Andreas' Other Books - (A-B by Author)

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy

Until Adams' untimely demise, this series kept expanding and expanding. I have read up to book four, that is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of The Universe; Life, the Universe, and Everything and finally So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. While many SciFi fans see this as the be all and end all of satire, I seem to have missed most of their point. Granted, the series is very good, but not quite so ultimately engrossing that I feel the need to read it over and over again. To be quite honest, I find some of the parts quite sad, especially the repeated failures of Arthur Dent to find happiness. I think that this book reflects Britishness in a very unique way, mixing equal parts dry humor and melancholy. Having said all that, definitely read the first two parts. They ARE classics (and now I sound like an English teacher...)

Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes - The Return

After the fantastic "Encounter with Tiber", I was hoping that Aldrin and Barnes would pull off another great epic story. In this respect, I was sadly disappointed. The Return is still a good SciFi yarn. It's a near space, near future story which fictionalizes what I assume to be Aldrin's hopes for humanity's return to serious space travel. Worth picking up, but not spectacular.

Stephen Ambrose - Wild Blue

The late and great Ambrose on USAAF bomber crews flying over Europe during WWII. Very well researched and focusing on the men (and their families) and how the conflict affected them. Very enjoyable, and well worth the read even if you are not into aviation or militaria. 20040730

Bill Amend - Foxtrot

Foxtrot - My favorite comic! The strips follow the lives of the Fox family. Roger, the somewhat clueless husband. Andy, the overworked housewife. Peter, the 16-year old with all the problems of middle teenagedom. Paige, the 14-year old who loves fashion and has secret crushes. And finally Jason, the 10-year old genius geek. The strength in FoxTrot is that it takes the personality stereotypes to new extremes, and has an excellent portrayal of the Machiavellian aspects of family life.

List of collections:

1. Foxtrot
2. Pass the Loot
3. Black Bart says Draw
4. Eight Yards, Down and Out
5. Bury My Heart at Fun-Fun Mountain
6. Say Hello to Cactus Flats
7. May the Force Be With Us, Please
8. Take Us to Your Mall
9. The Return of the Lone Iguana
10. At Least this Place Sells T-Shirts
11. Come Closer, Roger, There's a Mosquito on Your Nose
12. Welcome to Jasorassic Park
13. I'm Flying, Jack... I Mean, Roger
14. Think iFruity
15. Death by Field Trip
16. Encyclopedias Brown and White
17. His Code Name was the Fox
18. Your Momma thinks Square Roots are Vegetables
19. Who's Up for Some Bonding
20. Am I a Mutant or What?
21. Orlando Bloom has Ruined Everything
22. My Hot Dog Went Out, Can I Have Another?

Paul Anderson - The High Crusade

Hilarious romp in which invading aliens are defeated by Middle Age knights. The knights take over their ship and basically the whole alien empire. Completely unserious, and therein lies the charm.

Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason - Ignition

The story is about a space shuttle that gets hijacked, while still on the ground. It's action, not SciFi. Yawn...

Neal Asher - Gridlinked

Another book lent to me by Abri. In many cases, when an author tries to tackle an utopian future, in which large parts of humanity are without want (if there is such a thing) and live a very good life, the effort falls flat. During the first fifty pages or so, I was indeed worried. Things soon looked up, however. First of all, there is trouble in paradise, both internal and external. Secondly, there are cool people, such as our hero, superagent Ian Cormac. Thirdly, there are cool gadgets, like self-aware shuriken. Interestingly, most of human society is controlled by AI's, since they seem to be doing a better job of it than humans. Also, in an unforgettable exchange, it is "explained" that AI's have the power of self-determination, it being programmed into them, while biologicals do not, because they have biological imperatives to breed and so on. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, even though the ending left me a bit puzzled. 20030712

Isaac Asimov - The Currents of Space

Typical Asimov fare, in which our hero Rik is mindwiped and abandoned. Of course, the information in his mind which he can no longer remember will bring down the world order blablabla. Not one of Asimov's best, with an annoying lack of descriptions for environments and so on.

Isaac Asimov - Pebble in the Sky

Although in the same style as the forgettable The Currents of Space, this novel has a much better story. A 62 year old retired tailor from 20th century Chicago is transported to a future earth so poor that citizens are euthanized at 60. Naturally, his arrival and subsequent actions change the world as we know it. Still, if you want to read Asimov, read the Robot books or Foundation instead.

