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Terradox #1
Terradox
They were heading for Venus. Somewhere else found them first…
When a sudden and inexplicable impact sends a spacecraft bound for a distant research station hurtling towards a previously unseen and equally inexplicable planet, responsibility for the safety of its inexperienced passengers immediately falls on Ivy ‘Holly’ Wood, a former poster-child of the public space program now fleeing Earth’s tyrannical leadership.
The mysterious planet’s startlingly Earth-like atmosphere initially breeds optimism among Holly’s group of stranded survivors, but before long it becomes clear that Earth’s rules don’t apply and that nothing can be taken for granted.
With all hopes of escape dependent on discovering the true nature of this increasingly hostile planet, Holly and the rest of the desperate survivors know only one thing for sure: their newly discovered world will not give up its secrets without a fight.
When a sudden and inexplicable impact sends a spacecraft bound for a distant research station hurtling towards a previously unseen and equally inexplicable planet, responsibility for the safety of its inexperienced passengers immediately falls on Ivy ‘Holly’ Wood, a former poster-child of the public space program now fleeing Earth’s tyrannical leadership.
The mysterious planet’s startlingly Earth-like atmosphere initially breeds optimism among Holly’s group of stranded survivors, but before long it becomes clear that Earth’s rules don’t apply and that nothing can be taken for granted.
With all hopes of escape dependent on discovering the true nature of this increasingly hostile planet, Holly and the rest of the desperate survivors know only one thing for sure: their newly discovered world will not give up its secrets without a fight.
551 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 21, 2017
660 people are currently reading
402 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
June 23, 2017
?….well, it was $ 0.99, I was wanting to try some modern Sci-Fi, all I had to do was push a button on my Kindle.
You get to imagine a neat planet, a neat spaceship, and a neat other spaceship that orbits Venus. You also get to imagine some neat alien plants and some really neat technology. But don’t think about the technology too much, b/c then it might get unrealistic and you will become cynical about the story.
I didn't hate it. I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time or money. It wasn’t an awful book by any means. It’s just not something you will probably be discussing with others who have read it. You’ll say: “ Hey I just read Terradox.” And you friend will say, “Oh yeah, I read that too”. And that’ll be it…….
You get to imagine a neat planet, a neat spaceship, and a neat other spaceship that orbits Venus. You also get to imagine some neat alien plants and some really neat technology. But don’t think about the technology too much, b/c then it might get unrealistic and you will become cynical about the story.
I didn't hate it. I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time or money. It wasn’t an awful book by any means. It’s just not something you will probably be discussing with others who have read it. You’ll say: “ Hey I just read Terradox.” And you friend will say, “Oh yeah, I read that too”. And that’ll be it…….
July 31, 2017
Overall it's a good well-written story...but i feel the brilliant premise of Terradox aka Romosphere was squandered by unnecessary exposition about politics and i could only agonize at the possibilities this story could've explored.
Even though the characters were stranded, the threat to their lives didn't come across as strongly as it could've been particularly since they were stuck at a completely unknown place in the universe. And the ending came far too easily. I kept on waiting for a final twist, a final stroke of genius from the villain but that never came.
Even though the characters were stranded, the threat to their lives didn't come across as strongly as it could've been particularly since they were stuck at a completely unknown place in the universe. And the ending came far too easily. I kept on waiting for a final twist, a final stroke of genius from the villain but that never came.
Read
September 2, 2023Rating: minus 5
I have to bring this review up to my new format, improve spelling and make some other changes to appease my sensitive mental fanboys (Cancelorettes) of the fascistic variety. You would think they were more concerned about editing, etc in their beloved fiction than that of an anonymous reader's reviews. We were wrong, You and I.
Before going further, I am going to visit YouTube to settle the nerves. This was made possible by Cinzia Dubois, Ode to Joy Flashmob, TriAngulum. Lisa Watson, Holy Cow, Quinn's Ideas, IWriterly, TheJuiceMedia, The Escapist, Bernadette Banner, Verilybitchie, The How and Why of Mathematics, Ben G Thomas, Truth to Power, Extinction Rebellion UK, Lily Alexandre, Lore Reloaded, Kazachka, ThePrimeChronus, History with Kayleigh, May Moon Narrowboat, Snappy Dragon, Alt Shift X, Sheer Stitchery, Cecilia Blomdahl, Two Bit DaVinci, Potential History.
When I began my rewrites, I noticed that a "rogue" Goodreads tech does not "Allow" me to see other reviewers, does not "Allow" me to see commenter's names, will not "Allow" me to remove my last lurker and sometimes grays out like buttons. I finally removed all lurkers but one. The same rogue tech removed my ability to remove Dr Susan Hamilton (a Maths professor at University of Tennessee?). She posted nothing for the two years since her friend request, could not be reached by phone and has not responded to five requests to unfriend me. I wonder if she is a real girl or just a computer record inserted as a favour to someone. I hope that it is not because she is fascinated by my reviews. I am just not that interesting, as my siblings all agree. 🤗
My first problem with this book is a failing common to current low end science fiction, a deficiency in the depth and plausibility of the background universe. In short, bad world building. The lack of good world building can only result from two sources, either ignorance or lack of imagination (usually both as far as I can determine). I assign laziness and stupidity to the imagination category. Before writing a story, I thought that you need to imagine the setting, the society and the social structures in which the society is embedded. I was wrong, at least as it involves US publishers and their editors.
The history in the story is very thin and based on a misunderstanding of state power. There is also no accounting for the probability of the rejection of such an unbelievable usurpation by a powerless agency of the authority of state actors (who actually have independent funding and national militaries) and also financially support this agency. If I were tempted to accept this premise, I would expect to read a logical, if insane explanation for this departure from reality.
The villain is a nameless bureaucrat in the UN, which must be the most useless and impotent intergovernmental structure to have ever existed. He convinced existing governments to step aside (while retaining their own militaries and governmental power), while his "brown shirt" thugs are secretly recruited to terrorize populations with no authorization. I imagine that I am to consider it plausible that the UN budgeteers did not notice the line item (Support for Secret Army of Eco-Terrorist Thugs) in their annual financial reports. Further the reader is supposed to consider that all national governments agreed that giving up their authority was a good idea. I.know from some reviews of this book, that there are American readers who think that it sounds plausible. To them I can only suggest that they consider that US President Obama blocked a UN request (2011 or thereabouts) to do an examination of the US prison system concerning human rights violations with a simple "No".
The above covers the entire world building. I have seen the same "nameless bureaucrat" mentioned in campaign clips of every euro skeptic political party in Europe. It is also the biggest concern of the anti-US government US patriots (only in america). They are afraid of the limited (almost non-existent) authority of international agencies operating under direction of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council.They are not concerned with the subordination of the needs of citizens by the UN's constituent governments to the protection of corporations, shareholders, commercial property owners and other real world villains
The political basis for the book seems to be that international rules-based capitalism is not the issue. Working people, not the economic elites and their industries are the threat to the environment. After reading his book, I certainly plan to shutdown my mining company, close my oil extraction facilities, close my fossil fuel aircraft and land vehicle manufacturing plants, as we all will probably do.
It is claimed in the book that democracy consists of voting for one of two candidates. These are both chosen by financial interests, who are then responsible for policies which do not improve the lives of their citizenry but do protect the profits of the rich. That is not a compelling argument for either that limited description of democracy or for retaining capitalism. That is a Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and every other libertarian approved societal analysis. It also happens to be a major thread in the Neoliberal narrative explaining the limited role of government and the value of "freedom of choice". To think that some readers think that books of fiction are not political.
The one evil overlord could not exist but if he were to, no scandal is going to be widely broadcast. How would it and by whom? Any government exercise control over corporate media, especially in democracies simply by suggesting approved narratives when needed. Publishing corporations do not and will not print stories blaming capitalism or the fact that stock and bond market health do not translate into a good standard of living for the non-wealthy. The book insists that an authoritarian government has less power than a democratic one? China, Russia and North Korea must be democratic wonderlands.
The whistleblowers have no audience with the ability to remove the evil overlord. State power at present is distributed across 192 or so countries but in the book they no longer exist (sort of), so who is going to remove him. They still exist (sort of) and have militaries which this United Nations dictator does not (?). In this book, the one global government has no power and is led by a green activist. There is no electorate and no voting but there are governments still. These governments are not concerned with corporate profits or bond and stock markets?? The economic elites of the countries concerned, are powerless to protect their wealth??
If the governments were that ineffectual, I would expect that the leader could only be deposed by the various militaries. If dissatisfied, those military leaders would then divide the spoils amongst themselves. Case closed. The people have no influence on the real world or this book, so the overlord cares about a scandal why? The basis for all the subterfuge is removed by logic and historical example.
