I love good science fiction and looked forward to reading this ...
583393
I love good science fiction and looked forward to reading this "classic", unfortunately I found it dull, tedious and somewhat dated.  I generally always finish books I start, and I did, but it would have been easy to stop reading this one.  I recognize the novelty of using "free love" and religion within the context of the storyline, especially for the time it was written, certainly a likely factor in it's popularity, but despite some obvious sci-fi aspects it just did not seem much like science fiction.
4301582
Um, I love science fiction.  I did not love this book.  Good luck to the author.
932918
First off, I love the premise.  There is a plausible set-up for a young woman to travel the galaxy(ies?) with unlimited places to go and people to see and adventures to live through with the help of an anthropomorphic spaceship.  Then the adventures take off.
The friendly spaceship our heroine has hitched a ride on is an autopiloted repair vehicle with an agenda of its own, so our teen-age heroine at first goes along for the ride (to avoid a bill collection).  As various planets are visited and repairs are made we learn a lot about our girl's hard life, a mystery map her father left behind, her secret (and not so secret) enemies and very helpful friends (one of whom slips her a chip that greatly boosts the intelligence & abilities of her ship) and one by one the clues are laid out but...
Sadly the book ends before we can figure it all out.
Do I smell a sequel?  I hope so.
Meanwhile Adventures of a Space Bum is a rollicking good time, a yarn well spun, and I'll be one of the first to read the next in what I hope will be a series.
Although there are some sexy and violent scenes it is a great choice for Young Adults.
4344861
When I read the description of the story I thought: this sounds promising. Indeed it is a promising start but it was a somewhat difficult book to read. A lot of the book is, not surprisingly, spent on the initial world building. However this felt somewhat disorganized. It felt like it was jumping all over the place with different stories and characters and some of them did not really feel like they were going anywhere others felt like they were just skimping over major past events.

In general the book is quite good reading though. The different parts are well written individually. The starship action, how ships manoeuvre in space and how they fight is believable as is the technology, the way their FTL technology worked, and their weaponry.

In this first book I did not really get that much attachment to any of the characters. I think this was due to the world building and somewhat jumping around style the book was written in. I hope it will get better with the next book. I assume that we will be following the young prince somewhat closer in that one for instance.

The book is building up to a certain amount of stupid politics which gives me cause for some concern. I hope the next book doesnt go overboard in that area. That would really ruin the otherwise promising start.

In general this book makes me want to read the next one though.
2598359
The plot is steadfast enough to want to read the 3rd novel.  I decided to wait for the Aug 11 issue of the entire selection of novellas rather than piecemeal the 4 separate sections.  I do enjoy the story although this seems more like a space soap opera than a technical science fiction, not that I am complaining.  I am looking forward to more publications by Dalzelle.
920889
I recently heard someone gleefully saying how digital publishing had "...freed us from the Gatekeepers". In my opinion, like all too many self-published books, this one could have been great instead of just good with the input from just such a "gatekeeper". Starshine features great pacing, good dialogue, cool science and an engaging overall plot. The protagonist, Alexis Solovy, and her goals and conflicts are fully realized and the character deepens as the book moves along. Even more fascinating and well-realized is the character of Caleb. Unfortunately, I found the villains very two dimensional, especially Marcus. The lowest note is that apparently in the 23rd century, people are still saying, "My bad.", a colloquialism that no doubt will disappear as rapidly as "rad". A major disappointment too, which seems to be the trend as more and more writers are creating "series" books, is the complete lack of any ending or denouement, and over-reliance on a cliff hanger ending that forces you to go to the next book. The best series books I have always loved like Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" saga, Frank Herbert's "Dune" and even Asimov's classic, if dated "Foundation" books, all contained self-contained books with real endings and didn't rely on cliffhangers. I like a sense of completion and if the writing is good and characters are strong, don't need to be manipulated to buy the next book. I was frustrated enough by this alone, as well as the pale villains, that I doubt if I will go onto the next one.
2763014
This is a very hard review for me to write, as I both really liked this story and yet found certain aspects of this story not to my taste. The storyline was awesome. It was a very good sci-fi romance with great world and character building. The storyline was well done and flowed in a nice way and at a great pace.

