Rating: 
Summary: A Painful Experience ...
Review: Where did this novel fail? There are many pitfalls with this novel, but the most glaring and troubling problem is that it violates a major rule of drama: an author creates characters and the characters write the story. Mr. Simmons's latest novel does not seem to have been created from this principle.If you haven't experienced Dan Simmon's brilliant talent before, please do not start with this novel. Turn instead to other works, like the HYPERION CANTOS, CARRION COMFORT, SUMMER OF NIGHT. If you are already a fan of Simmons, I really don't recommend this book. And that's a shame, because I have been thoroughly impressed by everything else he has written.
Rating:
Summary: NOT Dan Simmons
Review: I read 50 pages into this book before I realized that it was not written by Dan Simmons after all. Had Dan Simmons written this book, it would have been a) filled with characters whose roles aren't simply to point out the fallacies of a particular cultural subset, b) taking its time to delve the depths of the main characters (instead of having them fall immediately for "the sparkle in her eyes"), and c) consistent in its tone (instead of waffling between Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming, and Dennis Miller). The only thing the author could possibly be proud of is having somehow gotten an acclaimed writer's name on it. Were I ever the winner of numerous literary Awards (Bram Stoker, Hugo, and WFA to name a few), I would be ashamed to have my name placed on the cover of this drivel. Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Darwins Blade; Dull.
Review: What an enormous disappointment from the author the remarkable Hyperion series. I can honestly say that I gave this book every benefit of the doubt. I continued to read this contrived, amateurish effort only through some perverse hope that somehow the story and the writing would improve. They did not. With all due respect to those who found this book amusing, I confess to laughing outloud several times. My laughter was not in response to any clever dialogue or circumstances in the text, indeed, the phony characters, plotline and dialogue were so lame that I found myself chuckling in disbelief as I checked the jacket cover several times to verify that Dan Simmons was the author. Alas, he is.
Rating: 
Summary: Will the real Dan Simmons please stand up.
Review: Up until this book I would have said no one can do it better than Mr. Simmons, and what a pleasure it was to discover this book on the shelves. Hmmm. In a nutshell, DB tells of a massive conspiracy to, yawn, rip off, the insurance industry, yawn, with our intrepid accident assesment.. Well who cares. Look above for plot. Suffice to say this is a sloppy book, rife with fact-checked mistakes (Chapel Hill, South Carolina?) that seems, for all the world, more like an adaptation of a screenplay that didn't sell than a well-crafted novel by a Master.
Rating: 
Summary: Be Entertained
Review: An attempt to reach a larger audience has produced a page turning adventure with more to come. Not what Simmons has done before, but an introduction to a versatile author for newcomers. He has done much better, but you will enjoy and we hope for more and better.
Rating:
Summary: Darwin's Blade Cuts Too Thin
Review: This was my first Dan Simmons novel. Also my last. After reading several reviews I was anxious to give him a try. What a let down. Darwin Minor is a thinly drawn caricature of the ultimate Renaissance Man. Unexplained wealth; art, music and classics lover; war hero; grieving widower, owner of every trinket known to man. What a guy! Is this book supposed to be a satire? The plot devices Simmons uses to introduce all of the bizarre insurance claims are just too strained. He uses several of them to launch into social commentary about everything from Princess Diana to the Challenger tragedy. Where he lost me for good, however, is when he tries to make Darwin into super Marine. He puts him in an improbable situation and even has the brass to name a supporting character Sgt. Carlos in reference to the legendary Marine sniper, Carlos Hathaway. His Marine references, though, are all wrong. He refers to himself and fellow former Marines several times as ex-marines. Wrong. He calls Marine utility uniforms fatigues several times. The army wears fatigues. His worse error is in scripting a conversation with a serving officer where they constantly refer to his service with the 7th Marine Regiment. In casual conversation, two Marines would say "7th Marines" or even just "the 7th". Seventh Marine Regiment is superfluous and uninformed. I won't even bother to get into the improbability of Darwin driving out of Camp Pendleton with a sniper rifle and 3000 rounds in the back of his vehicle! If you want credible sniper reading, give me Bob Lee Swagger anyday. This blade slices too thin, leaves no meat in the story.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing book from Dan Simmons
