Four stars only?  almost all about Eve
340960
Once again one wonders what the artistic/production team had in mind. First to bypass Lucia Popp as Eve and second to cast Helena Dose as Eve. Decca did likewise earlier by not retaining Elly Ameling to sing both Eve and Gabriel. They replaced her with a far less inferior Eve, Erna Spoorenberg, while adding a sub-par Adam: Robin Fairhurst.  However, Benjamin Luxon's  Adam for Dorati was quite satisfactory.
Popp was a flawless, radiant Gabriel, one of the best ever, joining the exalted company of Elisabeth Grummer, Kathleen Battle, Gundula Janowitz, Barbara Bonney, and Helen Donath among the Gabriels that I have heard.  Equally outstanding: the Brighton Festival Chorus under Laszlo
Heltay, a full peer of Wilhelm Pitz, Margaret Hillis, and Robert Shaw. They sing with beautiful
tone, precision, energy, feeling, and respect for the text. During this period, Heltay also directed a great Bach B Minor Mass and  very fine versions of the Mozart C Minor Mass and  Handel's Messiah for Neville Marriner.
Werner Hollweg was an excellent Uriel and Kurt Moll was not yet stricken with wooliness.
Dorati benefitted from the Royal Philharmonic, which was superior to the Philharmonica Hungarica in his
Haydn symphony cycle.
As filler, Heltay leads the brief early Haydn Salve Regina-pleasant but not nearly as memorable as The Creation.(what is?). Re the Eve problem, one can stiil hear Popp sing
it with Rafael Kubelik (and a fine Gabriel: Margaret Marshall) (Orfeo)
2589117
Title: Romulus
Author: Marilyn Campbell
Publisher: ePublishing Works
ISBN: 978-1-61417-488-6
Buy Link: [...]
Reviewer: Teresa Fallen Angel
Blurb:
Innerworld Affairs 1
Aster Mackenzie wants to go home. But she's trapped in the Earth's core, where advanced humanoids mine a rare energy source for their home planet, Norona. Worse, she's triggered the Noronian mating fever in Romulus Locke, Innerworld's Chief Administrator.

Romulus intends to be Governor of Innerworld but the moment he touches Aster, the fever takes hold, bonding them as soul-mates. Never has the fever affected a Terran, and intimacy between the races is forbidden; a conundrum Romulus has no time to explore.

The asteroid heading toward Earth is about to destroy both their worlds. Risking everything, Romulus takes Aster with him to Outerworld to warn Earth's scientists and is captured.

Now Aster must face her destiny and convince the powers of Norona to accept a long-hidden secret if her soul-mate is to survive.

Total Score: 5/5

Summary:
This story began with a bang when Aster and the other people on a yacht were kidnapped at gun point and forced to assist their captures until their ship entered a storm like one they had never seen before. Aster woke to find herself trapped in a world that she could never leave and one that was beyond her wildest imagination.  Aster was supposed to believe that they were not only in the center of the world and the inhabitants were aliens form another world. Things got even more crazy when she sees a man she has been dreaming about for years, Romulus. Things on the surface may seem perfect until Aster learned that her being human would alone leave her and her friends at a disadvantage from the start. You would think that a utopian culture would know how to deal with individuals who a negative influences, but when they have to reeducate the kidnappers they may not really understand just how devious some people can be.

