Science Fiction Books > 15 GBP to 19 GBP Science Fiction Books

Rama Returns

Advantages: Continues the Rama spacecraft "mythology"
Disadvantages: Doesn't do it well enough

Rama 2 is the follow on to the highly acclaimed "Rendezvous with Rama", a science fiction story dealing with the exploration of an alien spacecraft of gigantic proportions by a small group of human astronauts. Clarke mentions that further books beyond the original were never planned, and that the last sentence of the original "The Ramans do everything in threes" was simply the best way to end the book, although to me it was pretty inevitable that ...
...ideas and returned to the Rama story for inspiriation when he realised it was set up nicely for further explaoration. For the next three books in this series Clarke has teamed up with Gentry Lee, a writer with whom he'd already co-written the science-fiction novel "Cradle". Gentry Lee had been a senior NASA employee for their Project Galileo and Viking missions. He had also worked with Carl Sagan during the creation of the excellent Cosmos TV series. ...

TheDuke 27.03.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Rama II - Arthur C. Clarke

The Stainless Steel Rat joins the Circus.

Advantages: good yarn
Disadvantages: Not bad read for a one off read

The Stainless Steel Rat joins the Circus. Aseries of books following Jim DiGriz who some think a hero whilst other a villian. Another tale in the saga of The Stainless steel rat series. here is Jim DiGriz. is brought in to investigate a series of puzzling bank robberies. He brings his wife and son in on the investigation and soon the family team are deep in weird and wonderful worlds of villains and plots and ...
...always a circus around during the thefts. They infiltrate the circus and soon are in mortal danger, but all is not what it seems and their employer has secrets that may also put their lives in jeopardy. Very fast paced book that fair flies along and never slackens right up until the surprising ending. Well written and well thought out plots and twists. All ofthe characters are well fleshed out and familiar, (if you have read ohters in the series). ...

MaldivesHoliday 21.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus - Harry Harrison

The Proteus Operation by James P Hogan

Advantages: Highly enjoyable read
Disadvantages: none

...1974 and President Kennedy faces the biggest challenge of his administration. The Nazis have control of Europe and most of the rest of the world. Only North America and Australia remain and they are close to defeat. In America snippets of Intelligence suggest that the Nazi war machine has been receiving technological assistance from an unknown organisation called Overlord that appears to originate from the future. Leaps in technological advance ...
...and dates that are in the 21st century. In response, the Proteus team is assembled. A group of scientists aided by crack commandos will go back in time and attempt to redress the balance by providing relatively advanced technology from 1974 to the world of 1939. Using a hastily constructed time machine with blueprints 'retrieved' from sympathisers within the secret organisation aiding the Nazis and without fully understanding the technology that ...

Soundsexciting 11.11.2006 · Read full review
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Review of The Proteus Operation - James P. Hogan

A Scanner Darkly

Advantages: Interesting depiction of future drug use and relationships
Disadvantages: Slightly dated dialogue, introverted like all Phillip K. Dick

...values of modern society, creating a fairly seamless blend of present and future. But mostly, it's about drugs. And that is partly why I would recommend it. The writing is classic Dick- snappy, looping dialogue, themes of paranoia, conspiracy and shifting interpersonal relationships. But the autobiographical element of the novel is what is most interesting, and that is largely centered around drug use. Despite a final epilogue where Dick laments ...
...much stronger. Bob Arctor is a nuanced everyman, and that makes the books main subject- his mental degradation, all the more interesting and tragic. One major sticking point for the modern reader is the slightly dated dialogue. It's very 'hip cat' 60's and 70's which stops the book being grounded where it belongs, in the near future from now. Other than that, like all the author's works, it is remarkably foresighted. I think this is one of Dick's ...

earthbound23 19.06.2008 · Read full review
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Review of A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick

A Web of Intrigue

Advantages: Ghosts, sinister goings on
Disadvantages: None

...THAT THIS IS NOT about the Keanu Reeves’ science fiction blockbuster. This is about the little known book written by Jonathan Aycliffe. We all have those authors whose books we try to seek out in second hand bookshops and Internet sites. Books that are either out of print or rare. Whenever I frequent a bookshop I always look out for books by Jonathan Aycliffe. Anyway, we were talking about the Matrix, weren’t we… In the Matrix, ...
...book of deception and horror. The plot slowly turns like a vice and you are engrossed as each twist and turn takes you deeper into the story line. Andrew Macleod, the lead character has recently been widowed. Unable to come to terms with his wife's death, he seeks solace in his research into the works of black magic and the occult. Taken under the wing of the devious Duncan Mylne, Andrew is drawn unwittingly into the world of the arcane and the ...

Borg 03.09.2002 · Read full review
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Review of The Matrix - Jonathan Aycliffe