Science Fiction Books > F Science Fiction Books

To Hari Seldon...

Advantages: A truly mind blowing and humbling experience
Disadvantages: It ends.

Previous to this book I had never encountered Isaac Asimov before, I had heard that he was a giant in the SF genre and as such my expectations were very high. High expectations lead to highly critical evaluations and so it is clear that something is very special if it can meet those high expectations, even exceed them. This book is one of those very special things. A special mention should go to the artwork on the front of my edition, it is simply ...
...place and gave me incentive to buy it. I have to say that the first few chapters didn't seem to live up to the hype. To begin with the periods discussed in the story are separated over vast periods of time. Just as you feel that you are becoming familiar with a character or group, really getting a feel for them, the story jumps another hundred years into the future. It leaves the reader feeling no real connection with the story, however as the overall ...

Mazzman19091 28.06.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Foundation - Isaac Asimov

fank u god 4 makin mr banks so gud

Advantages: everything in the whole world
Disadvantages: none

Bank's kicks ass, this book blew me away, absolutely and incredibly to another planet ... earth in the future. Banks is absolutely the most imaginative man on earth, never before has a book taken me to an alien future so messed up and so creative as this one. Starting with a birth from nowhere, a naked lady waking up for the first time and assimilating her surroundings, her capacity to think, to see, to talk and understand. Baskill the teller, a ...
...(though difficuult at first) dialect of english and who has a pet ant as a friend, who can also interact with the matrix which is physically implanted in the walls, floors and ceilings of all that is around him in the physical world, count sessine, reborn nine times on a voyage into the matrix to find the truth .... this is just incredible stuff.... I'll never forget the bit with Asura in the fairytale tower, the prince who came to take her away ...

ianexcession 07.08.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks

Foundation and Earth: Solid Foundations, Weak Finish.

Advantages: If you've read the others, you might enjoy reading more.
Disadvantages: If you've read the others, this will probably come as a let down.

...never read any of the Foundation books then, given that I remember them being in there. Maybe something to do with the old-school cover art, which, quite frankly, bears absolutely no relation whatsoever to the content and makes it all look a bit... what's the word? Dull. Recently, however, I took it upon myself to read the Foundation books and, more recently, I've finished Foundation and Earth, the fifth book in the series (in release order, not ...
...four books leading up to Foundation and Earth without giving you something that'll take sixteen years to read! The Foundation trilogy begins with the story of Hari Seldon, a man who develops the science of Psychohistory, which is a mathematical method of predicting the future based on the combined actions of very large groups of people. It's a statistical science that allows him to predict the previously unforeseen fall of the Galactic Empire. He ...

robcauson 01.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Foundation and Earth - Isaac Asimov

Strongly Recommended

Advantages: Long, compelling, thought provoking, easy to read
Disadvantages: None I can think of

Although I have been a fan of science fiction for as long as I can remember, it was only a few months ago that I first tried reading Peter F. Hamilton. This was the first I read and I only wish I had discovered him sooner. This is what I would consider to be classic science fiction. Hamilton takes current trends such as the consumer culture prevalent in the world today and extrapolates that into a grim prediction of a future world. He then populates ...
...with this vision. In the 24th century, mankind has spread out into the stars, a process funded by corporations only interested in profits and share values. To recoup the massive expenditure required to terraform new planets into habitable biospheres (and remove any inconvenient extraterrestrial lifeforms along the way) these corporations then embark on 'asset realisation' campaigns, which basically involves invading a planet and taking a payment ...

BenRowland 05.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Fallen Dragon - Peter F. Hamilton

Loyalty and betrayal

Advantages: An entertaining read. Well worth a night in
Disadvantages: Not to everybodys taste, bot even every sci/fi fan

...than one style. This book Flash Is science fiction but not the usual fantasy that Mr Modesitt writes. The writing style changes. First person when dealing with the central character Jonat DeVrai, third person when dealing with some attendant characters. This is a deep story. I find that I am confused with some of the company names and organisations. That may be my tiredness. Perhaps when I read it again later I will follow closer. Who his enemy ...
...collateral damage, a sacrificed pawn in somebody else's game. But sometimes in Chess a pawn can take out a queen. Persons who are in power will do almost anything to stay in power and they can make mistakes. The little man can sometimes make a difference. Some of what is taken as 24th century works is happening today. We have seen filter programmes designed to stop pop-up ads and certain products are placed in films. Add that certain tunes seem ...

Coloneljohn 04.05.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Flash - L.E. Modesitt