Rating: 
Summary: Good, better....? - Just good
Review: This volume pales in comparison to the masterpiece that was "Neverness". It would probably get a 9-10 if it was anybody else's first effort. Peripheral characters in the first volumes were fully developed people with detailed, interesting personalities. Here, they serve as mechanical plot devices with no existence other than their interaction with our protagonist. Enjoyable, but leaves me hankering to re-read "Neverness", again.
Rating: 
Summary: The best of all the Neverness books
Review: While "Neverness" beats this novel for originality, this one is better in every other way. The author is now more polished there is more of what I liked about the Neverness universe presented in this book. Mostly, we see Danlo's search for the God Ede, which leads him to system after system in what is certainly a quest for the holy grail.I feel that if you liked the other Neverness books, or any other books by Zindell, you will also like this book. I don't think that there are any other authors who capture the feel of these novels, only Frank Herbert is close in his Dune series. I feel that Zindell is actually better though. I'm sure that many would disagree, but you don't see an author like Zindell very often, and I feel he should be given his due.
Rating:
Summary: The best of all the Neverness books
Review: While "Neverness" beats this novel for originality, this one is better in every other way. The author is now more polished there is more of what I liked about the Neverness universe presented in this book. Mostly, we see Danlo's search for the God Ede, which leads him to system after system in what is certainly a quest for the holy grail. I feel that if you liked the other Neverness books, or any other books by Zindell, you will also like this book. I don't think that there are any other authors who capture the feel of these novels, only Frank Herbert is close in his Dune series. I feel that Zindell is actually better though. I'm sure that many would disagree, but you don't see an author like Zindell very often, and I feel he should be given his due.
Rating:
Summary: Another beautiful book in this epic series.
Review: Zindell carries on from where he left off with The Broken God with his usual and ummatched blend of great plot, interesting characters (my favourite being the Warrior-Poet), stunning imagination and more beautiful prose all intermingled with mathematics and philosophy. Simply awesome.
Rating:
Summary: If you thought there was lots o' thinking in the LAST book
Review: Zindell takes them up another notch here, both increasing the "philosophy" department and the "science-fiction" department at the same time. Here, Danlo (our hero) ventures into the Vild with a bunch of other Pilots in an attempt to find a cure to the disease that might just ravage his people . . . and maybe in the process find out just what his father became, if he's even still alive. And to say that this just scratches the surface of the stuff that's going here isn't any hyperbole at all. Before the quest is over (if it really ends) Danlo will find himself talking to gods, visiting strange worlds, playing a game of wits with an assassin and basically trying to avoid getting killed by basically not trying to avoid getting killed (it makes more sense in the book). It's a change of pace from the last book on the surface only, there's more science-fictional elements but since Danlo is visiting different cultures with different technologies it's perhaps inevitable and Zindell throws out enough ideas to give a horde of other writers enough meat to work with for years. At the same time, the philosophy has become more cutting, I think Zindell is hiding some of his own comments on various subjects, religion in particular, or even just having too much belief in any one thing. Danlo remains as fun as ever, though it is becoming a bit of a running joke that he tends to answer everyone's questions with questions of his own, but hey, it's part of the fun. Most of the characters are well rounded, more than just mouthpieces for various arguments (most of them at least) . . . if there's anyone I could compare this too, it'd have to be Isaac Asimov, since at the core his novels always were two people debating some highbrow concept for a bunch of pages . . . while at the same time there was very little action. Same here. If you want rampaging shoot 'em ups with bodies piled everywhere and wild careening space fights and people saying things like "So, Zolar, we meet again", this isn't the place to look. However if you want a brooding, thoughtful SF epic that might just stimulate the brain cells a bit and make you care about the wacky people infesting this book, well here you go. It's right here.
Rating:
Summary: If you thought there was lots o' thinking in the LAST book
Review: Zindell takes them up another notch here, both increasing the "philosophy" department and the "science-fiction" department at the same time. Here, Danlo (our hero) ventures into the Vild with a bunch of other Pilots in an attempt to find a cure to the disease that might just ravage his people . . . and maybe in the process find out just what his father became, if he's even still alive. And to say that this just scratches the surface of the stuff that's going here isn't any hyperbole at all. Before the quest is over (if it really ends) Danlo will find himself talking to gods, visiting strange worlds, playing a game of wits with an assassin and basically trying to avoid getting killed by basically not trying to avoid getting killed (it makes more sense in the book). It's a change of pace from the last book on the surface only, there's more science-fictional elements but since Danlo is visiting different cultures with different technologies it's perhaps inevitable and Zindell throws out enough ideas to give a horde of other writers enough meat to work with for years. At the same time, the philosophy has become more cutting, I think Zindell is hiding some of his own comments on various subjects, religion in particular, or even just having too much belief in any one thing. Danlo remains as fun as ever, though it is becoming a bit of a running joke that he tends to answer everyone's questions with questions of his own, but hey, it's part of the fun. Most of the characters are well rounded, more than just mouthpieces for various arguments (most of them at least) . . . if there's anyone I could compare this too, it'd have to be Isaac Asimov, since at the core his novels always were two people debating some highbrow concept for a bunch of pages . . . while at the same time there was very little action. Same here. If you want rampaging shoot 'em ups with bodies piled everywhere and wild careening space fights and people saying things like "So, Zolar, we meet again", this isn't the place to look. However if you want a brooding, thoughtful SF epic that might just stimulate the brain cells a bit and make you care about the wacky people infesting this book, well here you go. It's right here.
Rating:
Summary: If you thought there was lots o' thinking in the LAST book
Review: Zindell takes them up another notch here, both increasing the "philosophy" department and the "science-fiction" department at the same time. Here, Danlo (our hero) ventures into the Vild with a bunch of other Pilots in an attempt to find a cure to the disease that might just ravage his people . . . and maybe in the process find out just what his father became, if he's even still alive. And to say that this just scratches the surface of the stuff that's going here isn't any hyperbole at all. Before the quest is over (if it really ends) Danlo will find himself talking to gods, visiting strange worlds, playing a game of wits with an assassin and basically trying to avoid getting killed by basically not trying to avoid getting killed (it makes more sense in the book). It's a change of pace from the last book on the surface only, there's more science-fictional elements but since Danlo is visiting different cultures with different technologies it's perhaps inevitable and Zindell throws out enough ideas to give a horde of other writers enough meat to work with for years. At the same time, the philosophy has become more cutting, I think Zindell is hiding some of his own comments on various subjects, religion in particular, or even just having too much belief in any one thing. Danlo remains as fun as ever, though it is becoming a bit of a running joke that he tends to answer everyone's questions with questions of his own, but hey, it's part of the fun. Most of the characters are well rounded, more than just mouthpieces for various arguments (most of them at least) . . . if there's anyone I could compare this too, it'd have to be Isaac Asimov, since at the core his novels always were two people debating some highbrow concept for a bunch of pages . . . while at the same time there was very little action. Same here. If you want rampaging shoot 'em ups with bodies piled everywhere and wild careening space fights and people saying things like "So, Zolar, we meet again", this isn't the place to look. However if you want a brooding, thoughtful SF epic that might just stimulate the brain cells a bit and make you care about the wacky people infesting this book, well here you go. It's right here.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!! Even better than his previous 3 books!
Review: Zindell writes beautifully and his universe is incredibly well-realized, but every bit of action or description in this book is larded with philosophical speculation. It gets tiring.
Rating:
Summary: Well written but exhausting
Review: Zindell writes beautifully and his universe is incredibly well-realized, but every bit of action or description in this book is larded with philosophical speculation. It gets tiring.
|