I need to clear my mind on YouTube again. This next was brought to you by Baltic Empire, Perun, The Dadvocate, Fantasy and World by the Fletchers, Emperor Tiger Star, The British Museum, It's Black Friday, Mia Mulder, Sort of Interesting, Dark Skies, Dark Seas, Kelly Loves Physics and History, Make Better Media, Dominic Noble, Acollierastro, Irish Dancing Flashmob, Evelyn Wood, TheClosetHistorian, Engineering Knits, Engineering with Rosie, StatQuest, Jacobin, Malinda, The Historian's Craft, Abney Park, The Budget Museum, Planarwalker, Cold Fusion, Lily Simpson, Miniminuteman.
These low end fictions are not political at all, unless..., unless...., unless this background was a blatant expression of an oft repeated simplistic fantasy. No, not possible because fiction is not political or so commenters have told me. Pandering and wilful ignorance really should be illegal.
The dissatisfaction of many readers probably starts with that subconscious recognition that this world is not plausible. Followed immediately by the realization that it requires all the contradictions used to support it. It all combines to destroy the ability to immerse themselves in the story.
A well written main character does not by itself carry the novel. The emotional connection attenuated with each additional obviously silly challenge, silly minor character conflict, each contrivance and of course the almost unavoidable plot holes. The dictator does not kill or imprison low level traitors, instead he ships them to a luxury space station. The dystopia first began with a secret villain bent on destroying the human race to save the planet, while simultaneously very concerned about his reputation. I have seen this same misunderstanding of geopolitics in many more badly written novels, science fiction and other.
National sentiment is a powerful force. I recently saw a video taken by a phone of two Ukrainian infantry women cleaning and reloading their weapons in a trench while singing "Bella Ciao". It was mid morning but the trench softened the light and the irony of that song in reference to attacking the Russian forces, was devastating. Knowledge of what they could expect if their trench were overrun and/or they were captured was both inspiring and profoundly sad. The song ended as they began checking their grenades.
That one video encapsulated a culture's refusal to die quietly. It revealed a military that despite its donated mix of camouflage and weapons from two dozen foreign militaries, had chosen a battlefield that was a good place to kill the enemy in numbers enough to allow the liberation of millions of fellows awaiting the return of their soldiers into occupied territories with blue and yellow armbands and armored fighting vehicles bearing the white cross of their nation.
The armored columns imagined in the background, were readying to launch another counterattack to save their millennia long heritage, their language and their children from extinction A cell phone communicated a more complete world picture than that of more than a thousand science fiction titles including this book, which I have attempted to read over the last four years. This background universe just does not allow for that picture, not could it.
😐 My rant. I always imagined that the purpose of all fiction was to celebrate life, challenge the dark, encourage hope and maybe, just maybe remind adults of the empathy left behind in childhood. That is my definition of entertainment. To paraphrase the Chinese, it seems that "a picture is worth a thousand pages". It would be useful and satisfying on many levels if more science fiction writers were to commit to attempt at least, the world building that is the foundation of all fiction but especially science fiction. Rant ends. 🙂
US publishers have set the bar for low end US science fiction so low, that with no overt misogyny or attacks on the working class, the writer almost earned a rating of minus 2 from me. Amazon do sell the better science fiction titles but with prices of ebooks as high as that of hardbacks. The poor writing quality and always political storytelling has put me off most US print. I have moved to streaming services and watch my science fiction rather than read it at the moment. YouTube also host a number of short film channels of which DUST and Omeleto are best known to me. The writing for both meduar is usually better and almost always more entertaining. Netflix also have a large science fiction collection from non-english language sources. It is just the vacation when you need to get away from books whose sole purpose seem to be to promote Neoliberal talking points, american cultural/ military/moral superiority over the rest of the globe's population or some other drivel.
I started visiting YouTube for science fiction recommendations about two years ago. I found those and all manner of educational channels. I also accidentally discovered the wide variety of book channels hosted by YouTube. 😍 They foster great communities of thoughtful readers, with varied tastes and interests, who are enamored of all things bookish. I recommend a visit to several book channels for any reader and have listed several below. From sponsor spots on educational and essayist channels, I discovered educational video sites. I like Nebula because it is creator centred and the YouTube algorithm for demonetization and copyright strikes holds no sway. I think that all of these sites are worth a look.
About Goodreads discourse. About eighteen months ago, I wrote a short negative review of Powers of the Earth, an unremarkable, poorly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran who is a self-described Libertarian and vocal advocate for a return of chattel slavery - of course, a US veteran and supporter of Putin's Russia, employee of an unnamed US agency. The writer and six or so other members went mental. They spent months and wrote pages of comments demanding a response. I had gotten comment clouds and seen others before but this stridently advocating for the enslavement of black Americans was the final push to move from mild to brutally honest in my reviews.
Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 declared in his comments on my review that They have "won" (?). That seems to signal that he, the writer and their cohort no longer feel a need to continue their roughly year long deluge of vile sexual and racist comments directed at channels which I mention. They failed to impress the American Book channel creator, the Swedish essayist, the British boater, the German particle physicist or the many other female creators. They did however paint a better portrait of the vicious American man-child than ever I could and added to the overabundance of unpleasantness in the world. For Them, I imagine that counts as a victory. Goodreads, Yay??
My YouTube picks of the moment.
Peter Stefanovic, Brittany Page, Bobbing Along, Second Thought, Sarah Millican,, Philosophy Tube, Vlad Vexler, Owen Jones, Some More News, Verilybitchie, Rina Sawayama, Odyssey Ancient History, Linguoer Mechanic, Renegade Cut, Cover in French, Joe Blogs, Dr Steve Keen, Danni and Joe, Sailing Melody.
As for Goodreads, please consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 😐
Ominous music begins. 🙂 The members that I described above are perhaps a minority but they carry out their attacks with no reaction from others as rule. So I will assume that they are correct in claiming to speak for all other readers. If these are representative, I have trouble thinking of this as a reader's forum. I describe at the top of this some of the Amazon/Goodreads actions resulting from my reviews. It does not reflect my vision of good or even normal customer service. This may be an American thing but is still bizarre. For details see my review of "Dark Horse", a good novel by Diener or Powers.
Where Goodreads crossed from nasty to illegal and dangerous was in sharing my limited message history with their fellow snowflakes. These nutcases managed to cajole a favour out of the Australian government to commit their Intelligence service to attempt invading my private life. The mechanism seemed to be a response to a request through Pine Gap Centre on behalf of an US top secret clearance holder. I have read of this kind of thing before when these animals want to cancel someone whose views upset them. Amazon/Goodreads really must work on their customer service protocols.
Based solely on my observations and the occasional American news story and the norms set out in trashy US fiction, this probably is acceptable to the American readers. In case you are not comfortable with this strange standard of behaviour, some basic precautions are in order. Minimize profile information, remove lurkers (those friends who monitor but never post), screenshot the oddity and the very ugly and expect no response to query or complaint. Not only are some science fiction readers on Goodreads morally challenged but Amazon employees have also taken actions not mentioned above. It might be prudent to also remember that these animals are American freedom lovers. Ominous music ends. 🙂
May we all enjoy Good Reading! 🤗
I am not the best advisor for recommendations of good YouTube content but these are some of my favourite YouTube channels.
Narrowboat Pirate, Lily Simpson, Ship Happens, Sailing Melody, Cari can Read, Tara Mooknee, Munecat, Tulia, Karolina Zebrowska, Eleanor Morton, Some More News, The Armchair Historian, The Mindful Narrowboat, Natalia Tsarikova, Owen Jones, Philosophy Tube, Mia Mulder, Linguoer Mechanic, the Carpenter's Daughter, Sabine Hossenfelder, Between the Wars, Joe Blogs, Lady of the Library, Enby Reads, Books and Lala, Prime of Midlife, Bobbing Along, Sort of Interesting, Jake Broe, Invicta, The Everyday Astronaut, Viva La Dirt League, Second Thought, The Juice Media, Kings and Generals, Practical Engineering, The Narrowboat Chef, Cruising the Cut, The Great War, Prime of Midlife, World War Two, Renegade Cut, Cruising Crafts, Book Odyssey, Honest Ads, The Paranormal Scholar, Emmie, Ask a Mortician, The Irish Reader, Vlad Vexler, Brittany the Bibliophile, Neringa Rekaslute, Ryan Chapman, Maiorianus, Double Down News, What Vivi did next, France 24, Alize, Alice Cappelle, Jessica Gagnon, Celtic Woman,, The Welsh Viking, Terrible Writing Advice, Lady knight the Brave, Noah Samsen, Big Joel, Sarah Z, Books with Chloe, Patrick is a Navajo, Three Arrows, Violet Orlandi, Between the Lines, Cover in French, We're in Hell, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Make Better Media, World of Antiquity, Perun, The Templin Institute, Denys Davydov, Mala Armia Janosika, 2 Steps from Hell, Casual Navigation, Lilly's expat life, I'm Rosa, Lily Alexandre, Jake Broe, Dead Good Books, Maggie May Fish, Adult Wednesday Addams - 2 seasons, Cambrian Chronicles, Boat Time, Camper Vibe, Traveling K, The Snake Charmer, Chloe Stafler, Abbie Emmons, Noelle Gallagher, A Different Bias, It's Black Friday, Tom Nicholas, Hello Future Me, Epic History TV, Casual Navigation, With Olivia, The Stitchery, Historical Fashion, The European, A Cup of Nicole, Books with Emily Fox, Swell Entertainment, Knowing Better, Jessie Gender, Eleanor Morton, A Life of Lit, Morgan Donner,, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, No Justice MTG, AllShorts, Alt Shift X, The Historian's Craft, The Library Ladder, The Leftist Cooks, The Kavernacle.
