Rating: 
Summary: Very, very well thought out: a thinker
Review: This book is put to the extremes in all ways. The script, if a little complicated, is very good with everything else. Based in the far future, the long since exiled "cybs" return, understanding nothing of the code upon which humanity lives by. Gives many points which will make you think. Very good.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This has to be my favorite book by L. E. Modesitt Jr. (I've read about ten).I'm prone to multi-volumne series, but this one is short but sweet.
Rating: 
Summary: Stimulating, a bit naive
Review: This is a well written book but I find some of the views espoused by the author to be rather disturbing - the social system described is, for all practical purposes, a very restrictive, totalitarian state (you are not supposed to own too many clothes or music CD's, thanks to exorbitant "comptime" adjustments, or luxury taxes), supposedly necessary to save the environment. Objects of art and monuments (eg. Egyptian pyramids) are systematically destroyed, again to revert the Earth to a pristine, natural state. The fundamental ethical error of hard core environmentalist movements, treating the so called "Nature" as more important than humans, is a premise on which the whole philosophical construction rests. Also, some of the ideas about economy are downright silly - there is no currency per se, except for a system of "credits", given by the autorities for performing socially useful services which is so very similar to what existed in the former communist countries. I would never like to live anywhere near a state where Mr Modesitt's social engineering tricks are put into practice. All in all, a pleasant read, especially if you like arguing with your book, or if you are a Greenpeace member.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book.
Review: This is one of the best books I've read recently. Modesitt makes you think. What is power? Who deserves it? What prices will the powerful have to pay? How do you define "right" and "wrong"? These are questions he addresses in most of his fiction, but this is his best examination to date. I'm already on the waiting list for his third volume in the Spellsong series, and wish I could learn more about the history of Ector's earth. I'm a fan since someone at the bookstore pointed out "The Magic of Recluce" and hope that his publishers plan to re-cycle those volumes of the Ecologic series I've been unable to obtain.
Rating: 
Summary: an inverted storytelling approach
Review: This is the first L. E. Modesitt book I picked up, and it was a pretty entertaining read. It sustains through a second read too, for the presentation of the two different cultures remains consistent throughout. I found the approach unexpected - even though by the end of chapter 3 there is little doubt about how the story will conclude, that leaves room for an amazing amount of suspense in just what the path will be to get to that foregone conclusion. Also the changes in points of view - first person for the demi and third person for the cybs - are a good way to unrelentingly underscore the impersonal outlook of the cybs as opposed to the demi's beliefs that life must be lived "whole-body". All in all the best science fiction book I have read in a while. I realize it's been published for some time but that just means it's still worthwhile to browse outside of the newly-published book selections.
Rating:
Summary: an inverted storytelling approach
Review: This is the first L. E. Modesitt book I picked up, and it was a pretty entertaining read. It sustains through a second read too, for the presentation of the two different cultures remains consistent throughout. I found the approach unexpected - even though by the end of chapter 3 there is little doubt about how the story will conclude, that leaves room for an amazing amount of suspense in just what the path will be to get to that foregone conclusion. Also the changes in points of view - first person for the demi and third person for the cybs - are a good way to unrelentingly underscore the impersonal outlook of the cybs as opposed to the demi's beliefs that life must be lived "whole-body". All in all the best science fiction book I have read in a while. I realize it's been published for some time but that just means it's still worthwhile to browse outside of the newly-published book selections.
Rating:
Summary: Well done, but blandly seasoned
Review: This novel presents a compelling entree to a mythos/universe that the author expands in other novels, but Adiamante may lack the vicersal tug that you get from a truly great novel. Well worth reading, even loosing sleep for, but by the very nature of its characters and message, not one you'll push on your friends.
More mature and thoughtful readers will remember this one fondly, and return to it often.
Rating:
Summary: Well done, but blandly seasoned
Review: This novel presents a compelling entree to a mythos/universe that the author expands in other novels, but Adiamante may lack the vicersal tug that you get from a truly great novel. Well worth reading, even loosing sleep for, but by the very nature of its characters and message, not one you'll push on your friends.
More mature and thoughtful readers will remember this one fondly, and return to it often.
| 
