Reminiscent of Gibson, but not derivative
932816
I very much enjoyed this dark, militaristic book.  It reminds me of William Gibson and Emma Bull's _Falcon_ without copying either of them.  The characters and plot were enjoyably complex.  A working knowledge of French is helpful when reading this book, as several important bits (including a juicy sex scene) happen in Quebecois.

If there is a downside, I felt it ended too quickly.  Not that I wanted there to be more and more and more - but about one more chapter's worth of denouement would have been delightful.
4658494
Coming off of two previous dystopian future/bio tech laden Gibson novels, I guess I expected this to follow suit. Not the case. I purchased it off title alone and didn't read a synopsis before diving right in. Totally loved it. Multi faceted mystery novel.

Gibson's writing style for this is a bit jarring at first, but once I adjusted it flowed quite nicely. The main character's inner monologue I found to be very similar to my own so her character became very real to me. Also being from New York and living in Manhattan during 9/11 it was easy to put myself in the settings being described surrounding the event. Also love his attention to the details. Helps paint a very clear picture.

Would recommend to fans of his and those interested in mysteries and globetrotting.
2230396
It's great to see William Gibson looking farther ahead again.  I read Neuromancer, Count Zero, and his earlier stuff when I was a kid and was transformed.  Although I thought his later works were outstanding, Peripheral is the first one of his later generation of novels where I really felt he was taking a risk.  When you think about it, there are few other authors who risk as much everyone time they write a book.  Gibson was, after all, the guy who coined Cyberspace and got us thinking about VR before there was such a thing so when he writes a novel of the future it's no small feat.  So, to see him look farther down the road again on such grand a scale is simply wonderful.  Overall, reading the The Peripheral is like riding a Gigacoaster designed by Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Burgess.  Things may seem confused during the initial climb, but once you get to the top of the first hill it's a wild and gratifying ride.
1487639
This is one of those action-adventure novels that uses the 'fish out of water' trope to explore relationships and esp. family, and have a little fun along the way. Jack Fargo is a history scholar with a past in Special Forces and knack for languages. In this case, Jack, who we meet in our present day, is thrust into an alternative version of Earth, but about 100 years earlier.

His understanding of how this occurred, what it means for his (our?) Earth, what it means for this (different?) Earth, and what he needs to do get back home, underpins all of the action. Fargo being the man for the job is kind of alone the lines of Bryan Mills' "what I do have are a very particular set of skills..." threat from 'Taken', because basically, him being an historian with a license to kill is exactly what's needed to put the jigsaw puzzle together. It's terribly contrived, but Chadwick makes it work through dint of good writing, interesting characters, and a brisk pace.

Along the way Fargo encounters various luminaries of the age, including Tesla, Tyndall, Lord Kelvin, and the Prince of Wales, allowing him to pontificate on differences between our worlds and how things might have got from there to there. Be ready for Chadwick to take liberties with the lives of these luminaries, bending their motivations and activities to his plot (so we find Tesla portrayed as the mustachio-twirling baddie, living in a high-tech lair that the original might have aspired to for all I know). The cyberpunk aspect stems from a singularly huge difference between worlds, the literal 'Forever Engine', which Fargo wonders about and which he ultimately comes to understand is pivotal to the situation he finds himself in.

I liked that Fargo knows less than he thinks about contemporary subjects, and physics especially, because I suspect we'd be in the same boat if thrust back a century. I kind of know how a car works, but that does not mean I'd be able to make one. But his well rounded skills and applicable languages were on the edge of too convenient. Still, it worked for 'John Carter of Mars' all those years ago, and pretty much every other hero fish-out-of-water character since, and ultimately it works here as well.

