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19th out of 126 books
—
63 voters
Endless Blue
by
Wen Spencer
The bestselling author of "Wolf Who Rules" delivers the first title of a new series. Faced with genocide at the hands of the alien Nefrim, humans search for a miracle. That miracle may be Captain Mikhail Volkov, who discovers a secret that might save the human race.
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
December 4th 2007
by Baen
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639)
Sep 02, 2010
E.D. Walker
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
SF fans, Romance fans
Recommended to E.D. by:
The Galaxy Express Blog
I'd seen this book mentioned a few times on various Best Of SFR lists, especially on The Galaxy Express, so when I decided to embark on my little summer adventure, I was very happy to find my local library had a copy of this book.
I'm even happier now that they had a copy, because this was a thoroughly enjoyable read for me. :)
The story begins when the warp drive--and only the warp drive--from a long lost space ship reappears in the United Colonies. The engine is accompanied by three dead bodies...more
I'm even happier now that they had a copy, because this was a thoroughly enjoyable read for me. :)
The story begins when the warp drive--and only the warp drive--from a long lost space ship reappears in the United Colonies. The engine is accompanied by three dead bodies...more
This book gave me a deep nostalgic feeling for the works of Jo Clayton. (There might also be some of Niven’s Known Space in the flavor, but I’m mostly reminded of the patchwork anomaly worlds and environments within Clayton’s paracosm.) Despite the feeling of nostalgia, it was a difficult book to read due to deep knee jerk hatred for certain plot points and social mores. (In other words, I was in a bad position of loving some of the characters while wanting most of their world/universe/society t...more
In a far future, space ships can flash from point to point, and humanity is at war with a race called the nefrim. From time to time, ships vanish without a trace, lost to bad navigation presumably, but when a ships engine reappears, covered in coral and showing that it's last jump was to an impossible set of coordinates, Mikhail Volkov, cloned son of the Tsar of the Novaya Rus empire is sent to investigate.
He ends up in what may be a Dyson Sphere that is covered in a large ocean, in what may be...more
He ends up in what may be a Dyson Sphere that is covered in a large ocean, in what may be...more
I'm reading a lot of science-fiction romance these days, as part of the SFR reading challenge and I can tell you that it's already paid off. Big. I just finished Endless Blue, by Wen Spencer, who has also written a trilogy focused on a young man raised by wolves who has an extraordinary tracking ability, as well as the acclaimed Tinker.
Endless Blue focuses on three people, each of whom has a complex and difficult personal history involving questions of identity and self. Mikhail is a clone and s...more
Endless Blue focuses on three people, each of whom has a complex and difficult personal history involving questions of identity and self. Mikhail is a clone and s...more
3.5*
Fascinating story. Very original world-building and well-developed characters. Sweet love story, too. At times the story was gripping and I couldn't put the book down. But, and there are a few "buts" here, at other times I felt confused and lost.
Spencer didn't explain or describe "Reds" well and I had a difficult time picturing them for most of the book. Turk noted that he could "pass" as human most of the time, but not always. At other places in the book we have people who can tell at a gl...more
Fascinating story. Very original world-building and well-developed characters. Sweet love story, too. At times the story was gripping and I couldn't put the book down. But, and there are a few "buts" here, at other times I felt confused and lost.
Spencer didn't explain or describe "Reds" well and I had a difficult time picturing them for most of the book. Turk noted that he could "pass" as human most of the time, but not always. At other places in the book we have people who can tell at a gl...more
Great book, but like most books with complex world-building, I find it hard to describe.
Maybe it's because I've been watching a lot of re-runs lately, but I think the initial universe we visit has a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" feel. Although humans have only met one alien species, and we are at war with them.
Not very far into the book, we traverse into another reality/universe (a pocket universe?), the Saragossa, where technology is slowly devolving, but humans interact with other alien s...more
Maybe it's because I've been watching a lot of re-runs lately, but I think the initial universe we visit has a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" feel. Although humans have only met one alien species, and we are at war with them.
Not very far into the book, we traverse into another reality/universe (a pocket universe?), the Saragossa, where technology is slowly devolving, but humans interact with other alien s...more
This was a fascinating scifi novel that I couldn't put down. It's a pity that the author is on hiatus from writing (though it's for health reasons, so you can't fault her). I can't wait to read whatever she publishes next!
The premise of this story is that humans are adept at space travel and have developed a way to take space ships from point A to point B without traveling through the intervening space. Only sometimes, ships don't come out at point B - they are apparently distroyed. Not true, we...more
The premise of this story is that humans are adept at space travel and have developed a way to take space ships from point A to point B without traveling through the intervening space. Only sometimes, ships don't come out at point B - they are apparently distroyed. Not true, we...more
http://janicu.livejournal.com/80055.html
Wen Spencer is among the Authors I Stalk. Yes, she is on my list. Therefore I have been eagerly anticipating Endless Blue since I knew it was coming out. Unfortunately it came out in hardcover, and I'm a paperback girl, so I waited another few months for the paperback copy to be released. Finally I bought it last week and although it's about 495 pages, I inhaled it. Ah, sweet space opera!
The Premise: Mikhail Volkov is a clone of Peter the Great and heir ap...more
Wen Spencer is among the Authors I Stalk. Yes, she is on my list. Therefore I have been eagerly anticipating Endless Blue since I knew it was coming out. Unfortunately it came out in hardcover, and I'm a paperback girl, so I waited another few months for the paperback copy to be released. Finally I bought it last week and although it's about 495 pages, I inhaled it. Ah, sweet space opera!
The Premise: Mikhail Volkov is a clone of Peter the Great and heir ap...more
Spencer does it again--creates a world that sounds absolutely insane to describe and populates it with an interesting cast of characters including a suicidal Russian tsarevich, a genetically superior soldier who imagines himself to be massively inferior to humans, and a young woman who left a cushy job as a translator to captain a boat full of orphaned siblings and cousins.
