Okay men in space tale
352814
Very 50s style space sf, reminiscent of Heinlien. Interesting story, but not too different from typical for the genre.
3901816
I loved the story and ideas it brought forth. It didn't fall into so mom common, boring tropes but it did have some pretty mundane characters. It seems like we got a pretty average and lazy person on this greatest space mission ever.
1416934
Not lots of meat to the story.  Great camera work/CGI of the orbital appliances and space stations.  I watched on TV but I think it would have been much better at the theater in I-Max or 3-D.

I like the actors.  They did a good job.
747961
Story:

Richard Faraday is your typical grade B actor on a new scifi series called Star Peace.  In his case though he really thinks that he should be an A actor on A show.  Its not his fault that no one recognizes his talent.  Actually that something else he is wrong about.  Unfortunately for him there is a certain group that thinks his performance might be their salvation.

Unknown to Richard and the rest of the planet, the Galactic Unity is on the brink of war.  The division among the Unity's  members threatens to dissolve 50,000 years of peace.  The only hope lies in finding a member of the race that founded the Unity and then disappeared.  The Eldar, a near mythical race that were masters of philosophy, morals, and diplomacy.

Guess who gets abducted because he plays a fictional character that just happens to look like a ancient race that disappeared around 50,000 years ago.....

---------

This was a pretty good read.  The story had me laughing out loud at a few points as the various parties tried to sort out some cultural misunderstandings.  This is one of those books that I like because their characters don't do a 180 personality change by the end of the book.  They may have some new ideas to think on but they are basically who they are.  It's also a pretty good spoof on Hollywood and the various goings on what it takes to get a T.V. series made.  Kind of makes you wonder how much of it is real versus satire.  This book also more or less gets along on its story and doesn't rely on a lot of sex a violence to move things along.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes comic Sci-fi and anyone looking for a good old space romp. m.a.c
4356815
Astral Tides: Rimward is a science fiction story that feels like Treasure Planet meets Guardians of the Galaxy.  The heist plot is interesting and provides a nice hook, as well as a decent introduction to the cast of characters.  The humor and snappy dialogue stands out here, and while the large cast of characters can be somewhat overwhelming in such a short space, this story feels like a decent introduction to what is clearly a series.

If you are looking for hard SF, best to look elsewhere, but if you're looking for fun in a unique outer space setting, this might pique your interest.
4622434
The first book in this series was a nice space opera with enough intrigue to make the tale interesting without subsuming the character development.  This tale picks up where that one left off, only to drop some characters for the most part while it concentrates on the actual pirates who were mostly supporting characters in the first book.

and it works.

My main disappointment would be that the character development has been uneven and the author appears to love having secrets from his readers as many of the more interesting characters feel a bit unfinished as elements of their past and personality are kept hidden.

The action is good, if a bit long as the main "battle" takes up most of the second half off the book, but that is what the story builds toward, and while it does fell like it peaked a bit early, the story still felt rewarding when I finished.

I'm looking forward to a few more stories from this author
4577718
Interesting idea and exploration of space themes. Not a fan of his one dimensional female characters. Could have have done more and I couldn't get past them
4357907
This story takes place in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium universe.  After a great interstellar war the human colonies lost the technology to travel between the stars.  Finally one colony recovers and sets about rebuilding a single human empire, whether the other colonies want to join or not.

King David's Space ship starts out on Prince Samual's World.  These colonists were able to keep some knowledge of science.  When the story starts they are some where between an 1850 to 1900 level of technology.  The planet is fractured with several governments jostling for power.  The Empire helps King David start to reunite the planet.

One of King David's spy realizes that Prince Samual's World will be ruled by those of the empire, unless they can re-develop enough technology to launch a craft into space.  By being a "space going" colony they will still be bought into the Empire, but with a higher status and allowed more self government.

One of the Empire's men let slip that there is a library on a near by star system which might provide the means to build a space ship.  But time is tight.  They only have a year or two before the planet should be reunified and then bought into the Empire.  Our heroes rush off to Makassar to see what they can learn.

Will they make it?

