If you a fan of his Sci Fi Trilogy, read this work
359408
As a great fan of Lewis' Sci Fi Trilogy, and especially the powerful imagery he creates, I was very eager to read this 'lost' manuscript.  We may never know where it fit into Lewis' vision - an unfinished work or an abandoned one - but one can get lost in it and wonder what might have been had he had a chance to finish it.
4298495
I love the work of Nancy Kress. She is, in my mind, a grand master of hard science blended with realistic speculation in the sci-fi genre. This first volume in the trilogy finds a very worn out and war-weary earth suddenly discovering a stargate through which they can reach out and colonize more planets than ever before. Earth is at war with the only other species, the Fallers, known to be capable of interplanetary travel. The Fallers are ruthless, never negotiate and take no prisoners. They are winning. When Earthers send their first probe through the gate, it sends back information suggesting a very earthlike planet with several moons.
The first manned ship to travel to the new planet discovers a very unique civilization in which the residents are of one mind and when that mind is in full conformity, something is declared "real". If an individual does not fall into complete agreement, they are considered "unreal" until they rejoin the collective mind, they are again declared real.
The earthlings,  with their separate minds, are considered unreal until a few show that they can be considered real.
Of course, the mission has a hidden military agenda, which sends some of the crew into the depths of the most sacred mountain, where they have traced an unusual signal. It turns out this this non-native artifact is the source of the one mind of the inhabitants. It also possesses indicators that one of moons of the planet is actually a much larger version of the artifact and has the potential for use as a very powerful weapon in the war with the Fallers.
Needless to say, the off-worlders are condemned ultimately as unreal and end up fleeing the planet to save themselves. Some choose to stay behind and continue the work they believed they were sent there to do, anthropology, botany and zoology.
The use of the stargate system, also built by those who built the artifact on the planet  and the false moon, is complicated and I will not try to summarize it here. Let's just say that Nancy Kress works her special magic to get this trilogy off to a grand start.
1827694
By the time Sawyer got to writing this third and final book of the Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, he had grown as a writer. It is so much better than book one (Far-Seer) and a steady improvement over book two (Fossil Hunter). I wonder what he might have achieved if he'd written the three books now, more than 20 years after they were published.

I'm glad I persevered with the series. I was a little doubtful at first. The idea for the trilogy was startling but, in the first book, its development was slow, repetitive and predictable, and the leading character lacked depth and dimension. By the end of Foreigner, however, that character was no longer milquetoast, and there were quite a few surprises in the plot.

Would I recommend it? If you've read books one and two, you're going to read book three anyway. If you're looking at this review wondering whether to start at all on the trilogy, then I repeat the advice in my review of the first book: "Buy it, but buy it cheap." And then persevere. Eventually, you'll find it all worth it.
706710
I really loved this book.  It is clearly evident that Asimov honed his craft even further between the first trilogy and the other two sequels that followed Trevise.  It shows in his writing and his development of the story.  And also the fact that he stuck with 2 (and then 3, and then 4) characters throughout two books rather then his jumping around in time with the first trilogy of books.  Also love the connection with the Robot and Empire Series.
4757089
Deaths End is the concluding volume of Cixin Lius Remembrance of Earths Past trilogy.  If you haven't read the first two books, don't begin here.  But definitely begin, because this is the most magnificent science fiction work I have ever read, and I have read almost all of them.

The first book in the trilogy, The Three Body Problem, was a very nice work, but ultimately the least engaging of the three.  The Dark Forest was the best book Ive ever read, of any genre.  It contained elements of anthropology, sociology, philosophy and outstanding hard science fiction concepts and scenarios.  It was simply magnificent, and ended in such a manner that a third book was not necessarily required.

Well, Deaths End picks up where Dark Forest leaves off, in fact with a little overlap in order to introduce the main protagonist in the final work.  For three hundred pages, Deaths End was every bit the equal of Dark Forest, but then there occurs a roughly 100 page segment that is so dumb, so contrived and so out of character with the other 1500 pages of the trilogy that it made me question who had written it and why it was there.

