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The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter - Book Review

By Andrew Jack · Comments (2)

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

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The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

-Publisher: Harper; 1St Edition edition (June 19, 2012)
-Released: June 19, 2012
-ISBN: 978-0062067753

The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett, sci fi book review

The idea of parallel universes is not a new one, but travelling to them in fiction always involves massive amounts of power, an inbuilt knack or a wormhole of some kind. In The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter travelling to the parallel earth next door is easy, all you need is some basic electronics and a potato. The potato sounds absurd but once you consider that it’s the perfect organic battery it fits in with the way Pratchett and Baxter’s universe works.

The other earths are all slightly different, all different realities with one thing in common: no humans. In every other Earth, humanity never happened.
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Categories : Reviews: Books, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movie and Book Reviews

Tags : sci-fi book review, Stephen Baxter, terry pratchett, The Long Earth

Passage at Arms by Glenn Cook

By John Winn · Comments (2)

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

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Passage at Arms
Author: Glen Cook
Publisher: Night Shade Books
ISBN-13: 9781597801195
ISBN: 1597801194
Rating: 9/10

Think military sci-fi, and names like Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman and David Drake come to mind. Then there’s Glen Cook. Writing during a time when military sci-fi was just getting off the ground (thanks to the Viet Nam War and movies like Star Wars), the author of Starfishers and the Black Company series managed to do what was thought impossible at the time-take the entertainment out of militainment. Not only were his characters gritty, grimy, and grouchy, life in Cook’s interstellar battlefields were hardly something worth writing home about. Read More→

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Categories : Reviews: Books

Tags : glenn cook, sci-fi book review

Years Best SF 14

By John Winn · Comments (0)

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

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Year’s Best SF 14
Authors: Eds. David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
Publisher: EOS Science Fiction
ISBN-10: 0061721743
ISBN-13: 978-0061721748
Rating: 6/10

As we’ve noted earlier, anthologies are a (The Dimension Next Door) tricky thing. Especially in a market, er, genre that’s gotten the teeth knocked out of it over the last few years. Yet despite all obstacles economic and otherwise, the editors of Year’s Best Sci-Fi 14 have done a tremendous job sifting the wheat from the chaff, all while maintaining the same humble attitude that’s made the books accessible and fun.
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Categories : Reviews: Books

Tags : sci-fi book review, science fiction

Kings Property by Morgan Howell

By John Winn · Comments (0)

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

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King’s Property
Author: Morgan Howell
Publisher: Del Rey Books
ISBN-13: 9780345500403
ISBN: 0345500407
Rating: 7/10

It’s hard to be a fan of orcs. They’re nasty, they’re green, and they generally kill anything that moves. Humans included. That prejudice would seem to extend to fantasy novels featuring said orcs as well. But surprise surprise-that’s not the case for Morgan Howell’s book Queen’s Property. While it is not Lord of the Rings or even Dungeons and Dragons, the book moves with a fast pace that never lets up. Despite the novel’s appeal, it is far from perfect-but then again, no one expects it to be.

Dar is a young woman who’s seen more than her share of trouble. A dad who died when she was only a toddler. An abusive stepfather. A mother who considers her as something less than flesh and blood. Not surprisingly, she is not overly keen when it comes to the issue of family relations.
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Categories : Reviews: Books

Tags : fantasy novels, orcs, sci-fi book review, science ficiton

The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green

By John Winn · Comments (0)

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

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The Man with the Golden Torc
Author: Simon R. Green
Publisher: RoC
ISBN: 99780451462145
Rating: 7/10

Science Fiction has always had a playful or humorous bent, going back to the pulp dramas of the 1930s and beyond. Even dark, dystopian epics have been known to have some gallows humor here and there. Read More→