I wish you a gentle morning, a lazy afternoon, an evening with friends, a splendid night and may we all continue learning.
Courage requires only two supports, Hope and Will.
Principles, Dark Sisters
I have to bring this review up to my new format, improve spelling and make some other changes to appease my sensitive mental fanboys (Cancelorettes) of the fascistic variety. You would think they were more concerned about editing, etc in their beloved fiction than that of an anonymous reader's reviews. We were wrong, You and I.
Before going further, I am going to visit YouTube to settle the nerves. This was made possible by Cinzia Dubois, Ode to Joy Flashmob, TriAngulum. Lisa Watson, Holy Cow, Quinn's Ideas, IWriterly, TheJuiceMedia, The Escapist, Bernadette Banner, Verilybitchie, The How and Why of Mathematics, Ben G Thomas, Truth to Power, Extinction Rebellion UK, Lily Alexandre, Lore Reloaded, Kazachka, ThePrimeChronus, History with Kayleigh, May Moon Narrowboat, Snappy Dragon, Alt Shift X, Sheer Stitchery, Cecilia Blomdahl, Two Bit DaVinci, Potential History.
When I began my rewrites, I noticed that a "rogue" Goodreads tech does not "Allow" me to see other reviewers, does not "Allow" me to see commenter's names, will not "Allow" me to remove my last lurker and sometimes grays out like buttons. I finally removed all lurkers but one. The same rogue tech removed my ability to remove Dr Susan Hamilton (a Maths professor at University of Tennessee?). She posted nothing for the two years since her friend request, could not be reached by phone and has not responded to five requests to unfriend me. I wonder if she is a real girl or just a computer record inserted as a favour to someone. I hope that it is not because she is fascinated by my reviews. I am just not that interesting, as my siblings all agree. 🤗
My first problem with this book is a failing common to current low end science fiction, a deficiency in the depth and plausibility of the background universe. In short, bad world building. The lack of good world building can only result from two sources, either ignorance or lack of imagination (usually both as far as I can determine). I assign laziness and stupidity to the imagination category. Before writing a story, I thought that you need to imagine the setting, the society and the social structures in which the society is embedded. I was wrong, at least as it involves US publishers and their editors.
The history in the story is very thin and based on a misunderstanding of state power. There is also no accounting for the probability of the rejection of such an unbelievable usurpation by a powerless agency of the authority of state actors (who actually have independent funding and national militaries) and also financially support this agency. If I were tempted to accept this premise, I would expect to read a logical, if insane explanation for this departure from reality.
The villain is a nameless bureaucrat in the UN, which must be the most useless and impotent intergovernmental structure to have ever existed. He convinced existing governments to step aside (while retaining their own militaries and governmental power), while his "brown shirt" thugs are secretly recruited to terrorize populations with no authorization. I imagine that I am to consider it plausible that the UN budgeteers did not notice the line item (Support for Secret Army of Eco-Terrorist Thugs) in their annual financial reports. Further the reader is supposed to consider that all national governments agreed that giving up their authority was a good idea. I.know from some reviews of this book, that there are American readers who think that it sounds plausible. To them I can only suggest that they consider that US President Obama blocked a UN request (2011 or thereabouts) to do an examination of the US prison system concerning human rights violations with a simple "No".
The above covers the entire world building. I have seen the same "nameless bureaucrat" mentioned in campaign clips of every euro skeptic political party in Europe. It is also the biggest concern of the anti-US government US patriots (only in america). They are afraid of the limited (almost non-existent) authority of international agencies operating under direction of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council.They are not concerned with the subordination of the needs of citizens by the UN's constituent governments to the protection of corporations, shareholders, commercial property owners and other real world villains
The political basis for the book seems to be that international rules-based capitalism is not the issue. Working people, not the economic elites and their industries are the threat to the environment. After reading his book, I certainly plan to shutdown my mining company, close my oil extraction facilities, close my fossil fuel aircraft and land vehicle manufacturing plants, as we all will probably do.
It is claimed in the book that democracy consists of voting for one of two candidates. These are both chosen by financial interests, who are then responsible for policies which do not improve the lives of their citizenry but do protect the profits of the rich. That is not a compelling argument for either that limited description of democracy or for retaining capitalism. That is a Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and every other libertarian approved societal analysis. It also happens to be a major thread in the Neoliberal narrative explaining the limited role of government and the value of "freedom of choice". To think that some readers think that books of fiction are not political.
The one evil overlord could not exist but if he were to, no scandal is going to be widely broadcast. How would it and by whom? Any government exercise control over corporate media, especially in democracies simply by suggesting approved narratives when needed. Publishing corporations do not and will not print stories blaming capitalism or the fact that stock and bond market health do not translate into a good standard of living for the non-wealthy. The book insists that an authoritarian government has less power than a democratic one? China, Russia and North Korea must be democratic wonderlands.
The whistleblowers have no audience with the ability to remove the evil overlord. State power at present is distributed across 192 or so countries but in the book they no longer exist (sort of), so who is going to remove him. They still exist (sort of) and have militaries which this United Nations dictator does not (?). In this book, the one global government has no power and is led by a green activist. There is no electorate and no voting but there are governments still. These governments are not concerned with corporate profits or bond and stock markets?? The economic elites of the countries concerned, are powerless to protect their wealth??
If the governments were that ineffectual, I would expect that the leader could only be deposed by the various militaries. If dissatisfied, those military leaders would then divide the spoils amongst themselves. Case closed. The people have no influence on the real world or this book, so the overlord cares about a scandal why? The basis for all the subterfuge is removed by logic and historical example.
I need to clear my mind on YouTube again. This next was brought to you by Baltic Empire, Perun, The Dadvocate, Fantasy and World by the Fletchers, Emperor Tiger Star, The British Museum, It's Black Friday, Mia Mulder, Sort of Interesting, Dark Skies, Dark Seas, Kelly Loves Physics and History, Make Better Media, Dominic Noble, Acollierastro, Irish Dancing Flashmob, Evelyn Wood, TheClosetHistorian, Engineering Knits, Engineering with Rosie, StatQuest, Jacobin, Malinda, The Historian's Craft, Abney Park, The Budget Museum, Planarwalker, Cold Fusion, Lily Simpson, Miniminuteman.
These low end fictions are not political at all, unless..., unless...., unless this background was a blatant expression of an oft repeated simplistic fantasy. No, not possible because fiction is not political or so commenters have told me. Pandering and wilful ignorance really should be illegal.
The dissatisfaction of many readers probably starts with that subconscious recognition that this world is not plausible. Followed immediately by the realization that it requires all the contradictions used to support it. It all combines to destroy the ability to immerse themselves in the story.
A well written main character does not by itself carry the novel. The emotional connection attenuated with each additional obviously silly challenge, silly minor character conflict, each contrivance and of course the almost unavoidable plot holes. The dictator does not kill or imprison low level traitors, instead he ships them to a luxury space station. The dystopia first began with a secret villain bent on destroying the human race to save the planet, while simultaneously very concerned about his reputation. I have seen this same misunderstanding of geopolitics in many more badly written novels, science fiction and other.
National sentiment is a powerful force. I recently saw a video taken by a phone of two Ukrainian infantry women cleaning and reloading their weapons in a trench while singing "Bella Ciao". It was mid morning but the trench softened the light and the irony of that song in reference to attacking the Russian forces, was devastating. Knowledge of what they could expect if their trench were overrun and/or they were captured was both inspiring and profoundly sad. The song ended as they began checking their grenades.
That one video encapsulated a culture's refusal to die quietly. It revealed a military that despite its donated mix of camouflage and weapons from two dozen foreign militaries, had chosen a battlefield that was a good place to kill the enemy in numbers enough to allow the liberation of millions of fellows awaiting the return of their soldiers into occupied territories with blue and yellow armbands and armored fighting vehicles bearing the white cross of their nation.
