Rating: 
Summary: Limitless imagination
Review: The Broken God can only be described as a tale of epic proportions.
This is a novel of ideas and philosophy so deep and rich in scope and imagination I needed to take breaks between chapters to think about and absorb what I had read.
It is the story of a young man's search for himself.
It is a tale of friendship and religion.
It is novel for and about humanity.
If you haven't read this --- DO!
Rating:
Summary: A book that will change your view of reality
Review: The Broken God was the first book of David Zindell's that I read. It it is a mixture between original Sci-Fi and Philosophy, and it looks at the creation of religeons, the corruption of power and the prejeduce of world views.
It also asks the question "what is the truth?"
Rating:
Summary: Lots o' thinking
Review: This is a massive book but well worth the investment of your time. I didn't get a chance to read the "prequel" to this book Neverness (out of print . . . as is this book, but when I bought this one the other two books in the trilogy were in print still . . . how is that? what good is keeping the last two books of a trilogy in print if we can't read how it started . . . ah, but I'm ranting) but Zindell keeps you up to date and other than sharing some characters I think they really are two seperate books that happen to take place in the same world. This book follows Danlo the Wild, who lived out in the icy wastes with his tribe until they all get killed by some virus, at which point he comes to the city of Neverness and starts to get aquainted with his new home. The city of Neverness is probably one of the most fully realized series in science fiction, Zindell put as much work into it as Frank Herbert did when making Dune and if you want a cross-genre comparsion, I'd even say Ulysses, if only because of its singular depiction of a city and the people who live there, even if the books are about two completely different things. What I must say is that Zindell's imagination is amazing, the reason the city breathes the way it does is because he has taken the time to work out all the cults and factions and the people who partake in them and the complicated political and social structure of such a city and the forces it might take to disrupt such a thing. Still, this is Danlo's story overall and it follows his adventures. There's not a whole bunch of action, it's mostly people debating various religions/philosophies for many pages but Zindell has a rare gift for description that you rarely see anymore, his prose has a flowing poetic style, he can go on for pages just about someone's thoughts and you don't even notice because the words are chosen so well. Danlo is completely three dimensional, while caring and sensitive, he's also stubborn and just a tad wild. The people he comes in contact with who change him and who he changes aren't people you're going to likely forget. The one complaint is that the ending is a bit unresolved, it's obvious Zindell is setting us up for the rest of the series, but the ending is a bit of a letdown. Still after several hundred pages of near perfection, you really can't complain. I believe this is still out of print but definitely worth picking up if you can find it, it's one of the few modern day classics of science-fiction, a deep thinking, probing novel that'll stay with you long after you finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Lots o' thinking
Review: This is a massive book but well worth the investment of your time. I didn't get a chance to read the "prequel" to this book Neverness (out of print . . . as is this book, but when I bought this one the other two books in the trilogy were in print still . . . how is that? what good is keeping the last two books of a trilogy in print if we can't read how it started . . . ah, but I'm ranting) but Zindell keeps you up to date and other than sharing some characters I think they really are two seperate books that happen to take place in the same world. This book follows Danlo the Wild, who lived out in the icy wastes with his tribe until they all get killed by some virus, at which point he comes to the city of Neverness and starts to get aquainted with his new home. The city of Neverness is probably one of the most fully realized series in science fiction, Zindell put as much work into it as Frank Herbert did when making Dune and if you want a cross-genre comparsion, I'd even say Ulysses, if only because of its singular depiction of a city and the people who live there, even if the books are about two completely different things. What I must say is that Zindell's imagination is amazing, the reason the city breathes the way it does is because he has taken the time to work out all the cults and factions and the people who partake in them and the complicated political and social structure of such a city and the forces it might take to disrupt such a thing. Still, this is Danlo's story overall and it follows his adventures. There's not a whole bunch of action, it's mostly people debating various religions/philosophies for many pages but Zindell has a rare gift for description that you rarely see anymore, his prose has a flowing poetic style, he can go on for pages just about someone's thoughts and you don't even notice because the words are chosen so well. Danlo is completely three dimensional, while caring and sensitive, he's also stubborn and just a tad wild. The people he comes in contact with who change him and who he changes aren't people you're going to likely forget. The one complaint is that the ending is a bit unresolved, it's obvious Zindell is setting us up for the rest of the series, but the ending is a bit of a letdown. Still after several hundred pages of near perfection, you really can't complain. I believe this is still out of print but definitely worth picking up if you can find it, it's one of the few modern day classics of science-fiction, a deep thinking, probing novel that'll stay with you long after you finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning. A tour de force! Beautiful prose.
Review: This is certainly the most memorable sci-fi novel I have read in the past few years (and one of the best novels in all categories). The plot-as described in the critics' reviews above follows the adventures of one Danlo on his journey to become a Pilot in the city of Neverness and his subsequent quest to find the truth about his father but it is the other detail in this book which rises it far above almost all other science fiction books I have read. (The only one I can think of which comes close is Dune). A fantastic cast of alien and human characters all wonderfully developed and different, whole new worlds described in great detail and an astonishing imagination as well as a wonderful intermingling of mathematical ideas into the story. Awesome. However for me the single most wonderful thing about this book (and its two sequels) is the quality of prose with which David Zindell writes. It is simply mesmerising and a sheer joy to read, something science-fiction is not noted for. Such beautiful language and a classical Homeric oddysey combined in one book. A must read!
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite as good as Neverness
Review: Well, after all the above 10 out of 10's above I'm afraid that someone is going to have to put the boot in, and in this case, its me. After reading Neverness, *the* perfect sci-fi novel, this book was a slight letdown. The main problem (in my opinion) is the more philosophical trend in the novel. I never felt that the novel was driving in any direction, and was disapointed when "The Broken God" ended with an unresolved air. More of a whimper than a bang, but this book still ranks head and shoulders above other science fiction novels (but read Neverness first, eh? :).
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