Rating: 
Summary: In Defense of the Author ...
Review: "Andrew Dymond" is a pseudonym for Jim Mortimore, who, as some readers know, has written numerous compelling DOCTOR WHO novels, and is one of the best tie-in scribes from the UK. The "buy in advance" listing on this book did, in fact, show JM's by-line, so when the AD byline showed up on the cover (of the UK edition), I wrote Jim an email to ask whuzzup. Here is the relevant part of his reply -- published here because his email specifically gave permission for it to be passed on:"Yep. Andy Dymond is me. Or rather I am he. Or rather... oh hell, I might as well come clean. The Macmillan Editors of the farscape book jerked me around savagely on this one, so I walked. They cut about a third of the book out and castrated the rest with some frankly awful passages. I had talked to Rockne O Bannon about the book and was encouraged to write something sophisticated and rather cool. What happend then was that three editors decided it was too clever, they didn't understand it and so the fans wouldn't. Frankly this is bollocks. I had just gone through the same process with Campaign [a DOCTOR WHO novel, at length published independently] and evidence has proved me right on that one, . Generally speaking I'm a cutie pie, but I do not suffer fools gladly. And these guys rewrote the book of fools. (well they edited the clever bits out anyway.) So what you're reading is about half (or just over) of the book I wrote..."
Having read the "unexpurgated" version, I can attest that Jimbo was a lot more on point than the evidence of the published tome would indicate. And that said: The edited version is not quite as bad as the reviews before mine indicate. It's a misfire, but the prose style is lively enough -- not the leaden, anonymous style one associates with bad tie-ins. So there are some pleasures to be had ...
Rating: 
Summary: heard this was poor and bought it anyway...
Review: ...only to show Tor books that there is a market for Farscape novels. Though,admittedly, if they publish anything else as bad as this I won't buy it. On to the book itself... As already stated, many details are downright wrong. Some of that didn't bother me, but it showed an apalling lack of research on the writer's part, and also showed an apalling lack of concern on the part of the editor, or whoever in Henson licensing should have been watching for such things. The book clearly is supposed to take place sometime after Mind the Baby (season 2 premiere) yet the characters who are at all recognizable act like season one. For the first part of the book I could reconcile D'Argo, Zhaan, Crichton, and Aeryn with points in their season 1 characteristics... but none came from the same point. Rygel and Chiana were almost unrecognizable. I did like the aliens, but they weren't enough to carry the book, especially once things started to really degenerate (Crichton attacking in his modified module... Farscape 1 with weapons?????, and just about everything from then on.) Andrew Dymond, I've been told, is a pseudonym for Jim Mortimore. For those of us familiar with his work from Doctor Who novels, he demonstrates his obsession with death. Everyone either comes close to dying or actually dies. And worse, his usual solution, which is to bring in a miraculous cure at the end that heals everyone (including bringing the dead back to life.) It seems to me that drama and suspense can be maintained by other means, but that's what he focuses on in almost all of his books that I've read so far. Of course, this one is preferable to the ones I've read where everyone just dies a horrible death and the survivors end up depressed. I can't recommend that you buy this book, unless like me you want to let Tor know there is a market for them...
Rating:
Summary: What were they thinking!
Review: After having read the previous review regarding the editors and the author, some of my questions have been answered but not all of them. Have any of the people involved with this book seen Farscape? The character reactions were all way off, descriptions of everything from Moya (have you ever seen glowing moss or veins in Moya?) to members of the crew were wrong, and some of the aliens acted and spoke like humans. As an example, one of the little furry aliens (whose names escape me), says "Flipside" as he/it was leaving. Crichton is the only human in the Farscape universe. Therefore, he is the only one who could possibly use human slang (other than members of the crew and they would get it wrong - its part of the joke). "Catch you on the flipside" certainly is human slang. We can't blame this on translator microbes because it was said to Rygel; Crichton was nowhere to be seen. The pirate acted just like Captain Ahab - I expected him to say "Thar she blows." I rarely abandon a book before the end but I was sorely tempted here. If you have a collector mentality like I do, buy it. Console yourself that the cover art is good. Otherwise, don't bother. BTW, has Kemper read this!? I doubt it. If he had read it, we wouldn't have gotten a chance to.
Rating:
Summary: I knew I was in trouble when...
Review: After reading the wonderful "House of Cards", I knew I was in trouble when I picked up "Dark Side of the Sun" and there was no 'Acknowledgments' or 'About the Author" which told how much that Andrew Dymond enjoyed the show, Henson, etc. DeCandido (author of "House of Cards") lists all the many sources he used to write his book. I am pretty sure that Dymond is too embarrassed to tell where he found out all his information on Farscape. The characters are all wrong, the settings are all
wrong and the interaction between the characters is non-existent. It is painfully obvious that he does not watch the show at all. I can only assume that someone handed him a brief synopsis of the show and the characters and he went from there. PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU ARE A FARSCAPE FAN!!! Please, Tor Publishing, let DeCandido write the next Farscape novel.
