The Forlorn

Rating:
Summary: Medieval adventure with high-tech futuristic twist
Review: The plot of 'The Forlorn' combines an epic old world adventure with a high-tech sci-fi sub-plot, the implications of which only emerge towards the end of the book. The story centres around the life of the main character, a young boy, misfit to the medieval anarchic society from which he escapes. As the boy matures into a young man the plot follows his progress: surviving his escape into the desert, foruitously meeting a mentor, a tough desert rat prospector who has found a fortune in gems but is unwilling to re-join society other than for the momentary pleasures that frontier towns offer. The stability of the young hero's life is abandoned with his first confrontation with the sci-fi element in the book which catapults him into an adventure of epic proportions with strange hostile creatures, treachery, narrow escapes, and even gory battles. Of course there is also a romantic interest woven into the story. The story ends with an unusual twist. It's a good read, I found myself absorbed and not wanting to put the book down, I'm new to sci-fi but thoroughly enjoyed the mix of classic old style adventure story and high-tech futuristic characters. Got to recommend the book if you're looking for some absorbing escapism.

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This book falls in that genre that mixes SF with fantasy. It's a good enough book for those rainy days. Not one you'll be thinking about later, though.
Fleeing an interstellar war that would possibly mean the destruction of Earth, a human colony is launched to a distant planet. However the Morkth catch up with them on the new planet. Betrayals and fights end in a standoff. Both races are now on the planet and unable to leave.
300 years later, the new human society resembles Earth in the 16th century.
A thief ,a warrior, a princess and a member from the original human crew set out to find the 'magic' stones that will provide the struggling colony with a way to beat the aliens.

Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction in the old style
Review: This book was a rare find. I didn't like the cover much, so I nearly didn't buy it. I'm really glad I did. It is writing of type I thought had died out of science-fiction. Exuberant, fun and fast. A little clumsy at times - but the pace carries you through it. Reminiscent of Andre Norton's early books, with just that bit more character-development, and complexity. The story follows three distinct threads - The street-thief boy with soul of a prince, the princess with the soul of a courtesan, the utterly terrible alien-raised shadow of a man with a tabula rasa soul. Appealing characters in very different ways. These three move at breakneck speed on a collision course in a sort of `medieval' world. It's a quest story across painted deserts, mountains and oceans. There is very little description, but it is descriptively the best I've read for a long time. Most authors seem to describe in rather tedious detail if they describe at all. This guy comes up with one sentence stuff. `In the moonlight the tangled weave of sharp edged valleys lay like some gargantuan mauled tapestry below them.' That's all, but I've been into the desert. I worked there for three months, it's a brilliant description. For an American his use of English is very good indeed. Easy to read and with bits of dry humour. The other things I found fascinating was an alien culture where only one sex was intelligent. Oh yes, and food, this guy should definitely on a cooking channel. The story does indeed have a fantasy-like quality to it for sf, but I guess at the level of technology that was inevitable. My favourite character is the hairy gene-splice Beywulf with ape and bear genes in a human - the guy gets described as a cross between mine host of the friendly pub and an axe murderer. That's a great description. I read the book at sitting, because it is sort of a mystery story too and I wanted to know just what happened. No, I didn't work it out, but the clues were there. Also it is fast paced and easy to read. It was only the next day at work that I found myself thinking about the book. Its a good book when you find yourself doing that. I sat there with my mouth open. The author is a sneaky... It's a damned clever spoof of fantasy. It's got all the stock characters doing the opposite to normal fantasy. It's clever but non-intrusive. My only real criticism is that the end is too sudden. I would have liked an epilogue at least to find out what happened. I hope that's because there is a sequel in the pipeline.

Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction in the old style
Review: This book was a rare find. I didn't like the cover much, so I nearly didn't buy it. I'm really glad I did. It is writing of type I thought had died out of science-fiction. Exuberant, fun and fast. A little clumsy at times - but the pace carries you through it. Reminiscent of Andre Norton's early books, with just that bit more character-development, and complexity. The story follows three distinct threads - The street-thief boy with soul of a prince, the princess with the soul of a courtesan, the utterly terrible alien-raised shadow of a man with a tabula rasa soul. Appealing characters in very different ways. These three move at breakneck speed on a collision course in a sort of 'medieval' world. It's a quest story across painted deserts, mountains and oceans. There is very little description, but it is descriptively the best I've read for a long time. Most authors seem to describe in rather tedious detail if they describe at all. This guy comes up with one sentence stuff. 'In the moonlight the tangled weave of sharp edged valleys lay like some gargantuan mauled tapestry below them.' That's all, but I've been into the desert. I worked there for three months, it's a brilliant description. For an American his use of English is very good indeed. Easy to read and with bits of dry humour. The other things I found fascinating was an alien culture where only one sex was intelligent. Oh yes, and food, this guy should definitely on a cooking channel. The story does indeed have a fantasy-like quality to it for sf, but I guess at the level of technology that was inevitable. My favourite character is the hairy gene-splice Beywulf with ape and bear genes in a human - the guy gets described as a cross between mine host of the friendly pub and an axe murderer. That's a great description. I read the book at sitting, because it is sort of a mystery story too and I wanted to know just what happened. No, I didn't work it out, but the clues were there. Also it is fast paced and easy to read. It was only the next day at work that I found myself thinking about the book. Its a good book when you find yourself doing that. I sat there with my mouth open. The author is a sneaky... It's a damned clever spoof of fantasy. It's got all the stock characters doing the opposite to normal fantasy. It's clever but non-intrusive. My only real criticism is that the end is too sudden. I would have liked an epilogue at least to find out what happened. I hope that's because there is a sequel in the pipeline.