The editors' decision to nclude the L. Ron Hubbard story was a horrible mistake. His story was a horrible piece of SciFi. Yes, Poor choices by editors
The editors' decision to nclude the L. Ron Hubbard story was a horrible mistake. His story was a horrible piece of SciFi. Yes, it was written in 1950, but even back then, MUCH more science was known than Hubbard displays. Plus the story isn't captivating, shows no plot, and has no climax nor denouement. A perfect example of a contempory story that is so much better both as a story and as good science: Asimov's Foundation. Probably the most salient science mistakes by Hubbard: they land on a planet in the midst of a dust storm, but Hubbard says there is no atmosphere. THEN WHAT IS BLOWING THE DUST? Another: they land on a planet and check to see if the atmosphere is breathable by going outside and breathing the air! It also annoyed me that their spaceship travelled faster than light, and they talked about their messages taking so long to get back because messages only went the speed of light. I'm giving Hubbard a little slack here, but I think he should have known travelling faster than light was impossible since Einstein published Special Relativity in 1905. Asimov's Foundation was originally written as short stories in the 1940's. He acknowledged the speed of light limit and used jump drives into an alternate physics, so Hubbard should have known about the limit in 1950. Besides Hubbard, few of the other stories were very captivating....more
This story was good. Especially today in the world of Generative AI, the story touches on the topic of AI consciousness. I had a big issue wiNo ending
This story was good. Especially today in the world of Generative AI, the story touches on the topic of AI consciousness. I had a big issue with the ending, though. It didn't seem to end, it just stopped. I am going to look to see if there's a sequel...more
This is a good story. I was disappointed, but only because Crouch's other novels - like Recursion - were so amazingly superlative and outstaGood story
This is a good story. I was disappointed, but only because Crouch's other novels - like Recursion - were so amazingly superlative and outstanding. Good characterization, good plot with twists and surprises.this is not science fiction at all (like his other novels are), but more a western mystery/thriller. ...more
Awesome story. It has a bizarre (cool bizarre) mix of fantasy (swords, magic, flying beasts) and modern technology (cell phones, cars helicopteAwesome
Awesome story. It has a bizarre (cool bizarre) mix of fantasy (swords, magic, flying beasts) and modern technology (cell phones, cars helicopters, rifles). Some of the secondary main characters are inadequately developed (Aidos, Jessiba, Vic, the witch). But the real strength is the story. Excellent. I'm glad it's the first of a trilogy. I can't wait to read the other two...more
I really want to rate this story 5 stars. It is a truly great story. It is about languages, etymology, translation, history (concerniShould be 5 stars
I really want to rate this story 5 stars. It is a truly great story. It is about languages, etymology, translation, history (concerning the opium war), and intrigue. The pace is a little slow though, so I had to mark it a little lower. I still highly recommend it....more
Good short story. Needs to be expanded into a novel
Good short story. Needs to be expanded into a novel. It's been years since I read the triogy, and IGood short story. Needs to be expanded into a novel
Good short story. Needs to be expanded into a novel. It's been years since I read the triogy, and I've forgotten most of the auxiliary characters. I was going to look them up to help me understand nuances of the stoey, but then suddenly it was over...more
After reading Koepp's story, "Aurora," which is entirely possible (even probable), believable, and a great story, I was expecting soUnbelievable story
After reading Koepp's story, "Aurora," which is entirely possible (even probable), believable, and a great story, I was expecting something great in this one. Unfortunately, this was the total opposite. I'm marking this as spoilers, but it's not really. You know from the first chapter more or less what's going to happen. First the positives: the storylines of the characters was interesting, and the characterizations were really good, but the plot.... A fungus that thinks and plans? A deer that can take an elevator? The fungus takes over all carbon life, but it escapes having infected wildlife, so it would infect all the vegetation and the rest of the animals. It was so stupid that I couldn't even finish it, ...more
This book is completely unique and original. A completely new concept. It is also unable to be put down. A real page turner. Additionally the pace andThis book is completely unique and original. A completely new concept. It is also unable to be put down. A real page turner. Additionally the pace and characterizations are wonderful.