It's not Tinker (but even Wolf Who Rules wasn't Tinker), but it was a lot of fun. Some of the sex stuff was a little weird f...more
It's not Tinker (but even Wolf Who Rules wasn't Tinker), but it was a lot of fun. Some of the sex stuff was a little weird f...more
it was okay. there wasn't much action. It was more of an exploratory type sci-fi book.
Good worldbuilding, interesting ethics, refreshing directness of the love story, but it didn't all gel for me. Partly from a bit of idiot ball, trying to figure out who knows what bits when (ie, shouldn't Mikhail have tried to find out what happened to his disappearing Reds?) She gets a point off for a cartoonish villain, but adds a point for less cartoonish aliens. (Btw, humans find one alien lifeform and call it 'Nefrim' with no explanation why, just a vaguely biblical name? Blech.) Odd combin...more
This is a tremendously ambitious book, but it didn't quite come together for me. There are a whole lot of innovative ideas and interesting concepts, but they're thrown out at such a furious pace that some of them get lost, or perhaps confused is a better word. The biggest problem was that, after a very long build-up and development, the ending just dropped in and stopped the action in a few pages and didn't tie up all of the loose ends in a satisfying manner. It was like having two novels worth...more
I freely admit that I was disappointed by this book. Spencer's "Ukiah Oregon" series was excellent and I think that it just set the bar too high for me. This book had a great idea and it was exactly the kind of scifi that I love: of the exploring kind, not the military kind. And the setting was intriguing too: a place that was set inside of a sphere instead of outside.
But, and there was a big but, the characters - and especially Paige Bailey. The perfect portrayal of a Mary-Sue. She excelled at...more
But, and there was a big but, the characters - and especially Paige Bailey. The perfect portrayal of a Mary-Sue. She excelled at...more
Aug 22, 2008
Julia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like military sf, the Vorkoverse, interesting sf
Recommended to Julia by:
I read all Wen Spencer
Shelves:
science-fiction
In the far future, Captain Mikhail Volkhov of the Svoboda, his brother Turk who is and commands the Reds on the ship, ----- people designed as super- warriors, but Mikhail is the clone of Peter the Great and will be Tsar of New Russia -- are ordered to discover what happened to the ship Fenrir, which disappeared, and has reappeared encased in coral.
They wind up in Saragasso, a sea without a planet, where ships go when they can’t or don‘t make their jump. Time, physics and many other things don‘t...more
They wind up in Saragasso, a sea without a planet, where ships go when they can’t or don‘t make their jump. Time, physics and many other things don‘t...more
I'm sorry for not rating, but I was unable to finish this book and it really was not to my preference. I felt so bad when I just couldn't go on reading this, but it wasn't because it wasn't well written. I was unable to finish this book because it simply was not to my taste.
I love Wen Spencer's books and I think she's absolutely brilliant and I would recommend her books to anyone that loves urban fantasy at its finest.
I love Wen Spencer's books and I think she's absolutely brilliant and I would recommend her books to anyone that loves urban fantasy at its finest.
HATE the cover, and I would never have picked it up, but for the fact that I love her other books. This was a very unique story and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the characters. She does a beautiful job of developing her characters, and that is one of the reasons I love this author so much. Definitely very good "hard" science fiction, for those who like it.
This book is very well written with an engaging story and characters, and a very interesting universe, but it's a bit tainted and falls short of a good book because it's a bit too much focused on what I consider "teenage furry fantasy erotica." Reduce that part of the book and add some more universe detail and it could be truly excellent.
Treated myself by rereading this one cuz my current read is not pulling me. I pretty much love all Wen Spencer's novels. This is a stand-alone SF with a very cool setting, great characters and a little romance. Several interesting issues explored: the difficulty of translating alien languages, and prejudice against 'adapted' humans.
While Endless Blue isn't as good as the Tinker series, or as charming as A Brother's Price, it is a very thoughtful Sci-Fi novel. Compared to the other Wen Spencer books I've read, I'd give it 3 stars. But compared to everything else, it gets 4.
Endless Blue is the first book in Ms. Spencer's new series and I hope it isn't the last. Trapped in a place that is between worlds a spaceship must try to find their way back home. It is a beautiful world building novel that any space fan will enjoy.
Apr 12, 2008
Masha Holl
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Any sci-fi fan, and anyone looking for good writing.
Wen Spencer takes you on a voyage you won't forget any time soon. Any book by her is a promise of a great read and amazing characters. Endless Blue didn't disappoint me, and I must say I was wary of future-Russians appearing in a non-Russian's novel. But Wen Spencer did her research carefully, and made no mistakes when sprinkling her story with Russian expressions, or adding some cultural color to her main character -- even though they were Russians of the future, and not quite human at that.
As...more
As...more
I was ready to quit after about twenty pages as the sex scenes irritated me, but I stuck it out and finished the book. It got better, though. I wonder if in several hundred years the f-word will evolve to something else, though?
Jul 30, 2011
Joel Sassone
added it
A moderately interesting but ultimately cheesy space opera with a large dollop of interspecies (kinda interspecies?) romance. Not all that. 2 1/2 stars outta 5.
This author knows how to capture your attention and not let it go. I want the rest of the series to be published now.
Plotline straightforward space opera; strength is characterizations. Easy, fast, entertaining.
Not too big on the furry theme, but in this novel, it's only on the surface. Almost making fun of. The characters are endearing and the plot well paced.
not as good as her other books but readable
review to come later
Unfinished
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Born in 1963, Wen Spencer grew up in Evans City, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning a degree in Information Science. In 2003, she was the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
More about Wen Spencer...
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