Michael

What if you started a revolution and nobody came?

Revisado: 05-23-18

This series has been around for a while (even though it's still growing). Wonderfully written by Bobby Adair, and as usually narrated masterfully by Greg Tremblay, one of my favorate narrators! This story reminds me alot of, "The Old Man's War," by John Scalzi, not that they have anything in common, but in the interesting style of being technical, but not technical since our protaganist is a, "newbie," to actual combat, even though he takes to it like he was born to it, well, most of the time. Our Protaganist gives us a great look into his thinking, will suppressing that thinking to the aliens that have taken Earth into their loving enbrace (conquered it), and with their fateful and loyal helper's (the North Koren's, who sold out the human race, and have an elevated status that allows them to treat the rest of the world as they do their own people. Strictly, it's not PC, but it's pretty on the nose. As well, one of their first requests to the aliens, refered to as the, "Gray's," is to destroy South Korea!). Dylan Kane, our hero, is as privaleged as any American can get, one becuase he has a bug in his head that hes had since basically his birth, which allows him to see gavational fields (Like the aliens can do naturally and more profiently), and maybe other things he has yet to figure out and two, he's been able to "block," his real feelings from the alien's, who are telepathic, presenting instead a mind full of loyal and subservient thoughts. A willingness to please their new masters! Life under the aliens at first was not horrible, but then a second alien group called the "Trogs" (From Troglodites), who seem, despite the propaganda, to be soundly beating the "Grays," and of course, the "Grays" are throughing away human lives by the millions in this fight, with substandard equipment, very little information, and now, as Kane signs up (with most the people from his job), with the military as part of his plan and the plan of his collegues, to get ships and start the, "Free Navy," so they can fight the Trogs since appertly the only tactic the "Grays" have is using humans as fodder (The average new recruit has a life expendecy of minutes or hours. In fact, the equipment that each recruit uses has signs of the tramatic death of it's previous user). Then after defeating the Trogs, they would have the ships to drive off the Grays and free their world! The plan sounds good, but the execution is turning out to be a problem, and worse, Kanes superior is a lunatic that believes her authourty is more important than effective tactics and the soilders lives, underneath her.
While tackling all this, Adair has infused this book a suprizing amount of humor, which is amazing considering the accurate protrayal of how bloody, deadly, and horrible war can be. As well, he adds technological and scientific reality into this book, but if this isn't a strong point for you, he handles this deftly, and gives explanations that you can understand! This is a book well worth reading, I'd say even, a must read!

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Nick Webb! Enough said!

Revisado: 05-23-18

Nick Webb has a varied portfolio, and everyone of his adventures are great. Webb does a mix of styles, one moment he's writing a vary good military sci-fi story, and the next it's more of a lite-hearted adventure, and even and adventure that will make you belly laugh. This is a great combination, with so many twists and turns, you won't see comng, that if you have a problem with motion sickness, you should take some Dramamine before reading. As usual his words flow from him easliy and naturally (at least he makes it seem that way, it's anthing but easy). I would assume you've read Mercury's Bane, and Jupitor's Sword. Both of these books are a set up for this one, they give us so many questions, and we re eager to know the answers! He delivers with the flair we have begome used to. Imagine two amazing military stratagists, but both so stubborn they refuse to see what's imporant, not to win, but to live! We watch as Dawn reaches her potential, helped on by Nehaen. Whe found out a secret so terrible that is will stun you, and we reminded, no matter how many inhabital planets might be out there, we live on on of the beautiful and precious ones (and while this isn't goes without saying, we need to charish and protect our plant from those who would be so greedy, they would destroy it for a little more wealth), more interestingly we learn that greed and wealth do make those with the wealth to consider themselves to be infalliable, and better than the rest of us, and more importantly their needs outweigh everyone elses, and that we should see that as well! All this comes down to, if you liked the first two books, then you will love this one!

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Nobody Does it better!

Revisado: 05-19-18

Why every TV exec. is looking for good sci-fi, and movies are realizing that sci-fi books can do great box-office, "The Martian," and "Ready Player One." They have seemed to have ignored one of the premier sci-fi writter, but this is a book review, and once again John Scalzi comes through with a follow-up, but also a stand alone (remember when reading a book meant reading one book, not 27! This book follows a detective who investagates crimes involving Haden's Disease, which Wll Wheaton creates a phenomial proformance, as a former child celebraty because he was one of the first victims (Haden's is much liked locked-in syndrome, but because the President's wife, the person the diesease is named after, and the reason medicine and industry concentrate on it, of course, that is coming to an end, due to legislative cut-backs), and now an FBI agent because of a tech. know as, "threpes," a robotic body that Haden's vitims can, "pilot" with their minds. Smoething once provided to Haden's victims, now an expensive item, that is now, the responsability of patient's even though Haden's victims are contributing members of society, as apparent through Wheaton's charactor (I have read the versios by Will Wheaton since I know his work from other books such as, "Ready Player One," but Amber Benson also does this book, and the first, I intend on getting those and you should as well! If Scalzi hs her narrating, she's good!). Actually, this is a lot like a cop thriller, complete with the hard-broiled partner, who had been a Haden's sarrogate, people who's minds make it able for them to get am implant that they can use to let a Haden's victim with money walk around as a regular human, all governed by strict guidelines, but for her the guidelines falled and a, "Twisted," Haden's who wanted to have the human jump in front of a train. Needless to say, this is a tramatic event that affects her view on Hadden's (this is dealt with in the first book). Through these divergent backgrounds, have a keen understanding of Haden's. Interestingly, Scalzi even does this genre better than other writers. In this book (Finally, I know your saying), a new sport had emerged, one for Haden's victims only, since it involved a violent sport where each team tries to decapatate a member from the opposing team before they could score! Obviously, "Trepes" were used and thus, a sport for Haden's victims, even though non-Haden's could play, but Haden's had been doing this for so much longer, and thus, non-Haden's couldn't really compete! So our intrepid pair began the investagation and through several interesting and unexpected twists, they find a more sinister motive. This, just as the first novel is exceptionally well written and Will is amazingly believable as a Haden's and his partner is a perfect mix of sarcasm, insight, and a good detective!

