Rating: 
Summary: Underground Trekkies
Review: I love the premise of the book- what happens when environmentalists get crazy and start an ice age, but the authors, all three great, could have done so much better. The idea that a bunch of underground science fiction fans being hunted by the government are helping the "space people" in the midst of Luddite oppression is just assinine. If you are not a hard-core science fiction buff, with enough knowledge of the genre to be able to sweep the category on the game show Jeopardy, don't bother reading this book. Like their real-world counterparts, most of the characters in this book are a bunch of weenies, and the obscure references to sci-fi of the past are tedious and sleep-inducing.
Rating: 
Summary: A stretch, but fun
Review: I never thought much of it, but when I ended up working for Rotary Rocket, I couldn't resist getting my copy autographed by the authors *and* Gary Hudson- at the rollout of the Roton ATV. Of course, Gary detests the book, so maybe that's why I got fired last week ;) Turn your willing suspension of disbelief way up and you'll enjoy it.-- Doug Jones, Rocket Plumber
Rating: 
Summary: What if the Lunatics Ran the Asylum?
Review: I read this book about 5 years ago. While the main story line is somewhat corny (astronauts being rescued by sci-fi fans), this book is noteworthy for its context if nothing else. Fallen Angels takes place in the near future, where the Environmentalist Wacos have taken over the country. Now in charge, they have put in place de-industrialization and anti-science policies to fight global warming. The irony is that these measures have triggered a new Ice Age. But dont' think that a little thing like glaciers threating Minneapolis makes them see the error of their ways. With a frozen, but brainwashed, populace still fearing global warming, the Earth First "Police" arrest people for environmental crimes like burning coal to stay warm or using "inappropriate" technology. Even science fiction has been outlawed, causing "fans" to go underground and form secret societies. The only free Americans are a colony of astronauts, living in the space station. Sound farfetched? Personally, I think this is how the world could have looked if Al Gore had won in 2000.
Rating: 
Summary: Ridiculous self-indulgent sci-fi fan fantasy
Review: I was excited by the first pages of this book - sounded like an interesting premise (abrupt climate change causing an ice age, small orbiting communities trying to survive despite hostile earth nations). But within thirty pages the book went from interesting future history to adolescent fantasy. Science fiction fans as an oppressed minority? Give me a break. Niven et al have taken a good idea and ruined it.
Rating:
Summary: How are the mighty fallen
Review: I've heard people say that this book is good and funny if you're a SF fan. Well, all I can say is that I've been an SF fan for over 40 years and I was nauseated by this book. The chances are slim that anyone who's not a fan would ever hear of this piece of garbage, but on the off chance that they did, I would hope they might consider that being an SF fan used to be a badge of honor. Nowadays it apparently just means you're a Rush Limbaugh dittohead with a light saber. Honestly, we're not all as braindead as this book would have you believe. This is probably the most insulting, ignorant, and wrongheaded novel I've ever read. Help save the Earth and burn this book.
Rating:
Summary: How are the mighty fallen
Review: I've heard people say that this book is good and funny if you're a SF fan. Well, all I can say is that I've been an SF fan for over 40 years and I was nauseated by this book. The chances are slim that anyone who's not a fan would ever hear of this piece of garbage, but on the off chance that they did, I would hope they might consider that being an SF fan used to be a badge of honor. Nowadays it apparently just means you're a Rush Limbaugh dittohead with a light saber. Honestly, we're not all as braindead as this book would have you believe. This is probably the most insulting, ignorant, and wrongheaded novel I've ever read. Help save the Earth and burn this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Elite Become the Hunted
Review: In the year 2025, Luddites and Greens have taken over the United States. Excessive heating is abolished; people are forced to burn alcohol in their cars. Technology having long-since been made taboo, science-fiction fans/writers have either been brain-washed, been forced into hiding, or exiled to Austrailia. Meanwhile, 200 miles above the Earth, the descendents of the last astronauts and cosmonauts fight a continual, losing battle for survival. Having only a small Moon base, the Space Stations Mir and Freedom, a pair of STS External Tanks, the Space Shuttles Buran and Enterprise-II, and four NASPs, they have been reduced to eating algae, mining the Moon for oxygen and building materials, and using the NASPs to 'scoop-dive' the upper-atmosphere for nitrogen. However, during a scooping mission, one of the NASPs is shot down over the North Dakota Glacier, the two astronauts being rescued by Sci-Fi Fandom. Falling Angels is the subsequent story of how the fans struggle to find a way to return the 'Angels' back to orbit.
Rating:
Summary: Fandom can be irritating
Review: Intelligent political satire ala Frederick Pohl this is not. It's not even as good a story as you'd expect from Niven and Pournelle (who the hell's Michael Flynn?). What this book is is a wonderful, loving sendup of all that is godawful about fans, written by two (or possibly three) authors who clearly love fandom, and can parody gently these irriating, irritating people. Sure all the in-jokes are fun, but the most fun is pointing at each character and going, "Omigod, I know someone *just like that*."
Rating:
Summary: FIAWOL! Five stars for cleverness alone. Fantastic!
Review: Isaac Asimov would be proud. Possessed of a charm and wit like almost no other, Fallen Angels is rife with indispensably funny characters and villains so absurd in their oppressive crusades they're almost as bizarre as real people. Highly intelligent social commentary hits a bullseye and stirs anger against ideologies that ignore reality at the expense of those they seek to crush. Fallen Angels also contains very astute contrasts between the need for responsible use of ecological resources and the ridiculously fanatical and crackpotted assertions by the tree-huggers. Warning: Ralph Nader should not read this.
Rating:
Summary: Are the authors insane?
Review: It's interesting to try to guess what bug got under these guys to make them write such a ridiculously biased diatribe against the environmental movement. I can't believe any responsible publisher would allow a book to be printed that encourages people to burn more fossil fuel in order to save the world! Was this all supposed to be some kind of joke? If so, it's way over my head! There was one funny part. I laughed out loud when the "good guys" win because all those nasty Greenpeace people are afraid of computers. What a laugh. This was was nothing but a waste of trees. I suggest burning it and help the authors save the world. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't allow zero stars.
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