Isaac Asimov - Caves of Steel

Excellent novel in Asimov's Robot series. Supercop Elijah Baley teams up with robot R. Daneel Olivaw to solve a murder. Great milieus and a great take on racism and discrimination. Worth a read if you like Golden Age SciFi.

Isaac Asimov - The Robots of Dawn

The final Robot novel by Asimov, in which Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw travel to one of the original fifty colonies, Aurora, to solve the murder of a robot. Once again, Asimov proves his mastery with cool interpretations of the three Laws of Robotics.

Isaac Asimov - The Foundation Series

Consisting of (in internal chronological order, original trilogy show in bold):

• Forward the Foundation

• Prelude to Foundation

• Foundation

• Foundation and Empire

• Second Foundation

• Foundation's Edge

• Foundation and Earth

This is truly one of SciFi's classics. The original trilogy (starting with Foundation) is widely considered to be one of the finest SciFi series ever written. The rest of the books are of equally high quality, except (in my opinion) for Forward the Foundation, which seems more like an attempt to tie up loose ends. Interestingly enough, the main character, psychohistorian Hari Seldon, is long dead in most of the books! Few series convey a sense of evolving history as this one does, and at least the original three should be a must read for any SciFi fan. So why isn't it on the book pick page? Well, it is close to qualifying, but I feel that although it is a classic and very very good, it did not quite capture my imagination as much as some other books have.

Isaac Asimov - Nemesis

One of his later works, and not his best. His prose has certainly become more modern since Foundation, but his ideas have not. I enjoyed it, although it is a scarcely original about the classic roving habitat, impending doom, and some youngsters.

Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg - Child of Time

An expansion of an earlier story by Asimov in which scientists retrieve a Neanderthal child from the past. A nurse feels empathy for the boy and helps him escape. Competently written, but mostly interesting due to the questions it raises about scientific ethics.

Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg - Nightfall

Also an expansion of an earlier story by Asimov. Very interesting novel about a planet with six suns. This astronomical oddity results in a world that (almost) never knows night, and has never seen the stars. Astronomy is all about calculating the orbits of the suns. Predictably, an astronomer figures out that night is going to fall pretty soon, for the first time in 2049 years. Chaos and madness follow.

Bruce Balfour - The Digital Dead

In this novel, one can get an implant that takes a snapshot of the brain at death (a little like in "Altered Carbon"). This snapshot is transferred to the databanks of Elysian Fields and a sort of electronic heaven. So the dead are not really dead. Looks promising, but my first question is: If these dead can be "alive" why don't they just implant the cybernetic consciousness into a cyborg and roam free? This question is answered, in a manner at least.

The story is rather complex, with a host of characters being introduced in the first eighty pages or so. It remains complex for most of the novel, but without ever really coming into focus. The threat feels abstract and the actions of the characters are rather erratic.

The writing is average. Many good ideas are competently presented, but there is no prose virtuosity. Also, the author tries a bit too hard with the near future clichés, such as "Brooks Armani", or the worst one yet: "President Schwarzenegger". Not because it is implausible, but because it is so uncool. His descriptions of locales are formulaic and boring and I found myself skimming through them.

I was left dissatisfied. I could barely work up the energy to finish the book, and it took a long time. Balfour has some great ideas, but does not present them nearly well enough. 20041101

Iain M. Banks - Consider Phlebas

Banks sells very well, or so I would assume since his books seem to be everywhere. In Sci-Fi, his universe is known as "The Culture", referring to one of the main civilizations. Being systematic, I started at the beginning with the very first book of this celebrated series. I was sorely dissapointed. Although there are space pirates, BDOs (Big Dumb Objects), interstellar intrigue, great characters and some solid action scenes, I failed to grasp the point of the story. For me, it was just plain dull. Your results may vary. The cover is gorgeous though.

Clive Barker - The Great and Secret Show

Horror of the gory variety. Barker seems to be a world class wordpooper. Stephen King does this stuff so much better.

John Barnes - Orbital Resonance

Tale of some youngsters growing up in an asteroid habitat. I never really understood the point of this one. I think the morale is that kids will inherit the world, and parents should not pollute their brains with old ways of thinking. Pah.