Review: This is a very poor novel from Dan Simmons, totally lacking in depth or originality. It is less a novel than a collection of all those e-mails that have been circulated to you countless times about Insurance claims ("the tree jumped out in front of the car") and Darwin Award stories (stories of people whose stupidity leads to a horrible, if amusing, death). It appears to be a mere accumulation of 'facts'picked up from bar-room conversations and e-mails. The characterization is lazy and lacking in depth. The hero of the story (and he is a real 'hero') was a Vietnam vet (he doesn't like to talk about it), his wife and child were killed in a plane crash and he is emotionally scarred by this (he doesn't like to talk about it), he drives fact cars, has a PHD, worked for NASA, has a vast collection of books, knows all about guns and ballistics (although he doesn't 'like' guns), and is an expert in crash reconstruction, which he can whack together into a computer simulation at the push of a button. Wow! This guy is cool! The plot is even cornier. When an attempt is made on Dar's life by the Russian Mafia, he is assigned a tough ex-FBI agent to act as bodyguard - female, of course, whose past is just as sketchy and unoriginal (she looks like Stockard Channing - how's that for lazy characterization?). What follows is predictable and embarrassing - and no amount of self-knowing dialogue ("Isn't this just like a bad film plot") makes it any less corny and cliched. They even run through the old 'You know how to whistle, don't you?' routine! Dreadful. You could possibly just accept this if the plot was in any way engaging or exciting, but any chance of moving the story along is interrupted by more attempts of Dan Simmons showing off how much research he has done. Dar unnecessarily walks over to a court-house and sits in on a 'joke' court case, which does nothing to advance the plot. When we do get going and find a lead as to why the Russian mafia want to assassinate Dar (jeez!), the two leads decide to take a break and go plane-gliding. Why? At this point, 130 pages in, I bailed out. Along with The Crook Factory, this is another case of Dan Simmons showing how much research he can do and how his 'facts' are true and realistic. Realistic they may be, but it makes for a very boring read. From the author of the highly imaginative and non-realistic Hyperion Cantos and Summer Of Night, this is very disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Entertainment
Review: See storyline above. As flat out entertainment, this is the book to read. One heck of a fun thriller. From laugh out loud to edge of your seat suspense. There are many entertaining factors about this book. The unusual accidents that occurred, the ones that could vie for the Darwin awards, were quite humorous, in a tragic sort of way, if not laugh out loud. You'll find insurance fraud takes on a whole new depth when the russian mafia gets involved. Dar's theory about the challenger accident was quite eye opening. You'll learn quite a lot about sniping also, in a suspenseful climax. With a Masters in physics, you'll find that not much gets by Darwin Minor. This is an all around entertaining book that will appeal to a wide group of people who like thrills and laughs. Highly recommended Darwins 5th law: Any organisms intelligence decreases in direct proportion to the number of heads it has.
Rating:
Summary: It depends on what you're looking for --
Review: It's either 5 stars or 1. Five if you're looking for a fast-paced page-turner, decent character development and fun dialogue. One star if you're looking for another Song of Kali, Summer of Night, or Hyperion. It's perfect for what it is. I hope it introduces Mr. Simmons to suspense/thriller readers who will like it enough to explore his other books.
Rating:
Summary: "A hard-charging, edge-of-your-seat tale..."
Review: (From the "Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Nov. 5th): Dan Simmons has built a career out of writing against the expectations of the commercial market - from "Song of Kali," his debut novel set in Calcutta and featuring a denouement that worked against pro forma expectations, to last year's "The Crook Factory," an espionage novel whose central concern was Ernest Hemingway. So it'll come as no surprise to Simmons' fans to learn "Darwin's Blade" takes the thriller formula and mixes in black comedy and ruminations about mortality and grief. What may be hard to believe is that the pace of this novel speeds along like the lead car at the Indy 500. "Darwin's Blade" exemplifies Simmons' skill at delivering novels that are different from anything else in the market today, while still managing to tell a hard-charging, edge-of-your-seat tale. (From the "Miwaukee Journal-Sentinel," Nov. 5th).
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