If you enjoy steampunk, or time/alternative universe travel, or historical-ish sci fi thrillers, then this is likely one for you. And if you are buying it because you liked Chadwick's "Chain of Command", it has elements of that in way the Fargo reflects on his own actions and failings, but it is not set in space or have aliens to fight. Still enjoyable though!
1387529
I've always been a fan of William Gibson, but Pattern Recognition is some of his best work.  I admit that I wasn't particularly interested in reading a contemporary novel by Gibson, but this book proves that he can pull it off.  Seen through the eyes of Cayce Pollard, the present is every bit as compelling as any of Gibson's famously dystopian futures.  He paints the world as it is, and still manages to show the bones of the cyber-gothic Neuromancer future protruding through the tightly stretched fabric of the present.  Good stuff.  Gibson's art has definitely grown.  I can't wait to see what he does next.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"
4526601
I fell for Rachel Gibson with See Jane Score, and have picked up one after another of her novels is search of an equally delightful read, only to be left wanting.  Gibson did her research for this book, and I liked that the characters had a life and career and are shown working and coming to terms with their lives.  It was more talky and 'thinky' than some of her stories, and some have criticized it as being 'slow', but I liked that about it.  If I had read the reviews here, I probably wouldn't have chosen this book, but I'm glad I did.  I enjoyed it very much.
3220950
Imagine a mellower Rodan, a moodier Roadside Monument, a quirkier Codeine, a bloodier A Minor Forest, and a, well, better-sounding Traindodge, and you're about halfway to understanding the music of Paul Newman.  Yes, this is a band that's been heavily influenced by its post/math rock precedents, but Paul Newman takes this inspiration one step further and uses this influence as a base to build their own unique math-rock sound.
There isn't a simple, straightforward song to be found on this CD.  "Seizure's Fashion" is a hard-edged but oddly restrained track, with spare guitars against a pounding beat.  There are glimmers of alt-rock, and some churning alt-metal power chords around the 4-minute mark.  "pollo Creed" and "Where Are Your Hands Now" are both mellow songs with repeated themes.  "Apollo Creed" contains repeated chords that sound as though they're building up to a powerful conclusion, and "Where Are Your Hands Now" repeats a dynamic guitar hook of which Slint would be very proud.  Midway through both songs, the guitars elegantly slide into some really pretty stuff, which sounds like Paul Newman?s take on pop-rock, before returning to their respective themes.
The first half of "Dawson 4, Oklahoma 0" is more pleasant than an autumn breeze, with a lilting guitar hook that will make you melt.  True to the post-rock fashion, they throw in a little "wah-wah" which is slightly reflective of the nouveau indie of The Sea and Cake.  Unfortunately, the second half doesn't hold itself up quite as well; it's a meandering melody in a tepid key.  "Curse You Would" is an aggressive but controlled grunge piece.  What makes it stand out is its complexity: angular melodies, frequent stop-starts and rhythmic changes.  "Arriving Early" is easily the most replaceable track on the album.  It isn't bad by any means, but it toes the middle-of-the-road too often and doesn?t offer anything unique to the disc.  "The New Goth" is an unexpected twist -- it's blistering and brutal, and a distant cousin to A Minor Forest's "Dainty Jack and His Amazing Technicolor Cloth Jacket."  The song contains all of the Paul Newman dynamism we've come to expect, and it proves that they can truly rock if and when they want to.
"Only Love..." is all but entirely without vocals, appearing ever-so-briefly in two songs and once on "The New Goth" in the form of a scream.  Less Is More, at least where Paul Newman's vocals are concerned, which gives them a heightened effect when they actually do appear.  More importantly, the music stands on its own very nicely, and bludgeoning it with vocals would not have been a welcome addition (and serves as a testament to the brilliance and complexity of the music itself).
Melancholy, cerebral, and quite beautiful, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" continues the inventiveness of Slint and Rodan, and melds it with their own emotions, dynamics, and moods.  It's definitely worth a listen or three for those who enjoy intricate independent rock (or those who don a smile upon hearing Slint's incredible influence on yet another band).  Aside from a few missteps, it's a thoroughly enjoyable album that deserves as much praise for its amalgamation of musically historical influences as it does for its originality.
1735281
I admit to being a fan of Mel Gibson movies which is not to say that I'm a fan of his much-publicized antisemitism and drunken rants. As a rule I do my best not to confuse an actor's compelling on-screen roles with the real-life people behind them. Granted there are limits. I used to adore Bill Cosby but no longer. Edge of Darkness is an example of Gibson's recent batch of movies that center on relationships with children or children surrogates. Think "Blood Father" and "Get the Gringo."
3799459
Credited as one of the first real portrayals or discussions of the concept of cyberspace, Gibson's novel is a compelling read, due especially to the connections the reader can see with their own lives.  Whilst his novel is a piece of science-fiction, current advances in technologies, particularly mobile technologies, make his idea of jacking-in to cyberspace as a Virtual World, all the more tangible.  Cyberspace becomes a world where the virtual becomes real and the real becomes something intangible, elsewhere.  Because we can see our own footsteps leading to the future world Gibson predicts, we are drawn into the dangers that come with a world dominated by technology.  Plus, the plot and characters make for a real page-turner too!  The plight of poor "Case" keeps the reader thoroughly engaged.
4816483
This book is a refreshing re-take on some aspects of Larry Niven's Ringworld. The author duly mentions Ringworld as an inspiration. To me, this was refreshing at several levels. First, there is the notion of an enormous ring just spinning in space and offering its inhabitants an almost unthinkable amount of living space and then the exploration of this vast and foreign world. For me, that was as exciting here as in Ringworld.

