|
June 10
|
|
|
|
June 06
|
|
Fred D
gave  to:
Diuturnity's Dawn (Founding of the Commonwealth, #3)
by
Alan Dean Foster
bookshelves:
science-fiction
|
my rating:
|
| |
recommended for: Sci-Fi fans
read in January, 2009, has a copy to sell/swap
Fred D said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Comagrave, for example. I did not expect that whole archeological team to get wiped out. Especially after they had just made an amazing discovery that left more questions than it answered. Left a giant loose end in the plot there he did. Anyway, I just couldn't believe what Pilwandepat did! I was beginning to really like his character, and then he goes off and does something like that, provoking the Aan into killing him and all his colleagues! I was dumbfounded. I actually felt sorry for the Aan. They were totally set up and framed.
And then there's Dawn. Actually, that went down mostly as I expected, but I was surprised when the 2 United Church missionaries were killed. They shouldn't even have been there when the police tried to apprehend the last 2 terrorists. What police anywhere would allow civilians to tag along while they make an arrest of some dangerous terrorists? That made no sense. However I can see how them being martyred would help along the process of forming the Commonwealth.
I've got more to say. I'll finish this tomorrow.(less)
"
|
|
May 18
|
|
|
Fred D is on page 184 of 336 of Diuturnity's Dawn
|
|
|
Fred D is on page 16 of 336 of Diuturnity's Dawn
|
|
April 17
|
|
|
Fred D
gave  to:
Crown of Infinity (paperback)
by
John M. Faucette
bookshelves:
science-fiction
|
my rating:
|
| |
read in January, 1981
Fred D said:
"A relatively obscure science fiction book written back in the '60's by a rather obscure author, the book probably would not receive much attention or praise by critics, but nevertheless I loved this book. I've read it about 3 times - which is a lot f...more
A relatively obscure science fiction book written back in the '60's by a rather obscure author, the book probably would not receive much attention or praise by critics, but nevertheless I loved this book. I've read it about 3 times - which is a lot for me - back when I was a kid.
To me, this book shaped and formed my vision of the ultimate destiny of the human race. I see us spreading throughout the universe, advancing technologically until we become almost god-like. I see us as benevolent, battling other races who are oppressive, and helping other peaceful races to advance. That's essentially, in a nutshell, how Faucette portrays future humanity. His vision in this book is truly epic. It's amazing how he manages to fit such an epic story spanning thousands of years in such a short book.
In a nutshell, Humanity starts settling other star systems and runs into another race doing the same thing. Both races compete with each other which leads to a long war. The war is abruptly ended when a third race intervenes. They call themselves the "Masters of the Universe" and they are far, far more advanced than either the Humans or the other race they're fighting. The "Masters" are malevolent, a race that wants to occupy the galaxy alone and wipes out any intelligent races it finds. In short order the Masters attack all the human worlds and destroy them all, even the Earth. The Masters think that they have exterminated all the Humans, but a few human ships survive that happened to be in transit between worlds at the time of the attack. Realizing what happened, the ships disburse and go into hiding. Over the next few thousand years, occasionally the Masters will find a human ship here or there and destroy it, but they can never find them all, and the humans keep multiplying and spreading out. This experience forever changes the Human race. They become a nomadic race, always on the run, always ship-bound, never settling on a planet. This situation goes on for a long time, until one human invents a device called the "C.S. Headgear". It's a device that reads the wearer's mind, and essentially turns one's ideas into reality. HOW it does that isn't really fully explained. Anyway, with this device, great leaps in technology are made, and the Humans start developing really powerful warships that begin to challenge the superiority of the Master of the Universe. A very long nasty war ensues, but the Masters cannot be beaten until the Humans invent another device called the T.E.M.S., which is essentially a weapon that uses genetic engineering to create biological weapons on the fly. Finally the Masters' defenses are broken, and the Humans wipe them out.
The Humans are now undisputedly the most powerful race in the galaxy. They rename themselves the "Star Kings", and become a sort of intergalactic police force. With the Masters gone, other intelligent races start to rise up and colonize the galaxy. The Star Kings foster their development. A number of other threats to the galaxy are described in the remainder of the book, which the Star Kings combat.
My only complaint is that the book should have been longer. There is enough material here to form a SERIES of books, not just one short book. Still, I loved it. It blew me away. It helped shape how I view the future of the human race.(less)
"
|
|
April 12
|
|
Fred D
gave  to:
Dirge (Founding of the Commonwealth, #2)
by
Alan Dean Foster
bookshelves:
science-fiction
|
my rating:
|
| |
recommended for: Sci-Fi fans
read in April, 2009
Fred D said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
It was cool to see the Humans and Thranx working together and even fighting together. It was also interesting to see how sting ships came to be, and the first pairing of humans and Thranx in a millitary situation.
I gotta say though, I felt a little bit less than satisfied with the end of this book. I felt that certain parts, especially towards the end, were a bit too summarized and could have been fleshed out a little more. Also, a totally different problem I had with the book was that the complete annihilation of the Pitarian race at the end left me a bit sad rather than satisfied that justice was done. The Pitar seemed a bit 2-dimensional: NONE of them surrendered? ALL of them chose to fight to the bitter end and die? Not a single Pitar felt any sort of remorse? To make the story more believable, more realistic, Foster should have made the Pitar more varied, more diverse, with good Pitar and bad Pitar and so on. It would have made the plot more interesting, more complex. As it was, the plot was rather one-dimensional.
And what about baby Pitar? I know there supposedly were not many Pitar children, but there must have been some. Weren't any of them spared? At least the ones too young to fight back or know what was going on? There should have been some Pitar survivors of the war.
The utter annihilation of an entire race is always a tragic thing. In that sense the ending left me less than satisfied.
(less)
"
|
|
April 10
|
|
Fred D
marked as to-read:
Robinson Crusoe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (B&N Classics)
by
Daniel Defoe
bookshelves:
to-read
|
my rating:
|
| |
|
|
April 06
|
|
|
|
|
March 11
|
|
|
|
|
View all of Fred D's favorite authors »
|
