together by six very short stitching pieces of a future event. The concept and characters are interesting but the prose is much too out of date. The writing style is tedious and repetitive. I'm sure some of the repetition comes from the individual stories first being published separately which does require background information. But it was a difficult read in book form and hard to speed read. Not recommended.
Roadmarks is sort of a time travel story, but that is only a mechanical means of writing about the characters. There are n1982 grade B 2017 grade B+/A-
Roadmarks is sort of a time travel story, but that is only a mechanical means of writing about the characters. There are no regular chapters. Instead it is told from two timeline POVs switching back and forth each “chapter.” One timeline pretty much follows the main character and pretty much in order. The other one is where the variety comes in, bouncing around the timeline and adding characters each time. I actually made a list of the names of the characters as they appeared and in each timeline.
It is an amazing book. But you have to pay attention especially in the beginning. There are about 15 secondary characters, not to mention tertiary. In addition, characters in one timeline appear in others, sometimes so innocently it's like they are not the same characters.
In any case, it is a masterful piece of writing. If the story were told in order, I don't think it would be as good, but I like time travel stories and the oddness, and I am a better reader than I was 35 years ago. I read it pretty quickly and only stopped when I had to....more