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The Hidden Worlds #2

The Cold Minds

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After the Earth was destroyed by ruthless machine intelligences known as the Cold Minds, the remnants of the human race sought refuge on the Hidden Worlds. Now, after six centuries of safety, the horrors of the past have returned to finish the extermination....

Renegade jump pilot Iain sen Paolo and Linnea Kiaho know that the Cold Minds have found humanity again. To fight back, they need to recruit jump pilots. But the secretive Pilot Masters guard their knowledge -- and their ships -- jealously. They refuse to admit that the Cold Minds have returned tor that anyone not of their number could possess the ability to fly a jump ship. Now Linnea must prove the Pilot Masters wrong.

On the run and desperately searching for allies to oppose the Cold Minds, Linnea and Iain face near-impossible odds. But they know that somehow, someway, they must succeed--or humanity itself will become extinct....

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 24, 2008

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46 people want to read

About the author

Kristin Landon

9 books9 followers
(From "About the Author" on her website)
A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, Kristin Landon has been reading science fiction since the age of seven, when she discovered H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds in the school library. Love of SF led to a love of science, and she earned a degree in chemistry and worked as a research lab technician for a number of years, before following her talent for writing and editing into a new career in technical publishing. In addition to her novel writing, she works as a freelance copyeditor of medical, scientific, and technical books.

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5 stars
8 (14%)
4 stars
17 (29%)
3 stars
20 (35%)
2 stars
11 (19%)
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1 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for CJ - It's only a Paper Moon.
2,322 reviews159 followers
January 20, 2010
This book is a continuation of the first book and if you are dying to know the plot you should read the back of the book and my previous review of the first book.

Moving on, the characters are slowly but surely growing but what bugs me is that there is very little, almost no, communication between the two - so how can they be together, yet alone love each other, is beyond me. Their relationship is realistic enough that even though they are unsure of each other and their emotions, they gravitate toward one another even if they have been away for several months - so again, just like the first book, there is something promising here; a rekindling of what once was lost.

There are a lot of themes in this book; family being the biggest - what is like to be born into a family and what it is like to choose your family, loyalty - to have and to have lost and hope - how to reach for and give up. Linnea and Iain have been through a lot and they have a lot more to go through but at least by the end of the book they are slowly growing together.

This is not a romance as you think it might be. There are romantic themes but these people are damaged. Imagine two SVU victims, or Criminal Minds victims, that were abused by the same people but somehow find genuine feelings for each other and how they grow out of their pain and fear and toward embracing their feelings. Grim, bleak and stark this book is a stripped despairing version of Linnea Sinclair's awesome books and just a touch of Sheri S. Tepper's arguments against a patriarchal and destructive society.
Profile Image for Joe.
117 reviews10 followers
November 11, 2008
Nothing special. Space drama with AI murdering humanity and elitist bigots in control of the spice - I mean space travel.
Profile Image for Wendy.
89 reviews12 followers
July 4, 2008
Iain sen Paolo and Linnea Kiaho are two renegade jump pilots that are set on recruiting jump pilots. They know it's only a matter of time before the Cold Minds, that ruthless machine intelligence, try to take over the Hidden Worlds. But thing is that neither Iain nor Linnea have the resources needed for new pilots, especially considering that the Pilot Masters, those secretive ones that rule the jumping world, don't want them to succeed. The Pilot Masters also refused to admit that there's a possibility that the Cold Minds could return, they naively think that'll never happen. They also jealously guard their ships and don't want anyone not of their bloodline piloting them.
When the unthinkable, at least to the Pilot Masters, happen and the Cold Minds try to take over yet again, it's up to Linnea and Iain to fight them, and try to get the Pilot Masters help because they unfortunately can't do it alone.

So while on the run, desperately searching for new pilots and usable ships, and with impossible odds on their side, they have to try to save their worlds. Will Iain and Linnea succeed? Or will humanity become extinct?

The Cold Minds was a really enjoyable read. At first I was a bit lost because I hadn't read The Hidden Worlds before and there were some things I just didn't understand. For example, Iain and Linnea's relationship - are they just friends or something else? At times, it seems like they're much more but that isn't known until the end of the book. I thought the way the Cold Minds were projected was really great.
The idea that these eerily intelligent, emotionless beings could exist is intriguing and yet scary.

Both Linnea and Iain were really nicely developed characters. Yes, they had their flaws - did they ever! - But it just helped make them more human and I enjoyed their interaction with each other. At times though, I didn't know what to think about them. Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Cold Minds; it's a thrilling sci-fi story.
Profile Image for Linda C.
2,507 reviews4 followers
October 7, 2016
I didn't read book 1 of the trilogy but was able to get enough world building to understand this space opera. The cold minds are intelligent nanobots who have taken over Earth centuries earlier. Human survivors have established new homes on various planets with a Line of protectors that are a secret society called Pilot Masters. Iain san Paolo is an exiled pilot and Linnea Kiaho is his former servant whom he trained as a pilot. The Cold Minds have come again seeking humans. Iain and Linnea are busy training pilots and building ships to protect the Hidden Worlds. When the enemy comes in force and the Pilot Masters are forced from their sanctuary, a new battle and reluctant allies must work together to save the. Good story and interesting premise.
28 reviews
October 21, 2008
Better than the first one, The Hidden Worlds, with pacing and plot much improved. Good characters, and surprises! Looking forward to more from Landon, who is learning her craft quickly.
Profile Image for Dianne.
102 reviews
March 9, 2009
those who pilot spaceships have an unusual and insular culture in this book, that is disrupted when vampire-like nanobots invade.
Profile Image for Theresa.
279 reviews12 followers
May 7, 2013
ugggg not what I expected
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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