It was very interesting how Romulus's people, Naronans, looked down upon anyone from the Outerworld without knowing anything about them. There were obviously some physical differences, but beyond that if it wasn't for their advance technology they were very similar. Many refused to look beyond their narrow vision of what was acceptable to see what they could gain from each other. Romulus and Aster's attraction allowed them to see each other as they were and even with that Romulus had to overcome his own prejudices to be willing to fight for their love. Add to this the beautiful and alien plants and animals from different worlds that brought wonder to the book. I enjoyed how the author cultures and events from the past to enrich the plot for the readers. I look forward to reading Falcon the next book in the series.
1894846
As always Robb skirts some procedural lines, but crafts an enjoyable story.
Eve does somethings that aren't particularly legal - like interviewing a suspect without his lawyer present or offering immunity to a suspect when she doesn't have the power to do so. She also gets rough with at least one suspect. I'm not sure why Robb insists on having Eve push the line, especially where is is unnecessary.
There are also some plot holes, like Eve investigating the IAB head Bayliss, who had access to information that should have been enough to discount him (trying to avoid a spoiler here).
Overall though, this was an enjoyable read. Nothing special one way or the other; not her best or her worst.
3957804
The X-series of games is considered by many to be the extension of Privateer and Freelancer, only much more intricate and in-depth.  In this game, the player assumes the role of the nameless adventurer with no history.  That is, unless you play the story missions.  In X3, you can do almost anything you wish from being a businessman to a ruthless fighter and everything in between.  You can buy almost any ship in the game such as small ships built for speed, heavy fighters, and huge capital ships.  You can also build your own space stations and other orbital facilities.  Of course, you need to have the appropriate reputation with a given faction to buy their ships, they obviously don't want to sell a battleship to someone they don't trust.  There are many sectors which you can play in, each with their own assortment of inhabitants, space stations, and missions.  The storyline missions are largely unremarkable, most players will enjoy playing the game without being tied down to any plot.  The game doesn't anchor the player to the plot and they are free to do what they want, it is story optional.  The universe the game is set in will change based upon your influence.  I've noticed that if I place a space station that manufactures a device in a region where I'm the only one who can, the economy and regional makeup will slowly adapt to my presence.

X3: Terran Conflict is superior to the original X3: Reunion in a number of ways.  First, the user interface is more streamlined and easier to use.  Second, there is an additional faction you can play as.  Third, there are additional ships and components you can use in the game.  For those who have X3: Reunion, this isn't that large of a jump since it takes place in the same area of space with almost identical models and controls.  X3: Terran Conflict is pretty much X3: Reunion with the free mod X-tended applied.  However, many of the bugs and integration issues from the mod have been mostly resolved.

On the technical side of the things, patches are numerous for the X-Series and X3 is no different.  It is strongly suggested you have a PC with at least the recommended specifications in order to play.  Even on high-end systems, this game will use almost every resource available to it.  If your PC has the necessary power, this game is visually stunning.  I often found myself marveling at the planets and looking at their reflection off the hull of my ship.  The voice acting and story line of the game leave much to be desired.  There is no multiplayer for this or any other X game, but the modding community is very active.  This means you can add in other ships and create new missions.

The X-series of games is not meant for everyone.  Many players will grow annoyed at the lack of a storyline and, outside of space battles, a slower pace to the game.  Given the scale of X3, the controls take some getting used to as almost every key on the keyboard will be used at some point.  Newcomers to the franchise should play the tutorial missions to better understand the game and how it works.  Even then, there is a steep learning curve.  Veterans of the series will enjoy the added functionality and new sectors to explore.  Having played X2: The Threat and the original X3: Reunion, X3: Terran Conflict improves the franchise.  Every time a new version of X is released, it always seems to improve on the previous games.  X3 is recommended for anyone who likes open-ended gameplay, especially if it is set in space.
4070030
Docking is Difficult is a humorous look at the series, though it is badly inaccurate. Honestly, if it weren't for the occasional mention of ship names and the Coriolis station, you wouldn't really know it was Elite. But, it's a decent novella, just not worth the price.
1158647
This title caught my eye awhile back on LiveJournal; it has been long-enough-ago that I don't recall exactly *how* I discovered Hogarths site. The story-line was well-along when I first stumbled onto it, so I had to go to her website to catch-up on the earlier portion, then I followed-along until she finished the tale.

"Spots" is Magda Guitart; the nickname is because of her freckles. She is a 30-something Marine reservist and mother-of-two. She and a fairly green 2nd Lieutenant Savannah Bonnet arrive at a remote technical base, as replacements for many more people in the bases security detachment who have been recently killed. Spots is assigned to Team Kitty, which includes Corporal Travis Walker [aka "Claws"] and Pvt Nicola Gordon [aka "Fang"]. Fang is the sole survivor of her previous fire-team, and Claws is trying not to let his brains show. Their squad leader is Sgt. Holden [aka "Scythe" because of the katana he carries]. Other squad members go by the monickers "Whiskers", "Hairball", and "Fang2" [he used to have a different nickname, but he changed it shortly after Fang was assigned to the squad, just to annoy her]. There is also Samuel-Colt, a non-human weapons designer assigned to the base. The fact that Spots IS a "gen-you-wine cookie-baking mom" turns out to significantly affect Samuel-Colt's interaction with the Marines.