What I had a hard time with were the occaisional missed/missing words in sentences, the choppy  sentence structure and writing style. I somehow got the feeling that it was originaly written in another language or that the writer has English as a second language- it had that kind of feel to it for some reason. Not bad, just different (and my friends who has ESL have better grammar than most native speakers so in no way is that a rotten tomato against the author). It felt like some things were lost in translation.

Over-all Ireally liked the book. Will I read another by this author? Oh, yes. In fact, I hope that the author is busy writing even as you read this. :)
4856734
First Impressions: I loved the premise of this book and I was hoping for a good, fun and scary read. I never heard of the author before, and I was little bit concerned that the language would be a bit off because it was original printed in another language besides English a few years ago, and then translated. I don't have very good luck with translated novels, but I loved the idea behind this story so much that I thought I would give it a try. What can I say? I am a science fiction nerd.

First 50 Pages: Now, if you are planning on reading 172 Hours on the Moon, be warned that you are going to have to put some of your basic logic aside and just sit back and be entertained. There are some plot holes that don't quite make sense and some things aren't explained as they should be. There are also way too many people trying to narrate this book and I wish the author would have left the narration up to the three teens, but there are extras. On a good note, the book seems to be well-written and translated properly, which is such a huge plus.

Characters & Plot: This book has a nifty plot line, with NASA deciding that they want to go back to the moon for their own mysterious reasons, but they also need to have public support in order to do so. As a way to gain interest in their newly acquired ambitions, they run a sort of contest. Teens between the ages of 14-18 in good health are able to fill out an application and three teens will be accepted to go to the moon with the crew. NASA tells the public that they have an interest in nanotechnology and they are searching for a new mineral that will advance research and development from America. But, that isn't the real reason that they want to go back to the moon.

The three teens that are chosen are Mia, Midori, and Antoine. Mia is a girl obsessed with her punk rock band whose parents enter her into the contest and they treat her like a child. Midori is a Japanese teen who is into Harajuku and spends absurd amounts of money on her costumes, but she dreams of fame and living in New York. Poor Antoine is desperate to get back the girl who just dumped him, and he hopes that by entering the contest he will be able to win her back and get his life on track. When all of the teens reach the moon along with the shuttle's crew, nothing goes as planned and bad things begin to happen. Needless to say, there was a very good reason why NASA stopped going to the moon in the first place, but all of the people who were originally there have been kept silent over the years.

Final Thoughts: I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters because there was very little development and I never got to know any of them very well. This book wasn't scary at all either like I had hoped it would be. The plot was also slow and not much happened for more than half of the book. However, the ending of 172 Hours on the Moon is completely killer and awesome and so unexpected. It was worth reading the whole book just to be able to read how the story ends.

This book lacks in a few areas, but it does have a great entertainment value. If you are looking for a fun, science fiction novel that isn't deep in any way, I would suggest looking more into this one.
1612751
This is a collection of short stories - not really interconnected, and there weren't any that sprung out at me and urged me to read more from the author or series, but they were good and kept me interested enough to finish the book.  I liked the series - I just didn't love it.  It's an interesting viewpoint of how our future may be, without going into the gritty grimy novels that have been the trend lately.  In a lot of ways, this reminds me of the older science-fiction - some of these stories lean more toward the "space opera" than the cybernetic/dystopian that is currently the trend.
3738544
I guess that I am still down about the possibility of no more Kate Shugak novels.  Dana Stabenow does a very good job of writing her science fiction series.  However I do not like this idea that there always has to be some alien sentient life that makes us look primitive and dependent on this so-called existence.  To me this is more into fantasy than science fiction.  But the book does show that life in space on artificial habitats can be very precarious especially during the first phases of conquering space our last frontier.
4688605
I enjoyed the story because I enjoy science fiction. The story kept my interest. I had some problems with editing which caused me confusion. I am friends with one of the editors and made her aware of some of the difficulties that I encountered.  I am very interested in the rest of the series and am excited to read it.  The language is strong, but I have no real problem, because that's the way people talk. I hope that Faris and Carline can get rid of the Invaders I'm looking forward to the next book.
4761077
I agree with all the points of the 2-star review, but thought it deserved a slightly higher rating. I too couldn't help but feel  as if this was just a first or second draft, and certainly not a final. There were too many unfinished thoughts or ones that should have had more depth. I thought that the premise was very good but the writing a bit stilted. I enjoyed the characters but thought that they could  certainly use a bit more depth. The science fiction part of the story definitely needed polishing and re-working. The other reviewer pointed out some very basic mistakes when writing sci-fi that need to be addressed. The romance was very sweet, and I loved the build-up.

