Shertex

Action & Adventure but not much else

Revisado: 12-16-23

The story is a nice action oriented science fiction story. While some elements and aspects seem dated back to the 1950’s it still manages to flow or seem overly antiquated. It is a character driven narrative in a simple sci-fi setting. A setting which is largely only there for plot conveniences.

The story follows an abandoned spacer, Gully Foil, who embarks on a single minded mission of revenge against those that left him behind. (This could have easily been an abandon sailor in the 19th or 20th century and it would have probably been much the same.) What follows is Foil pressing through one challenge after another until he solves the mystery behind his abandonment. The action is mildly surprising or suspenseful but nothing too complicated.

Overall the characters are tough to be interested in. Foil is the only one with significant color and even that is muted as he as only one switch was is always in the revenge position although he does turn this off at the end. The female characters seem pointless and only there as backdrops. Even the antagonists are ho hum as they only want their loot back and Foil has no real meaning to them nor is much of obstacle to their plans. So they collaborate with him at points and seem content with him at others.

The story contains the several intriguing ideas that are popped in and then left behind as Foil flies off to his next goal. The one idea that does stick around is that humans have found a way to teleport at will, albeit over limited distances, through thought alone. This seems to be thrown in to allow for some plot twists but like all the other inserted clever bits, it is never really explored. What is remarkable is that this facet does not noticeably change society in any real way which seems unrealistic. This miss by the story in leveraging these creative turns in any significant way in some ways sums up all the drawbacks with this book - a good start that just does not do enough to hit the marks with what it has been given.

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Entertaining but Not Sophisticated

Revisado: 06-04-23

This is the first book of a three part series. It is character centered science-fiction story which follows the crew of space salvage ship The Vulture God following a war with largely unknown entity called the Architects who destroyed the Earth. The story centers on a psychic pilot, a soldier sent to recruit him, an interstellar lawyer, a crab-like alien engineer, a hive intelligence academic, and a human salvager that requires cybernetic skeleton — think a different version of Guardians of the Galaxy — who end up in a series Indiana Jones-like adventurous predicaments all while trying avoid alien gangsters, spies, competing human factions and of course the Architects in pursuit of their next goal to unravel an interstellar mystery. In the spirit of high adventure the story is fun and exciting if bordering predictable.

The mystery is intriguing but as this is book one of a three part series, it is not resolved at the end of this story. The characters and their motivations are mostly interesting but not terrible complex. The pacing could be considered slow by some but as I listened to this story mostly in the background while doing something else it seemed to move enough without too much annoyance. The narration is excellent with the narrator doing a wonderful job of making our basic protagonists a bit more deep and robust.

I found it fun, light, and enjoyable enough that I plan to read the next story in the trilogy to see how it plays out in the entirety. I don’t expect anything intellectually intense or thought provoking but just more fun Star Wars style swashbuckling as crew fights their way through their latest adventure.

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Like the Engineering and the Science, not the story

Revisado: 09-08-22

The book does a wonderful job of describing the science and engineering challenges inherent with current space travel, and I came away with a much deeper understanding of these issues. The book really succeeds in these aspects, but the second half of the book loses the thread. As for the story the problems begin there.

Overall the patchwork story is clearly designed as a backdrop for the telling of the science and engineering of modern space travel. The story, of which there is not much of one, is only really filler between describing one engineering challenge to the next. Next, there are really two distinct “books” or “stories here which are just slap welded together; one in modern times and the second book actually some 5,000 years later.

The first book introduces a cast of characters which are compelling and generally interesting. However these characters are fairly flat and do not really grow or learn and actually just keep making the same stupid mistakes. In fact they make the same almost fatal mistake three distinct times throughout the first book. At which point you are throwing up your hands in frustration or just convinced they are not too bright despite supposedly being the best and the brightest of humanity. The greater flaw is that the story around these characters just ends with no real resolution. Setting up a pattern that crops up again and again which is that characters are introduced you learn about them get interested in them and then they are just gradually forgotten and replaced by new characters. I counted and by three quarters of the way through the book we had gone through about a dozen “main” characters who had come and gone like a bunch of drunk customers in a late night fast food restaurant. Interesting in some respects but quickly replaced by the next in line and at the end of the shift largely forgotten due to exhaustion.

While the first book suffered less from these assembly line characters and held something of a story arch, the second book completely gave into this chaos and I lost all interest just skipping over chapters and large chunks to get to a merciful but uninteresting end.