Despite the presence of aliens and lots of firepower, this is NOT a rip-roaring Space Opera. It is a story about a bunch of people in a stressful situation which develops in ways none of them expect.

It was several months before the hardcopy book came out, and I was in-midst of packing-up in preparation for retiring and moving, and not interested in buying new physical books just then. I had plenty in boxes, thank you very much, and several full bookshelves still staring me in the face.

So it wasn't until the recent kerfluffle with Amazon(dot)com over Games Workshop's attempt to ex-post-facto claim sole ownership of the term "space marine" that I realized there was an ebook edition of Spots available. I bought my e-copy from Barnes and Noble, since I use a Nook, and got it downloaded and into my 'to be read' queue.

A couple of days ago I started [finally!] reading it. It has been long-enough since I read the serialization that there were a lot of plot details I'd forgotten, so it was almost like having a totally new book to read.  I also found that reading it straight-through let me see a bunch of details that didn't penetrate in the serialized version; in-particular, the characterization. I did not remember Claws as-being this prominent from the serialized story, and I really enjoyed re-discovering him.

Do not be put-off by the ebook's nominal 1600+ pages in length. There is a LOT of white-space in this book, due to the quasi-movie-script format. It works, though, and IMHO allows the reader a lot more freedom-of-visualization of the action than a more traditional descriptive form would.

Hogarth also allows a certain freedom-of-visualization with a neat dialogue-trick. This is a book about Marines. Marines cuss. There are a lot of asterisks embedded in the dialogue. It isn't difficult to guess, from context, what each group of three, four, or five asterisks are intended to represent. But the words aren't actually *there* right in your face, so you are free to plug-in your own preferences of terminology, and keep-on following the action.

