Science Fiction Books > M Science Fiction Books

Stunning, a really great book

Advantages: Everything about it
Disadvantages: none

...about an exploration into the Congo Rain Forest in Zaire. The company sending in the operation, ERTS, are in search of valuable blue diamonds, which are believed to be located in the lost city of Zinj, untouched and unexplored for five hundred years. Their rivals the Euro-Japanese seem to be winning and when they reach Zinj the end is far ahead and, at times, out of sight. ERTS on Peter Elliot and Amy to aid their party in the field, Amy is a gorilla! ...

mintboy 27.07.2000 · Read Full Review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Congo - Michael Crichton

Enter the Dragon

Advantages: Epic character based fantasy
Disadvantages: plot slightly weak

...you should know about the Dragonlance series is that there are many many books in it. There are however only a handful that are classed as 'First Tier'. What that means is that only these are the books that have been written by the original authors (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) and they tell the main story. All the other Dragonlance books tell other stories that are in some way related to the main story theme (ie. books about each of the characters ...
...world of evil. What makes Dragonlance slightly different is the fantastic character development. This is without a doubt the strong point of the book and the whole series. The story is brilliant, but nothing too original. The story revolves around a group of friends who get together at the start. You have the twins Raistlin and Caramon who are as different from each other as night and day. Raistlin is a moody young mage in hopes of becoming the ...

Wahla 03.03.2004 · Read Full Review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dragonlance Chronicles - Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis

Learning to fly...

Advantages: Great story, good characters
Disadvantages: -

...style and story telling all the more remarkable, as a hidden talent becomes unveiled. The story follows close the journey of Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit with a facility for language, and an emptiness in his soul. Set in the near future when near-earth space travel has become if not commonplace at least not unusual, people are regularly mining the moon and asteroids for minerals and fuel. Sandoz is assigned to a mission near one of the big radio ...
...post discovers a signal from the nearby star system of Alpha Centauri, the process toward the journey begins. While nations debate and plan an exploratory trip, the Jesuit order (well known historically for missionary work) get their own trip underway, with a crew of Jesuits and laypersons each with differing expertise (one in musicology, as the transmission seem musical; and so forth). The process for travel is one that is inventive – essentially, ...

frkurt 03.11.2004 · Read Full Review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell

Lost world - lost opportunity

Advantages: More of the same, pacey action
Disadvantages: Basicaly a less-good rehash of Jurassic Park

...I had expected to read the sequel, so, having a few hours to kill travelling, I picked up The Lost World. Oops. Instead of picking up where the first book had left us - dinosaurs migrating into the mountains of Central America - this wanders off in a totally unexpected direction - the 'secret lab' island that was apparently the flip side to the shiny science showcase of the original island. I deduce from other people's comments that this is a follow ...
...feel that having had the one blockbuster success, this was intended to hone the formula - another dinosaur infested island, another mixed bag of scientists drawn together by circumstance, and two more young kids, including a precocious dinosaur mad boy for the film audience to identify with. Actually it's the kids that grate most - crow-barred in to the story as they are: at least the kids in the first book had a plausible reason for being there, ...

Ariel 11.07.2001 · Read Full Review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Lost World - Michael Crichton

Another awesome book by Michael Chrichton

Advantages: Once you have got to the good bit - it is REALY GOOD...
Disadvantages: ... But it takes quite a while to get to this realy good bit.

This is a great book however it takes a while to start off and very confusing at times with some complicated reasonings and terminoligy. However if you can overlook that what is left is a very exciting and gripping book. A must read along with the rest of the Michael Chricton books. This book is somewhat unrealistic however don't let this put you off as it adds to the excitement of the book. However this is quite a long book and can get rather tiring ...
...buy this book as it would be highly inappropriate for a child to read. And one word of advise if you have seen the film of this book i do not advise purchasing it as it does ruin the whole book, but if you haven't seen the film i would definitely buy/read this book (and watch the film after - because its pretty good) ...

mario_s 03.10.2008 · Read Full Review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Sphere - Michael Crichton