The armored columns imagined in the background, were readying to launch another counterattack to save their millennia long heritage, their language and their children from extinction A cell phone communicated a more complete world picture than that of more than a thousand science fiction titles including this book, which I have attempted to read over the last four years. This background universe just does not allow for that picture, not could it.
😐 My rant. I always imagined that the purpose of all fiction was to celebrate life, challenge the dark, encourage hope and maybe, just maybe remind adults of the empathy left behind in childhood. That is my definition of entertainment. To paraphrase the Chinese, it seems that "a picture is worth a thousand pages". It would be useful and satisfying on many levels if more science fiction writers were to commit to attempt at least, the world building that is the foundation of all fiction but especially science fiction. Rant ends. 🙂
US publishers have set the bar for low end US science fiction so low, that with no overt misogyny or attacks on the working class, the writer almost earned a rating of minus 2 from me. Amazon do sell the better science fiction titles but with prices of ebooks as high as that of hardbacks. The poor writing quality and always political storytelling has put me off most US print. I have moved to streaming services and watch my science fiction rather than read it at the moment. YouTube also host a number of short film channels of which DUST and Omeleto are best known to me. The writing for both meduar is usually better and almost always more entertaining. Netflix also have a large science fiction collection from non-english language sources. It is just the vacation when you need to get away from books whose sole purpose seem to be to promote Neoliberal talking points, american cultural/ military/moral superiority over the rest of the globe's population or some other drivel.
I started visiting YouTube for science fiction recommendations about two years ago. I found those and all manner of educational channels. I also accidentally discovered the wide variety of book channels hosted by YouTube. 😍 They foster great communities of thoughtful readers, with varied tastes and interests, who are enamored of all things bookish. I recommend a visit to several book channels for any reader and have listed several below. From sponsor spots on educational and essayist channels, I discovered educational video sites. I like Nebula because it is creator centred and the YouTube algorithm for demonetization and copyright strikes holds no sway. I think that all of these sites are worth a look.
About Goodreads discourse. About eighteen months ago, I wrote a short negative review of Powers of the Earth, an unremarkable, poorly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran who is a self-described Libertarian and vocal advocate for a return of chattel slavery - of course, a US veteran and supporter of Putin's Russia, employee of an unnamed US agency. The writer and six or so other members went mental. They spent months and wrote pages of comments demanding a response. I had gotten comment clouds and seen others before but this stridently advocating for the enslavement of black Americans was the final push to move from mild to brutally honest in my reviews.
Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 declared in his comments on my review that They have "won" (?). That seems to signal that he, the writer and their cohort no longer feel a need to continue their roughly year long deluge of vile sexual and racist comments directed at channels which I mention. They failed to impress the American Book channel creator, the Swedish essayist, the British boater, the German particle physicist or the many other female creators. They did however paint a better portrait of the vicious American man-child than ever I could and added to the overabundance of unpleasantness in the world. For Them, I imagine that counts as a victory. Goodreads, Yay??
My YouTube picks of the moment.
Peter Stefanovic, Brittany Page, Bobbing Along, Second Thought, Sarah Millican,, Philosophy Tube, Vlad Vexler, Owen Jones, Some More News, Verilybitchie, Rina Sawayama, Odyssey Ancient History, Linguoer Mechanic, Renegade Cut, Cover in French, Joe Blogs, Dr Steve Keen, Danni and Joe, Sailing Melody.
As for Goodreads, please consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 😐
Ominous music begins. 🙂 The members that I described above are perhaps a minority but they carry out their attacks with no reaction from others as rule. So I will assume that they are correct in claiming to speak for all other readers. If these are representative, I have trouble thinking of this as a reader's forum. I describe at the top of this some of the Amazon/Goodreads actions resulting from my reviews. It does not reflect my vision of good or even normal customer service. This may be an American thing but is still bizarre. For details see my review of "Dark Horse", a good novel by Diener or Powers.
Where Goodreads crossed from nasty to illegal and dangerous was in sharing my limited message history with their fellow snowflakes. These nutcases managed to cajole a favour out of the Australian government to commit their Intelligence service to attempt invading my private life. The mechanism seemed to be a response to a request through Pine Gap Centre on behalf of an US top secret clearance holder. I have read of this kind of thing before when these animals want to cancel someone whose views upset them. Amazon/Goodreads really must work on their customer service protocols.
Based solely on my observations and the occasional American news story and the norms set out in trashy US fiction, this probably is acceptable to the American readers. In case you are not comfortable with this strange standard of behaviour, some basic precautions are in order. Minimize profile information, remove lurkers (those friends who monitor but never post), screenshot the oddity and the very ugly and expect no response to query or complaint. Not only are some science fiction readers on Goodreads morally challenged but Amazon employees have also taken actions not mentioned above. It might be prudent to also remember that these animals are American freedom lovers. Ominous music ends. 🙂
May we all enjoy Good Reading! 🤗
I am not the best advisor for recommendations of good YouTube content but these are some of my favourite YouTube channels.
Narrowboat Pirate, Lily Simpson, Ship Happens, Sailing Melody, Cari can Read, Tara Mooknee, Munecat, Tulia, Karolina Zebrowska, Eleanor Morton, Some More News, The Armchair Historian, The Mindful Narrowboat, Natalia Tsarikova, Owen Jones, Philosophy Tube, Mia Mulder, Linguoer Mechanic, the Carpenter's Daughter, Sabine Hossenfelder, Between the Wars, Joe Blogs, Lady of the Library, Enby Reads, Books and Lala, Prime of Midlife, Bobbing Along, Sort of Interesting, Jake Broe, Invicta, The Everyday Astronaut, Viva La Dirt League, Second Thought, The Juice Media, Kings and Generals, Practical Engineering, The Narrowboat Chef, Cruising the Cut, The Great War, Prime of Midlife, World War Two, Renegade Cut, Cruising Crafts, Book Odyssey, Honest Ads, The Paranormal Scholar, Emmie, Ask a Mortician, The Irish Reader, Vlad Vexler, Brittany the Bibliophile, Neringa Rekaslute, Ryan Chapman, Maiorianus, Double Down News, What Vivi did next, France 24, Alize, Alice Cappelle, Jessica Gagnon, Celtic Woman,, The Welsh Viking, Terrible Writing Advice, Lady knight the Brave, Noah Samsen, Big Joel, Sarah Z, Books with Chloe, Patrick is a Navajo, Three Arrows, Violet Orlandi, Between the Lines, Cover in French, We're in Hell, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Make Better Media, World of Antiquity, Perun, The Templin Institute, Denys Davydov, Mala Armia Janosika, 2 Steps from Hell, Casual Navigation, Lilly's expat life, I'm Rosa, Lily Alexandre, Jake Broe, Dead Good Books, Maggie May Fish, Adult Wednesday Addams - 2 seasons, Cambrian Chronicles, Boat Time, Camper Vibe, Traveling K, The Snake Charmer, Chloe Stafler, Abbie Emmons, Noelle Gallagher, A Different Bias, It's Black Friday, Tom Nicholas, Hello Future Me, Epic History TV, Casual Navigation, With Olivia, The Stitchery, Historical Fashion, The European, A Cup of Nicole, Books with Emily Fox, Swell Entertainment, Knowing Better, Jessie Gender, Eleanor Morton, A Life of Lit, Morgan Donner,, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, No Justice MTG, AllShorts, Alt Shift X, The Historian's Craft, The Library Ladder, The Leftist Cooks, The Kavernacle.
I wish you a gentle morning, a lazy afternoon, an evening with friends, a splendid night and may we all continue learning.
Courage requires only two supports, Hope and Will.
Principles, Dark Sisters
Read
September 12, 2022Could Not Finish. Rating: minus 5
I wanted to refer you to another reviewer but as usual, my ability to see them is blocked. This has happened to more than half of my rated science fiction books. All my commenters on reviews have their id's masked, except for that of Powers after I began adding that fact to my reviews.
It seems that writing a negative review of a "sorry libertarian rant" bothers Amazon/Goodreads but pro slavery comments do not. Goodreads is an odd site. I start to believe that being a communist might be frowned upon. It's just a thought.
Before going further, please read my reviews of either "Dark Horse", a good story by Diener or Powers of the Earth (a sorry libertarian rant) and the comments of a Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi).
Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty, be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.
GLORY TO UKRAINE. !!!!
The details are as follows. A planet lies between the orbits of Earth and Venus undetected and with no perturbation to that of either planet. No gravitational anomalies or influence is detected by a legion of astrophysicists?