Which you want to do. Hogarth is very-nearly a drag-you-along-by-the-eyelashes-caliber storyteller. I have not been grabbed by EVERYTHING she writes, but right now she's got a 50% enjoyment record with me. Check-out her current serial Earthrise over on Live Journal.
3146074
A good book, as you expect from J. D. Robb, but by no means one of her best. It was good to see a more settled Eve, but she was a little bit to tamed to my taste. At the end I felt as if the book was inconclusive.
928259
The realm of the paranormal is like caffeine to me. As the world of good vampire stories dries up, it's time to find another slice of this genre to get into. Not a fan of werewolves, or angel bad boys, and being severely allergic to zombie stories, I decided to give this book a try (Because the book cover is great). Three-fourths of this book is good, the last one-fourth, basically repetitive. The main female, Eve Bradley, hooks up with Cain O'Conner at a facility that torments paranormals in the name of science research. Eve goes in to get a story and when Cain sees her, it's lust at first sight (how often has that happened in these books?) Cynthia Eden teases the reader with what Cain is relentlessly, revealing only that the man burns up, dies and is reborn. If you've read Harry Potter, you know that is the pattern of a Phoenix. Ms. Eden then teases one with what Eve is all about. As the story progresses, the pair try to find the crazy Richard Wyatt, who orchestrated the experiments and fall into one trap after another and another and another. One wonders when the "intuitive" bulb will light concerning traps because they are, obviously, gravitating toward time without learning to avoid them. The character Eve is portrayed as a strong willed, bossy individual. I found her to be obnoxious with a moral compass that focused on not killing anyone, or thing, which included Richard Wyatt who was chopping up paranormals while experimenting on them. And yes, they were awake and screaming for this ritual. Cain came across as the brooding, hulkish type who was good in bed (yes, there was a lot of banging going on), he always vowed to keep Eve safe and yet continually left her believing she would be okay -- the down side is Richard Wyatt now wanted Eve, not Cain so leaving her behind didn't make sense. He is supposedly the upper echelon of paranormals yet all he does is gets killed and rises up from the ashes with next to no memory of the past life, except for Eve, who he says "smells like candy". Ugh. But, in fairness, the first part of the book was a page turner. Towards the end, I found myself worn out by one too many "let's do this even through we know it's a trap" scenarios, sex scenes that were like mortal combat versus "awe, they made love", and Cain saying "I'll save you Eve" only to have his butt incinerated by bullets and a cave in while Eve is either caught by her aggressors or, doing the noble thing, she gets in a bigger mess with Cain at her side. Where I didn't care much for this formula storyline, others might like it so I won't totally say avoid this book.
3674013
When? I'll tell you when - about half-way through the book. That's when the first tangible sign appears of any real threat. Half-way through we finally get some tension, some anticipation. It's a good thing, too, because I'm not sure how much more of the this thing I could take the way it was going. Okay, sure, it's the first half of  a two-parter (The Farther Shore being the second part), so I'll give some leeway for a slow build-up. And I could argue that Christie Golden has cleverly taken a cue from Voyager's leaden return to the Alpha Quadrant at the end of the last episode and built a sort of meta-explanation of why it was so lackluster (Voyager's return means different things to different organizations, let's just say that)...but I don't know that that's what she intended. The problem is, nothing terribly interesting happens during the aforementioned build-up. It's a bunch of character threads that might have been interesting in the hands of better writer. Mind you, Golden's writing isn't bad, it's just lackluster. Her saving graces here are a plot that contains eventually-interesting intrigue, and the characters' "voices" are spot-on. I just think a craftier writer could have made this all more interesting, without relying on a love-interest with too much screen time to dole out information when the plot's pacing says it's time. It would have been more interesting had the main character's individual story threads intertwined more, and if they were figuring it out for themselves.
Oh, and the cover image is bizarre: if it's supposed to evoke some theme of the book, I'm at a loss to explain what it might be. It looks like a weak attempt at taking a stock photo of Kate Mulgrew as Janeway and re-lighting in Photoshop or something. Is Janeway supposed to look scarey? Why? She isn't scarey in the book. She doesn't do anything grim or dark. It's just odd. The cover to this book and the cover to the second part match in no way (save for some small cover text) that would lead you to believe they are two parts of the same story. Different style of cover image, even different finishes: this one is glossy, The Farther Shore is matte - with a plain stock photo of Seven. Who's in charge of marketing these things?
Still, if you want to "know what happens after Voyager gets home", it's an easy read. With a couple typos and grammatical errors.
2898638
The cover art is gorgeous.  Well, it is.  The most ecstatic of my praise for Ascension undoubtedly goes to the cover, although it doesn't quite match Kara Dalkey's description of Nia.  The book itself is a fairly decent read, but at the risk of being facetious, about half a star of my rating goes to the designer and illustrator of the covers for the trilogy.
I imagine that it is exceedingly difficult to write a book about a culture completely submerged in water, and Kara Dalkey clearly puts some thought into the creation of this society, with attention to details in the type of houses, foods, materials, social classes, and schools.  I particularly liked the pun inherent in the academy, where pupils swim after the instructor in a group, rather like a school of fish.  Dalkey goes to considerable lengths to invent life in Atlantis, and many of the elements, such as the Farworlders and their Avatars, are intriguing and pleasingly exotic.
But for all that, it's still hard to, er, completely submerge oneself in Nia's watery realm.  For one thing, I have never managed to hold coherent conversations underwater; even a single word usually comes out hopelessly garbled.  There is no evidence that they speak any differently than humans-- if giggles result in a stream of bubbles, surely speech does too?  But what is more jarring to any feeling of complete integration in Nia's world is not the occasional inconsistency, but the feeling that it is a carefully fabricated, intricately thought out work of imagination, a sensation that the best works of imagination never convey.  I was never fully convinced in the existence of Kara Dalkey's Atlantis as I was in, say, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain or Paula Volsky's Vonahr.  Often the abundance of detailed descriptions do not provide a sense of realism and smooth integration into Nia's world so much as make the book seem like a stilted tour guide to Atlantis, complete with information on local delicacies, transportation, entertainment, and customs.  From a book written from Nia's perspective, even with the third person narration, there are too many explanations that a native of Atlantis such as Nia probably wouldn't even think twice about.  Occasionally, such as in the school scene, things become even more bogged down with awkward, bulky history lessons about Atlantis.
What really saves Ascension is Nia herself.  Unlike the other rather flat and/or undeveloped characters in the book, the villains in particular, she is completely believable, realistic, and likable despite-- or because of-- her flaws.  Nia's emotions as the startling events in Atlantis occur are realistic without being overdone or sickeningly melodramatic; for a character who isn't even human, she's a much more convincing teenager than many other fictional, human, teenagers.
Ascension isn't really a complete tale of itself, unfortunately, and while it doesn't end on an outright cliffhanger, having the rest of the trilogy on hand would probably be a good idea.  Despite the Water trilogy's flaws, I do think that it is a series worth reading, particularly when in later books more mythology become entertwined in surprising ways.  Readers who liked Ascension might also enjoy Diana Wynne Jones's The Power of Three, which deals partially with mermaids (of a sort, anyway)...
1639235
After what seems like countless Eve Duncan books, Iris Johansen gives her readers "Eve"- the first in a "trilogy within a series"- which will supposedly finally give Eve a resolution to what really happened to her beloved daughter Bonnie when she disappeared many years ago. I have been disappointed with many of her recent Eve Duncan books, as I feel like they are repetitive and that Johansen has been dragging the Bonnie storyline on for far too long, so I was very excited to hear that she was finally writing a resolution to the whole thing. I am not, however, thrilled that she'll be taking 3 books to do so. After all this time, does she really need 3 books to tell Bonnie's story or will it just be drawn out for too long? Having read "Eve", I do think that 3 books will be too many, perhaps 2 would have been better.