It is not really a spoiler to reveal that the referenced 100 pages involve a rather silly fairy tale (for some reason they refer to three tales, though there is really only one, split into three chapters).  The fairy tale is part of an inter-stellar conversation between two of the books main characters in which one is trying to convey a message through the use of metaphor.  The Trisolarans have allowed and even initiated the conversation, but under very strict guidelines that limit information that can be conveyed, under penalty of death.  Then, they allow a 50 page fairy tale to be conveyed, and memorized word for word by one of the characters.  Sure, that makes sense.  I guess the incredibly advanced Trisolarans don't understand the concept of metaphor and think telling a 50 page fairy tale would be normal conversation under the circumstances.

There follows another 50 pages in which the Earth Federation goes about deciphering the fairy tale in such a way that is even dumber and even more senseless than the fact that the fairy tale was conveyed in the first place.

SPOILER: In one of the most incredibly stupid moments of any book Ive ever read, the experts are stumped by a particular place name in the fairy tale.  Luckily for them, one of the analysts talks in his sleep.  After muttering the mysterious place name in his sleep, he is informed by his live-in girlfriend that the name is actually a combination of two place names in Norway, and not just any place names; names that have not been used for centuries.  Luckily for him, his Norwegian girlfriend is a scholar in ancient Norwegian place names.  Lucky humans, what are the chances.

Then, like nothing ever happened, the novel returns to absolute excellence for the final 300 pages.  It is the damndest thing; like listening to a two hour concert featuring the works of Mozart that is interrupted for ten minutes by a cacophonous din of meaningless music, and completely unnecessary as the author could have easily gotten where he needed to go without such a bizarre detour.  For such a magnificent work to be marred in such a way is a shame, because one of the strengths of the trilogy is its believability and rock solid hard science fiction.  Character actions and plot lines flow so smoothly because they are imminently believable and flawlessly crafted.

In any event, it is the best science fiction series Ive experienced; far more complex and engaging than the Foundation works and so much more approachable and enjoyable than the Dune novels.  If a 20 year old asked me where to start in reading science fiction, I would direct him to Foundation and other Asimov works.  If a 40 year old, who had sampled much of the genre asked the same question, I would insist that he read this trilogy.  Afterwards, he would thank me for the suggestion but ask, What was up with that stupid fairy tale.
82019
You remember when you read Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke and you were messed up in the brainpan for like two weeks afterward? Remember that? Prepare for that same feeling when you wrap up The Godhead Trilogy. This one pours whiskey right into your cerebellum with a hefty dose of techno futurism mixers. Davison starts with a premise that feels incredibly real and current. The technology he creates lives so believably in our world that you kind of want to see if it's carried at Best Buy. But then he follows all that tech to its logical conclusion and it's not what you think. He has a real gift for keeping the world consistant.

This last book is a bit more talky than the last, but it manages to avoid feeling pedantic because so much stuff is blowing up. This is a must read for sci fi fans.
1315709
I'm on my third book of the trilogy and at first I thought the series was a little too sci-fi for my tastes but I'm glad I stuck with it. I'll give five stars to all three. I think it's important to start with the first book and work through in order for the best understanding of what's unfolding.
1613077
A sequal to his previous book but you don't have to have read that book to read this one.  He likes to start splitting his story into different plot lines and characters, then slowly build those lines and characters back together.  In this book..... he went overboard with that and tried to be too clever.  We get to see lots more worlds in this book and are introduced to lots more characters.  I wondered if this were a self-published book since I noticed many typo and grammatical errors that surely would have been caught otherwise.  The science was there without being too technical and the fiction was there in spades.  Not all sci-fi fans will like his style, but it was pretty well done.
2711918
What seems to have been lost in the previous reviews is any kind of synopsis. These three books give a detailed insight into a finely wrought alien world with deadly floating plants, timber harder than steel and the fantastic notion of being able to loft a balloon to the LaGrange point between two intertwined planets and launch primitive ships into space. Brilliant and beautifully realized. An awesome trilogy that deserves far greater recognition, as does its sadly deceased author.
828298
Ms Jennsen manages to pack an impressive amount (galactic and otherwise) into the 366 pages of Sidespace and, perhaps inevitably, the book doesnt flow quite as smoothly as the Aurora Rising trilogy. With Alex and Caleb exploring what lies beyond the Metis portal  and with absolutely no contact with their own galaxy  we effectively end up with two skilfully written and highly imaginative, but virtually separate, stories. After a lot of soul-searching and angst that four-star rating, when set against the extremely high standards of those earlier books, became almost inevitable.

The first three worlds Alex and Caleb encounter contain non-humanoid intelligence; one is friendly, two are aggressive and, as they leave the system, they're left with a suspicion the Metigens might have been responsible.