Rating:
Summary: A far cry from Farscape
Review: Being as impatient as I am, I ordered this book months ago and was very disappointed. Following Keith R. A. DeCandido's House of Cards (which I loved), Andrew Dymond's approach to Farscape left me very cold. Part of the appeal of Farscape is the visuals and I found his descriptions to be lacking. Most of the characters were left mostly on the sidelines and the ones we saw the most of didn't feel like the characters we've come to love from the series. And what good is a Farscape story if we don't see the crew interact and argue and eventually come together? Unsatisfying descriptions, uncharacteristic characters, and an annoying lack of teamwork makes this adventure a far cry form a Farscape story. It almost get the impression that Andrew Dymond had this sci-fi story in mind for a long time and merely reworked it to be a Farscape adventure. The only point that makes this book worth one star is we see another Hynerian! And we see this subplot resurface on the actual series (season three: Fractures). But for a silver lining, it's pretty thin. It isn't fair to compare this book to it's predecessor (House of Cards) but that's unavoidable in a series and let's face it, House of Cards is the book to read and Dark Side of the Sun is the book to stick under your desk to keep it from wobbling.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Awful Literature
Review: Granted Fan Fics rarely make this list of greatest written works, but this one was actually painful. Most of the previous comments about this book were right on the mark. Inconsistent facts, unbearable (if any) dialogue, mismatched personalities. And the icing on the cake is the fact that almost every memeber of the crew (Moya included) dies at least twice, only to be later revived through some miracle cure or another. Any maybe I'm being picky, but I doubt Farscape 1 could last very long in an extended firefight with dozens of gun skiffs.
Rating:
Summary: What the frell?
Review: Having read all of the other reviews, I feel a need to add in my two cents/vent. I've never written a review before this, that's how strongly I disliked this book. Farscape: House of Cards was amazing. Dark Side of the Sun was just painful to read. In my opinion, if Dymond saw any Farscape eps at all, he must not having been paying any attention. In addition to all of the other details everyone's already mentioned, he repeatedly says that Chiana is white. Did I miss something? She's gray on my television. And doesn't Rygel have eyebrows, not ears? These are just two of the many things that make this book so far off base. The alien in some distant part of the universe talking like an inner city youth ("flipside") just made me want to scream. I couldn't even follow Dymond's cryptic way of writing. I still have no idea how Moya's crew escaped from the PK's. There's only one thing that this book is good for. Torturing scifi fans.
Rating:
Summary: What the frell?
Review: Having read all of the other reviews, I feel a need to add in my two cents/vent. I've never written a review before this, that's how strongly I disliked this book. Farscape: House of Cards was amazing. Dark Side of the Sun was just painful to read. In my opinion, if Dymond saw any Farscape eps at all, he must not having been paying any attention. In addition to all of the other details everyone's already mentioned, he repeatedly says that Chiana is white. Did I miss something? She's gray on my television. And doesn't Rygel have eyebrows, not ears? These are just two of the many things that make this book so far off base. The alien in some distant part of the universe talking like an inner city youth ("flipside") just made me want to scream. I couldn't even follow Dymond's cryptic way of writing. I still have no idea how Moya's crew escaped from the PK's. There's only one thing that this book is good for. Torturing scifi fans.
Rating: 
Summary: good writing but... I rate it a Stinker!
Review: I almost gave it one star, but then thought about this book from a reader's perspective, not a Farscape fan's and went with three, thus the two star rating. Ummmm, I think Mr. Dymond needed to watch one episode of the show, or even read the Farscape website to get that Pilot ISN'T on the bridge nor could he be in Crichton's room. At the end, Crichton is in his bed and the author writes, "All his friends were there, D'Argo, Zhaan, Chiana, Rygel, and of course Aeryn. Pilot, too, was present." If you're a die hard fan of the show (which I am), don't waste your credits... some of the characterizations are way off. If you're not a fan of the show, you may well love this book. The writing is done well, if not a bit dramatic at points. But the story is sound and the plot moves at an even pace. Mr. Dymond spent much time writing from the perspective of Rygel, and from the back of the book I gather was the story supposed to be about Rygel... and it carried itself relatively well once it got going. However, the other characters seemed mere props and left me cold. The premise of the show is the group of misfits and their relationships. And their relationships seemed cold or non existant...
Rating:
Summary: FarScape: Dark Side of the Sun---- Review
Review: I am an extreme fan of the show and I have read the first FS novel, House of Cards by: Keith R.A. DeCandido, which was a really good, but this book was a very big dissapointment. I don't think that the author, Andrew Dymond, has ever seen the show. He couldn't get the personalities of the charaters right and did a bad job with the ones he created for the story. He was also off on the description of Moya and since when does the FarScape 1 have a stero system with a CD player. Another thing I found off was that Crichton's tape recorder used CDs instead of tapes. I also found a few other inconsistencies were just a bit too off from what they were supposed to be. He could have also done better with the dialoge of the characters, which I found was lacking or just plain bad. Some things, like how the fuzzie creatures talked, was just wrong and made me wonder where this author thought the story was supposed to take place. I am truly suprised that this story was even published. I wonder if it was even revised for that matter. Most FS Fan Fic floating around the net is much better then this story will ever be and you don't have to pay 6 or 7 bucks to read them. I hope the next FarScape novel, comming out in January, will have a much better writer and a much better story then this one did.
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