"Eve" is an exciting book that kept me eagerly turning the pages. I poured through the novel in a day.  Despite this, I was not as happy with it as I had hoped to be.  Personally, I do not like where it looks like Johansen is taking the story.  A LOT happens in the last 20 or so pages of the book and if she continues along the path that she seems to be headed down with these various things, I will not be a happy reader.  I cannot give specifics without ruining the book but I hope that all is not necessarily as it seems. If it hadn't been for these "curve balls" at the end, I would probably have given this book more stars. I am, however, very curious to see what she does in the next two books. I just hope I'm not disappointed.
2909266
This book was a real page turner. There were a lit of sexy moments, and a lot of wtf moments. The hero is anything but a hero and is really hard to like. But overall, the this book gave me exactly what I have come to expect from Eve, a great story that's anything but the norm.
4747670
This is not a game for the twitch-based game fan.  The EVE Online MMO is a deeply complex universe that provides for a wide variety of play styles.  The individual player can be a pirate, a miner, a trader, a manufacturer, a researcher, a power broker, a distribution specialist, or any blend, at any time.

The game's unique approach to PVP (Player vs. Player) activity allows each player to gauge, at any time, how much risk of conflict they're willing to accept.
737902
This is perhaps the most intimate portrayal Robb has written of the regular characters in this series.  In the past Roberts (aka Robb) has gotten lazy, especially of late, in her books as they have become not just too formulaic but actually repetitive in their plot, descriptions, and characters; however, this is an A+ effort.

If you've read any of the In Death series you'll really appreciate this book as it gives a lot of details and intimate awareness of the characters you've come to love, and if you haven't read any of the series you won't be lost.  However, while Robb goes deeper into the consciousness and emotions of her regulars in this book, she also leaves out a number of characters--Feeney, Mavis, Whitney and even Peabody.  They're still in the book, but they don't play much of a part.  Peabody becomes a sounding board in one scene for Eve, much of which she already knew, but for the most part the crime procedure is ran by Eve in this book more so than any previous book--even Roarke isn't used much.

