Wednesday, August 29, 2018

SALVATION by Peter F. Hamilton_ Review

Release Sept. 4 2018

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37684919-salvation" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Salvation (Salvation Sequence)" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1535017901m/37684919.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37684919-salvation">Salvation</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25375.Peter_F_Hamilton">Peter F. Hamilton</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2492869830">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Review: SALVATION by Peter F. Hamilton<br /><br />Each time I open a novel by Peter F. Hamilton, I am in awe, throughout the reading and after. In a colloquial sense, Mr. Hamilton is like the Stephen Hawking of Science Fiction, such an utter genius that our minds and imaginations are tasked and stretched trying to comprehend. I think his oeuvre ought to be a required university course.<br /><br />In this massively dual-timeline story, we are introduced to multiple species of aliens, with diverging purposes, and a humanity with advanced technology under control but still displaying the vices of greed, covetousness, vanity, and violence.<br /><br />SALVATION is Book One in the SALVATION SEQUENCE Series.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7302570-august-is-azathoth-the-haunted-reading-room">View all my reviews</a>

Monday, August 20, 2018

TEN THOUSAND THUNDERS by Brian Trent_Review

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39398290-ten-thousand-thunders" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Ten Thousand Thunders" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525525017m/39398290.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39398290-ten-thousand-thunders">Ten Thousand Thunders</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/417937.Brian_Trent">Brian Trent</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2500854103">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Review: TEN THOUSAND THUNDERS by Brian Trent<br /><br />Set in the future, in the era of "New Enlightenment" (NE), Death is basically a thing of the past. Providing one's DNA is on file, anyone can be immediately reconstructed (in a brand-new physique, of course). Gethin Bryce, seasoned and gifted investigator for the InterPlanetary Council, dies on a shuttle flight between Mars and Luna, which occurs moments after a corporate explosion. Once resurrected, Gethin is immediately tasked by IPC to uncover the causes.<br /><br />TEN THOUSAND THUNDERS brings an intricately detailed world-building and interweaves fantasy elements while providing hard science fiction and intriguing characterization.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7302570-august-is-azathoth-the-haunted-reading-room">View all my reviews</a>

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Review_SPORES by Ike Hamill

SporesSpores by Ike Hamill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: SPORES by Ike Hamill

I can't resist "fungi fiction" (it "stems" from my love of Lovecraft), so discovering Ike Hamill' s newest novel SPORES was a delightful experience. Indeed, the story proved quite involving, as it also interwove two more of my favorite topics, Maine and Winter (snow, ice, frozen lake, November, cabins). Mr. Hamill does a superb job of delineating a Narcissistic, superiority-complex driven, academic scientist (almost too superb), which truly increased my delight, and the mycologist' s foil character, Marie, who needs to be read to be believed--all the characters play off her refrain, which you will discover throughout the novel. Finally, there's a lot of science turned science fiction in this story--or vice versa--and if you remember/love/admire The Borg, you will understand exactly; plus "a heapin' helpin'" of human greed and cupidity--naturally {frown}. A lot to ponder, the novel will tickle your ingrained "What If--?"

View all my reviews

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Review_THE MOURNER'S CRADLE by Tommy B. Smith

<center>Review: THE MOURNER'S CRADLE by Tommy B. Smith</center><p><p>

A strong heroine is always to be desired, and in THE MOURNER'S CRADLE author Tommy B. Smith offers us one of the strongest. Newly widowed Anne Sharpe, wife of an unfortunately discredited historical/archaeological researcher, is nearly indefatigable. Not a superman (in the Nietzschean meaning), but an individual who withstands far more than most in contemporary pampered culture could tolerate. I think she's become one of my idols. Like the Timex watch of the 1950's, she "takes a licking and keeps on ticking." And as long as she keeps her purpose in mind, she's unstoppable.<p><p>

From the US to the Peruvian Andes, on the trail of what might be one of the most startling and powerful archaeological discoveries of our time, Anne Sharpe, heroine extraordinaire, keeps her purpose in her mind and perseveres, despite the odds arrayed against her. Anne Sharpe rocks.<p<<p>

Monday, August 6, 2018

Review: BEFORE SHE SLEEPS by Bina Shah

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36544896-before-she-sleeps" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Before She Sleeps" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516413009m/36544896.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36544896-before-she-sleeps">Before She Sleeps</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/477277.Bina_Shah">Bina Shah</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2484724936">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Review: BEFORE SHE SLEEPS by Bina Shah<br /><br /><br /><br />BEFORE SHE SLEEPS is a work of feminist Dystopian futuristic science fiction. If this is the Future, I'm not going there. There is so much hubris in this story. The "Green City," constructed in a Desert (like the Hubris of Las Vegas and Dubai), the hubris of the patriarchs, thinking they can control women's bodies and lives (and do so all too efficiently), effectively utilizing women as breeders to propagate the populace {a common practice in Dystopian literature: see for example the science fiction of Pamela Sargent.<br />But always, always, there are rebels-dissidents--females who refuse to comply.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7302570-august-is-azathoth-the-haunted-reading-room">View all my reviews</a>