Good tale but 21st century dialogue spoiled it
937029
First third very engrossing, then it lapsed into soap opera stuff...and the author totally ran out of steam and ideas in last 20 Pgs...seemed to be in a hurry to close with an implausible happy ending...perhaps nature called.
2817478
While this story is well written and nicely narrated, I can't say that I could get my head around the fact that the names of the characters have been reused or borrowed from Jane Austen. I think that this has spoilt this series for me.
This story could definitely have had its own characters and still have been good. To me, the characters will forever belong in the Jane Austen time span and not the current one.
I was continuously shocked when something modern was mentioned - but that's me. Others might like this idea but I'm afraid it just wasn't my cup of tea.
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in ex,change for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dotcom.
1056829
I very much enjoyed the story of redemption that was presented in the book. However, the story line labored and there was too much extraneous dialogue to help me rate this higher. I wanted to like to book more than I did, but the long read did not help me get there.
1803915
The story for this book was good, but it contains some words and situations that might have been more acceptable in the 90's but are actually quite offensive and made me uncomfortable.  In my opinion, when the hero in the book spews homophobic or racial slurs, he is no longer a hero.
3438654
The storyline is fascinating and invites thought and sympathy but I was left wanting (and maybe even a little disappointed) at the end. A large portion of the book seemed to be text and Skype convo
3503021
it was an enjoyable tale, but I didn't care for the format (2 books) or the ending sequence which left things hanging
4662572
In 2147 we discover that aliens did land on Earth in 1947 and now 200 years later they are finally revealed. The world has changed over time but with increased population growth and continued war and strife, the world is ripe for change and that is what the Azranaal are offering. It had only taken the invention of light speed travel to trigger events.

2147 has an interesting story of a world in trouble and the aliens who can solve the problem or will they create more on their own. Problem is the story gets caught up in a little too much political discussion that tended to be slow and a little boring. A little too much like reading the transcripts of parliamentary debates. The main characters are a little hard to believe. It was a book worth reading but it could have been better. The story was there but a little lost in the discussion.
213467
I enjoy historical time jumping romances, and this is one. I also like the correct words for the context. Ex: lightning vs. lightening, affect vs effect, purist vs purest... the list goes on. Unfortunately. Between cringing at the awkward unrealistic-for-the-period dialogue and the dire need for a proofreader, I liked the slightly muddy plot.
704805
On the plus side, Ms. Layne knows how to write sharp, realistic dialog that develops character and moves the story along.  While crisp dialog is difficult to write, it really does make a story much more fun to read and I fond myself more engaged with the characters than I would have been without it.  I liked both Lincoln and Daisy but felt that their characters weren't as strong as they might have been with a few different choices in the plot development.

On the downside, I just couldn't completely 'buy' the complicating issue between the two main protagonists.  Yes, I understood Lincoln's grief over loosing his fianc&eacute; to a for-all-intents-and-purposes fatal car accident two days before their wedding.  What I didn't understand was how strongly he clung to that grief more than two years afterward.  I have known and understood grief.  However, without going into 'spoilery' details, the depth of his ongoing, devastating grief felt like an author's contrivance.  As a consequence I felt his character was weaker than it should have been.

With regard to Daisy, I liked her but felt that she should have been a little stronger.  She put up with entirely too much from Lincoln with his I'm over it/not over it vacillating. Her quiet, ongoing infernal 'acceptance' of his in my mind, illogical-at-this-late-date grief, made her more passive than I would have liked.

Bottom line: Had Lincoln somehow been responsible for his finace's death, his hair shirt would have made more sense.  Instead, it just felt like self-indulgent wallowing.  What gets this three stars is the dialog.
1774774
The title of my review is a quote from the novel itself, and it reflects the main weakness of the novel.  Atwood creates a bleak but well-developed view of the future, and much of her political and social satire is spot-on.  She also crafts an interesting "last man standing" story a la "I Am Legend" or "A Canticle for Leibowitz".  However, many of these interesting aspects are overwhelmed by an almost puerile focus on sex.  Almost every chapter includes some reference to intercourse, genitalia, or pornography.  Perhaps, at some level, Atwood is critiquing society's obsession with sex and the way it influences the evolution of a culture, but after the tenth reference to the male organ (not really an exaggeration) it becomes very heavy-handed and a bit annoying.  There were so many interesting dystopian questions left unanswered (more description of "the pleeblands", for instance) that could have been addressed if, for example, the story of Oryx's childhood as a prostitute had been condensed.  Overall, an interesting sci-fi premise (although Atwood doesn't like to call it sci-fi!), some beautiful writing (as expected of a writer of Atwood's status), but an unpleasant and generally uninteresting overemphasis on the characters' (including the genetically altered Crakers') sex-lives.
2455577
The story itself is great and I'd love to read more.  BUT, the dialogue was very stiff.  I can't stand when authors use so very few contractions in dialogue. People don't talk like that in real life and, in books, it's extremely distracting.  I had to put the book down a few times just because of the annoyance level!  USE CONTRACTIONS!
3531422
We all have fond memories of some books read in youth, and many people seem devoted to this book.  Reading it for the first time as an adult, I do not find that Space Viking translates well into the 21st century.

