Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Omega by Jack McDevitt
I just finished Omega by Jack McDevitt.
It's a decent sci fi story. If you've read Chindi or Deepsix by McDevitt, then you somewhat know what to expect. Hutch is again a character, but not really the main character in this story.
There are really two major plot lines 1) there are these big space clouds call Omega's that are traveling through space destroying any sort of intelligent species or at least any structures with right angles. 2) a world with an intelligent life form (called the Goompahs) is about to get swallowed by a cloud.
The book spends a lot of time on the Goompahs and their culture and beliefs. I think with a lot of comment from McDevitt on what he thinks is wrong with today's human culture. There is also the mystery of what the Omegas are and where they came from. Is there some evil civilization out there in space that wants to kill everyone?
Well, I won't give away the end, but the Omega solution wasn't very satisfying to me. The book was okay. Not my favorite, but not too bad.
I'd give it a 5 out of 10.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Probability Moon by Nancy Cress
I just read Probability Moon by Nancy Cress. The book has two main plot lines; one that is hard sci fi with an ancient artifact, some space battles, with the outcome of an intergalactic war in the balance; the other is almost more of a fantasy plot line with a little science fiction mixed in. The fantasy plot line dominates the majority of the book.
Probability Moon is well written and has some engaging characters. It wasn't my favorite book, however, and I wouldn't rate it much better than a 5 out of 10. I think it was mostly because it was only about 20% science fiction and the rest was more fantasy or just mystery. The mystery was kind of obvious as well, so all the suspense didn't add up to much. It was a little boring to me, however, if you have a leaning toward fantasy or mystery you may really like this book.
I give it a 4 out of 10.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Ilium: Science Fiction by Dan Simmons part II
This is my second post on Ilium. My first post tells more about the setting and story line.
I finished reading Ilium this weekend. Excellent Science fiction story. I can't wait to read the sequel. Dan Simmons did a great job in keeping up the suspense, the great characters, and the overall sci fi wonder of the book. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes "far flung" science fiction. Ilium is pretty far out there in terms of imagination and invention and is not for the sci fi realist, but it is a great ride.
I give it a 9 out of 10.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Ilium: Science Fiction by Dan Simmons
Right now I'm reading Ilium by Dan Simmons. Remember Dan Simmons? He wrote Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and Rise of Endymion. He won and was nominated for the Hugo award for these. Excellent science fiction novels. Well Dan jumps around genres, but he entered back into the Science fiction realm in 2003 with Ilium.
I'm not quite half way through with Ilium, but I can say this much "what a trip". This is no cookie cutter sci fi novel. The imagination and sometimes, just plain weirdness, of this book is extraordinary.
I won't go too much into the plot, but there are three main story lines in the Ilium. One is about far future earth and the humans that currently live there. The far future humans are completely taken care of by someone, but I'm not exactly sure who, yet. They are pretty much kept in the dark and have no real skills other than living day to day and having fun. The "fax" from place to place, can't read, have all sorts of implants, and really are clueless. However, some of them start to get curious.
Another plot line is about these half machine/half organic beings from the outer planets. They go to Mars to find out what is going on with several quantum disturbances there.
The final plot line is about the Greek gods that are now living on Mars. Their main pastime is watching Homer's Iliad unfold in real life and the battle of Troy (called Illium). At the point in the story I'm at, there is still a big mystery as to how all this ties together and just what/who these "gods" really are.
All in all, a pretty cool sci fi book so far. Well written and utterly fascinating science fiction. There is a follow on sci fi novel called Olympos.
Monday, August 14, 2006
New Dune Novels to be Released
There are two new Dune Novels going to be released on August 22: The Hunters of Dune and The Sandworms of Dune. They will complete the Dune saga.
For those of you who have not read the Dune saga, it may be the best series of science fiction books ever written. Just my opinion, but the scope, imagination, and story telling of Dune is just amazing.
The orginal Dune series has 6 books:
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
I must admit that the books and writing gets a bit odd during the Dune Messiah and Children of Dune books, but picks up and becomes one amazing sci fi read.
The next series of books written then go's back to just before the first Dune book. These are called the Prelude to Dune books:
House Atreides
House Harkonnen
House Corrino
The next series goes back even further in time to cover some legends mentioned in the first series of books:
The Butlerian Jihad
The Machine Crusade
The Battle of Corrin
These older books are just plane awesome science fiction.
I am very excited about the new Dune books. This makes 14 books in the entire science fiction series.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Top 10 Favorite Science Fiction Authors
Who is your favorite Science Fiction Author? I've set up a poll (right side and top of the page). Please vote. I will let this poll run for some time and then I will drop off the lowest vote getters and add a few new authors. Let me know who I missed from the this list?
Here is the current list:
Isaac Asimov
Orson Scott Card
JRR Tolkien
Larry Niven
Arthur C Clarke
Robert Jordan
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Frank Herbert
Robert A. Heinlein
Other
Is your favorite Author not on the list? Please comment and let me know which Sci Fi author needs to go and who needs to be added.
Be sure to vote in the poll.
What is the Science Fiction Book Club?
The Science Fiction Book Club is a place to talk about and review science fiction books. I've read more science fiction books than I can remember, so I want to:
1) Let fellow sci fi fans know about some great books out there that may not have made it to the best seller list.
2) Record my thoughts on certain books (so I don't forget as I'm getting old).
3) Hear what others think about certain sci fi books as well as any hidden gems out there that I'm missing.
