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Some scenes were entirely unexpected and some felt like an age old cliche. Overall, pretty decent.
http://dms.booklikes.com/post/382211/...
Not a bad read, but hardly memorable. A simple sci - fi story with a strong Buddhist bent to it. I wouldn't recommend.
I have now read several of Eric Brown's science fiction novels and at least three of them this year alone and there is not a bad one among them. He tells wonderful stories of redemption and adventure with strong characterization and plot. And the bonus to my copy is several short stories written in the Engineman universe which introduce some different characters and tells more of the backstory to one of the semi-major characters in the novel. I may just get one more of his books read this year;
A good book, but it felt... unfinished.
I haven't read a book by Eric Brown that I haven't enjoyed and this was another example. It seemed to start off a little slowly initially, but ramped up sufficiently to a nice pace that wasn't overly fast, either, but comfortable. The ending came on a little too fast, though, and I seem to remember feeling like this about Penumbra, another of Brown's books. The story was also slightly light on action, for me. Still good, but a bit more would've earned it another point.The guts of the story is re...
Buddhist terrorists save nirvana from entropy while longing for death.A squalid bunch of pleasure seeking addicts meander about, led by an evil genius to change society. This is a fairly naked tract, overlaid with story elements, though goodness me these Buddhists don't seem like very nice people. The plot is rather laboured and unconvincing, the writing is just about ok, but the glory of space flight is never sold to the reader very well. Cynical Grainger in Brian Stableford's Hooded Swan novel...
Although it read well, the plot was underwhelming. I kept waiting for a twist to make it interesting, but it never arrived. The extreme changes of heart of at least two major characters were never really justified, the overarching enemy never appeared, and one character returned from the dead just to do some exposition and then was dropped completely.
Engineman created a very interesting universe, which I found very intriguing. The idea that there's a real afterlife which is also the medium by which FTL travel happens is interesting. The characters and the narrative definitely pulled me along. My only criticism is that the chapters for such a short novel felt overlong, and I was constantly having to finish in the middle of them.
Ok, 2 1/2 stars so a D+/C- for the engaging style that kept me reading the novel, though I lost patience with the stories that follow and are set in its milieu; the book shows its age and even 15+ years ago it would have been a mediocre mid-list sf, today it is dated to boot.Talk, talk and talk in one thread; the other starts intriguing and then it goes in "Red Hood and the Wolf" mode with girl lost among bad guys - just like that and losing all suspension of disbelief.Penumbra which deals with
The novel that makes up the first two-thirds of this book is thoroughly enjoyable...the nine short stories also good, but they become a bit repetitive towards the end. Interesting universe, thoughtfully created characters. I will look for more from Eric Brown!
I liked the characterisations and the basic concepts, my only criticism is that is ending is oversimplistic. The characters are well drawn and Brown gives you the backstory at just the right time for the reader to enjoy the ebb and flow of the story. The basic concept the book is based on is an imagined furure where spaceships lose out to a new form of transport, just as trains were superseded by planes and cars. This has incredible effects on the engineman with the loss of status and the adrena...
It was weird but I started reading the novel and thought I've already read this (probably started it a while back and forgot I didn't get very far). So I ended up reading the short stories and they really engaged me. Went back and read the novel and really liked it. Ok, its clichéd at times and most of the ideas seem as if they are lifted from other books, however I sped through it and enjoyed it probably to the same degree as a good popcorn flick at the movies. Don't expect to engage your brain...
The core problem with this book for me was that none of the characters were at all interesting to me. They were all standard cyberpunk characters, none of whom I found at all compelling. Add to that a core plot lifted prety much directly from Dan Simmons's Hyperion/Endymion series, and it was quite disapointing.Not recommended.
I picked this up in work, must have been in the mid-nineties, and it sat unread on my bookshelves, until last month. It's a pretty good read, and I was struck at the start by the similar theme to Cordwainer Smith's 'Scanners Live in Vain' - people who'd once been essential to space travel but were now effectively made obsolete by technological changes.