This is a fun story.  It reads well.  I had trouble putting it down.  If you like classic Science Fiction with military battles and intrigues, then give this a book a try.
333438
Good: edited with some errors, nice steady action, and enjoyable. This is a standard space opera in that it has a "super" character as it's hero, who constantly defies the odds to succeed. The technology descriptions are there, but do not overwhelm. There is some violence, but it is comparably low for a military space opera. This is an adult only series in my opinion due to some of the upcoming bad issues. There is a post apocalyptic Earth twist in this book that is in many ways intriguing. I found the main character generally appealing, as are the computer AIs, but the vast cast of other characters was generally more confusing and much less interesting.

Bad and/or Problematic: the biggest issue here is the male fantasy fulfillment which overwhelms at times. Polygamy for the main character who is given essentially a harem who seduce him continually away from his reluctance. The author felt the need to describe most of the female characters physical assets repeatedly. The harem is full of teenaged and young 20s women, oh and they are mostly blond and petite. It is fairly heavy handed and unattractive to this reader. Second issue- as best I can tell every character is probably white based on descriptions and names. Odd given the majority of the book takes place in the SW and California in the US. Finally, I think this book is simply trying to mix together genres and push the story together and forward too quickly. Growing the cast of characters more slowly and moving forward at a more measured pace would have allowed for a lot more world building and more sympathy for the characters.

There is a lot that is good here! I truly hope the author will attempt to add more texture and depth to the sequel.
1463800
Average story with a slight twist on Einstein and WWII. It was okay.
3665323
I enjoy stories about space travel and warfare.  This is the story of 1 soldiers life and the story moves at a good pace with a lot of action.
1303552
Entertaining adventure with space as a back drop. Good story well written. I would like to read the next book in the series. However my preferred genre is hard science fiction. Which leads me to question. Why does a spacecraft need wings? What scientific principle does the space gate work on? Does it open up a worm hole?
549915
When it comes to Science Fiction, I prefer more science and technology -- really 'outer space', other planets and not too monstrous aliens.  I really don't care to read too much (detailed) erotica in my SF.  I read this short story on break at work and it was okay... a good premise, but not enough science and technology to suit me. The characters and story could have been expanded on more and the aliens could have been less disgusting.  The premise as suggested by the title was never really evidenced, but given the brevity of the story the author did a good job as such.  The way it ended seemed to me that Ms. Jeffers may have plans to continue the story; and if she does, I hope she gets someone with technical expertise to advise her on the aspects of space and technology.

Also, better editing and proofing -- I found a few issues with that.  Could do with less vulgarity, although only one word was used that I really do not care for.  All in all an okay short story.
4349758
Not bad as a space cowboy book, but some holes, and a little predictable, but as I noted some twists.  Lots of fanciful technologies (what else is sci-fi for?)
2784249
A nice pleasant read. Kind of peters out here and there but worth it. I'll be looking for future books in the series.

I will say the universe consistency (my pet bugaboo) needs work:
One example:
(small spoiler)
If a bomb went off on your ship, not having the bomb sensors find the rest until after the hero finds them by hand is odd. Saying (approximately) "now that we know what to look for, we're sure the sensors got them all" is pretty bad writing.

Several like that, but not a big deal.

I will say the whole "everyone is reasonable, everyone is nice" cultural vibe really doesn't jibe with a universe of space pirates and "YOU GET NO TRIAL CLONE SCUM" aliens. Kind of Canada meets Mad Max and the East German Stasi.
4154388
This space opera skewed a little close to a romance novel, which is not really my genre of choice. (Two enemy soldiers essentially fall in love at first sight, with the protagonist feeling overcome by her counterpart's rugged manliness.) If you can invest in that central relationship, it's a decent sci-fi action story with some appealing culture clash frictions, but I found myself struggling to make that leap. I'd also be remiss if I didn't give a trigger warning for a scene in which the novel's heroine is stripped, tortured, and threatened with rape. I know this is only the first book in a long ongoing saga, but I don't feel particularly drawn to read on any further on the strength of this one.
3812744
Pretty standard sci fi fare but I actually had some desire to see what would happen next. A bit slow moving for me with characters I never really came to know or like.  OK for a sci fi fix but not memorable.