In addition, the science and logic so heavily presented in the first book is just simply overlooked in the second and the story makes no logical sense. For example mankind has spent five thousand years building/living in a amazing and gigantic space habitat in Earth’s orbit. They then built a space elevator between the two. They then spent hundreds of years wrangling comets from the Kuiper Belt to terraform Earth and restore all the oceans, the atmosphere, and all the wild life down to bacteria. The recreate Earth from scratch and with all this technology did humans colonize the asteroid belt or the moons of Saturn or Jupiter? Did the make the great leap and head out for Alpha Centauri or another star system to terraform more planets? Apparently not. 5,000 years in space and they could just never leave the same orbital plane of the Hubble telescope. This just defies the logic within which this story operates.

The voice acting was quite good in the first book but in the second book the narrator clearly confused the accent used with the characters sometimes using the same voice with different characters or switching voices between characters in the same chapter. Given the author’s own confusion over their characters and their roles, longevity, or arch at any point in the plot, the voice actor can be forgiven as he was probably just as confused as the reader as to which of the dozens of new characters mattered and which did not.

The first book was mildly compelling and might be worth a read but with the recognition that there is no climax or resolution to the story. The second book is really nothing more than just daydreaming fantasy. It is fun to play with ideas of what some future might hold like some “Dream of Tomorrow” ride at Disney-world but that is all as there is with no story, plot, or worthwhile characters to speak of to go beyond these musings.

I loved the science and space engineering but in the end did not find it an interesting science fiction story.

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Starts Strong but Fades Fast

Revisado: 04-16-22

Overall it lacks a story. It begins with a very weighty subject: Climate Change, and sets up what could have been a great narrative. There are some very deep social, economic, political, cultural, and philosophical issues with this topic and it brings many of them to the fore. It delves into the list through the use of small vignettes and following a few characters, and the the Ministry of the Future. The Earth is dying, the problems are great, the challenge is difficult and you want to see how we deal with this or we fail. The answer: a bunch of bureaucratic things happen (which seem as unbelievable for a bunch bureaucracies as they are boring — it is the Ministry of the Future after all) and everything is fine. Yeah that’s it. A bureaucratic meeting is held and a PowerPoint presentation says all is well. It is all set up and no delivery. But that is not the end because it goes on for another two hours following the uneventful lives of one of the two remaining characters who are wandering around trying what to do with the rest of their lives but don’t expect any answers there either. It may be true that the solutions will be slow and bureaucratic which is fine and good but it doesn’t mean it is a good story or good reading. A story is needed to get through these perhaps boring measures but the book seems to give up on anything resembling a plot about half way through.

In addition, the philosophic answers to these highly controversial questions are not new, inspiring, interesting, or even presented in a thought-provoking light —- they will also not be to everyone’s taste and do a poor job of arguing their points or winning over any skeptics. It is neither treatise nor fictional tale.

The characters, like the book, start strong but end up presented like resumes. They seem like real people well enough but they do not give you any insight into anything. They live, they work, they retire, and a couple of them just die normal average deaths. By the end even the main character, Mary, seems to question why she is even there or what is the point of her even telling anymore of the non-story. They don’t do anything and they don’t die and the book ends on them going to a festival seriously. Nothing wrong with characters that model real people but there has to be a story. Why do we care about them? Why are they interesting? The book cannot tell you.

The one highlight is the performance which is well done and the voice acting is quite good. The actors give the text and depth to what is otherwise the mush of a story and keep it going longer than it could on it own. The mixture of voices is also a wonderful positive and helps the listener manage the shifts as the book bounces through the vignettes.

Overall this book is a pass and save your listening hours for something else.

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Great Setting; So So plot

Revisado: 03-08-22

The story takes place in a very creative setting which the author creative plays with and explores fully. It is a murder mystery set in two cities that, without getting into the complexity, are within the same city but not in the same city. The concept is very intriguing and makes a terrific setting for a potential host of storylines. The author treats us murder mystery which itself fails to deliver at the end. I give it 1-star for the creativity and 1-star for John Lee’s excellent narration and about .5 for the overall plot for about a 2.5 rating.

The story starts in promising fashion with a simple murder whose trial leads our protagonist, the inspector, through the usual suspects, to gangs, political revolutionaries, and bureaucrats, and eventually into international conspiracies and secret societies. Except for a mildly opaque protagonist, the build up is quite good and keeps you turning the next page, or up at night to listen to just one more chapter.