The story isn't a new premise for Robb's series: it's got rape, a brotherhood, politicians, wealthy people getting away with things, torture and death.  However, the(se) particular monster(s)/ villain(s) are perhaps the worst that she's written, in large part due to the utter ignorance and lack of moral compass that drives the crimes.  Moreover, the traditional bad guy--the killer Eve is after--is doing monstrous things for virtuous reasons (maybe?).  I think Robb has blurred the moral black and white more in this book than in any other, and Eve bends toward Roarke's moral relativism just a bit more--and all the supporting characters are revealed to be in that gray area already (though of course, it's not their job to arrest anyone).  I think the day will come when Robb has to make a decision and let Eve grow up and acknowledge that the law doesn't really provide justice--not when the monster(s) are this vile.  I look forward to the next step in Eve and Roarke's life, but I do think it will take her out of the NYPSD and into a private firm, and this change of venue will severely change conscience of the characters.
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
3332044
The only thing that I have really used so far is the codes.  That was really why I bought it.  I really haven't looked at anything else in the box yet.  What I do like is that they have said to me in an e-mail that I am a card carrying member of the secret code and they will let me know how to claim more items in the future.  You get two codes for Eve.  One gives you items you can claim right away and they were just okay to me.  I don't want to say that items were bad its just that some of them were good and others to me were not so good.  I just don't see a use to some of them at the moment.  The other one is a collector edition mystery code and there are going to be items in the future that you will be able to claim.  I am hoping that I have set myself up for some good items in the future.  If you really play eve then this is really a buy for you because of the potential of some good things in the future and there might be some other benefits that I just don't see yet.  There are also codes for Dust 514 and a Cd in there with Eve music on it which I have not listened to yet
2479989
I address this review to two groups of persons: 1) Star Trek fans and those who have read the preceding three volumes of Vanguard and 2) Readers who have enough time for only the best-written literature.

For the first group, Open Secrets is worth a rating of four or five stars. Though I think the Vanguard series is in danger of becoming tastelessly stretched out, it has not quite reached that point. New plot developments appear, leading into the next volume. I was especially pleased with Lt. Moyer's coffee mug and with the meeting between crime boss Ganz and Starfleet Admiral Nogura.

I am only moderately knowledgeable of Star Trek lore, but I think Open Secrets conforms well. The Organians, advanced life forms that Captain Kirk and company encounter in the original series, make an impressive appearance, and I appreciate the way they are made compatible with the Vanguard plot. I was also pleased with the viciousness of the Klingons. (Jean-Luc Picard and Worf are in the future.)

For group 1), go ahead and put this on your list of required reading.

For group 2), forget it. That is, unless you are an English teacher looking for something you can shred in front of your class. For this second group, I think Open Secrets deserves only one star. I am giving it four stars because I am confident that most persons reading this are Star Trek fans. I do not want to discourage them from reading it, and they do not require impeccable prose.

If you are a Star Trek fan, you do not need to read more of this, unless you are interested in good prose.

Dayton Ward's list of required reading should include The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White. (It's available here on amazon.)

Ward uses too many clichs. He uses too many adjectives and adverbs. He should focus on nouns and verbs. Too many characters make witty remarks. (Vanguard is not a sitcom.) The fight sequences between T'Prynn and Sten are drawn out and boring. I get the feeling that Ward had to work hard to grind out enough words to fill 400 pages. He says things he does not need to say, and much of what he needs to say is said with too many words.

Here are some revisions that Ward might make after doing his required reading:

Ward: "The tunnel was a crude one...."
Revision: "The tunnel was crude...."

Ward: "...what had transpired...."
Revision: "...what had happened...."

Ward: "...he was not a man given to outward displays of emotion...."
Revision: "...he was usually self-composed...."

Ward: "It was not hard to remember...."
Revision: "It was easy to remember...."

Ward: "...transports only possessed three habitable decks to support what he remembered was a twenty-person crew complement, with the bulk of the ship's interior volume dedicated to cargo storage."
Revision: "...transports had only three habitable decks to support a twenty-person crew, with the bulk of the ship's interior dedicated to cargo."

Ward: "If this planet possessed a global defense system...."
Revision: "If this planet had a global defense system...."

Ward: "Their friendship had been an interesting one from the start...."
Revision: "Their friendship had been interesting from the start...."

Ward: "Clouding the central issue with unrelated details and irrelevant tangents...."
Revision: "Clouding the central issue with unrelated details and irrelevances...."