At another level, the professional courtesy, mention and due respect to the original was also refreshing. IMO, there are some e-book offerings that feel to me too close to originals. For instance, some of David Weber's "Dahak" ideas seem to have been 'borrowed' by a newer author w/o any mention of the original. I think it's fine to borrow: there is that saying that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I just like to see mention to the original author.

In The Deep Dark Well, this was properly done in my view. Sound ethics; a fun read; a welcome offering.
2683939
I read "La variante di Luneburg" in Italian - published by the celebrated Adelphi. A very nice debut by Mr. Maurensig, but certainly not the masterpiece I was lead to believe it would be. Too many trite stereotypes simply  depressed me - yes, you know them all, the nazi blond aryan, bad to the bone, no trace of recognizable humanity left,  the jewish bohemian-bohemienne. All in all, It is one of those books that would have improved considerably through a ten year refinement in oak barrels.

Yet, the elliptic narrative that manages to condensate many decades in a little more than 100 pages is certainly to be commended; on top of that, the idea at the base  of the plot, the nice mitteleuropean atmosphere (Maurensig is from Gorizia), the swift writing style - albeit occasionally predictable - still make it a nice, suspenseful, recommendable read, especially for chess lovers.

As for myself,  I quite enjoyed it (and I'm not too crazy about chess).
2370702
I discovered WG some 25 years ago while studying in  NYC through a 100-best-sf-novels book. I read Neuromancer and became a Gibson fan overnight. After the first superb trilogy (Neuro plus Mona Lisa Overdrive and Count Zero), my fanaticism declined with Idoru and the other members of the second trilogy (my preferred one was Virtual Light); but when Pattern Recognition appeared it bloomed again to a climax. I simply loved that novel. I lived two years in pre-11S NYC (my favourite city, period) but have not been able to go back there after the event. Within that context, among other things that novel made me feel what the world was after the fall of the towers, besides showing perhaps better than ever Gibson's razor-sharp, powerful prose and style. Again, with Spook Country I drifted away... I simply didn't get it and didn't have any fun with it; for the first time, I almost did not finish a Gibson book. So I began reading Zero History with some misgivings. I just finished it, and surely am still digesting it, but I can already say one thing: even if I didn't get it either, at least not completely, this time I loved it... Again, perhaps for the first time ever with this author, I didn't CARE about "getting" it or not, because Gibson's style was so pure and perfect that just reading the mere sequence of words and sentences was so much fun! And the story itself, what I was able to get being a non-native speaker, was fun, though perhaps too light and even incoherent for what Gibson normally does. I can think of a few writers somehow close to Gibson that can do that to me (i.e. read for the pure joy and beauty contained in the sequence, even without wholly understanding the underlying ideas or connotations): the superb China Miville and my all-time favourite: Gene Wolfe. Let's see what Gibson has for us in his new trilogy. I am gonna miss Hollis Henry...
3641721
I don't generally read a lot of small-press or self-published books, but when one snags my attention, I'm more than willing to give it a shot. Lords of Dyscrasia is one of those books where everything fell into place - the cover caught my eye; the review blurb comparing it to "the works of Poe and Lovecraft" made me curious; and the concept of infected bloodlines, diseased souls, and necromancy assured it a spot on my shelf.

Stylistically, this was a very interesting read, with a mix of high fantasy, pulp adventure, and visceral horror that worked as well as I could have hoped. Elements of it did indeed remind me, at different times, of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe, but I also detected the flavour of Robert E. Howard, and even some early Books of Blood era Clive Barker.

The storyline here is interesting, and the investment in the mythology is quite impressive. It's definitely one of the more unique concepts I've come across in a long while, taking a very Cthulhu-like approach to an otherwise standard fantasy trope of interracial breeding and the mingling of mortal & immortal races. The world-building doesn't quite live up to the mythology, but only because we don't get explore enough of it.

This is a very intense, very frantic, very driven read that leaps from scene to scene. The action and the tension is relentless, which has a definite appeal for some readers, but I felt it suffered somewhat because of it. I think one more pass at the story to build some narrative bridges between the scenes, and to pad out the intensity with some subtler moments of reflection could have really served the book well. It's not very often that I put down a book wishing it had been just a bit longer, but her I would have welcome some fluff to round things out.

That said, what's on the page works very well. Doctor Grave is a fantastic character, secretive and manipulative, but driven by an honest purpose. His ethereal assistant is definitely a nice touch, and the ways in which she is used outside the Doctor's environment were a very pleasant surprise. Lysis, unfortunately, came across as a bit one-dimensional for me. I would have like to see some more vulnerability in him, some lighter emotions, but I suspect that lack is due more to the unrelenting intensity of his quest than to any failings on the part of the book.