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Reading this book is a true disappointment

Revisado: 01-28-18

For a lot of us we feel art of, "The Expanse," family, and part of the Roci's crew! The series has been truly great, well read, great characters, including the Roci. The last installment, "Nemisis Game," while presenting things as bad, they were getting better, the crew was closer than ever and the final makeup of the Roci had been decided. All in all, a good place to stop, if that's what you intend on doing. Things were good and we were happy, of course, the unknown alien menice still remand a mystery, but it appeared that Corey didn't mind, and frankly, most of us were okay with it. Hey, but there was going to be a final book. The wait was long, but we endured it, after all, this was going to be the moment when Capt. Holden finally met the mysterious aliens. What Corey gave us was a more a Novalla than a book in the series, especially the last book! Corey plucked some small detail from the last book, the disappearence of some of the Mars Navy, a side-note at best and redirected the entire series to a completely different storyline (usually a sign that an author is intending to start a spin-off series). Corey introduces us to complete new characters or extremely minor ones (not something you expect in the final book of a series), a completely new story line that has not been forshadowed in any of the previous books. Like a spoiled child proceeds to smash everything he has built up over the series, which ends upn creating a confusing, narrative, characters that we have absolutely no feelings for, motovations behind, understanding of any back story, Finally culmining in one of the most disappointing endings of all time, with more plot points left up in the air than I've ever seen in the final book of a series! I kept looking wildly for some statement as to another book or series, but to no avail. Oh and those pesky aliens are finally mentioned again, only for us to learn nothing new, and create another unresolved issue. The ending is so depression that it actually makes you regret reading the series to begin with! Even the characters we love are presented simplisticly, and the usually cleaver writing, replaced by silly plots that appear from seemingly nowhere (Hey, but maybe the Novella will explain the back story!). This was, without a doubt, my favorite sci-fi series. To James S. A. Corey, why?

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Clive need fails to do due diligence

Revisado: 01-24-18

I’ve usually enjoyed Clive Cussler’s NUMA stories, especially the interaction between Kurt and Joe, as well as Clive’s interesting story telling in these (NUMA), but in this case Clive falls short. Not only is the science behind the story incredibly bad! The premise is so bad as to stain any credulity! The narration is poor for this type of story, where interpersonal reactions are important, and while the narrator maybe okay, he’s just not the one for this type of story!

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Embers have heat

Revisado: 03-13-17

This is the first book in the Ember Wars series and it provides a well delivered tale (I hate the term, "space opera.") that will propel you through the entire series! I don't know how many times I've read the first book in a series, and became excited about the series, only to find the rest of the books were simply a retelling, or pale imitation of the first book. However, this book does what a series should, in two main ways. One, like the "Old Man's War," series, it provides great storytelling mixed with an interesting, and rare story for the reader to enjoy! In Embers that premise (spoiler alert, so if you haven't read the book just avoid the next part, and trust that it's a great premise) that the human race has been destroyed, which injects an emotional dimension to it's characters, and in this book, as well as the entire series, the characters have more dimension to them, that make them more real than just about every character you will read! Which is the other series it is like, the "Expanse," series (the books not the TV show even though that is good, but not as fantastic as the books!), where you come to truly care about each character, you feel their pain, as with the crew of the "Rosy," the characters on the Briet are almost real, and also, their differences are unique, (spoiler alert, so again take my word for it and avoid what I say next), the most powerful of the soldiers are called the Iron Hearts, and, "they are armor," combat suits so powerful they could destroy a space ship, but inside the suits are complex people who are anything but powerful, a paraplegic, and a man who's muscles are so atrophied, he appears more like a fetus, than a man, and the book gives you a reason why that makes sense! Then the man who's probably the most hated of all humanity, was just a poor brilliant college student that gets a call in the night and is informed he must save humanity, but oh, here's the catch, you can only save a very few and you have to comment atrocities! In all this we witness the best and worst of what humanity has to offer! Every character is this way, but this book asks the question, "how can the embers of humanity," defeat an implacable enemy? Fantastic read, and Luke Daniels narrates (if you haven't heard Luke Daniels, I feel bad for you!), and all the books integrates into each other very well! Note that this is the publishers pack, therefore it also has the second book in the series, "The Ruins of Anthalas," where after what's left of humanity is finally told the truth about what has happened. Earth has been attacked and nothing remains of the population. They have recovered the probe, as well as the holographic form and mind of Mark Ibarra, the world's richest man, and the most hated for his role in the destruction on Earth, as well as what's left of the human race see him as a schemer and manipulator, they need him to survive, so when he tells the Brietenfeld that it is imperative that they go to a world called Anathalas to retrieve has a device that is advanced technology they will need to create the materials necessary to have even a chance against the oncoming invasion! This book is about this, "supposed," easy task of running out to the planet and acquire this device. This story grows from the first book so well it seems almost seamless. You can imagine that nothing goes as planned (okay one criticism, I can't stand, and not just in this book, it's in most military sci-fi as well as other military type of stories. The quote you inevitably hear is, "no plan survives first contact," which is both an absurd concept. A closer interpretation of the quote, since it was made in German by Helmuth Von Moltke, who said something close to, "no operation extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main body of the enemy," which would have Sun Tzu turning over in his grave (as well as Germany's greatest strategist, Bismarck! A quote from the Art of War is, "He will win who prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared"), however this group can get through just about anything, but unfortunately they make even more enemies, meet a god-like being and, well you need to read the rest!