A shell of sorts covers an interior that includes fresh water, energy source unknown. The shell is so fragile that a careless footfall causes sections to collapse? The field around this planet deflects light but vegetation can use photosynthesis and an oxygen almosphere exists? Instead of total darkness, the visitors experience night and day cycles? The fauna necessary to support plant life exists how????, where?????
The understandings of state power and economic power are also misunderstood. An evil genius has as his sole aim to destroy humanity for Reasons. He may be an eco-nut but who knows. He can assume power through a ridiculous and obscure UN? agency.
This villain is worried that a scientist will expose his scheme to whom? What news agency has the freedom to distribute this damning evidence? Nation states have all bent to the will of this nutter whose vigilantes (?) exert control over the entire population? He is the dictator of the world, not an elected head of state.
Why not just kill all potential whistleblowers, instead of his brilliant plan to send several thousands of them to a luxury, self-sufficient space station in Venusian orbit? Lastly what power could this scandal have? The people of earth will vote him out of office? The militaries of earth will suddenly remove him on orders of the essentially defunct national governments?
This book doesn't require or merit any literary analysis because the world building is a silly construction of plot hole, contrivance and contradiction. Against that setting can any meaningful interactions really exist? This is Low Effort, low end science fiction common to US fiction at its best.
I am not sure if he wrote this as a silly children's adventure or as profitable mockery of a thoughtless, audience deficient in critical thinking as applied to their society, its structures, power centers and lacking familiarity with the basics of physics and the other sciences. I had to put this book aside very early in.
Between books like these and my personal experience of Amazon/Goodreads,, I have over the last two years begun watching my science fiction rather than reading it. Netflix isn't the only service with science fiction but it has the largest collection and it is multinational for the more cosmopolitan fan of the genre. The quality of storytelling is generally much better than the Low Effort print product.
I stumbled onto Curiosity Stream/Nebula though YouTube educational content creators. At a cost of $15 USD for a yearly subscription, it feels a great bargain to me. YouTube carries science fiction shorts, book tubes, music and my current and newly discovered interests. It has been wonderful to discover a community of serious readers who are excited by the bibliophilic atmosphere. I recommend a look at book channels (some of which I've listed below), if Goodreads seems skeevy to you. Some of my favorite channels are.
Chugging Along, Ozillo News, Some More News, Tara Mooknee, Munecat, Novara Media, Tom Nicholas, Cover in French, Prime of Midlife, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, Tulia, Then and Now, The Shades of Orange, Philosophy Tube, Eleanor Morton, Sarah Z, Jessie Gender, The Juice Media, Richard Wolff, Spacedock, With Olivia, Swell Entertainment, Sabine Hossenfelder, Yanis Varoufakis, France 24, Alice Cappelle, Alize, Jessica Gagnon, Double Down News, The Armchair Historian, The Narrowboat Pirate, Patrick is a Navajo, Cruising Alba, Caucasian Sword Dance, Lilly's expat life, Steampunk, Ancient Americas, Hello Future Me, Cruising Crafts, Lady of the Library, Holly the Cafe Boat, Tech Space, Books and Lala, Camper Vibe, Enby Reads, Austin McConnell, Digital Engine, Kelly loves Physics and History, Rowan J Coleman, Noah Sampson, Real Engineering, Euronews, Big Joel, Beau of the Fifth Column, Tibees, Book Odyssey, MWG Studios, DUST, The Templin Institute, Make Better Media, Dr Becky, Books with Emily Fox, History Line, Three Arrows, Between the Wars, Karolina Zebrowska, The Great War, Lady knight the Brave, Jill Bearup, Noelle Gallagher, Abbie Emmons, Celtica, The Irish Reader, A Clockwork Reader, Kings and Generals, The History of the Universe, Adult Wednesday Addams, Olly Richards, The Infographics Show, Ana Psychology, A Life of Lit, Emmie, Prime of Midlife, Renegade Cut, Cruising the Cut, Camper Vibe, What Vivi did next, Maximillien Robespierre, We're in Hell, World of Antiquity, World War Two, Neringa Rekaslute, The Gravel Institute, Crux, Physics Girl, Odyssey, 2 Steps from Hell, History Scope, The Perimeter Institute, UA Courage, Armored Archives, Venom Geek Media, Ben and Emily, Overly Sarcastic Productions, May Moon Narrowboat, Boat Time, Kathy's Flog in France, Art by Annamarie, May Moon Narrowboat, DUST.
I wish you a sunny morning, a breezy afternoon, a cozy evening and a wonderful night.
Hope is a great equalizer.
Mannerheim, The Winter War
I wanted to refer you to another reviewer but as usual, my ability to see them is blocked. This has happened to more than half of my rated science fiction books. All my commenters on reviews have their id's masked, except for that of Powers after I began adding that fact to my reviews.
It seems that writing a negative review of a "sorry libertarian rant" bothers Amazon/Goodreads but pro slavery comments do not. Goodreads is an odd site. I start to believe that being a communist might be frowned upon. It's just a thought.
Before going further, please read my reviews of either "Dark Horse", a good story by Diener or Powers of the Earth (a sorry libertarian rant) and the comments of a Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi).
Claes Rees, Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty, be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.
GLORY TO UKRAINE. !!!!
The details are as follows. A planet lies between the orbits of Earth and Venus undetected and with no perturbation to that of either planet. No gravitational anomalies or influence is detected by a legion of astrophysicists?
A shell of sorts covers an interior that includes fresh water, energy source unknown. The shell is so fragile that a careless footfall causes sections to collapse? The field around this planet deflects light but vegetation can use photosynthesis and an oxygen almosphere exists? Instead of total darkness, the visitors experience night and day cycles? The fauna necessary to support plant life exists how????, where?????
The understandings of state power and economic power are also misunderstood. An evil genius has as his sole aim to destroy humanity for Reasons. He may be an eco-nut but who knows. He can assume power through a ridiculous and obscure UN? agency.
This villain is worried that a scientist will expose his scheme to whom? What news agency has the freedom to distribute this damning evidence? Nation states have all bent to the will of this nutter whose vigilantes (?) exert control over the entire population? He is the dictator of the world, not an elected head of state.
Why not just kill all potential whistleblowers, instead of his brilliant plan to send several thousands of them to a luxury, self-sufficient space station in Venusian orbit? Lastly what power could this scandal have? The people of earth will vote him out of office? The militaries of earth will suddenly remove him on orders of the essentially defunct national governments?
This book doesn't require or merit any literary analysis because the world building is a silly construction of plot hole, contrivance and contradiction. Against that setting can any meaningful interactions really exist? This is Low Effort, low end science fiction common to US fiction at its best.
I am not sure if he wrote this as a silly children's adventure or as profitable mockery of a thoughtless, audience deficient in critical thinking as applied to their society, its structures, power centers and lacking familiarity with the basics of physics and the other sciences. I had to put this book aside very early in.
Between books like these and my personal experience of Amazon/Goodreads,, I have over the last two years begun watching my science fiction rather than reading it. Netflix isn't the only service with science fiction but it has the largest collection and it is multinational for the more cosmopolitan fan of the genre. The quality of storytelling is generally much better than the Low Effort print product.
I stumbled onto Curiosity Stream/Nebula though YouTube educational content creators. At a cost of $15 USD for a yearly subscription, it feels a great bargain to me. YouTube carries science fiction shorts, book tubes, music and my current and newly discovered interests. It has been wonderful to discover a community of serious readers who are excited by the bibliophilic atmosphere. I recommend a look at book channels (some of which I've listed below), if Goodreads seems skeevy to you. Some of my favorite channels are.
Chugging Along, Ozillo News, Some More News, Tara Mooknee, Munecat, Novara Media, Tom Nicholas, Cover in French, Prime of Midlife, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, Tulia, Then and Now, The Shades of Orange, Philosophy Tube, Eleanor Morton, Sarah Z, Jessie Gender, The Juice Media, Richard Wolff, Spacedock, With Olivia, Swell Entertainment, Sabine Hossenfelder, Yanis Varoufakis, France 24, Alice Cappelle, Alize, Jessica Gagnon, Double Down News, The Armchair Historian, The Narrowboat Pirate, Patrick is a Navajo, Cruising Alba, Caucasian Sword Dance, Lilly's expat life, Steampunk, Ancient Americas, Hello Future Me, Cruising Crafts, Lady of the Library, Holly the Cafe Boat, Tech Space, Books and Lala, Camper Vibe, Enby Reads, Austin McConnell, Digital Engine, Kelly loves Physics and History, Rowan J Coleman, Noah Sampson, Real Engineering, Euronews, Big Joel, Beau of the Fifth Column, Tibees, Book Odyssey, MWG Studios, DUST, The Templin Institute, Make Better Media, Dr Becky, Books with Emily Fox, History Line, Three Arrows, Between the Wars, Karolina Zebrowska, The Great War, Lady knight the Brave, Jill Bearup, Noelle Gallagher, Abbie Emmons, Celtica, The Irish Reader, A Clockwork Reader, Kings and Generals, The History of the Universe, Adult Wednesday Addams, Olly Richards, The Infographics Show, Ana Psychology, A Life of Lit, Emmie, Prime of Midlife, Renegade Cut, Cruising the Cut, Camper Vibe, What Vivi did next, Maximillien Robespierre, We're in Hell, World of Antiquity, World War Two, Neringa Rekaslute, The Gravel Institute, Crux, Physics Girl, Odyssey, 2 Steps from Hell, History Scope, The Perimeter Institute, UA Courage, Armored Archives, Venom Geek Media, Ben and Emily, Overly Sarcastic Productions, May Moon Narrowboat, Boat Time, Kathy's Flog in France, Art by Annamarie, May Moon Narrowboat, DUST.
