Jared Swets
I am a bit of a time travel sucker, and this book started out interesting and had a great middle... then kind of died a quiet death near the end. The premise was good, the characters were interesting overall, and the sci-fi was mostly unique and interesting... until the wheels starting falling off the story at the end.
3.5/5
Starts out as a standard military shooting, with a semi-interesting main char, and a decent world setup, but nothing extraordinary. The first half of the book doesn't distinguish it from many of the other books in the same genre, but it does pick up somewhat dramatically in the second half of the book, and finishes at a rather interesting climax.
The writing style of the author is slightly over serviceable, nothing that stands out as excellent prose, but enjoyable reading.
I don't care what you say, of the first four books in the Dark Tower series, this one is the best. I don't care that it is a back story book, that it drives forward the plot not a whit. I don't care if you don't like romance thrown into your fantasy novel, you shouldn't mind when the romance is so well writ.
This story has the excellent build up and closure that perhaps I had been missing since starting this series. If you are looking for a (mostly) self contained book, this one is a great one.
Normally I find SK's writing to be dragging when he is just moving the story along, the repetition just a little too much, but it worked oh so very well in this novel, really sharpening all of the characters in this ka-tet to a razor edge, and finally filling in the back story we have been waiting for.
I will eagerly move on to book 5 to see if it holds up as well as book 4 does.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress was (at the time) rather precognizant about AI and how it might arise, and overall is a decent read, although somewhat simple. The plot is rather simple and straightforward, essentially a revolution of the moon, with many callbacks to the American Revolution. The characters are well written, and the political theories and counterpoints are somewhat interesting, but overall for me the hard hitting sci-fi that I enjoy was somewhat lacking, and the simple story line became a letdown over all.
The second Dark Tower novel manages to be slightly better than the first, with King managing to keep me entertained. The second book seems to drag on slightly less, and have more interesting interactions and locations than the first one overall. As usual, King's descriptions and character development is very good and holds the book together well.
Although slightly slow starting, once GNR starting rolling it was an unstoppable, exciting ride. PFH has crafted another masterpiece, almost equal to Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained .
As usual PFH builds a very complex and fleshed out universe, ripe with detailed scenery and social/political mechanisms that make sense. The characters in play are fairly well animated and believable.
The story arc is good, slowly starting as it builds the background, then explodes rather quickly near the end of the book as the stories start to intersect and plot lines come to fruition. Many aspects of the story keep you guessing, and string you along for answers, which I personally enjoy.
Overall, I would put this among the top 10 sci-fi titles of all time.
JKR's second foray into adult novels is a standard mystery novel, clever enough and well thought out enough to be compelling, but without anything groundbreaking or amazing. I did enjoy that she provided us with vast amounts of detail, and the characters were well enough fleshed out that I could read the next book in the series and still be entertained.
Excellently detailed novel that really satisfied my need for exquisite detail and scientifically accurate space physics (as far I could tell at least). The ideas in the novel (especially at the end) are breathtaking and beautifully rendered. Would certainly recommend to hard sci-fi fans.
In my opinion one of the best hard science fiction books ever written, perhaps surpassed by “A Deepness in the Sky” (Zones of Thought #2) or some Peter F. Hamilton books.
While his characterization might be slightly weak, Vinge's ability build worlds and create excellent science-heavy plots is surpassed by none, with interesting and thought provoking ideas coming fast and furious.
Competent writing, fairly compelling story, kept me entertained. What is holding it back is that it is a mostly run of the mill robot/freedom/body hacking story, but fresh enough to sound original.
While technically and artistically very competent the book lacks any meaningful purpose to draw the user in. The book is a slice of life that manages to bore the reader for a large portion of the book. The lack of a cohesive plot also ruins the entire purpose of the book. A small novella exploring the features of a sinking New York would have been better suited for this style.