Will I read the next one? Most certainly.  I really look forward to see more of the officers and their dating endeavors. That really piqued my interest! I really do want to read more about how these soldiers find their mates!.
1642081
I must confess that I had hoped for more of a Sci-Fi bent in this novel.  The story is engaging and moves quickly.
1093116
This review is for Momentary Stasis, the first book in a brand new trilogy by P.R. Adams. This book has multiple main characters, but it primarily follows Rimes, a soldier, a good guy, an imperfect human in an imperfect future dystopian world. Before I get into what I like versus what I think could have been done better, I think it's a good idea to explain from where my point of view originates. I love science fiction. I love classic authors as well as new authors. This new author shows great promise in his writing and carefully constructed storyline. I am not necessarily a fan of military fiction, but I found myself needing to continue reading because Adams took a military testosterone driven story and made the characters ones I cared about.
What I didn't care for: It left me wondering about the back story. There isn't enough in the way of explanation as to how the world became so dark, corrupt, and globally reorganized. Mega corporations are not a new concept, but the storyline could have injected a bit more in the way of a background, perhaps even in a brief preface that gave some clarity.  Those issues are minor and would have merely enhanced the story, in my opinion.
What I liked: P.R. Adams did a good job creating a mood. The world is grim, challenging, and often confusing. It's difficult to know who can be trusted. Rimes is a heroic man's man who is a bit too good at his job and sucks at being a husband. His wife comes off as being rather inconsequential to the storyline, but adds to her husband's story. I thought the genies (genetically engineered) were interesting and plausible. Accelerated healing, the ability to go longer without sleep, and similar strides in medicine fit perfectly into the time. The corruption in the government, and other powers that be, also fit with the overall mood and experience of the book.
Now that I made this sound boring and dry, it is anything but those things. A couple of times I found myself slightly lost, but quickly realized the changed setting of the story. It's full of intrigue, fights, twists, turns, and "oh crap" moments. I really enjoyed this first book and I need to find out what happens next. This is an author to watch for sure.
1757533
I'm preparing myself to read the second book. I love the mix of interstellar science and fiction in this dystopia.
1544510
I loved the universe, and would read another but the stories hear lacked the depth and  excitement I typically expect from Kim Stanley  Robinson
2263148
Good story even though it needs more editing and less pseudo-scientific lecturing.

Science fiction should be believable, and hard core science action perhaps does need long technical descriptions of scientific principles that don't yet exist and probably never will.
But this book is mostly space opera and the long descriptions of imaginary science are out of place and thus both detracting and boring.
I enjoyed the story despite this; but the preview chapter of the next book in the series is so ridiculously pseudo-scientific that I won't continue.
For a good lesson in how the technical aspects can be described really well in sci-fi, look at the "April" series by Mackey Chandler.

As well as editing out too much pseudo-science, the many misused homonyms should be corrected. A few examples:
- discrete peck on the cheek (should be discreet)
- human causalities (should be casualties)
- the principles almost never objected (should be principals)