I wish you a sunny morning, a breezy afternoon, a cozy evening and a wonderful night.
Hope is a great equalizer.
Mannerheim, The Winter War
June 16, 2017
I wound up reading this in one day. It is a unique story with a well-crafted plot and sub-plots. The character arcs are compelling without being wasteful. The technology was enough to satisfy my inner geek without overshadowing the story. I was also happy this didn't devolve into a military story, which so many do. I learned just enough about the characters to develop empathy for them.
This was an excellent read, and the second book by this author that I have read. I have no hesitation recommending it.
This was an excellent read, and the second book by this author that I have read. I have no hesitation recommending it.
December 17, 2022
After an evening of reading and not enjoying it, I checked Goodreads to see if I should DNF it. The plot seemed like it very much should have work for me (spaceship crashes on an empty planet, the five people need to somehow survive), so I stuck with it to nearly the halfway point. The author endlessly info dumped (I skipped So Many Pages of information about this or that) and instead of being a story about surviving on the planet, it was building up all sorts of political mysteries I couldn't care less about. Wish I had DNFed it after that first night of reading.
September 6, 2017
This is the story of Ivy ‘Holly’ Wood, a woman who acts as a sort of servant on board ‘Karriers’. Karriers are these massive ships that move between the different planets moving people and cargo about. The people stay in these little pods called Landers that are attached to the Karriers, each Lander is basically like a luxury hotel room.
Holly is actually a bit of a legend in the space world, having been one of the first to travel, and now, having the most amount of distance ever travelled her belt, tied of course with her one of her best friends and companion Grav, who has been around just as long she has. There is also another onboard helper called Dante.
In one of the Landers are some fairly famous people who are known for their work on the ships and engineering etc, and well known to the crew, Rusev and Yury who is a legend and is also known as the ‘Spaceman’ he is such a hero. In one of the other Landers is Holly’s Passengers, a family.
Part way through what is meant to be a standard mission, everything is going along fine apart from Holly having some suspicions about the family she is looking after, when suddenly, the ship is forced to make a crash landing on a planet that mysteriously appears between Earth and Venus.
The story is set in the somewhere future, things have not gone well for most of humanity, lack of everything, and the Earth is basically being monopolised by a man called Roger Morrison, who on the surface, appears to be trying to help humanity, by doing everything right, setting things up to help change the course for a better future.
This is a story with just so many twists and turns, so many subplots, and so many intrigues, that it is just an amazing read. Each of the characters is exceptionally well written, Falconer does a beautiful job of creating these wonderfully in-depth characters that are fascinating as they unfold, bringing us more detail of both themselves and the main story, creating this exhilarating tale that is just exceptional.
There are an incredible amount of plots twists to be revealed in Terradox, the story is not just an exciting Sci-Fi story, but a masterful thriller that will have you wondering right up until the very end.
There are multiple stories running through this book, the tale of Roger Morrison and his plans for the Earth. Each member of the crew has their own story, Rusev, Yury, the crew, Holly, Grav, Holly friend Dante, Holly’s Passengers, who are the only survivors of the crash of the Karrier on the mysterious planet. The amazing thing about this book is that each of these tales is all intertwined, even though they don’t realise it at the time, and tied to that of Morrison himself.
This is such a fascinating story of betrayal, friendship, love, trust, honour, courage, bravery and overall, human spirit. Falconer writes such incredible stories and you just have to read this to understand how wonderful, and how powerful this story is.
This is what I would call ‘Intelligent Sci-Fi’, there are no major battles, wars, aliens or marines laying waste, but it is a truly intelligent and remarkably well written story. Don’t miss this.
Holly is actually a bit of a legend in the space world, having been one of the first to travel, and now, having the most amount of distance ever travelled her belt, tied of course with her one of her best friends and companion Grav, who has been around just as long she has. There is also another onboard helper called Dante.
In one of the Landers are some fairly famous people who are known for their work on the ships and engineering etc, and well known to the crew, Rusev and Yury who is a legend and is also known as the ‘Spaceman’ he is such a hero. In one of the other Landers is Holly’s Passengers, a family.
Part way through what is meant to be a standard mission, everything is going along fine apart from Holly having some suspicions about the family she is looking after, when suddenly, the ship is forced to make a crash landing on a planet that mysteriously appears between Earth and Venus.
The story is set in the somewhere future, things have not gone well for most of humanity, lack of everything, and the Earth is basically being monopolised by a man called Roger Morrison, who on the surface, appears to be trying to help humanity, by doing everything right, setting things up to help change the course for a better future.
This is a story with just so many twists and turns, so many subplots, and so many intrigues, that it is just an amazing read. Each of the characters is exceptionally well written, Falconer does a beautiful job of creating these wonderfully in-depth characters that are fascinating as they unfold, bringing us more detail of both themselves and the main story, creating this exhilarating tale that is just exceptional.
There are an incredible amount of plots twists to be revealed in Terradox, the story is not just an exciting Sci-Fi story, but a masterful thriller that will have you wondering right up until the very end.
There are multiple stories running through this book, the tale of Roger Morrison and his plans for the Earth. Each member of the crew has their own story, Rusev, Yury, the crew, Holly, Grav, Holly friend Dante, Holly’s Passengers, who are the only survivors of the crash of the Karrier on the mysterious planet. The amazing thing about this book is that each of these tales is all intertwined, even though they don’t realise it at the time, and tied to that of Morrison himself.
This is such a fascinating story of betrayal, friendship, love, trust, honour, courage, bravery and overall, human spirit. Falconer writes such incredible stories and you just have to read this to understand how wonderful, and how powerful this story is.
This is what I would call ‘Intelligent Sci-Fi’, there are no major battles, wars, aliens or marines laying waste, but it is a truly intelligent and remarkably well written story. Don’t miss this.
June 20, 2018
Flawless -- SciFi as it should be
Truly flawless, this is tightly written, every base covered, thrilling, suspenseful, brilliant SciFi. Even at over 500 pages, this book left me dismayed that it was ending, because the characters become so alive you feel like you're losing touch with a group of people that are dear and vital to you. Falconer manages to totally immerse you in the action of the story, makes you feel that you are actually a member of this group of people and are part of the experience. The tech is spot on, the interweaving of character history and development is fluid, the dialogue is perfectly on cue and in character, and the action is continuous, fast, and targeted.
A transport to a station outside of Venus is making its last trip from earth with only 8 people aboard. One of them is the hugely wealthy and philanthropic owner of the whole station and the two transports attached to its service. She is brilliant woman, an innovator and inventor, who also happens to be the arch enemy of the global dictator of a starving and devastated Earth. Disasters, famine and terrorists have crippled all national governments, and Earth is now controlled by the dictator at the head of the Global Union. The transport is three days from Venus when it violently collides with an unseen object, as simultaneously a planet appears from nowhere. The transport crashes into this impossible planet.
Who survives? How? What can be salvaged? What is the connection between the 8 passengers? What is this impossible place? Flora or fauna available? Water? Can resources be found or salvaged? What do they do And how? And most crucial, does anyone leave alive? The answers to those questions and more are delivered to your utmost satisfaction by Mr. Falconer.
This book is fantastic and I can not recommend it highly enough. Action, adventure, space, suspense, edge of your seat writing, incredible characters. Get this book and read it right now. It is that good.
One side note ... the author is from Scotland. There is a funny Scotland-related joke in this book. See if you can catch it!
Truly flawless, this is tightly written, every base covered, thrilling, suspenseful, brilliant SciFi. Even at over 500 pages, this book left me dismayed that it was ending, because the characters become so alive you feel like you're losing touch with a group of people that are dear and vital to you. Falconer manages to totally immerse you in the action of the story, makes you feel that you are actually a member of this group of people and are part of the experience. The tech is spot on, the interweaving of character history and development is fluid, the dialogue is perfectly on cue and in character, and the action is continuous, fast, and targeted.