John Barnes - Kaleidoscope Century

Even though I eventually figured out that our hero goes through the same century over and over again with different variations, I never really saw the point. Yet again for John Barnes: Pah.

Julian Barnes - A History of the World in 10½ Chapters

I was given this and gave it a go. It has something to do with The Ark in the beginning. However, I never finished it because I just didn't get it and it was not particularly entertaining.

Max Barry - Jennifer Government

This starts off very well. It is a satire on globalization. The free market is everything and people change their last names to that of the company. Hack Nike, for example. He is hired by the marketing department to stir up hype for a new line of trainers. The plan is for him to kill a couple of customers in order to give the product "street cred". He subcontracts the job out to the Police. The government is weak and only handles crime. Jennifer Government is a government agent who used to work for an advertising agency. Definite Shades of "Snow Crash".

This book is very clever in many ways, but disappoints in others. The story and characters are not much in themselves, but work pretty much only as vehicles for the author's (admittedly excellent) satire. The novelty of the whole globalization run rampant idea wears off pretty soon, but it's a fun, light-hearted read that kept me going until the end.

Love the cover. 20041010

Stephen Baxter - Raft

Baxter always thinks big, but his stories often revolve around small communities on the edge of the main action in his universe(s). Raft is about a human community living in a universe where gravity is very strong over much shorter ranges than in our universe. The ancestors of the community somehow crossed over into this universe about five hundred years prior to the action. It is a solid story of courage and determination, and the need to face one's destiny.

Stephen Baxter - Timelike Infinity

In this important book in Baxter's Xeelee sequence, Michael Poole, architect of a tunnel through time, must confront what happens when the tunnel ends in a time when humanity is enslaved. Be prepared to stretch those physics and existential synapses in your brain to the limit. If you are not the least bit into hard SciFi, you should probably give this one a pass.

Stephen Baxter - Ring

In my opinion, this is the most important novel in the "early Baxter" books of the Xeelee sequence. Michael Poole has opened the universe to mankind with his wormholes. We are introduced to Lieserl, humanity's sentient probe inside our sun. GUTships ride to the very edge of space and time. One of them carries, Ark like, the seed of humanity. Thousands of subjective years later, it arrives at the Ring, a classic BDO (Big Dumb Object) constructed as an escape hatch from the impending destruction of our universe. Big stuff, and Baxter makes it look easy. The message of hope and the importance of Life expressed here are, I think, Baxter's greatest hallmarks. A fascinating novel indeed.

Stephen Baxter - Flux

As with Raft, Baxter plays with an idea in this novel. Heavily modified humans have colonised the mantle of a neutron star. The micro story taking up most of the novel is rather pedestrian, but the setting is magnificent. The macro story is about the fulfillment of a long lost purpose. Fun idea but not such a fun read.

Stephen Baxter - Titan

Initially I thought this book was going to be rather upbeat, but in the end it really brought me down. Humanity loses interest in space exploration completely, indeed in anything but consumer happiness. NASA decides to go for on last hurrah and sends a one way expedition to Titan. As the years pass during the voyage, the small crew gets increasingly on each other's nerves while listening from afar as humanity fades away to oblivion back on earth. Strong and moving, and there is a glimmer of hope in the end, as those among us most suited for it, the voyagers and explorers, get to carry on the seed of humanity. Life goes on despite us.

Stephen Baxter - Silverhair

After I started to read this, I discovered that this was actually aimed at "young adults". No matter. I quite enjoyed this tale of intelligent mammoths surviving until our time and having to accept that they would have to allow contact with humans.

Stephen Baxter - The Time Ships

Authorized sequel to H.G. Wells' classic The Time Machine Baxter pulls it off quite well, putting his own touch on the old story. Enjoyable, especially if you enjoy Steam Age stuff like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells

Stephen Baxter - Anti-Ice

Steam Age SciFi from Baxter. The English discover a pile of stuff in the Antarctic that releases fabulous quantities of energy when it comes into contact with other stuff. A whole transportation economy develops based on this Anti-Ice. And there is a mission to the moon. Fun to read.

Stephen Baxter - Moonseed

This novel starts off slowly, with our hero moving to Edinburgh to work on a moon rock. This moon rock is taken out of the lab and lost. It slowly starts to devour the landscape. Weird premise, but Baxter does it well. It's all about how the humans of today would cope with the Earth literally disappearing under them. Well worth a look. And no, I have no idea why there is a "Biohazard" symbol on the cover.

