Well, this is different… and yet familiar. The broad action and wider themes of Defense of the Fiddler are fairly familiar Military SF. However, this is done in a script format. Beyond the oddness of that choice in general, there’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Posts Tagged science fiction
This is yet another indication that I need to pay more attention to book review blogs. I picked this up because of an interesting post on one, and am very happy with the result. I doubt I would have come[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This is… almost a novella collection; the third story is notably shorter, but the other three reach into novella length. The four stories all deal with the ‘dreamers’ of Ty-Kry: Women who can dream and, through a device, share those[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This old Ace collection of Andre Norton stories is not aptly named. There’s not a lot of sorcery to be had, high or otherwise, and certainly, it’s never called such. As usual for a collection, it is bookended by the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Okay, I have some problems with the basic premises here. Technology for scanning your personality, your soul, and imprinting it on a disposable clay-like… ‘golem’ who is effectively a mental duplicate of you, is so cheap that sending it out[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Catseye features Norton’s usual broader theme of the main character finding his place in the world, but isn’t really a coming-of-age story like many of her books. In fact, Troy Horan doesn’t need to be exiled or otherwise lost to[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Warlord’s World is decidedly pulp. The Interstellar Patrol is a service in the Federation of Humanity with excellent ships and technology, and a fair amount of latitude in powers (one wonders just what the organization of the Federation is, but[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Starstrike wants to be a simple book. Aliens show up on Earth, and because we’re so much more experienced with war than anyone else, recruit a team of the best soldiers we have to offer to change the balance of[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Overall, The Weapon Shops of Isher was enjoyable, but it has a number of problems. Some of this is structural leftovers from being a combination of three short stories, but some run deeper. The novel starts with a prologue that’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The structure of Red Mars is in eight parts, with each one using a different viewpoint character (with two of them repeating earlier viewpoints). They cover about 35 years of the early colonization, settlement, and early terraforming of Mars. The[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…