A transport to a station outside of Venus is making its last trip from earth with only 8 people aboard. One of them is the hugely wealthy and philanthropic owner of the whole station and the two transports attached to its service. She is brilliant woman, an innovator and inventor, who also happens to be the arch enemy of the global dictator of a starving and devastated Earth. Disasters, famine and terrorists have crippled all national governments, and Earth is now controlled by the dictator at the head of the Global Union. The transport is three days from Venus when it violently collides with an unseen object, as simultaneously a planet appears from nowhere. The transport crashes into this impossible planet.
Who survives? How? What can be salvaged? What is the connection between the 8 passengers? What is this impossible place? Flora or fauna available? Water? Can resources be found or salvaged? What do they do And how? And most crucial, does anyone leave alive? The answers to those questions and more are delivered to your utmost satisfaction by Mr. Falconer.
This book is fantastic and I can not recommend it highly enough. Action, adventure, space, suspense, edge of your seat writing, incredible characters. Get this book and read it right now. It is that good.
One side note ... the author is from Scotland. There is a funny Scotland-related joke in this book. See if you can catch it!
August 14, 2017
I really dug this book! It has a "Jurassic Park" meets "Rendezvous with Rama" kind of vibe to it (without quite reaching the heights of either of those books). Craig A. Falconer has a knack for writing a good mystery with decent character development and very few plot holes. There's nothing terribly fancy about his prose, but it doesn't talk down to you either. Just solid writing that constantly move the plot forward.
I would have liked a little more background on the technology employed, though. The author does briefly cover the major pieces of tech, but he doesn't delve into the breakthroughs necessary to make them possible. You just have to accept that some new ground-breaking thing is available and has been used to its fullest extent to create the present situation. It's the omission of this deeper understanding that keeps me from putting this book on my "favorites" list. I have a feeling that I'll forget all about this book a few weeks from now. I liked it while it lasted, but there's nothing "sticky" about it.
Overall this is a very good book that I'd recommend to any sci-fi nerd. I can't wait for Mr. Falconer to write more books! After I finish the "Sycamore" short stories, I think I'll have read everything he has out now.
I would have liked a little more background on the technology employed, though. The author does briefly cover the major pieces of tech, but he doesn't delve into the breakthroughs necessary to make them possible. You just have to accept that some new ground-breaking thing is available and has been used to its fullest extent to create the present situation. It's the omission of this deeper understanding that keeps me from putting this book on my "favorites" list. I have a feeling that I'll forget all about this book a few weeks from now. I liked it while it lasted, but there's nothing "sticky" about it.
Overall this is a very good book that I'd recommend to any sci-fi nerd. I can't wait for Mr. Falconer to write more books! After I finish the "Sycamore" short stories, I think I'll have read everything he has out now.
May 19, 2022
( Format : Audiobook )
"Two hundred choices and they're all algae."
An interesting S.F.adventure story, cleanly written which, though dependent on technological achievements, does not try to blind the reader with science, explaining enough without interfering with the story. Character development is sufficient if a bit fluffy and there is enough that is unexpected to lure on the reader. Some aspects felt annoyingly absent, however, like the actual how of the planet and the background situation which had put it into being, but perhaps more of this will emerge in future volumes. Meanwhile, the story remains as an enjoyable non military young person's adventure story.
Read by Dina Pearlman, this Audiobook could have been better with a different narrator. Although her pacing is good and her modulation carries vocal interest, her voice is somewhat nasal and abrasive and her character voice differentiation poor, most ending up sounding much like the main protagonist, Holly, who in turn sounds like the text itself. There are occasional exceptions, as with the young boy, Beau, but given that there is a fair amount of dialogue, this does cast a bit of a shadow over the book as a whole.
Altogether, an easy read, imaginative tale for younger audiences.
"Two hundred choices and they're all algae."
An interesting S.F.adventure story, cleanly written which, though dependent on technological achievements, does not try to blind the reader with science, explaining enough without interfering with the story. Character development is sufficient if a bit fluffy and there is enough that is unexpected to lure on the reader. Some aspects felt annoyingly absent, however, like the actual how of the planet and the background situation which had put it into being, but perhaps more of this will emerge in future volumes. Meanwhile, the story remains as an enjoyable non military young person's adventure story.
Read by Dina Pearlman, this Audiobook could have been better with a different narrator. Although her pacing is good and her modulation carries vocal interest, her voice is somewhat nasal and abrasive and her character voice differentiation poor, most ending up sounding much like the main protagonist, Holly, who in turn sounds like the text itself. There are occasional exceptions, as with the young boy, Beau, but given that there is a fair amount of dialogue, this does cast a bit of a shadow over the book as a whole.
Altogether, an easy read, imaginative tale for younger audiences.
July 28, 2017
This review applies to the Audible audiobook.
Meh. That pretty much sums it up for me.
I have rarely written a review but this book made me want to write one. I'll start off by saying that I liked Not Alone. I never got into this book though. The author constantly used compound complex sentences and after a while I found it exhausting to listen to. I felt like every other sentence had details that weren't necessary to tell the story. The narrator was OK but she didn't seem to put much inflection into the reading. Finally there was a constant echo in the file.
It wasn't a terrible story, but it wasn't great either. It was one of the few books where by the end I felt like I just needed to get through it.
Meh. That pretty much sums it up for me.
I have rarely written a review but this book made me want to write one. I'll start off by saying that I liked Not Alone. I never got into this book though. The author constantly used compound complex sentences and after a while I found it exhausting to listen to. I felt like every other sentence had details that weren't necessary to tell the story. The narrator was OK but she didn't seem to put much inflection into the reading. Finally there was a constant echo in the file.
It wasn't a terrible story, but it wasn't great either. It was one of the few books where by the end I felt like I just needed to get through it.
December 7, 2018
This story had a somewhat unique premise and it did well explaining it. I enjoyed finding out more about the planet they landed on and why it was there. The main characters were fairly well developed (Holly, Viola, and Grav), and there were a few minor twists I didn't initially see coming. For the most part, the story was intriguing and made me want to keep listening. The main villain of the story is completely one dimensional though and the back story and world building are a bit weak. The narration wasn't very good (she had very strange inflection for a lot of the words). Overall I am glad I listened to it and look forward to checking out the rest of the series.
NOTE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
NOTE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
July 22, 2017
Enough has been said about the story and the characters, so I won't take up your time with all that. I found this book an "onion." That means you have to peel away the story layer by layer and the next one doesn't always take you where you thought it would. There always seems to be something new to be discovered, both in the locations, the technology, and the characters.
I've already cast the main characters (Sigourney Weaver as Holly, for example) so when the movie is made, and I surely hope it will be, the producers just have to contact me.
Some have commented that this should be a YA story, but at 83 I guess I'm just young at heart. I loved the story and I hope you will, too.
I've already cast the main characters (Sigourney Weaver as Holly, for example) so when the movie is made, and I surely hope it will be, the producers just have to contact me.
Some have commented that this should be a YA story, but at 83 I guess I'm just young at heart. I loved the story and I hope you will, too.
February 16, 2023
Excellent
Did I read this book twice? When I attempt to buy a book that I purchased in the past, Amazon tells me. So far I have nearly 600 sci-fi books in my kindle and when I bought this one Amazon didn't say anything. But as I got about half way through it I began having the dejavue experience. Now, I'm the kind of person that can watch a movie more than once and enjoy it like it's the first time. I haven't looked through my history yet to see if I've bought this book twice but the good news is that I enjoyed it thouroly. He's a great author so I know I'll be reading more of his books!
Did I read this book twice? When I attempt to buy a book that I purchased in the past, Amazon tells me. So far I have nearly 600 sci-fi books in my kindle and when I bought this one Amazon didn't say anything. But as I got about half way through it I began having the dejavue experience. Now, I'm the kind of person that can watch a movie more than once and enjoy it like it's the first time. I haven't looked through my history yet to see if I've bought this book twice but the good news is that I enjoyed it thouroly. He's a great author so I know I'll be reading more of his books!
June 18, 2017
Cute space story with happy ending
Huge troubles on earth, created just to create a one world govt, with its own backup plan. But the crash landed heros saved the day! And Earth. As Venus Station. And themselves! Only the bad guys got it, in the end. All in a few days of well planned news releases. Would that life were so easy! BUT for being a bit longish, this 'chapter book' would be terrific for young teens or older children to read together, with plenty of open discussion. It's a good cautionary tale.