Stephen Baxter - The Manifold Cycle: Time; Space

There is actually a third book to this series, entitled Origin, but after the first two I did not feel like reading on (see second paragraph). They are not a series per se, just different explorations of the theme "Are we alone in the universe?". In Time, a portal is discovered in the solar system, and some fascinating stuff happens. In Space, Aliens are suddenly everywhere and the whole universe is just one big fight for resources, to the point of utter barbarism.

Not for the faint hearted. I did have some nightmares after these, This is why I will probably never read the third book. It's just plain scary stuff, but not like a horror movie. It scares me on a very deep level that I can't rationalize away. The same level that knows that the goody two-shoes future of Star Trek simply is not a realistic vision. Still, I would rather watch Star Trek since I don't want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, however good Baxter is. Read the books if you feel you can take it. They are excellent and fascinating.

Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter - Time's Eye

... is reviewed here.

Greg Bear - Eon; Eternity

Greg Bear can think BIG. Eon is his classic tale of an asteroid that arrives in orbit around the earth. The asteroid  is revealed to be simply one endpoint for an endless (?) corridor named The Way. Inside The Way is the city of Thistledown, populated by humans. That human civilization is thousand of years old. Thistledown is the future, and the past. Greg Bear knows how to describe his quantum mechanics, and the non technical reader should not be intimidated. The characters and intrigues of the various factions, as well as the strong characters and fabulous descriptions all combine in a marvelous story.

Although Eon is a standalone novel, Greg Bear wrote the sequel, Eternity, about how the mankind must give up it's manipulation on space-time. After the message of hope brought by the first novel, it is interesting how in Eternity Bear takes humanity back down a notch, not closing the door to the future but simply reminding us that the gods do not take kindly to hubris. And through it all, Bear's astounding imagination is combined with a gift for good, clear and interesting prose.

Greg Bear - Slant

I am still not sure what this novel is about. It is a near future tale, with no traditional SciFi space trappings. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and my final conclusion is that Bear is writing about societal trends that may appear in the future, in particular the impact of the very rich wanting to live for a very long time. Not nearly as epic as Eon and Eternity, it is nevertheless a solid work.

Greg Bear - Darwin's Radio

I saw the sequel in the bookstore and it intrigued me. So I picked up the first book. It's all about the "next step" in evolution. Sure it's been done, but this looked cool.

Unfortunately it was also rather boring. The main characters are very well described and interesting, but you always feel as if you're at one remove from the real action. A new chapter will suddenly assume that a lot of things have happened since the last one. This sometimes had me checking if I actually missed a page or something. Also, the biology is very interesting, but there is too much of it, disrupting the flow of the story.

I gave up after about 150 pages. Blech. 20040708

Gregory Benford - Foundation's Fear

Some genius came up with the idea that three different writers should write a new trilogy about Asimov's Foundation. While I admire the sentiment, I would say that it's a tall order. I only got as far as the first book. Correction: I only got as far as the first third of the first book, because I kept falling asleep from boredom. It is utterly dull and as far as I can see there is no story. Go read the original Foundation series instead.

Erma Bombeck  - When you Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to go Home

Humourous anecdotes about travelling. A very long title. Ho-hum.

Ben Bova - Test of Fire

Although a bit dated, and just a bit simplistic, this rough and ready tale of Martian grassroots insurrection is fun, and the coming of age story contained within is, although not terribly original, well written and engaging. If you can look past the nineteen seventies vintage stuff, this will keep you entertained for an evening or two.

Ben Bova -  Colony

A very dated tale of an orbiting habitat and of a "perfect man" who lives in it. Nothing remarkable about it, unless nineteen seventies SciFi is really your thing.

Ben Bova - The Exiles Trilogy

Three books way back when it was published, but only one nowadays, The Exiles is about a group of humans on an orbiting habitat who are exiled from earth. Engaging and competently written, it has unfortunately aged badly and suffers from being written in the nineteen seventies.

Ben Bova - Orion; Vengeance of Orion; Orion and the Conqueror

Widely considered to be Bova's masterpiece, I never really got these books (and yet I read three of them). Our hero (Orion) loses his memory, fights evil back and forth in different eras of history and the future, and constantly loses and regains his beloved. The first one is decent, but after that it's really just rinse and repeat and they blend into each other in my memory. I gave up after book three.