As the relationship between Earth Alliance and Senecan Federation deteriorates, Ms Jennsen demonstrates a delightfully dry opinion about the behaviour of politicians. And, although the Artificials played a major role in defeating the Metigens, the politicians are now determined to control, or perhaps eliminate, them.

Good night and thank you

Theres also an intriguing, but all-too-brief, mention of a fourth dimension thats unmeasured and unrecognised except by Artificials. It can, however, be experienced by their linked human colleagues and will, no doubt, resurface in the latter part of the trilogy.

Whilst more political shenanigans are taking place on Earth and Seneca, Alex and Caleb find themselves exploring a three-planet system populated by advanced aliens. Although outwardly benevolent, the aliens prove to be both violent and primitive. The links to the Metigens  involving anti-matter bombs  are, this time, blatant.

Elsewhere in the cosmos the ethereal Mesme finds herself in trouble with the Conclave; in Hyperions view she has loosed a chaotic unstable variable (= Alex and Caleb) which will destroy everything. Although something is clearly about to happen Ms Jennsen keeps the details enigmatically vague.

Im sure the remaining parts of the trilogy  Dissonance and Abysm  will resolve these issues  although perhaps, just perhaps, well have to wait until the Aurora Resonant trilogy is published
637081
Try it.  If you're a SciFi fan you'll enjoy Christopher Nuttall's work.  I just hope he keeps writing because I'm rapidly working my way through his library.
3731398
Peter F. Hamilton's The Dreaming Void is the first book in the British hard sci-fi writer's new trilogy, which has been dubbed the Void Trilogy.

Hamilton has been one of my favorite authors (not just my favorite genre author) for several years. I started with his classic work, the incredible Night's Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God) and continued with his Commonwealth Saga. (MadProfessah's reviews of Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are also available.)

Like most of Hamilton's work, The Dreaming Void is a sprawling novel, with a huge cast of characters and numerous intersecting and separate plots. An interesting feature of this book, which repeats something he did in Fallen Dragon, is the inclusion of an entire storyline in which technology is not featured--it is a pretty straightforward individual hero fantasy; it even includes a star-crossed, teen romance. Peter Hamilton is known as a hard-core purveyor of the hardest military sci-fi space operas, so for him to devote a good third of his book to a fantasy is an intriguing blending of disparate genres.

It's an interesting choice, because most fans of one genre are not necessarily fans of the other genre (the only fantasy book I have read recently, for example is Patrick Rothfuss' excellent The Name of the Wind). It also works well, because the fantasy sequence, which is the story of Edeard, an orphaned country boy who becomes the fabled Waterwalker in the big city of Makkathran on the planet of Querencia, is excellent and gripping.

The hard sci-fi sequence, which tells the stories of how the Commonwealth has changed in the fifteen hundreds years since Judas Unchained and Pandora's Star is oddly not as compelling as the fantasy sections. It's not clear if this is because we have been exposed to most of these characters before (Paula Myo, Senator Justine Burnelli, Wilson Kime, Oscar Monroe et cetera) or if the changes that have occurred over time to the Commonwealth Universe are not as interesting as we would have expected.

I do think the conceit of how the two sequences are connected is interesting (what happens on Makkathran appears as what is known as Inigo's Dreams and is accessed by Commonwealth citizens through something called the Gaiafield, a Galaxy-wide network invented by Ozzie Isaacs (who previously co-invented wormhole travel technology) that allows humans to share emotions and thoughts. An entire religion has developed around Inigo's Dreams which it is believed must be emanating from The Void, a strange anomaly at the center of the Galaxy which frightens the Raiel, the incredibly powerful aliens from the earlier books.

How Hamilton manages to tie together all of these multiple threads is a gripping, somewhat exhausting tale which demonstrates that he is once again a master of the craft of compelling speculative fiction for an expanding audience.

