Rating: 
Summary: Well written story with great characters but no ending.
Review: Never having read a Sheffield book, I was thoroughly entertained with Aftermath until I realized that there weren't too many pages left to adequately explain the unanswered. Oh great I picked up another scifi novel that the author feels compelled to make into a trilogy. I don't know about you but I hate that. By the time a sequel comes out I will feel compelled to read Aftermath again. Maybe that's not all bad but...I hope at least that the retail price is less than $14.
Rating:
Summary: A preview of what Y2K could bring us.
Review: Other reviewers have been thorough as to plot, causative events, subsequent events, etc. BUT WHAT THEY MISSED is the applicability of this book to those of us preparing for what Y2K may bring. Sheffield covers much of the down and dirty details of personal survival and national recovery that we may soon face. Some of the technological details in this novel, such as the cancer plot and the cooked southern hemisphere, are obviously a stretch compared to where we are now. But the religious cults, the failed microchips and high-tech equipment are all in the cards for January 2000. I learned much about what I have overlooked in my preparations and how others would react to systemic and global collapse.
Rating: 
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY !
Review: Sheffield destroys what could have been [AT BEST] a mediocre disaster tale with his politically correct stereotyping of the leading characters. The only reason this effort was given one star is it's relatively interesting scenario of the possible effects of a supernova upon the earth. Unfortunately,once the stage is set Charles Sheffield chooses not to concentrate on the tale of earth & it's peoples response to this great challenge,but instead on his politically correct stereotypes and their various sexual inadequacies and perversions. Truly a waste of paper & ink. For a great end-of-the-world saga,read Stephen Baxter's "Moonseed" [1998] Enough said!
Rating: 
Summary: hmm....
Review: the book itself is good, and the beginning lays the groundwork for a promising novel....still, the middle is horribly slow, and gets off on alot of tangents...i found it hard to bring myself to finish the book..the only plotline of interest was the one about the doctor turned killer Oliver Guest...and the more reviews i read of lucifers hammer (the next book on my list of must-reads) the more i begin to think that this book is a muddled [copy] of that book...what a shame, when a promising book turns out slow....still, the book itself is pretty good but dont buy it...if youre gonna read it, be sure you have alot of free time on your hands and your library card handy
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy and Disjointed
Review: The only strong point of this book is the character development. Other than that, Sheffield takes a rather intriguing scenario and promptly drives it into the ground. There are too many concurrent sub-plots to be able to fully develop and resolve in a book of this length. The result is a lot of jumping around from one group of characters to another until there is abrupt ending in the last chapter whithout resolution of many issues. It doesn't even tantalize enough for one to look to a sequel for the continued development of plotlines.
Rating: 
Summary: High quality Sci-Fi; a mix of Clark and Clancy. Excellent.
Review: The year is 2026. An Earth run by supercomputers is forced to revert to animal instincts to survive when a nearby Supernova causes the failure of all microchips. Caused by an unseen cataclysm, the Earth and human civilization are paralyzed and anarchy ensues. After the reader is accustomed to the underlying threat, author Charles Sheffield takes him/her on an adventure using the lives of a derranged serial killer, a group of near death cancer patients, the first human Mars expedition, and the President of the United States. The research required to write such a story is apparent in the facts and theories presented. An interesting topic and a fast read. If you enjoyed reading the Aurthur C. Clark Odyssey series or Tom Clancy novels, I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad For A Potboiler
Review: They (some reviewers, copy on the back of books) always say Sheffield is "the" or "a" top hard-sci-fi writer. Well, that must not be coming from the ones I've read--definitely not this one. This is a good airport novel. That's where I picked it up and read it. It's got a big disaster, plenty of sex, a daring return from a mission to Mars, desperate cancer survivors, a Hannibal Lector type character, a visionary cult leader, and some political intrigue, all thrown together pretty cheesily. It's fun to read but you wont be telling all your friends about it. Most of the characters are one dimensional, and he has a lurid, exagerrated view of politics--the President "runs" the country, and politicians are far more sleazy in interesting ways than in real life, and execute far more bloodthirsty and deft maneuvers than they manage to pull off in real life. Would make a fun trashy cable mini-series.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: This is the first book I've read by this author. I had the benefit on knowing that little would actually be resolved at the end. (I bought the sequel halfway through reading this one.) I found this book to be a great read and got caught up in the fates of several of the characters. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel shortly.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but left too much wide open for my taste.
Review: This was a decent read, but if this is a part 1 of three, I wish it would have advertised it on the cover. I think the book would have been more interesting if it had dealt more with the struggles of "average joes" who are fighting to survive in an average city following the Supernova. Instead, we are treated to the stories of a serial killer, the president, some astronauts, and some terminal cancer patients. Howabout a bit regarding Bob, the guy next door? Also, this book didn't seem to contain that much "hard" information to me, certainly nothing that anyone who's paid attention in high school and watched "Goldeneye" didn't already know.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Ending
Review: What begins as a thrilling hard-SF novel painfully developes into a hodgepodge of uninteresting characters and sluggish storylines. The "Aftermath" of a world cataclysm is seen through the eyes of loners, racists and a hauntingly "Clintonesque" president. What's missing are real people. Where are the communities, cultures and societies that must rebuild the world? I don't think children are even mentioned except as a few underground cult members.This is my 4th Sheffield novel and it doesn't compare to his earlier works. It lacks excitement, surprise and humor. "Tomorrow and Tomorrow", "Godspeed" and "Cold as Ice" are much better reads and, the lame attempt to attract my attention at the end of this novel only convinced me not to read the sequels.
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