Ben Bova - As on a Darkling Plain

Mysterious BDOs (Big Dumb Objects) have been found on Titan. It is obvious that they have been placed there by the "Others", who will return to threaten mankind. Although somewhat disjointed and lacking focus, I nevertheless enjoyed this story of mankind under an unknown threat. It is also vaguely connected with the Orion series.

Ben Bova and A.J. Austin - To Save the Sun; To Fear the Light

In To Save the Sun, a vast human empire discovers that the Sun is dying. A lethargic entity, the empire arrives at the consensus that humanity will evacuate and move to other solar systems, many of which form the empire. One woman, however, feels that saving the sun would be both a symbolic gesture worthy of humanity, and a way to get humanity moving towards a common goal, as well as developing new technology. In short, a way to drive change in a society which has become too comfortable with the status quo, and in which progress has become a distant concept. The sequel is simply a continuation of events, but the first book can be read as a standalone. Unfortunately, both books feel rather unfocused on both the central story and the central theme. The main characters are not really fleshed out the way they could be. Being a strong believer in some of the thematic concepts, I was rather disappointed. It is, however, still an adequate read.

Ben Bova - Challenges

A rather colorless set of short stories. Still worth reading if you like Bova, but nothing like Twice Seven.

Ben Bova - Twice Seven

Collection of fourteen ("twice seven") short stories from Bova. Worth a read, and some are really good.

Ben Bova - Sam Gunn, Unlimited; Sam Gunn Forever

These two short story collections bring out the best in Bova. His hero Sam Gunn is a sort of space entrepreneur/adventurer, probably inspired by explorers from human history such as Columbus and Shackleton. I also believe that Sam Gunn is Ben Bova's alter ego, or the man he wishes he was. Thoroughly enjoyable and lighthearted, I can recommend Sam Gunn to any fan of near future stories and space exploration.

Ben Bova -  Moonrise; Moonwar

Rather interesting tales about the colonisation of the moon. Moonwar kicked off Bova's "Grand Tour of the Solar System", although he probably did not know it then. All in all, they are enjoyable, but nothing outstanding. The rather bleak ecodisaster future for the Earth often used as a backdrop by Bova is, I think, first portrayed here. Moonwar is a sequel well worthy of the original.

Ben Bova - Mars; Return to Mars

There have been many books of the first landing on Mars. If you want a truly epic and widespanning story, go read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. Personally, however, I prefer Bova's version. Both books are good, although the first definitely takes the prize. Highly recommended.

Ben Bova - Jupiter

Although I am getting a bit bored with the titles on Bova's "Grand Tour of the Solar System", Jupiter is rather exciting, with the crew having to live in an oxygenated liquid in order to cope with the crushing pressures of Jupiter's atmosphere. Luckily, the question, of, erhm, human waste in such a system is not examined too closely.

Ben Bova - Venus

One again, a planet book from Bova. This one is not quite as good as Jupiter but heroism and high adventure abound. Bova is attempting to tie many of his works together, just as Asimov did near the end. Neither effort is particularly well executed, as it is rather difficult to bend old novels into new meanings. Still, read Venus as a standalone and you will be satisfied anyway.

Ben Bova - The Asteroid Wars

The Precipice

Part one of the Asteroid Wars, in which good old Ben takes us on yet another journey through corporate near future space. A decent read, but hardly anything special. 2002

he Rock Rats

Part two of the Asteroid Wars. Despite his many shortcomings as a writer, I keep coming back to Ben Bova. Maybe I'm just a sucker for near future tales of men and women trying to tame the solar system. However, this one is just plain boring. Ben, learn how to depict love. Amanda may be beautiful but they are not puppets, they are human beings. I simply don't buy the story, so after slogging through about half, I gave up. 20030814

Mike Brotherton - Star Dragon

A long distance probe has captured footage of a mysterious object moving object in the accretion disc of a collapsed star. It seems to be an energy being. An exploration spaceship travels across the stars to capture this interstellar phenomenon, dubbed a "Star Dragon". The story played out against the background of the mission is a psychological drama starring the five human and one AI crewmembers of the ship. Adding to the poignancy of their fate is the fact that the ship travels close to the speed of light to SS Cygni, a binary system 245 light years from earth. The trip is only a subjective 2 years for the crew, but when they return five hundred years will have passed on Earth. They have to abandon their entire existence in order to go hunting the mysterious Star Dragon.

