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Voices (Babylon 5, Book 1)

Voices (Babylon 5, Book 1)

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Could have been a much better novel, instead it's passable
Review:
The book is very good, if you don't expect everything to be exactly like the television series.

The main idea and plot is very good and had a lot of potential that was wasted. However the major weaknesses was the chracterisations of the main 'cast' Mr. Garibaldi, Talia & Bester. The second problem was to me the wrap up being done too sudden and quickly. It was as though the writer was given a fixed number of pages and about 90% through realised he did not have many pages left and decided to squeeze everything in instead of rewriting for better pacing. I think the resolution should have been spread across at least another 20 pages or some editing of some of the earlier chapters of some unneccessary writing.

All in all worth a read but not a keeper, maybe a rewrite was in order and this book could have been a 5 star rating instead of 3-3 1/2 that I think it is now.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Could have been a much better novel, instead it's passable
Review:
The book is very good, if you don't expect everything to be exactly like the television series.

The main idea and plot is very good and had a lot of potential that was wasted. However the major weaknesses was the chracterisations of the main 'cast' Mr. Garibaldi, Talia & Bester. The second problem was to me the wrap up being done too sudden and quickly. It was as though the writer was given a fixed number of pages and about 90% through realised he did not have many pages left and decided to squeeze everything in instead of rewriting for better pacing. I think the resolution should have been spread across at least another 20 pages or some editing of some of the earlier chapters of some unneccessary writing.

All in all worth a read but not a keeper, maybe a rewrite was in order and this book could have been a 5 star rating instead of 3-3 1/2 that I think it is now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: probaly the best book for this tv show
Review: a telepath convention is being held on babylon 5. when an explosion happens, all the evidence points toward talia winters.
she manages to escape and her trial and errors on clearing her
name without getting caught make this a very intersting book.
while most people that watched babylon 5 probaly did not pay much
attention to talia's character this book brings it out and all b5 fans should definitely read it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Shame about the sexism
Review: A weird one, this one. Aspects of the book are quite good, such as some of the characterisation of the male characters - Garibaldi, Grey and Bester the short guy. The writing is juvenile and some of the sexism is unacceptable. Every time Ivanova or Talia are mentioned, the author has to say that they are 'beautiful' or 'glamourous' or 'aluring'. Never once is Garibaldi described as 'hunky'. And yes I know there is a reason for that, but still... Unforgivable is Talia squealling with delight at one point - I mean, REALLY.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Interesting ideas, wrong audience
Review: Apparently, the author had to write this novel in a month, and boy, does it show. The plot is ehhhh and the characterization is off. Bester's particularly painful to read -- between the author only having one show to go on ("Mind War") and the general tone of the novel, his characterization is really problematic.

The juvenile style of writing, and the way it tries to appeal to juvenile sensibilities, is the real problem with this novel, though. Characters speak in exclamation points; heck, there are exclamation points scattered all over the place. Some things come across as purely puerile. Garibaldi recognizes Talia by spotting her rear end in the crowd. A bomb mangles Bester's butt. Is there a fixation here, or what?

The sad thing is that there are some decent concepts here, but the execution is just terrible. I think the author misjudged his audience; the problems are far too severe to be just the result of over-hasty writing. The lack of subtlety in the writing -- again an artifact of a misjudged audience, I think -- also reduces some of the interesting implications of the whole "telepath problem".

This book's only worth it if you're a hard-core fan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Weird, but good.
Review: As a book based on characters from a series, it was ok, but the people weren't exactly themeselves. Maybe they were hearing *voices* telling them to act differently.

The book is very good, if you don't expect everything to be like on Babylon 5 itself. It's very intriguing. Good action, and a good "innocent fugitive" story.

Nice descriptions, too. I liked Bester's description, only I'd add that he's almost tiny enough to put in a bread-box.

I didn't understand, though, why the author had to make Grey have an obsession about Ivanova. After all, he knew her for only a few days. That's just pathetic.

The Kosh string wasn't very understandable, just weird. Why does he help Talia? I'm not really sure.

The book is a little too predictable when it comes to who was the real bomber. On the other hand, it might be that the action was supposed to be the main storyline of the book, and not who did it. A little after I got to where the bomb exploded (I mean the chapter), I understood who it was and who was probably another accomplise.

For those of you who like Babylon 5, this is a very good book. If you haven't read other B5 novels, read this one first, since that way it's interesting. But if you read #7 and #9 first, you'll be a little disappointed from this one. Do not get me wrong, it is good, even if you read those first.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but could be better.
Review: As the first book based on the SF TV series "Babylon 5", _Voices_ has a great deal to live up to, and unfortunately, doesn't quite succeed. The characters are not quite up to the standard of the show, which is somewhat understandable, as _Voices_ was written in June, before the airing of the second season, in which it takes place. I found the situation improbable, and there were a number of glaring mistakes (the temperature on Mars) that, unfortunately, caused problems for my enjoyment of the book. However, as this was the first one, Vornholt was entering unmapped territory. With a bit of luck, _Blood Oath_, the third Babylon 5 novel that will also be written by him, will be more in tune with the Babylon 5 universe as it is perceived by the fans.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: pretty decent effort
Review: Decent novel for a first, though Vornholt doesn't really have a grip on the characters. Pretty funny in places, but nothing special.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Strike one...
Review: Having read _The Shadow Within_ and _To Dream in the City of Sorrows_ (B5 novels 7 and 9) I began to wonder about the earlier novels. I had heard they were not as good, but I wanted to see for myself. Yup. _Voices_ is an uncomfortable read that depends too heavily on the episodes which it draws from (mostly Mind War, Deathwalker, Grail and Eyes). Duece and Harriman Gray show up (it seems) simply to tie into the series; they could have easily been two new and interesting characters. Kosh is reduced to a walking fortune-cookie dispenser.

On the other hand, there are a few interesting concepts that sadly were never brought up on the show. This makes the novel doubly frustrating.

I ended up with the sense that the author was so concerned with remaining canon that when he failed in that respect, he had sacrificed too much of his plot for the story to survive. I will give him another chance with Blood Oath....

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: NOT for die hard Babylon 5 fans..
Review: I have to disagree with the genral consensus that this is for the loyal fans of B5.. in fact, those loyal fans are the people this book is going to annoy. One could be forgiven for thinking Mr Vornholt had never seen an episode of the programme in his life, he had so little grasp on the charctors. Which is a pity, because the ides in the book were actually very good. I just could not stop thinking "this character would NOT have said/done that.. at least not that way". He also used too many adjectives - there are only so many times we need to hear how beautiful Talia is, or how Kosh speaks... So, if you have never seen Babylon 5, or only a few epidoes, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, stay away and read number 2, it is leaps and bounds above this one.


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