Other reviewers have said this is a very dark book, and they're right. This is pulp fantasy for the horror fan (not the other way around), and it is wonderfully grotesque. There's a very clinical detachment from much of the horror, which actually serves to elevate the monstrosities to a higher level. Like I said earlier, this reminds me of Books of Blood era Clive Barker on the page, or original Hellraiser era Clive Barker on the screen, and I delighted in that visceral element.

By no means a perfect book, but one that manages to offer something new, and which does an admirable job of bringing it all together.
565441
In the afterword the author notes that he wanted to make a heroic character who does not resort to violence to solve issues.

I'd say he has succeeded very nicely.

This is a well crafted novel with deftly drawn characters and an interesting twist on the First Contact theme.

The science is neatly presented and using a school teacher as the focal point allows Cawdron to walk us through technical aspects from first principles without having to bend the narrative out of shape.  There are enough characters to provide multiple points of view and a degree of cynicism that gently pokes fun at the media and military.  The politics, esp. with regards America versus The Rest Of The World feels spot on, or perhaps even understated in these troubling times of the Arab Spring.  And the sidebar on religion is thoughtful without being overly provocative.

I liked the dialogue, it seemed natural, amongst the adults at least.  The kids dialogue seemed a little beyond their years, but that's a niggle not a real problem.

So, who might like "Anomaly"?

It's a thoughtful book that moves along at a good pace.  It is not a thriller in the chase the bad guys down sense, but there is a puzzle to solve, a series of high-tech alien riddles that are deliberately pitched for us to just solve, because that's the point after all, and a conclusion that might be a surprise but shouldn't be.  I can't immediately think of comparable authors but that's OK, "Anomaly" is worth reading on its own merits.
406337
This books strengths lie in its wonderfully atmospheric recreation of Glasgow and the police involved in the case. It spans several decades as current day murders are linked, a little cryptically, to the past. It's not unpredictable but is well enough done to keep you hooked. Tony Winters, police photographer, is drawn closer into the case as his Uncle Danny, a retired police officer, was closely involved in the original case. This is my first of this series, and I will certainly try another. I doubt this is the most memorable book I will ever read, but of its ilk it is well done. It has the usual mix of murder and a race to find a serial killer. The link with the old cases left me feeling a bit uncertain of the accuracy of the science involved. I also wondered a bit about the device of using the police photographer as the central character from the police side but ignoring these niggles its a good read.
2012174
In Neuromancer, Gibson paints a picture of a society connected by the "Matrix", a vast web of interconnected computer systems.  Outside of the computer network, there are areas known as the "Sprawl," areas close to the sprawl and backwoods areas.  We meet Case in a bar in one of these backwoods areas.
Case is a hacker (referred to as a cowboy in the novel) who has lost his ability to connect to the matrix as the result of a deal-gone-bad.  He is all but down and out, running drugs and other particularly risky transactions; he appears to have a death wish.
Just as he almost bottoms out, he meets Molly and Armitage who claim to be able to restore his ability to access the matrix ... In exchange for doing "a run" for them and their artificial intelligence boss.
The story meticulously weaves scenes from both the real world (as perceived by both Case and Molly) and the Matrix together to form a cohesive story.  Though confusing and slow occasionally, Gibson does a masterful job of pulling us into the story.  Though you must have some familiarity with computers and sci-fi to completely appreciate the story, it is presented in such a way that it is accessible to techie and neophyte alike.
Neuromancer is all but required reading for anyone interested in the future of the internet or the Cyberpunk genre.
4593242
A lot of people have been comparing this book to Rachel Gibson's "See Jane Score" and "Simply Irresistible."  I found "Body Check" to be much better than those two.  Even though this book has less in the graphic sex department (which I enjoy as much as the next girl), the character development is much better than Rachel Gibson's books.  Janna comes of as neurotic, but still clever.  She's smart because we can see she is, not because the author tells us so.  Rachel Gibson's heroines tend to do and say stupid things and never realize that they are doing themselves a disservice.  Janna makes mistakes, but is smart enough to realize that she's done so.  The same goes for the male characters.  Even with Ty's rather sudden change of heart at the end, Ty as a man seems pretty grounded in reality for a romance novel hero - especially when he doesn't know how to handle his girlfriend's problems.

This book is also well written, not just in the characters' grammar, but in the hockey as well.  The little brother, Wills, is written very believably (again unlike Rachel Gibson's strangely written child characters).

Overall, a good piece of candy!  I never wanted to slap either of the characters.