This is a very strong story which manages to escape the technobabble trap of many such efforts. The characters are few but strongly threedimensional, each seeking his or her own place in the universe. With technological progress moving fast, they all have to contend with their doubts about what place they will have in the future. Contrasted with medical immortality, this becomes a serious issue. Will the future have a place for the individuality of humanity, or are we doomed to be replaced by AIs that are better than we? And if that happens, will we transcend to a utopian existence free of want? Is that where we want to go? Star Dragon is cautiously optimistic, and yet raises many important questions about our future. It's a vast universe and eternity is a long long time. Who knows what we will find? 20050302

The prequel to the megahit "The Da Vinci Code". I went in expecting a good thriller, but this book totally captivated me. I couldn't put it down, and described it to someone as "literary crack".

The story is mainly set in Rome. A mysterious new weapon of mass destruction stolen (ok, maybe not so mysterious to SciFi buffs). A plot to destroy the Vatican. An ancient conspiracy. Signs everywhere. A well rounded and intelligent hero.  A spectacular climax that had me gasping for air.

This books also contains the best treatment of the science vs. religion debate as a theme since "Contact".

The imagination displayed by Dan Brown in the creation of his intricate plot is nothing short of astounding. The way he weaves in real historical facts and artifacts to create suspense and thrills is a rare gift.

My only small nitpick is that Brown should have let an Italian proofread some of his brief conversations in that language. He is never totally off the mark, but sometimes it just sounds wrong.

Read this book. You will not regret it. 20040827

Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code

After three people tell you that you should read a book, and one is your wife, you probably should. I finally surrendered and put "The Da Vinci Code" on my list. Before I read it, I decided to do this the right way round and plowed through "Angels and Demons", the prequel. And while I was reading "Angels and Demons" on a plane, a lady told me that I would not find "The Da Vinci Code" nearly as clever if I read it afterwards.

She was right. But that doesn't detract from the fact that it is one great read. Much has been said about Brown's "extreme" interpretations of historical anecdotes, fact and legends, but in my opinion he has just used poetic license to great effect.

As with the prequel, some of his plot devices marred the story a little for me, if nothing else because if he researched everything as well as his main plot devices, he would never have made the mistakes. And the blunders were easily avoidable. Nitpicking over!

This time, Robert Langdon inadvertently becomes accused of the murder of the Louvre curator, and has to team up with the curator's granddaughter to solve the mystery of his death. Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say that it is a long and well plotted Grail quest liberally sprinkled with ghosts from the past of Western civilization. Lovely. 20040910

Dale Brown - Chains of Command

Pretty bland fare for a technothriller, and the author needs to get a better map of Europe in order to distinguish between Slovenia and Slovakia. Also, the plot is just a bit too incredible. So why am I reading it? Well, there is lots and lots of aviation candy in here, especially about the overlooked strike and bomber planes like the F-111. 2002

Tobias S. Buckell - Crystal Rain

On what is obviously a "lost" colony world, a man without a past (or at least much of one) is caught up in a great conflict. But apparently there's a macguffin in the desolate north that can save the day.

I really wanted to like this. The reviews were decent, speaking of swashbuckling action against a rick backdrop of hodge-podge Carribbean culture. Unfortunately I found the whole thing pretty dull. The pacing is a bit slow, the action scenes are cookie cutter. I kept waiting for Mr. Buckell to get to the point. But no, endless happenings and the obvious coming expedition to the north never seems to get off the ground. I wish Mr. Buckell success. He is obviously talented, but this was not for me. I gave up about half way through. 20090927

Edgar Rice Burroughs - A Princess of Mars

Burroughs is better known for his Tarzan books, but he shot to fame with the John Carter books (starting with this one) about the adventures of a Virginia Civil War veteran on Mars.

These books have a big role in SciFi folklore. While the adventure is engaging, I found the character of John Carter himself (the novel is narrated in the first person) a bit off-putting. He is rather full of himself as only an expert in self deprecation can be. So while the dated writing style was manageable, I was a bit disappointed with the whole thing due to the annoyingly condescending attitudes displayed. But it is high adventure in any case, complete with absurd situations and plenty of flirts with deus ex machina. 20050927