Bill

A real letdown.

Revisado: 05-25-24

A rare failure and otherwise successful series. Usually love the John Milton series. Not This time. Convoluted plotting. Forgettable characters. Skip this one.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

This is a fragment of a book

Revisado: 03-14-24

Very disappointed. Abrahams has divided a book and parts that do not stand alone. The only reason to do that is to sell the parts for more than the whole is worth. Disreputable. 

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Couldn’t someone have edited this

Revisado: 08-29-22

If you’re going to make up history, you should at least know a little bit about the era you’re working with. An example — despite the history presented here, no declaration was ever delivered from Charlotte North Carolina to DC in 1775. Nothing was. Nothing could’ve been. DC Didn’t exist in 1775. Mistakes like these are very distracting and a good editor should’ve caught them.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Really?

Revisado: 05-22-22

So just hypothetically. You and a large party travel across country, 2000 miles by car. You make very regular stops to forage for supplies and food. You check out dozens of homes although interestingly almost no businesses. And across all these states, you are an able to find firearms or ammunition in any reasonable supply. Really? In America?

Or let’s say you absolutely need medicine. Prescription medicine. You’re traveling between towns and you check out lots of homes to see if there’s any unexpired medicine. But you Never check out a drugstore though or the pharmacy counter the supermarket. Really?

And let’s say you were writing apocalyptic fiction. Aside from selling lots and lots of sequels, why would you drag it out for five volumes. Well, perhaps there’s enough interesting material? Nope. Just lots of fighting over and over and over.

This series is turning out to be an enormous waste of time and credits.
Incredibly sloppy.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Terrible narration decision

Revisado: 11-03-20

Who in the world decided that the great George Guidall needed accompaniment in this audiobook. Whoever it was did an enormous disservice to John Connolly’s work and to all listeners of it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Back in top form.

Revisado: 04-29-18

Terrific addition to the Lucas Davenport series. John Sandford is back at the top of his game. This one is more than worth the time and the credit.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Ideological Clap Trap

Revisado: 02-17-17

Take one self righteous pedant. Add a simplistic authoritarian worldview. Eliminate any notion of the intrinsic value in every human being and replace it with a crass mathematical notion of good. Dress up the vile eugenics theories of a century ago in modern science fiction clothing and mix liberally. Leven the brew with sanctimonious self indulgence.

And you will have Robt Sawyer's latest, disappointing, lamentable, novel. Now throw this entire mess down the nearest toilet.

Absurdly epic fail. And if Sawyer's irredeemably silly philosophical premise were not enough to doom this work, it's presentation in a boring, repetitive story would be.

I am uncertain if this is somehow the latest manifestation of the Trump Derangement Syndrome that seems to be spreading across America or just a tragic example of the declining talents of a once-fine writer. No matter, really, this is not worth your time, your money, or your credit. Flee and save a half day of your life.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Nothing more than a Story fragment

Revisado: 02-15-17

Konkoly is a fine writer but like so many other writers these days he seems to have decided to divide his stories into multiple pieces to wring just a little more money out of his readers. This tactic is tolerable when each of the parts of the series is a worthwhile standalone story. Unfortunately that is not the case with Rogue State. Here we have no new plot development, no character development to speak of, nothing that would warrant purchasing this is a standalone novel. Instead, we have a pyrotechnic road trip between the first novel in the series and the third. I might even accept this if the series as a whole were stronger but this is Konkoly's weakest effort ever and so after two fragments, I would counsel "skip the whole thing."

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

More is Not Always Better

Revisado: 01-20-16

These lectures probably deserve a rating better than a three. They might even warrant a four, had Professor Garland stopped at 20 lectures rather than stretching his course to 24. Doing so required that he work far too hard to "find" his last few "great" events. As a result, we are asked to accept as decisive turning points in history:

the opening of the Roman Coliseum;
the account by Ibn Fadlan of his 10th Century travels to Russia;
the appeal of Theodora to Justinian urging him to face down the Nika rioters; or
the reign of Chinese concubine empress Wu Zetian.

Compared to legitimate historical turning points (e.g., the sack of Rome or the battle Marathon), these are virtual hiccups, the last two seemingly included only so that both genders are represented in Garner's list. As listeners, we would have been better served by a shorter list, selected for true historical significance.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Story Fragment, No Depth

Revisado: 01-08-16

Don't expect a novel. If you do, you will be disappointed.

Expect, instead, an extended set-up piece for some future novel. Here, you will face a bit of plot background (which is told, not shown) as well as lots of fawning praise for special forces troops and highly detailed reverence for military equipment. Character development is obviously low priority; we learn very little about any character and, as a result, have a hard time caring about them.

This book does a masterful job of demonstrating why plot alone is not enough to create a good novel. If we care about the people, we will naturally care about the plot. The reverse isn't necessarily true and is certainly not true in Fortress Britain.

The only good news here? At least this novel fragment is brief; you won't need to spend too long with this testosterone-mad paean to soldiers and their weapons to conclude that it is not worth your time.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 11 personas