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Black Man - A real page turner

Advantages: GREAT READ
Disadvantages: NOTHING

Black Man. = This book has a feel of Bladerunner meets Jason Bourne meets Hitman. Carl Marsalis was created. Carl is a variant Thirteen. He was made to genetically be the best, the most perfect super soldier there had ever been. But something has gone wrong after his last mission Carl has lost his willingness to kill. His superiors refuse to believe and instead use him as a Hitman for the UN. However this failure to kill gets him into trouble ...
...Carl thinks that now it must truly all be over with but then another Thirteen has just returned from Mars and is running around killing people. It is also killing off other Thirteens. Carl must find and kill it or wait for it to come for him. But as usual not everything is as it seems and soon there are twists and turns along the way and the conclusion is a superb ending to the book. The writing is crisp and fresh. Whilst the book races along and ...

MaldivesHoliday 16.02.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Black Man (Gollancz) - Richard Morgan

A Good Sci-Fi in its own right

Advantages: It's a really imaginative story
Disadvantages:

...while that this existence is better than it ever should, or could, be, but what the heck. Rimmer's inner self finally snaps after all the good things and ruins his perfect time. He then screws it up for everyone else. They are in the Better Than Life game, and Kryton is barely keeping them alive in the real world. They are forced to come out of the game and go on to have some great adventures. I really liked this book and felt it did not just mimic ...

mls 31.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Better Than Life - Doug Naylor, Rob Grant

Closer to Heaven

Advantages: Great character building
Disadvantages: A little slow paced for my taste

Fantasy and science fiction are genres that mesh well together. Some authors have written successfully across both genres, but not usually in the same story. Jaine Fenn has managed to combine both in one book and it's an interesting read. One night, a stranger is found lying unconscious in a bog just outside the village of Dangwern. He appears to have come from nowhere and, apart from a strange piece of cloth lying near his naked body, there is nothing ...
...Unfortunately, this includes the stranger himself, as he is suffering from amnesia and has no idea even where he is, much less how he came to be there. Fortunately for Sais, as he is nicknamed, the boy who finds him is "sky touched". This means he is soon to travel to the City of Lights to be tested to see if he is worthy of being a consort of the goddesses. The village elders permit Sais and the boy's mother Kerin to accompany him to see if anyone ...

Soho_Black 19.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Consorts of Heaven - Jaine Fenn

It is not just about football!

Advantages: It's very funny, and oh so true!
Disadvantages: None

The Disc, for those who don't know, continues to float in space, supported by the elephants who ride the back of the great swimming turtle A'tuin. The Hub about which the planet spins is a centre of great magic, and best avoided if you want to live a happy and contented life. At the outer perimeter is the great circle sea which unendingly streams over the rim into the void, which is best avoided if you want to continue to live at all. Most Discians ...
...Smeems, for instance, is the Candle Nave at the Unseen University. He has to worry about keeping the candles not just alight, but properly melted, artistically, gothicly, dribbled, as it were. Of course, there's Trevor to help. And there's Nutt. With two t's. Trevor Likely has a tendency to skive off work whenever possible, and to kick a tin can around. His dad was a legend. Nutt is… well, no-one's quite sure what Nutt is, even him. Goblin isn't ...

hiker 07.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett

From Dead to Worse

Advantages: Good read
Disadvantages: Lots of threads, can be confusing

...A failed attempt of takeover from werewolves in another area results in Alcide becoming the new packleader. This, however, comes with a price which is the death of a few weres in the community including the previous packmaster Patrick, Maria-Star, Alcide’s girlfriend. As for the vampires, the explosion in the vampire summit results in the loss of various main personnel in Queen Sophie’s court and the King of Nevada, Felipe, grabs the opportunity. ...
...Louisiana apart from Eric and his gang. Eric surrenders to the new regime and manages to keep his area. And with Sookie saving the King from the attack of the Sophie’s last surviving child, Eric is slowly gaining the trust of the new King. And as for our heroine Sookie, a surprise meeting with her great-grandfather Niall reveals her heritage of being part-fairy. This completes Andre’s discovery of Sookie having fairy blood. And also explains the ...

medgenie 21.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris