If you love sci-fi, you will love this
588112
The third in Cixin's mindblowing series.  If you love sci-fi, you will love this series
3083006
The first sci-fi book I read as a kid was Foster's "The End of the Matter", probably because of the facinating blue pear shaped alien on the cover.  I think I could hardly have picked a better sci-fi book to start off with. The Flinx novels have been consistently creative, extremely well written, and a lot of fun to read.  The alien worlds are inventive and vividly detailed, the characters are typically believable and interesting, and Foster's Commonwealth is a remarkably optimistic universe which is thankfully free of modern sci-fi literature's cliche's.. (governments that aren't entirely corrupt, religions that aren't singlemindedly dedicated to ignorance and superstition, corporations that aren't just out to rape and pillage??)
Unfortunately, this particular novel seems more like a filler.  It reads more like the first couple of chapters of one of the better books in the series.  You are waiting for the real focus of the story to emerge, then suddenly find yourself with only twenty pages left in the book to read.  Worse yet, you discover that instead of the characteristic inventiveness of other books in the series, you are treated to some particularly non-inventive (though larger in scale) elements in this storyline.
At the end you are left wondering what happened to the rest of the book, and why Foster seemed to have cut short the story and constructed a rather quick ending that left it feeling unresolved.  Perhaps he had another more interesting project on the line and had to wrap this one up right away.
In any case, the book is fun and readable, and taken as an interim transition to a more interesting forthcoming story sometime in the future (hopefully), it's not bad.  If you're a fan of the series you're sure to like it, though you'll definitely be left a little unsatisfied.
175150
I read this book because it was on the NPR Top 100 List and it was in the library.  I've been going through the list and finding some pleasant surprises, and this was definitely one of them.  This is science fiction for intelligent people - I would call it "hard core" sci-fi - and truly an outstanding vision of the universe (galaxy?) - original, interesting, and almost believable.  The concept of the different zones and the discovery of the Blight was brilliant, and the desciption of Relay and the other worlds was truly outstanding.

The only weakness of the book was frankly the "Tines", the dog-like creatures, who were frankly repellent in too many ways for me to be captivated by them.  Howver, the Skroderiders, stalk-like alien creatures, were done exceptionally well.  Any flaws in the book are more than made up for by the description of the galaxy and the whole "universe-view" which was really just overwhelmingly excellent.  It's difficult to find sci-fi of this high level of near-genius creativity and quality.

One more thing - don't give up on the book - the first 50 pages or so are very difficult - Vigne shows without explaining - I would recommend once you're half-way through the book, go back and reread the first 3 or 4 chapters - it's amazing - the first time you read them you can't understand a word but after you've been half-way though and go back you understand them perfectly.  Either you like books like that or you don't, I happen to like them.  Anyway, it's not science-fiction for the faint hearted, but it is highly rewarding to the intelligent science fiction reader.
2468557
I picked this book up for only a few dollars, and I didn't really expect a ton from it. I read a lot of sci-fi, but not much "fantasy," so this was a new experience for me.

In short, this book is fantastic. It has a very unique charm that most books do not. First, it's written to resemble writings from the Victorian period, a bit odd at first, but it grows on you. Secondly, Ms. Clarke sets up a very intricate, rich and complex mythology for her England. As it is set during the Napoleonic wars, the historical context offers a very clever way to incorporate her new myths into the world of Mr Norrell and Mr. Strange.

The characters are very well fleshed out, as is the plot. Which takes me to my next point. As the world of the book is so rich, it takes a while for the author to get into the story. I completely appreciated it, however, as the complex universe that she built was very interesting and grandiouse - much like Herbert w/ Dune. So, just like the title of this review, once you get through the first 350 pages, the book is brilliant. It's fun, interesting, exciting and dramatic. A must read - if you're patient!
546321
I love science fiction. Ive been reading it ever since discovering Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarkes apocalyptic vision of the future, at the age of eleven. The idea of robots and A.I. transcending human development is one that has excited and terrified all of us ever since the Singularity became a distinct possibility. We already have much of the nanotechnology described in this novel. Dean C. Moore has taken the concept that bit further and created the most incredible kaleidoscopic adventure ride out of it. I loved this novel for that reason. It is clever, funny, fast-paced and utterly improbable... or is it? Interweaving a complex plot and a cast of equally complex characters, blurring the lines between robot and human, the book throws up important questions about where the future is heading, as well as offering an intriguing story full of sub-plots. One thing that stands out is the authors wit and humour. It is this that makes the sometimes unlikely scenarios a little easier to imagine. At times it was all a bit too much, especially when it came to scenes of violence, and I felt I needed to take a break from it, so in that sense it didn't engage me as much as it might otherwise have done. For that reason only Im giving the novel 4 stars  but I nevertheless highly recommend it, and will read anything else by Dean C. Moore with confidence. He is definitely an accomplished writer to watch.
4520006
I received a bunch of great scifi suggestions from my post The Best Science Fiction Books of All Time. One of them was Wool Omnibus Edition (Wool 1 - 5) which I gobbled down the past two days. The writer, Hugh Howey, has an inspirational arc which, if I ever get into writing scifi, I hope I follow.

I love post-apocalyptical Earth stories that just dump you into the middle, take off like a shot, and leave it to you to catch up as you slowly piece together what is going on. After a while, you get caught up to the current time and start trying to figure out how we got there. In the case of Wool, Howey stays one step ahead of you, feeding a little big of history a few pages before you need it, which gets you thinking down a new path for a while until just before you need a little more history, at which point he gives it to you.

After a hundred pages, I couldn't put it down. We had friends staying over and I ended up on the couch, in a discussion, but sneaking pages when the conversation shifted away from me.

As I like to write no-spoiler book reviews, I loved the metaphor of the silo. If very effectively grounds the reality of the world that its citizens inhabit, while leaving open a series of horizontal questions about what the entirety of the world actually is. This doesn't get answered in the first five books (which is what you get with the Omnibus edition) but the world does expand well beyond the silo.

I especially love the juxtaposition of politics (the mayor and the sheriff), IT, and mechanical in the arc of the story. Each of the three of these categories of people play critical roles and Hugh mines them extraordinarily well.

I've got book 6 and 7 on my Kindle. I'm going to read them after I read Rainbow's End.
3704281
I love sci-fi tv and movies, but hadn't read a science fiction novel in 2-3 years, much less one as sizable as this one as I always kind of dread committing myself to reading books with hundreds of pages. However, a writer friend of mine had an old Battlefield Earth paperback on her couch one day when I was visiting and I picked it up while she was on the phone and started to read the first couple of pages. To me, it seemed a style of writing curiously much richer and immersive than that which I could compare it to in my personal sci-fi reading history. Immediately, I mean less than 2 pages in, the characters seemed so rich and real that it seemed as if I was in the room with them, one of the psychlo miners there in the scene. I was hooked. Now, it did take me 2 months to finish the book, I mean, who has time to sit down and read these days, but I'm glad I did as it really did transport me into a world far more satisfying than a trip to the local cinema to see the latest sci-fi film does. I get it now. This book re-ignited my interest in science fiction novels and I'd heartily recommend it.
4882106
If you like Sci-fi but also yearn for a well written book this is it. The pace is nonstop but the writing is smart and beautiful. I want to read it every day forever.
3369233
Cities in Flight by James Blish found me at the corner drug store while I was looking for a paperback SciFi book to read.  It called to me and I picked it off the rack and, like I have done throughout my life, I just opened it to somewhere in the middle and began to read.  And, almost instantly, I was captivated by the scene and I purchased the book.

The other reviewers have mentioned, correctly, that Blish's works are steeped in the 50's, and you'll find many clear and perhaps more fuzzy allegorical descriptions of his future which have direct ties to our past.  One of my favorites, not a spoiler, is the Emperor of Space, one Alois Hrunta.

Needless to say, I couldn't put the book down.  And during that great sweep of time in high school while so many of my friends were going on and on about Frodo and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, I, if asked what I was into, beyond my usual historical fare, would answer James Blish's Cities in Flight series and rave about the four books included in this terrific compendium.  And I would wax poetic about the grim future illustrated so clearly in his works.
Rather than blather on, let me finish with this: Blish called it right as he described the heat death of the Universe, our "Ginnangu Gap" in Icelandic. I'm sure you're all aware that a growing number of cosmologists and astrophysicists have found, beginning with Saul Perlmutter, who received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae, that the Universe will eventually expand at ever faster speeds to eventual darkness and heat death.

I urge you to read Cities in Flight, James Blish's magnum opus.  It's great science fiction reading.  Every few years when I need it's fix, I'll start it, then soon I'll begin reading faster and faster, and soon find, as I always do, that I just can't put it down.  Much like the expansion of the universe has got you... under it's thumb.

