SFBook.com Science Fiction

Olympos by Simmons

It's strange how something good, can be turned by it's association with something bad. I really loved the first volume in Dan Simmons Ilium/Olympos saga. I really did. But after having read the second volume Olympos, it's hard for me to remember what exactly was so great about it. In other words Olympos stinks, and the stench is so bad that it reaches backwards in time and taints the Ilium volume.

Simak: Shakespeare's Planet

The plot of the novel lacks overall action. There is some exploration of the ruins, pond and hill by Carter Horton but this come to very little information or help to solve the problems the characters face. Most of the time the characters are sitting around waiting and hoping the robot can fix the space travel tunnel so they can leave.

Harry Potter 6: The Half-Blood Prince

The stupidity around the release of this book has grown to new heights. If somebody 10 years ago have told me that a book series would become so popular that, people would go to great lengths as breaking and entering, just to read the next volume before everybody else, I probably wouldn't have believed it. All in all I think it's a positive ting (not the breaking and entering...). Anything that will draw positive attention towards books and that will show young people that reading can bring great awards and can be more fulfilling then watching TV has to be a good thing. Now if the Potter books where badly written, I would probably feel otherwise, but luckily Rowlings is rather good at it. But really, I'm having a hard time imagining anything as bad as TV...

Quicksilver by Stephenson

The thing about Neal Stephenson is that he usually presents something new and fantastic that runs as the core of his books. Diamond Age has the Primer, Cryptonomicon has the economics of virtual money (or cryptography if you want), Snow Crash was an explosion of new and crazy stuff. Always something that would provoke some wonder and leave you wondering about the future (the real one and the fictional one) when you closed the book for the last time. Not that Stephenson is an idea man only, he also creates interesting characters, that you care about and writes good prose. But for me the core has been the sense of wonder. So I was a bit nervous when I started on Quicksilver � now much new, now much sense of wonder can there be in a historical novel?

Dark Light

This book is very much to do with the theme of the 'gods', which Macleod introduces in Cosmonaut Keep, as well as the story of the Second Sphere.

Cosmonaut Keep

This was the first Ken Macleod book I read and it inspired me to go on and read much of his other work. He is without a doubt one of the best Sci-Fi writers today, along with the likes of Iain M Banks and Peter F Hamilton, as well as a personal favourite. Anyway, here are my thoughts...

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

Picking up where Gardens of the Moon left off, Deadhouse Gates reunites a host of old characters and throws some new ones into the fray. This time the action is focused not on Genabackis, but on the continent of seven cities, where a revolt is on the verge of being unleashed against the Malazan Empire. It's name is the Whirlwind and it's leader is a desert prophetess known only as Sha'ik. (Spoiler Warning: Do not read if you haven't finished Gardens of the Moon.)

Nine Princes In Amber

I read this book in three nights because I could barely put it down. The story line is exellent, as is the world Zelazny creates. He is no doubt one of my favourite authors and I plan to read all 10 of the novels in this series

Lurulu-Jack Vance

As a youth growing up on peaceful Vermazan, Myron Tany dreamed of space exploration in the unknown regions of the Gaean Reach although his wealthy parents prefer he become a finance advisor. He joins his Aunt Dame Hestor, but abandoned Myron at Port Tanjee when she had to choose between her daydreaming nephew and a hunk. Myron obtains work on the freighter Glicca because Captain Maloof felt he was �qualified� to take over the accounts from Klim who will work on big rocks instead of imaginary numbers.

Neuromancer-William Gibson

Two years ago Case was one of the best cowboys working the cyberspace Sprawl to access corporate data systems until he compared his cut of the purloined �goods� to that of his employers who provided the required specialized software. Case did something stupid by fencing an item in Amsterdam. In Memphis his employers using Russian mycotxin eradicated his talent one micron at a time over a period of thirty hours. Thus he is left �dead� since his Fall meant he no longer can attain the adrenalin rush of working the matrix.