Prelude to Space by Arthur C. Clarke
Prelude to Space is the first novel Arthur C. Clarke wrote and is generally not considered as good as Childhood’s End (1953), probably the most famous of Clarke’s early novels. The publication history of this story is not unusual for the period. Clarke wrote the novel in the space of a month in 1947 but it wasn’t until 1951 that the whole novel was published in magazine format by Galaxy Science Fiction.
October 14th, 2016. Rob Weber | Arthur C. Clarke | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Ascension Factor by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom
The Ascension Factor (1988) is the third book Frank Herbert wrote in collaboration with Bill Ransom and the fourth in THE PANDORA SEQUENCE, a series introduced in his novel Destination: Void (1966). It’s a series plagued with problems and tragedy. The Jesus Incident (1979), had to be extensively rewritten at the last moment after a copyright issue threatened to block its publication. The Lazarus Effect (1983),
September 30th, 2016. Rob Weber | Frank Herbert | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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The Lazarus Effect by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom
The Lazarus Effect (1983) is part of the PANDORA SEQUENCE that Frank Herbert wrote with Bill Ransom. The series has its origin in Herbert’s 1966 novel Destination: Void, of which he published a revised edition in 1978, prior to the release of The Jesus Incident (1979), his first collaboration with Ransom. The Jesus Incident was rough around the edges, mostly because a copyright issue came up that required lots of last-minute rewriting.
September 22nd, 2016. Rob Weber | Frank Herbert | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Luck of the Wheels by Megan Lindholm
Luck of the Wheels (1989) is the final part in Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb’s Ki and Vandien quartet. I guess you could say this book is the odd one out in the series, having been published several years after the first three, which appeared in quick succession in 1983 and 1984. Lindholm had written a number of other books in the meantime, the incomparable Wizard of the Pigeons among them.
September 15th, 2016. Rob Weber | Megan Lindholm | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Limbreth Gate by Megan Lindholm
Lindholm’s work under this pseudonym is very diverse, but the Ki and Vandien novels are more or less straightforward fantasy. A secondary world with a long, largely unknown history, lots of different sentient races, magic and divine creatures. All the ingredients are present. They are pretty focused on the two protagonists, however. No huge cast of secondary characters and countless side plots. They are very efficiently written. Each book is a complete story, there are no major cliffhangers or unresolved questions; the relationship between Ki and Vandien is what ties these books together.
September 8th, 2016. Rob Weber | Megan Lindholm | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Windsingers by Megan Lindholm
The Windsingers is the second book in a series of four featuring Ki and Vandien. It was first published in 1984. The first novel, Harpy’s Flight, which was also Lindholm’s debut, showed some serious flaws in pacing and structure but I still thought it was an interesting book. In The Windsingers, Lindholm clearly improves in those areas but she loses some of the dynamic between Ki and Vandien. In the end I did think the first novel,
September 1st, 2016. Rob Weber´s rating: 3.5 | Megan Lindholm | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Harpy’s Flight by Megan Lindholm
Harpy’s Flight (1983) is Megan Lindholm’s first novel and the first of a series of four starring the characters Ki and Vandien. I understand that at one time, Lindholm had plans to write more but that never happened. Given the success of Lindholm’s writing under the pen name Robin Hobb, I very much doubt it ever will. Lindholm’s novels are very different in style and tone from Hobb’s novels. I love both the epic fantasy of Hobb and the more diverse output of Lindholm,
August 26th, 2016. Rob Weber | Megan Lindholm | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Without a doubt, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Foundation and Empire left a mark on the genre. They’ve been read by generations of SF-fans and seven decades after the first Foundation story appeared in in Astounding magazine, the novels are still in print. They may have been the pinnacle of Golden Age SF, but I can’t say I thought them great literature. The FOUNDATION novels are big on ideas, but Asimov’s style is dreadfully direct and the previous books were in dire need of a good round of editing.
August 15th, 2016. Rob Weber | Isaac Asimov | SFF Reviews | no comments |
While rereading Kim Stanley Robinson‘s MARS trilogy, books I consider to be among the very best in science fiction, I came across various references to White Mars; Or, The Mind Set Free: A 21st-Century Utopia (1999) by Brian W. Aldiss, written in collaboration with prominent physicists Roger Penrose. Robinson’s utopian vision of a terraformed Red Planet is not something everybody would see as ideal or even morally acceptable. In the MARS trilogy Robinson pays a lot of attention to the discussion between what he calls the Reds,
August 12th, 2016. Rob Weber´s rating: 2 | Brian W. Aldiss | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
As always with books published by Subterranean Press, Journeys (2010) by Ian R. MacLeod looks stunning. I love the cover art by Edward Miller. The collection contains nine stories, ranging from a few pages to novella length, all of them first published between 2006 and 2010. Personally I feel the longer pieces work better.
Journeys is an appropriate title for this collection, MacLeod takes you to unexpected places with his stories. In many of them,
August 5th, 2016. Rob Weber | Ian R. MacLeod | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one