Unfortunately when it comes time to reveal all the intersections of these fantastical and tantalizing streams, the climax just falls apart or maybe just does not come together. Without giving away any spoilers it seems the inspector never really provides us with his ah-ah moment of how he solved the crime. Instead some minor unimportant charters appear out of nowhere incongruously at the end and we are treated to a cliche dialog between the inspector and the villain where nothing truly interesting nor surprising is revealed. It was just, “blah, blah, blah…I did it, I know you did it, I know you know I did it, let me explain how you did it…the end.” Despite the crazy cities and the secret societies within secret societies intrigue, the ultimate motive for the killing is one of the simplest, most common, and oldest around. At the climax, two of the characters helping the protagonist are on knife’s edge and ready to pull the trigger and save our inspector from the villain but even they seem to get bored with the final reveal, shrug their shoulders and go home. Even the villain seems to get bored with the whole thing at the end. It was very deflating.

Enjoy the fun and fanciful world of the two cities but don’t expect a compelling murder mystery here.

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Excellent Beginning, Good Middle, Boring End

Revisado: 05-02-19

Overall a good book about the history of mankind told from a very different perspective. The first portion covers prehistoric times and this portion was the most captivating. The next sections covered recorded history which were laid out in broad themes and very different than more traditional looks at history. For example the agriculture revolution is viewed as an evolutionary victory for wheat as it enslaved humans to its cultivation. Some of these sections were quite thought provoking, while others became a bit long. The final quarter of the book covers more modern times with a glimpse of the future. At this point the book was a bit tedious and found myself skipping and skimming the final chapters as there are better texts on the subject matter. Narration is excellent and easy to listen and understand.

Would recommend it for someone looking for an unusual take on human history. While many of the views and interpretations are subjective, overly general, and could be controversial in the views of more purist historians, nonetheless the book does help challenge our traditional rationalizations when it comes to the past and therefore is a worthwhile read.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Good Rendering of a Classic

Revisado: 03-24-19

First the narrative is very well done and nicely matches tone of the content extremely well. This was my first experience with Lovecraft and very much enjoyed it. The stories are creative and keep the listener interested. The genre is horror, which is quite mild by today’s standards, mixed with nascent science fiction. Am sure there is a great deal written about the author and his work and would not try to cover the topic here. That said for me personally I found the style and word use from the early 20th century as charming and unique. The pacing of the stories can be a little slow but very tolerable. It was well worth my time and knowing what I know now would have purchased/listen to these works again.

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Enjoyable but ...

Revisado: 10-19-18

this is not quite as good as the “We are Bob” series by Mr. Taylor. Still worth a read or a listen even if you are or not a fan. The story attempts to address the Fermi paradox, first contact, and grey good scenarios. The answers and outcomes are entertaining and generally thought-provoking. The pacing of the story is good and does not seem to get too bogged down until the final chapters which were easier to put down or skip through than the first.

The main characters do need a little change up as they began to become a little rote and carbon copies as almost all characters in the book are absolutely logical, rational, and linear thinkers. After awhile this makes the characters mild intellectual clones who although rational understand and can display emotion, they never let it control their actions. Egotism, venality, jealousy, angry or any other non-logical responses to problems are just not possible with the main characters. This eventually makes them all seem just different versions of Spock.


Again a decent story even with these minor issues and a great read for Sci-Fi fans.

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Wonderful Story Made Even Better by the Narration

Revisado: 09-08-18

I did not know there was an earlier volume to this series and started with this book. However I did not realize this until I finished this book, so well done was the story. The is a great story in the tradition of SF as it captures the imagination and keeps you wanting to know what happens next. I played this during an 8 hour car ride through the night and did not notice it was 3 in the morning until I had to pull over for gas.

The only thing that makes the story better is the narration which done with such professional flair that it is truly voice acting more than simple story telling. The characters come alive and I can’t imagine actually reading the story now. As soon as I was finished I immediately downloaded the next book in the series and am enjoying that one just as much.

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Interesting Topics but Book Falls Flat

Revisado: 08-31-18

The concept is fine and interesting at points, but there are some ploy holes and points leaving you saying this seems a little off-base. The story is fine and mildly engaging but certainly not a page-turner. In tone and delivery it tracks more like a government report or lecture disguised as a story on what could happen under those circumstances (and admonishments to be prepared and do something) than an actually story. Thus the characters and dialogue are a little bland with only a minimal depth. The character’s design, interactions, and mentalities are all based on cold rational conservative logic which makes one very character similar to the next and their reactions largely predictable. The good guys are obvious in motivation, outlook, and action and anyone who opposes them a simple lithograph. There are some touching moments though which helps splash a little color into the characters and their lives.

The end is less a climax than a tally list of the final statistics, a clinic description of the end state of America, and a anti-climatic limited reveal of how it all got started. You can read the first four or five chapters and then skip to the last chapter, not miss much, and still get the point.

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