When you've finished it, you'll be able to critique every other sci fi book from a particular era.
588271
Believe it or not, I am into Sci-Fi and HIstory, but this author is incredible!  You'll love this book!
4042815
This is, without -any- doubt, the best sci-fi I've -ever- read. It has all the necessities of a good sci-fi; heroes, political comment, myriad of alien races, great characters, fantastic technology and a fascinating story. And above all, the story is -awesome-.
2577139
Buy it, you will not regret it! One of the best sci-fi books I have read. I can not wait for book two in this series.
843705
Absolutely wonderful hard sci-fi. Liked the nanofic format, too.
4727587
The first half of the book is simply amazingly well done. The second half has its slow moments but ends strong. If you love space and you love sci fi... This book can not be missed and is totally worth a read.
4553042
I love a good sci-fi novel, and this book absolutely fits the bill! The setting is feels familiar and entirely new, as does the story, and I highly recommend it. In particular, I enjoyed the worldbuilding--the San Francisco of the future is both slick and gritty, and the everyday details are effortless, which makes everything seem all the more realistic.
4556829
Wow.  This was one of those books you start, not knowing if you will like it or not, then you find yourself devouring it at the same time praying it will last just a little longer!  That said, some authors draw the plot out, take annoying diversions, etc.., but this author was disciplined and hewed to the story while keeping the interest level high. The way he moves the plot forward in time without making leaps that disassociate you form characters left behind is masterful.  I just finished a series where the author was not good at this, and the gaps of years were jarring - not so here.  The world building was excellent - second to none and if you are a hard core sci-fi fan of heavy tech, then you will love all the astrophysics.  Just enough to ground the plot, not so much that you feel overwhelmed and are trudging through those part. Highly recommended!  I am looking for ore from this author.
2395632
I picked this book up at San Diego Comic-Con 2012. I had the good fortune of getting to speak with creator Drew Gaska about it. It was all kind of a whim, but he seemed like a smart guy with cool sci-fi ideas, and it wasn't until I got back to my hotel and actually read the book that I realized how good it was.

The tl;dr version is: This is a great graphic novel and you should get it. The art's lovely, the ideas are sound, it's well-written, and you'll be entertained past what you pay for it.

The long version: This book is set in the far future. North America's long since been bombed off the map, and is now mostly a submerged, irradiated, ozone-depleted water wasteland. India is the current world power with a few other still-intact Asian nations nipping at their heels, and white people are an oppressed minority. (If it sounds kind of hokey, perhaps the most surprising part is that it isn't, somehow. No small feat.)

A young Mr. Coney has just inherited a few trillion dollars, making him incredibly wealthy while also being incredibly headstrong. He's approached by a group of scientists who point out that, given how used-up the planet is at this stage in human development, Humanity as a whole has maybe 200 years to go before they simply run out everything and the entire race is screwed; maybe, with this young man's virtually-limitless capital, they could develop a Faster-Than-Light drive worth a damn, to the point where the species could be moved off-world via one method or another and humanity can continue to exist?

That's the overarching goal. The reality swirls around fun ideas like what happens when you entrust a 17 year old both with an incredible fortune and with ensuring the survival of the human species. Without getting into spoilers, interesting things happen and it's a fun ride seeing where the story goes from the initial setup.

There's a lot of fun sci-fi ideas at play in this book, and they're all given a lot of room to breathe. Some jokes hit harder than others, but they all fit and it all flows together very well. It's more of a human drama with a hard sci-fi topping than a book that focuses in on the science, but the concepts presented are at least as sound as your average fan-vetted page of a Star Trek wiki. It won't hold up to HARD hard science but there's at least an attempt made at realism which is appreciable. FTL travel is achieved through gravitational slingshotting via artificial black holes as opposed to "press magic button, go fast", for example.

All in all, this is top shelf stuff, I loved it, and I can't wait for more.

Unfortunately, we're probably waiting until 2015 until more exists. I bought this in 2012, it's 2014 now, and there's only vague hints that the planned future volumes may materialize somewhere down the line. This shouldn't discourage you from picking up this volume -- if anything, it should ENcourage you on the off chance that means this series gets completed faster/at all -- but just be aware that if you're like me and make it to the end of this book craving more, you're going to be waiting a bit.