Content here is by Michael Still, mikal@stillhq.com.
This is the second book in the iBooks spinoff series based on Asimov’s robot mysteries and the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. Overall it fits into the Foundation Series acceptably. This book is a mystery much like Mark’s first Mirage. I think overall this book is better written than Mirage, and is certainly…
This is an anthology of Pern stories. It doesn’t really stand on its own though, you’re much better off having read the other Pern books first. The stories are: The Survey: P.E.R.N.: this story feels quite lazy. There are new characters, but they aren’t well introduced. They find the planet later called Pern, and explore…
This book really worked for me. I’ve seen other people criticize it for being juvenile, but I don’t feel its any more juvenile than The Forever War, which is considered a classic. The style is quite conversational, as if the main protagonist is talking to you and explaining the story, but I liked that. This…
This is just a quick post at the moment because the project isn’t done and I am distracted by other things… The thermostat for the central heater in my house became unreliable a week or two ago. My wife rang around and a new one from the manufacturer of the heater was going to be…
I read this book on the recommendation of my father. Its Cherryh’s first book, and I think you can see that from the awkward phrasing in places. Its an ok read, but not the best of her books that I’ve read. I found the grammar hard enough to parse that the book was harder work…
This is the final book in the Cyteen trilogy (proceeded by Cyteen: The Betrayal and Cyteen: The Rebirth). This book is good in that it avoids much of the politics that mired the first book. Additionally, its nice to see Ari2 and Justin resolve some of their differences, even if its from a position of…
All the Weyrs of Pern Quicksilver Cyteen: The Rebirth King of the Vagabonds
I thought I was reading this book slowly, until I remembered that I am reading the large page three books all in one volume version. If I had bought this book as a single paperback in a standard paper size it would have been 400 pages. This book is better than Quicksilver, with a more…
What happens when our wasteful ways finally leads to the collapse of our consumption oriented society? Well, Bruce Sterling has some suggestions in this online short story…
This book is a follow up to Cyteen: The Betrayal, and was originally published in the same volume as it. The book would make little sense without having read Cyteen: The Betrayal first. Apart from that its a good book, and much more readable than the first. I think that’s mostly because all the important…