-Spoilers- Lucas Trask is a nobleman living on an "outer" world in the days after the collapse of the Earth space federation.  "Space Vikings" have arisen to prey on the formerly civilized  core of the galaxy.  Trask's bride is murdered on their wedding day by a madman who escapes into space; Trask therefore decides to become a Space Viking and take vengeance.

Even if revenge on an insane person makes sense (or did when the book was written), it is something of a leap to suggest that such retribution makes it necessary or acceptable to raid, loot, and kill. Trask turns away from mayhem a bit as the book progresses, but returns to espouse authoritarian rule, held by force if necessary.  For example, Trask criticizes a planetary ruler for not wanting to kill his own countrymen and for sending unarmed police to deal with an advancing mob.  Trask suggests instead that the ruler should have "Put up about fifty combat cars.  Drawn a deadline, and opened machine-gun fire as soon as the mob crossed it, and kept on firing till the survivors turned tail and ran.  Then sent out more cars and shot everybody wearing a People's Watchmen uniform . . . ."

The tale is reasonably well told if you can get past the plot.  Characterization is minimal.  The Kindle edition has been proofread (thank you!), but could use a cover and table of contents. (Edited to add spoiler alert)
1696519
The plot, characterization, and imagery were good, but I had a problem with the dialogue.  I am one of those old school fantasy readers and writers.  When you write fantasy from a medieval world or one based from some sort of ancient civilization, the characters' dialogue should reflect that.  Allowing the characters to speak as if they are from our world or time breaks the suspension of belief for me.  Obviously, there are exceptions to the case like when a character from our world is transported to another world. However, in this series, it didn't apply.  It grinded my nerves throughout the entire series.
3880471
This is the second installment in the Legend of Reason Series.  The excessive philosophical and political dialog continues to distract from my enjoyment of this series so I do not plan to read the next installments in this series.  I am captivated by the underlying story with the epic conflict between and within various nations and gods.  Also, the story has some time travel elements which I also enjoy.  Unfortunately, the author is too focused, for my tastes, on debating virtues of various economic, value, political and social systems so that the underlying plot suffers.  I suspect those interested in political science and deductive reasoning might find this story more appealing than I did.

<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mighty-Hammer-Down-Legend-of-Reason-Series/dp/B001MIZOY6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Mighty Hammer Down (Legend of Reason Series)</a>&nbsp;is the first book in the Legend of Reason Series and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Soul-Under-the-Mountain-Legend-of-Reason-Series/dp/B006ZI4V24/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Soul Under the Mountain (Legend of Reason Series)</a>&nbsp;is the third book.  I could not find intended length of series in the book, on author's website or on Amazon.  Author has announced that fourth book will be published Winter 2012.

No significant editing issues were noted.  Blood and Bronze is 6,772 Kindle locations long.  Standard length "paperback" novels seem to run in the 4,500 to 7,000 plus Kindle location range.  Long novels can range from 15,000 to 20,000 plus Kindle locations.
2097857
I wanted to give 3 1/2 stars but that was not an option.  I did like the story very much but in my opinion the dialogue between the two main characters just seemed a little off.  The other reviewer gave a very good description of the story line so I see no reason to go there.  My hope is you read the novel and form your own opinion as to how many stars it deserves.
4730061
I am 86 years old -- so I lived through much of the time period described in this book.  I enjoyed the tale and believe that in general it is authentic.  However I found that some references were anachronistic and this detracted from the story.
4782513
Vikram Chandra's tale of mythic India weaved in with modern times is a very imaginative, epic tale , but it turns out to be too long-winded, rambling at times and unresolved in my view. He switches back and forth from the past to the present rather well, although, at times, I thought that maybe if you separated the times, they, in themselves, would have been very good books. The story on the whole lacked cohesiveness. It seemed that Chandra kept writing more and more without staying focused on the story at hand. There was too much to digest which didn't leave too much thought to savor. What I really disliked, however, was the latter part of the book where it didn't make sense with the bloodthirsty doctor and the bomb. I felt very disappointed.