Hardcover: 640 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Date: March 25, 2008.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A-.
PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A-.
47957
I bought this as a gift for my husband who had read the first two books of the trilogy.  He loves it!
3559317
I recommend reading this if you want to read the RAMA trilogy next.  It gives some helpful background info, and it's not bad as a stand-alone novel.  The trilogy is really the best, though.  Arthur C. Clarke was a brilliant scientist and writer.  He wrote "Rama" alone and the trilogy with Gentry Lee (a former NASA scientist).
4173488
After reading most of Modesitt's&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Saga-of-Recluce/dp/0812505182/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Saga of Recluce</a>, I thought I would check out some of his science fiction.  The Ecolitan Matter series had received good marks, so when I found this omnibus edition with the first two books, I decided to give it a try.  Both books are heavy on philosophy and light on action, and have both positive and negative aspects.  The major focus of these books is in examining the justification of extreme violence in the name of survival and freedom.  A heavy topic.

In THE ECOLITAN OPERATION (published 1989), the story follows Major Jimjoy Earl Wright III, a brilliant and ruthless Imperial special operative, through a series of worldview-changing events, where his victory-at-any-cost methods get him on the wrong side of his own government. Unfortunately for the government, they choose to take a rather indirect approach to handling Jimjoy's termination, and he is able to overcome impossible odds to not only survive, but to take out a sizeable portion of the Empire's forces in doing so. Jimjoy ends up befriending (and eventually joining) a group of ideological independents known as the Ecolitans. This is an exciting story whose central character, while like-able, is hard not to condemn for his wholesale killing of mostly-innocent people. [3-stars]

In THE ECOLOGIC SECESSION (published in 1990), Jimjoy has taken on a new identity as James Joyson Whaler II, Professor at the Ecologic Institute.  He proceeds to convince his new allies that the Empire will not abide their independence, and that they need to take the fight to the giant.  JJ spends most of this book arguing for drastic action to be taken against the Empire, and ends up encouraging the development of weapons of mass destruction to be used on Old Earth.  A love story blossoms here as well, between JJ and another Ecolitan with a troubled past.  This softens the main character, but doesn't sway his hard-line view of the world nor dissuade his view of Victory at Any Cost.  This second book was predictable and repetitive, hammering on the same issues continually. [2-stars]

Some aspects of these novels were familiar from the Recluce saga. The heavy reliance on textual sound effects, something Modesitt has toned down in his more recent work, was very much on display here. "Whzzz", "Thrum", "Crrrump" give reading this book (and many of his other books) the feeling of a Batman comic book. And your eyes can't help noticing a "AAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" on the next page, giving good warning to what should be a shocking surprise. Another familiar aspect was the near-total absence of what the characters are thinking. Modesitt feels very little need to reveal the minds of his characters, so you mostly just watch JJ creatively solve complex problems without understanding what he is doing or why. This was something I had found annoying about some of the Recluce books, and I found it annoying here too. I would much rather feel like I understood a character's intentions before the act is done. And the same goes for his motivations and feelings. On the other hand, a very positive aspect of THE ECOLITAN OPERATION and THE ECOLOGIC SECESSION was the use of cool and feasible-seeming technology. From weapons to clothing to space flight, the tech here was right on, and inclines me to seek out more Modesitt SF.

The Ecololitan Matter series continues with&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Ecologic-Envoy/dp/0812545842/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Ecologic Envoy</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Ecolitan-Enigma-Ecolitan-Matter/dp/B003J5UHUG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Ecolitan Enigma (Ecolitan Matter)</a>, collected together in the omnibus, ASIN:0765308983 Ecolitan Prime]].
2185263
Steven Hawk has written a sci-fi masterpiece. Each of the three books is a great story in and of itself. Together they achieve greatness. Hawk writes with the straight-forward, action-driven  style of Asimov, and at the same time brings an inventive, provocative point of view like Orson Scott Card. If you like great science fiction with compelling characters, you'll be glad you connected with this trilogy. You will get a real kick out of the hero and ancient warrior Grant Justice, and your perspective on the concept of "peace" will be stretched. Enjoy!
4876100
I have to rate the entire trilogy as excellent. Somewhat in the style of Iain M Banks, with a dazzling conceptualisation of a populated universe and galaxy wide civilization, with a range of interwoven stories enabling a growing involvement with key characters. The story line is underpinned by a fundamental philosophical conundrum arising from it turning out to be true that we have souls that survive death, but in a horrific 'beyond', where there is a yearning amid screaming and gnashing of teeth to get back to living in a body - due to mix of a spiritual intelligence and an all too familiar religiously inspired yet distorted dedication to evil - god's brother, aka the light bringer, Lucifer. A way is opened for possession of the living. Be assured it all turns out well in the end (perhaps even a little too neatly wrapped up), but a thrilling journey to get there!