Lyle
Great intro and catch-up to the state of VR and AR as of 2017, with some teases about where things are headed. The writing is in an easy-to-follow conversational style, and the author covers a lot of material. Recommended!
A very intriguing premise, and well-developed characters. A well-planned mix of aliens conquering Earth, Norse mythology, psychiatry, and quantum mechanics. It will be interesting to see if the author can sustain the excitement with the sequel.
Fascinating reading...I wonder what the future holds re: continued archaeological study into this study of our more distant past. The author brings many areas of knowledge (and, yes, speculation) into focus to tell a clearer story of what Atlantis was, where it was, and who the Atlanteans might have been.
Interesting review of a multi-disciplinary conference discussing the imagery returned from Viking spacecraft in 1976 of intriguing formations found in the Cydonia region of Mars.
Giancola is a master artist, and his Tolkien-inspired art is sure to inspire and thrill Tolkien fans. This is a wonderful book, with many sketches and paintings, some of which appear as double-page spreads. This large format book transports the viewer to Middle-Earth in wonderful landscape set-pieces and character sketches, all rendered with exquisite craft and detail, filled with emotional content, and accompanied by notes from the artist. This is a volume I will treasure, and will revisit many times!
An enjoyable, if slim, collection of writings covering the development and growth of the three Mennonite Church congregations in the Scottdale, Pennnsylvania area. Having spent much of my childhood accompanying my parents to Kingview, it was informative to read this historical perspective. Lots of familiar names and more than a few nuggets of insight.
Excellent conclusion to the main multi-book “Legacies” arc. The character voices rang true and I was happy to see everyone from the regular Atlantis team to SG-1 playing a part in the story-line.
Interesting survey of Mr. Howe's varied artistic career with numerous images from many sources, from Tolkien-related works to art created for a number of fantasy and science-fiction book covers. Accompanied by sketches and previous-unpublished paintings.
An eclectic mix of stories about the moon and the people who, one way or another, experienced it more closely than most of us. Some stories (“A Walk in the Sun” by Landis, “The Shadow Knows” by Bisson, and Steele's “John Harper Wilson (The Tranquility Alternative)”) were excellent. The rest were a mixed bag, but all had something unique to offer.
Another great book in the ongoing series, and full of the characterizations and situations we've come to expect (and thoroughly enjoy).
A wonderful tale, and fitting addition to the Legends of Ethshar universe. The author wove together a number of seemingly disparate threads into a seamless tapestry involving multiple types of magic and believable characters who readers will be happy to root for. The Ethshar world is so large and rich that one hopes there are a large number of these stories still to be written.
Intriguing sequel to “Quantum Space” which builds on both the newly-discovered 4-D world around us as well as some of the inhabitants of that world. The 4-D world interacting with the 3-D world forms the core of this volume in the series, in (usually) unexpected ways. Sometimes the effects described were hard to envision (as is to be expected) but obviously were pretty well thought out.
The first half of the tale was excellent – lots of forward-thinking concepts, well-told and engaging. The last half (for me) began to get bogged down, focusing too much on emotions and relationships rather than further scientific and technological advancements (although those were still present - just spaced farther apart). I was still sufficiently engaged in the story to finish the book, but at the end I was truly finished – I didn't have any desire to learn any more about the characters, or any possible future developments.
This collection of lunar-themed stories was an eclectic and enjoyable mix of tales that ranged from classical hard-science to mystery to near-fantasy. Also eclectic was the quality of stories; some were excellent while others were not at the same level. Of course, this is a very subjective observation, and should not dissuade anyone from picking up this volume and reading it for themselves.
While conceptually intriguing (environmental-themed stories, robot self-examination), the execution itself was pretty bland, with no real plot tension, nor character development. It was like dreams being recited; things happened but I didn't feel any real connection to the narrators nor the characters.
From the inside back cover flap: “Here are thirty mystery shorts, never before collected between a book's covers, each crafted with Asimovian artistry, studded with Asimovian wit, embellished with Asimovian asides, and propelled by that special Asimovian way with a story.” That, in my opinion, expresses my thoughts about this book in better words than I can come up with on my own. Excellent!
When I reserved this book from the public library, I was surprised to find that the slim volume that appeared contained young-adult mystery stories written by the great Isaac Asimov. I almost decided not to read them, and that would have been my loss. Despite being penned for the young teen set (or perhaps even earlier primary school age), these were very well-written and quite entertaining. The protagonist's “voice” was very much in line with his reported age (14 or so), and yet he was proven to be a capable and clever detective-in-the-making. Each of the tales in the book was fun to read and had a surprising twist. Don't let the fact that this book is a “young-adult” book keep you from the enjoyment to be found within. (NOTE: I also read “The Key Word and Other Mysteries”, with the same enjoyment, and my review of this book applies equally well to that collection. Asimov is truly a master.)
This collection, in which various writers pay tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs and the worlds he created, was an entertaining and eclectic mix of stories and worlds. Tarzan, John Carter, David Innes and others were presented in new adventures which were admirably captured in the style of the original ERB tales.
I'm not usually a fan of “internal-dialogue/reflection”-themed tales, but this wasn't horrible. I did find that skimming through the historical replay of the main character's pre-mission life was sufficient for providing her current motivation and soon found myself skipping over those parts, and concentrating on the “current” situation which was more to my liking.
I won the omnibus edition of the Golden Wand trilogy via Goodreads giveaway; the premise seemed promising and I looked forward to reading the tales of someone learning about a magical universe from the ground up. The opening chapters were interesting and threw the reader right into a high-stakes situation (play chess for your life). However, the execution of this was just a bit...um, OFF. I did not find the supposed evil character terrifying, and other characters just seemed to be able to sway each other all too easily. The dialog was not very believable, IMO. The protagonist, upon seeking revenge for his parents earlier deaths meets the person responsible, and learns the truth of the situation, and still kills. Why? For a supposed follower of “good”, this was not believable. I got through the first bit, but soon had enough. “DNF”.