Huge troubles on earth, created just to create a one world govt, with its own backup plan. But the crash landed heros saved the day! And Earth. As Venus Station. And themselves! Only the bad guys got it, in the end. All in a few days of well planned news releases. Would that life were so easy! BUT for being a bit longish, this 'chapter book' would be terrific for young teens or older children to read together, with plenty of open discussion. It's a good cautionary tale.
January 1, 2018
loved it as much the second read through
I snatched up the sequel as soon as it was available, but decided to refresh my mind by skimming thorough this one first. Instead of a skim, I re-read it. The plot is interesting, sadly conceivable, and it unfolds at a steady pace. The environment he created is fascinating, the characters fleshed and unique, and the ending so satisfying, I can't wait to start The Fall of Terradox. If you haven't yet read Not Alone, you are in for a treat.I'm very happy Falconer has a sequel in the works.
I snatched up the sequel as soon as it was available, but decided to refresh my mind by skimming thorough this one first. Instead of a skim, I re-read it. The plot is interesting, sadly conceivable, and it unfolds at a steady pace. The environment he created is fascinating, the characters fleshed and unique, and the ending so satisfying, I can't wait to start The Fall of Terradox. If you haven't yet read Not Alone, you are in for a treat.I'm very happy Falconer has a sequel in the works.
April 12, 2018
Its an odd little adventure book this which reads like YA, but is about a 40 year old astronaut so probably isn't. Perhaps it is more akin to Jules Verne, wherein something impossible happens (spacecraft lands on a hidden planet between Earth and Venus) and then they proceed to treat the situation with all the scientific gravity they should whilst missing out the core science that would identify the impossibility of their situation. A little bit of conspiracy theory and handwavium goes a long long way.
September 25, 2018
A good story that turns bland over time (especially in the last half end).
Found the initial start and plot of the book to be both original and interesting. It looked like it was going in a good direction, but things just fizzled out by the end.
Characters got old and the plot got more and more mundane. If there was more of a focus on Terradox itself, things could have been a whole lot better. As opposed to the story solely revolving around the characters and the weird character/political plots that evolved.
Found the initial start and plot of the book to be both original and interesting. It looked like it was going in a good direction, but things just fizzled out by the end.
Characters got old and the plot got more and more mundane. If there was more of a focus on Terradox itself, things could have been a whole lot better. As opposed to the story solely revolving around the characters and the weird character/political plots that evolved.
October 19, 2018
Good old fashioned sci-fi!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it reminded me of the sci-fi books I read in my teens 40 yrs ago!
It is an exciting story with all the elements needed to make it a good story. Holly is escorting passengers to the Venus station when their spacecraft, which is also carrying essential supplies, crashes onto a planet that shouldn't be there.
She soon realises that there is a traitor on board & that the crash is no accident. She has to protect her passengers, work with the others to try to find a way off & find out who the traitor is.
Just a fab read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it reminded me of the sci-fi books I read in my teens 40 yrs ago!
It is an exciting story with all the elements needed to make it a good story. Holly is escorting passengers to the Venus station when their spacecraft, which is also carrying essential supplies, crashes onto a planet that shouldn't be there.
She soon realises that there is a traitor on board & that the crash is no accident. She has to protect her passengers, work with the others to try to find a way off & find out who the traitor is.
Just a fab read.
May 6, 2017
Reminiscent of Heinlein
This book may have borrowed heavily from other sci-fi and post-apocalyptic/dystopian ideas, but it was far from stale. The prose is solid, the characters well developed and multi-dimensional. It has a mystery element to it but fortunately the mystery wasn't central to the novel since most true sci-fi fans will have it fleshed out very early on.
I've enjoyed Falconer's other works as well, but this one was probably my favorite to date.
This book may have borrowed heavily from other sci-fi and post-apocalyptic/dystopian ideas, but it was far from stale. The prose is solid, the characters well developed and multi-dimensional. It has a mystery element to it but fortunately the mystery wasn't central to the novel since most true sci-fi fans will have it fleshed out very early on.
I've enjoyed Falconer's other works as well, but this one was probably my favorite to date.
May 11, 2017
Unexpected and thrilling
Picked this up to kill a few hours, and I ended up reading the whole thing in a day. I read 'Not Alone' a few weeks before and really enjoyed it, but I think Terradox is a superior novel. The characters are lovable and the story moves quickly. I really recommend picking this up, great story by a talented author. I hope to see more from Falconer in the future.
Picked this up to kill a few hours, and I ended up reading the whole thing in a day. I read 'Not Alone' a few weeks before and really enjoyed it, but I think Terradox is a superior novel. The characters are lovable and the story moves quickly. I really recommend picking this up, great story by a talented author. I hope to see more from Falconer in the future.
June 6, 2017
Good Read
Entertaining story. Different from what I usually read, but I enjoyed it. On a trip to a space station orbiting Venus the three crew members and five passengers crash on a planet between earth and Venus. They discover a plan to do a reset on earth, to destroy every living human, then repopulate it with the select, chosen ones that wait out the destruction on a planet that can't possibly be there.
Entertaining story. Different from what I usually read, but I enjoyed it. On a trip to a space station orbiting Venus the three crew members and five passengers crash on a planet between earth and Venus. They discover a plan to do a reset on earth, to destroy every living human, then repopulate it with the select, chosen ones that wait out the destruction on a planet that can't possibly be there.
June 9, 2017
This was an enjoyable read. I had a tough time putting it down as I kept wondering what the enigma was about the strange planet they had crashed on. Well written with good character development. Interesting concept of the "hidden" villain. I read a lot of Sci Fi and when first delving into this book I thought there was going to be a whole different story line. I also wondered if Holly's plant was going to come into play. Regardless, the story line kept me turning the pages. Good job!!
August 19, 2020
Couple of plot holes I thought but entertaining
Had this in my que for a long time and finally got around to reading it. Falconer has a smooth and easy writing style and kept things interesting with some twists and suspense. Primary issue is I thought there were some plot holes around a destruct method and the fact they had access to Landers sealed to space. Also thought a certain traitor telegraphed who they were a little to clearly to not have been noticed.
Had this in my que for a long time and finally got around to reading it. Falconer has a smooth and easy writing style and kept things interesting with some twists and suspense. Primary issue is I thought there were some plot holes around a destruct method and the fact they had access to Landers sealed to space. Also thought a certain traitor telegraphed who they were a little to clearly to not have been noticed.
October 20, 2020
A peek into our future?
There are so many instances in this book where you can actually see the beginnings in reality today that would/could become our future reality as described here.
We do have meglomaniacs alive today that talk of a One World Order. I can definitely see them scheming for an outcome that so closely comes to be in this thoughtful book.
This book will have you pausing, as I am doing, and paying more attention.
There are so many instances in this book where you can actually see the beginnings in reality today that would/could become our future reality as described here.
We do have meglomaniacs alive today that talk of a One World Order. I can definitely see them scheming for an outcome that so closely comes to be in this thoughtful book.
This book will have you pausing, as I am doing, and paying more attention.
May 22, 2017
While not a fast action book, the story is a good one and the characters well developed and interesting. The author is a master wordcrafter with a vivid imagination. The addition of the children into the mix of strong adults is a good touch.
I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all readers.
I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all readers.
May 31, 2017
Terradox delivers a fun, engaging space adventure
I enjoyed the book, particularly the early preparation, travel and exploration. I thought it bogged down when it went into philosophical areas, especially near the end. It closed with too much exposition and not enough action, leaving me with a vague sense of being let down. Still, I'll look for more by Mr. Falconer.
I enjoyed the book, particularly the early preparation, travel and exploration. I thought it bogged down when it went into philosophical areas, especially near the end. It closed with too much exposition and not enough action, leaving me with a vague sense of being let down. Still, I'll look for more by Mr. Falconer.
July 10, 2017
The story has a good premise, however I think this book should be listed as an young adult novel. I stuck with it, but won't be continuing on with the series.
There seems to be some kind of effect on the narrator's voice and it is fairly grating, not something you get used too. Noticed it throughout the entire book.
There seems to be some kind of effect on the narrator's voice and it is fairly grating, not something you get used too. Noticed it throughout the entire book.
July 19, 2017
Truly Creative and a really great book!
I do not recommend many books but this one is fabulous, if you like sci fi thrillers. It has everything from soup to nuts..truly. Good guys come thru eventually but what happens between is a fast moving thrill! I loved the book, the characters and the concepts!
I do not recommend many books but this one is fabulous, if you like sci fi thrillers. It has everything from soup to nuts..truly. Good guys come thru eventually but what happens between is a fast moving thrill! I loved the book, the characters and the concepts!
October 11, 2017
Decent hard scifi adventure with plenty of characters, plot twists and political machinations. Well written as well though the setting is unlike anything many readers will have encountered before. I think a bit more exposition like that in Ringworld, an exhaustive description of the environment, would enhance this story greatly.
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