Jeff
Good read. Enjoyed the characters and the style. My mother-in-law gave me this book to read; I will definitely seek out the previous novels.
Liked this story of Odd much more than the previous one I read. I found it interesting that the very first book of Koontz's that I read years ago was “Lightning' which involved time travel and that this story of Odd also involved time travel.
I truly wish I had better things to say about this book. Over the years I've heard and read good reviews, so I expected a lot. Maybe that's part of the problem, but I'm not so sure that it is.
The first half of the book was enjoyable and I had high hopes that this would be a story I would remember fondly through the years. Some of the dialogue was...boring and repetitive in nature, but the twist of a “Narrative” being responsible for events on Intrepid (their version of the Enterprise) was interesting. Their equivalent of the red shirts becoming aware that at least one of their number on an away team will die, and their subsequent efforts to avoid being chosen to go, drive a lot of the humor during the early portions of the story.
But things went downhill in the second half of the story and especially, to me, in the three Codas that followed. I get that Scalzi was trying to inject satire into the use of nonsensical plot points to explain away poorly written screenplays, but it just did not resonate with me. I found it confusing and disappointing.
Your mileage may vary.
This is the only work by Scalzi that I've read, and based on my experience with “Redshirts” it may be the last. I've read posts by others praising some of his following works, but this one just left a bad taste in my mouth and, since I had heard good things about “Redshirts” that did not line up with my reading, I have a real reluctance to take that chance with him again.
A good story made all the better by the fact that I got this book that retails for $26.99 for the low, low price of $5.97 at the Books-A-Million bargain shelf.
An interesting tale that indeed seems to be a prescient picture of our possible near future, given our political present.
Very enjoyable, made more so, I think, because while touring her home and garden last weekend I had the opportunity to hear recordings of her voice, making it possible for me to read her words in her own intonation, rhythm, and emphasis.
I was very glad to be able to get this edition of The Collected Timmy Quinn Stories in order to be able to read all of them together. And of course, even though this is the end of Timmy Quinn's part of that whole world, I'm looking forward to the promised sequel next year.
If you enjoy well-told ghost/horror/suspense stories written in the style of Stephen King, I think I'm safe in saying you will also enjoy Burke's Timmy Quinn stories. Give them a try.
Good story, characters and writing style. A page-turner that I did not want to put down. Looking forward to trying the sequel, “Amped” at my earliest opportunity.
Nice background short story
A nice background short story about how The Colonel became known as The Butcher of Anderson Station and the aftermath, for him.
A detailed, behind-the-scenes look at the creation and execution of the original Star Trek TV series from those would know; because they were the top-level people in charge of getting this classic show off the ground and fighting for its continued airing over the course of 3 seasons.
I Wish I Could Have Enjoyed This More
Time travel stories are almost always interesting to me, but this one was a struggle. As Worf says at one point, “Please stop explaining because you just keep confusing me!”
I met Michael 2 weeks ago at a Comic Book Convention in Asbury Park where I heard him speak at a presentation and he autographed this book for me. I finally had a chance to start reading it this afternoon and could not put it down; finishing reading it in 3 1/2 hours. A great story of his perseverance through the years to realize his dream.
Very formulaic, which I don't mind if it's done well. Maybe because I admire LeVar Burton so much I expected too much.
An excellent sequel to “A Game of Thrones” that impresses me alone by its ability to spread out in ripples to new lands, people and relationships but still remains tied to those same elements we met in the first novel.
Life of a Master Storyteller
Robert A. Heinlein was among the first “serious” science fiction writers I discovered when I was about 10 years old and over the following years I devoured everything of his I could find in my school and local public library. I have thoroughly enjoyed this look into the first half of the life of a master storyteller, and look forward with anticipation to the second volume.
