Starstrike

Rating:
Summary: Tag-lines add an aroura of color to Starstrike.
Review: Michael Gear does a masterful job of transporting his readers above and beyond the earthly. Not only does the plot, pacing, and theme hold the reader's attention, but the writing is artful. As a aspiring (or maybe I should say perspiring) writer, I know how difficult it is to craft tag-lines that color the background and enhance the action. Mr. Gear has refined this ability to a level of science. I look forward reading more from this talented author and using his work as a framework for improving my own.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting read with some thought provoking ideas.
Review: Michael Gear shows some thought provoking ideas of alien thought processes while slapping us in the face about how we use stereotypes. As a average sci-fi reader this book gives some interesting twists in the plot while keeping your attention and does a good job of showing how hard it should be to understand a completely different way of thinking.

Rating:
Summary: contrived, stereotypical, weakly researched
Review: On the bright side, Gear develops some fairly interesting characters in spite of the failings, and keeps a high suspense level. He did make a real effort to create aliens who thought in an alien way.

However, his humans are hopelessly stereotypical. Just as every Chinese person a Caucasian meets does not say 'ancient Chinese secret' every time s/he comes up with a bit of wisdom, neither do Israelis make constant Holocaust/Lebanon references, nor did Russians (late Cold War) make constant statements about political matters, and nor do black Americans always make reference to the mean streets of Detroit (or wherever). If the characters had been allowed to be themselves, rather than their nationalities, they'd have been more interesting.

While on the topic of nationality, Gear had best do some more research on language. 'Yeled' means 'child' in Hebrew, and is not a likely name for a male. One Russian character's last name is done wrong for her gender. On top of all this, it is too obvious that he got a lot of his information on the Soviet Army from Victor Suvorov's (real name Vladimir Rezun, a Soviet defector) books. You'd think he would have at least camouflaged the references, but authors who take the easy way always get caught, and Gear is busted with the goods here.

If one can get past all of the above, it's not a bad book.

Rating:
Summary: contrived, stereotypical, weakly researched
Review: On the bright side, Gear develops some fairly interesting characters in spite of the failings, and keeps a high suspense level. He did make a real effort to create aliens who thought in an alien way.

However, his humans are hopelessly stereotypical. Just as every Chinese person a Caucasian meets does not say 'ancient Chinese secret' every time s/he comes up with a bit of wisdom, neither do Israelis make constant Holocaust/Lebanon references, nor did Russians (late Cold War) make constant statements about political matters, and nor do black Americans always make reference to the mean streets of Detroit (or wherever). If the characters had been allowed to be themselves, rather than their nationalities, they'd have been more interesting.

While on the topic of nationality, Gear had best do some more research on language. 'Yeled' means 'child' in Hebrew, and is not a likely name for a male. One Russian character's last name is done wrong for her gender. On top of all this, it is too obvious that he got a lot of his information on the Soviet Army from Victor Suvorov's (real name Vladimir Rezun, a Soviet defector) books. You'd think he would have at least camouflaged the references, but authors who take the easy way always get caught, and Gear is busted with the goods here.

If one can get past all of the above, it's not a bad book.

Rating:
Summary: Starstrike tries, but falls flat.
Review: Starstrike is laid low by it's characterization. While the plot itself is moderately gripping, most characters appear at best cardboard cutouts and at worst completely 0 dimensional. This is especially apparent in the desription of non-Americans, who are reduced to caricature status. Literally every sentence they make has some aspect designed to heavy-handedly remind the reader which country they are coming from, wether it's incessant Holocaust metaphores in case of the Israelis or the (somewhat less common) referring to everybody and everything as "Comrade X" by the Russians. I will not even touch the fact that aliens who live for multiple billions of years (and study humanity for thousands of those years) are outsmarted via a fairly childish strategem. I recommend everybody to pass this one by.

Rating:
Summary: Starstrike tries, but falls flat.
Review: Starstrike is laid low by it's characterization. While the plot itself is moderately gripping, most characters appear at best cardboard cutouts and at worst completely 0 dimensional. This is especially apparent in the desription of non-Americans, who are reduced to caricature status. Literally every sentence they make has some aspect designed to heavy-handedly remind the reader which country they are coming from, wether it's incessant Holocaust metaphores in case of the Israelis or the (somewhat less common) referring to everybody and everything as "Comrade X" by the Russians. I will not even touch the fact that aliens who live for multiple billions of years (and study humanity for thousands of those years) are outsmarted via a fairly childish strategem. I recommend everybody to pass this one by.