The only reservation I have is difficult to describe without spoilers. At the end of the story, there is a thing that is in a hidden place. The motivation for letting that thing stay hidden for so many years is just not believable. The characters would not have let it stay hidden. But, that doesn't really detract from the story.
Anauthore I admire (maybe it was Blake Crouch, maybe it was Peng Shepard) said this was a book that inspired him/her, so I startedIt's about the story
Anauthore I admire (maybe it was Blake Crouch, maybe it was Peng Shepard) said this was a book that inspired him/her, so I started reading. I was not very enthused: yet another "tragedy that ends the world" story - although the first post-COVID story. But, though I knew that CME's have knocked out power and satelites hereand there, I did not kn ow of the massive 1859 event, nor think through the massive potential damage a huge canibal CME could inflict.
That being said, myscientific knowledge lets me agree that everything that occurs to the power grid in this story would happen (will happen) when such an event occurs - and it's certain to occur at some point.
All that is beside the point, though. This story is awesome - and it's because the STORY is awesome regardless of the "end of world" setting. Gripping plot, great characterizations, and thrilling action. It's a page turner. Glad to now be your fan, David Koepp...more
Crouch is an amazing author. He shows an astounding knowledge of biotech and genetics here. I will take Crouch's suggestion and read C.S. LewGood read
Crouch is an amazing author. He shows an astounding knowledge of biotech and genetics here. I will take Crouch's suggestion and read C.S. Lewis's "The Abolition of Man," but then, that's not hard. Lewis is another of my favorite authors. Upgrade is a real page turner....more
This book kept my interest, but in an offhand sort of way. It was NOT a page turner, NOT something that I couldn't set down. VerInteresting. Good read
This book kept my interest, but in an offhand sort of way. It was NOT a page turner, NOT something that I couldn't set down. Very little action, but a little mystery to keep up my interest. None of the synopses tell you that the story is really a diatribe against government - ALL governments. It portrays all governments and all politicians as 1984-ish despotic megalomaniacs. It paints both the pre-revolutionary government and the post-revolutionary one as dystopian. It portrays the protagonist in a light similar to the inhabatants of WW2 Germany who blindly allowed the Hitler atrocities to transpire. I think the book is a must read, even though it's not one of the stories that I love, like I lofe Roths's Divergent series...more
This is a decent story. Below standards for Scalzi, but decent. The mechanics of the writing is not, though. There is no character develDecent but not
This is a decent story. Below standards for Scalzi, but decent. The mechanics of the writing is not, though. There is no character development, so the reader doesn't empathize withthe characters. To aggravate that problem, several of the characters are given very difficult names (for English speaking Americans) The dialog is so campy that the reader is annoyed. But worst of all is that Scalzi has decided to be politically correct with one ofthecharacters and uses the pronouns they/them for that character. I have no problem with being politically correct, but when reading this story, using the pronoun "they" for a single personat times makes it extremely difficult to determine what exactlynis going on. I will never read any sequel to this story solely due to that problem...more
Typical Larson great story bringing to light many elements of history that were unknown to me. Not quite as gripping as Typical Larson great narrative
Typical Larson great story bringing to light many elements of history that were unknown to me. Not quite as gripping as some of his other books, but still very good...more
This book has some good pieces to it. The plot overall is pretty good, but it moves way too slowly. For history buffs, there are some Some good pieces
This book has some good pieces to it. The plot overall is pretty good, but it moves way too slowly. For history buffs, there are some great insights into China's Cultural Revolution of 1967. There is one very long section where Cixin Liu explains details of creating PNP junctions and printed circuit logic gates. For those who already know how to do it - like me - it's boring. For those who don't already know, it's even more boring because they don't care. This long boring section has almost no bearing on the plot, and the story would be better without it. On top of all that, the story is confusing. Almost a third of the book takes place within a Virtual Reality game. The section is so long, that the reader tends to forget what is happening in the real story. The Chinese names of the characters also help to confuse the English reader because we're not used to keeping those names straight (although the list of characters does help). Finally, the story does not end, but just stops in the middle. This is obviously a ploy to force the reader to purchase the next book. I don't think I will...more
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