Science Fiction Books > H Science Fiction Books

An out of this world desert experience

Advantages: Wonderful and exciting read
Disadvantages: The book is long and you need an interest in sci-fi

...before it was finally approved. Dune is huge in scope and huge in concept. When reading this book you are dropped into the future of an intricately defined interplanetary civilization. Written in in the late 1950s I understand the idea came from a study of sand dunes on the American West Coast. In Dune the reader meets Paul Atreides, whose adventures demonstrate that natural ability can triumph over ostracism and an extremely hostile environment. ...
...kind of god. I found Dune a compelling read and can see why it is considered one of the greatest Science Fiction novels of all time and why it won a Hugo award. Because it is so big in concept the book doesn’t really date and the political and religious undertones give it a clever link to reality. This is reinforced by the use of nomads in the desert of Dune that have remarkable similarities to desert dwellers in our own world. I don’t want to ...

LJOne 27.05.2007 · Read Full Review
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Review of Dune - Frank Herbert

Ever try to hide a weapon in a little red dress?

Advantages: fascinating world, intriguing characters,interesting crimes
Disadvantages: none that I can think of!

...My Thoughts: Guilty Pleasures was first released back in 1993. I am baffled as to how I could have overlooked this series for so many years, but in exchange I've had the pleasure of reading the series back to back from book one straight through to book fifteen, The Harlequin, over the past three months. Things have a way of evening themselves out. Hamilton's first book in this series set its hooks deep into the mind of this reader, and I'd have to ...
...of this life. Guilty Pleasures is the name of the strip club Jean-Claude runs, but it is also an apt description of Anita's feelings about the events that unfold in this book. Here, we are just being introduced to Anita, her powers, and her world. All the books to follow just help add a little flesh to these rather appealing bones. "Pity is an emotion that can get you killed. The only thing more dangerous is blind hate, and maybe love." Anita may ...

Entwife 06.02.2008 · Read Full Review
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Review of Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton

Hot Faerie Cakes

Advantages: fresh, original storyline, a modern slant on an old myth, and of course, Merry Gentry
Disadvantages: a bit confusing with all the different types of fey, but it becomes clearer

...general tone is written as a mix of fantasy and an alternate history. The point of deviation from normal history is when Thomas Jefferson gave the Unseelie and Seelie courts asylum after they were exiled from Europe. However, Jefferson said that they could not set themselves up to be worshipped as gods, or they risked being evicted from American soil. Meredith NicEsus is a faerie. No, she isn't two inches tall, and no, she doesn't have wings. She ...
...and twisted Cel. But being a faerie princess isn't all it's cracked up to be. Unfortunately for Merry, she not only has royal blood, but also lesser Fey AND human blood, which has left her mortal, which the sidhe don't take kindly to. Having staved off legal assassination attempts (in the form of duels) for years now, she realises that she is fighting a losing battle, so she flees. She moves to Los Angeles, where she assumes the name 'Gentry,' uses ...

aphenderson 22.11.2006 · Read Full Review
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Review of A Kiss of Shadows - Laurell K. Hamilton

Welcome To A Dark Future

Advantages: Long and complex – and only the first part of the trilogy
Disadvantages: Long and complex – and only the first part of the trilogy

...would be impossible to compress the contents of its 1,221 pages into two hours, and still tell a coherent story. Remember what happened with "Dune"? The Reality Dysfunction is the first part of a space opera on the grandest possible scale. Peter F. Hamilton shows the same careful thought and consideration of consequence that was evident in his debut novel, "Mindstar Rising", only this time he has extrapolated all the way out to the beginning of ...
...the effects of global warming; great storms torture the surface, and Man lives under protective domes that cover whole cities, linked by a rapid transit system that can cross the Atlantic in 45 minutes. But Earth is not the setting for the first part of the "Night's Dawn" trilogy, merely the psychological background. The main plot follows the events that unfold on Lalonde, a recently opened colony world orbiting a far distant star. One of Hamilton's ...

TallTone 25.09.2001 · Read Full Review
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Review of The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton

You don't really wanna put this book down!

Advantages: Fast moving, well explained.
Disadvantages: It finished!!!

...Anita's struggle with beasties and the struggle she is having inside her heart. Richard or Jean-Claude? There are some great new characters in this book including some interesting were-creatures. One thing I liked was the fact that you read more about the were-rats led by Raphael (previously only seen in the first book). Anita is called out to a murder scene in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and ice, where Dolph and Zerbowski are having ...
...This book explores the hierachy in the were-wolf pack and the competition between Richard and Marcus (the current alpha male) and the slightly disturbed Raina (alpha female). Anita, once again, finds herself in the firing line between Jean-Claude and another one of his admirers. She has to make a decision but we don't get to know the outcome in this book. I think this book was fantastic. The characters are well described and the story kept me glued ...

stargazing_otter 12.10.2006 · Read Full Review
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Review of The Lunatic Cafe - Laurell K. Hamilton