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Scalia dispatches very well

Revisado: 10-23-16

Scalia has written the best sci-first I've read and this is no different, even though it is a departure from his usual fare, but if you like his work, you'll love this! As for those who don't care for space novels (I hate the term, "Space Opera."), this isn't a space novel, but rather more of a thriller/mystery with a sci-fi undertone, not enough to be a problem. This is as exciting as any thriller, and the characters are multi-dimensional, and the story provides a good number of twists and turns! For anyone who has been in a coma for the last few years, the narrator is Zachary Quinto major actor, and he proves it here as well. His portrayal of the dispatcher is just right. As with all Scalzi's work, he delivers some great humor and Quinto delivers it masterfully! Scalzi's even provides some thought provoking theology as well. The only reason I gave this a four is that I'm one of those silly people who reserves a five for a Shakespeare, or Blake, so ignore that! You will probably not hear or read a better work of fiction this year!

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A story of the perils of human evolution!

Revisado: 01-17-16

If you've read Childhood ' s End, by Arthur C Clarke (not seen the TV mini-series, which was not a good representation of the book), while this trilogy takes a completely different direction, is well done and frankly very close to Clarke's. In that I mean in quality, presenting a situation where we have to solve this dilemma, without the aid of aliens, without losing our children, and frankly it does a great job of pulling off such a tough problem. Not to mention that when this trilogy started it hadn't been discovered that homo sapiens and australopithecus actually weren't enemies, in fact they frequently lived together and even, "mixed." Other forces lead to their extension, not conflict. There is even evidence that early man was much less violent! Note Clarke didn’t know this either. However, Marcus Sakey seems to be more on point on this. While this trilogy begins several years ago (which foolish lead me to believe it would be complete, however, I had to wait till early Jan. 2016 for the final installment), so expect there maybe elements a bit out of date, but that in no way hurts the narrative! on this subject, the books are narrated by Luke Daniels, who is one of the better narrators you'll find! Three dimensional characters, a seat of your pants adventure, and an extremely plausible story are just some of the interesting points. Not to mention villains that would make Bond run for cover, even extremely moving emotional elements! If you aren't looking only for a space adventure, this is a great read!

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A amazing conclusion to this trilogy!<br />

Revisado: 01-17-16

If you read the second book of this this trilogy, I'm sure you thought only some absurd end of the trilogy could get past the obstacles at the second ' s end, but that isn't the case at all! I didn't know how Marcus Sakey could end this without some M. Night. absurdity, but he does it. It's, "on the edge of your seat," action with turn after turn (I don't feel comfortable saying, "twist."). If you see this coming, maybe you're a brilliant? Otherwise, you'll be as happily amazed as I was! Of course, the whole trilogy was fresh, just not the evolving humans tale you've become used to. I won't compare it to the original and perhaps greatest (not the TV version), Childhood ' s End, by Arthur C. Clark. I will say, this is second, in my opinion! A great ending to a great beginning!

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How to afford an apartment in New York!

Revisado: 01-17-16

Peter Clines, I assume to be related to Earnest Clines? True or not they are both very talented! If you liked, "The Fold," then you'll love this! While certain aspects of the story are similar, the stories certainly are not! Our hero moves into a seemingly great apartment, but the more he investigates, the stranger things become! At every moment Peter Clines keeps us guessing, while avoiding all the clichés usually associated with this type of story. Just when you think you've figured out what's going on, he changes direction! If you are a Peter Clines fan, this is a must read, even though most read this before they read, "The Void," I guess I do things a little backwards, if you do as well, read this masterpiece of suspense mixed with sci-fi. It is also well narrated by Ray Porter! This is a must read, usually before, " The Fold, " but it is great either way! Just make sure you read both.

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