Rating: 
Summary: A good story from a good author
Review: An engaging story... This is one of those books that you just can't put down! An excellent work of Science Fiction... and a plausible outlook on things to come. Save this one for vacation... otherwise, you will not get any sleep!
Rating:
Summary: A good story from a good author
Review: An engaging story... This is one of those books that you just can't put down! An excellent work of Science Fiction... and a plausible outlook on things to come. Save this one for vacation... otherwise, you will not get any sleep!
Rating:
Summary: The Tranquility Wars are revolutionary!
Review: For Hunter Blake, the future is bright. After years of separation he is reunited with the one woman he has ever loved & has been awarded an exclusive fellowship in the Federation of Independent Space Colonies which will bring him fame, fortune & success. Still, all good things tend to gather flies to its sweetness & as tensions mount between rival neighboring colonies, roving space pirates take advantage of the hostilities, raiding & looting in the tradition of the disaffected. On such a raid both Hunter Blake & his love are kidnapped by an unusual band called the Utopians. Reading The Tranquility Wars & the life of Hunter Blake took me back to those thrilling days of yesteryear when, as a young man, I dreamed dreams & envisioned futures that today I still hope for. The moral dilemma are not only posed well, the solutions are plausible & laudable. Gentry Lee comes by space adventures honestly, he has been chief engineer on Project Galileo; was director of science analysis & mission planning for NASA's Viking Mission to Mars & partner with Carl Sagan in the design & development & implementation of the television series Cosmos. Will I read another Gentry Lee? Absolutely!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but lacking...
Review: I enjoyed myself while reading this novel, but I must say that Gentry Lee seems to be treading to many lines between ideas and ends up with a book which never commits to be truly interesting. Hunter Blake can barely be described as a protagonist ( the text of the book actually points out several times that he really has no choices as to what happens to him). As a theme in itself this might be interesting, but Hunter, though we are told he is brilliant, apparently understands very little of ANYTHING that happens to/near him, then later suddenly comes to conclusions that are neatly packaged in one or two sentences and hardly mentioned again. I am not a fan of books which contain chapters and chapters of self-torture, where the characters agonize over their perceptions of the truth, when the reader has come to he right decision hundreds of pages before. But I would like a little more realistic insight into the motivations behind decisions, supported by what we already know about that character- the only reason to leave them out would be for the purpose of suspense,as is not the case here. Much of the book is spent decribing in detail Hunter's many sexual encounters- I have read and enjoyed other SF books which concentrate even more in the area (any John Varley novel, Heinlein in his platinum years), and I am no prude, but here the sexual passages seem to be esatblishing themselves as a theme which serves apparently no external purpose. The villains aren't really that bad here, either ( we're TOLD that they are, and they plan a few nasty tricks, but that's about it). In fact, the hero's friends kill two people in an ambush and little is said or thought about it, although it is one of the very few scenes of real violence in the novel. It seems rather obvious that "Tranquility Wars" is the first of a series, since there is no war here, only the grumblings of dissention, and that Gentry Lee is planning a slow build to fill out his new universe. I only wish that some of that "filling out" had been established here. I saw this book as a VERY watered-down cousin to Donaldson's "Gap" series(a tough read themselves, because VERY bad things happen to people you want to like, then those people do things that make you not want to like them) perhaps merely because of the outlaw-space setting and the gargantuan government/corporation enemy. There's plenty of good science and engineering in this novel. There are plenty of likeable characters (although once again, we're only TOLD they're likeable, without much visible proof). And there are a few rather deep concepts and some wonderful descriptive scenes. But a few deep concepts do not a deep novel make. As a book in itself, I'd say this one was rather disappointing, but I give it extra points for potential.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but lacking...
Review: I enjoyed myself while reading this novel, but I must say that Gentry Lee seems to be treading to many lines between ideas and ends up with a book which never commits to be truly interesting. Hunter Blake can barely be described as a protagonist ( the text of the book actually points out several times that he really has no choices as to what happens to him). As a theme in itself this might be interesting, but Hunter, though we are told he is brilliant, apparently understands very little of ANYTHING that happens to/near him, then later suddenly comes to conclusions that are neatly packaged in one or two sentences and hardly mentioned again. I am not a fan of books which contain chapters and chapters of self-torture, where the characters agonize over their perceptions of the truth, when the reader has come to he right decision hundreds of pages before. But I would like a little more realistic insight into the motivations behind decisions, supported by what we already know about that character- the only reason to leave them out would be for the purpose of suspense,as is not the case here. Much of the book is spent decribing in detail Hunter's many sexual encounters- I have read and enjoyed other SF books which concentrate even more in the area (any John Varley novel, Heinlein in his platinum years), and I am no prude, but here the sexual passages seem to be esatblishing themselves as a theme which serves apparently no external purpose. The villains aren't really that bad here, either ( we're TOLD that they are, and they plan a few nasty tricks, but that's about it). In fact, the hero's friends kill two people in an ambush and little is said or thought about it, although it is one of the very few scenes of real violence in the novel. It seems rather obvious that "Tranquility Wars" is the first of a series, since there is no war here, only the grumblings of dissention, and that Gentry Lee is planning a slow build to fill out his new universe. I only wish that some of that "filling out" had been established here. I saw this book as a VERY watered-down cousin to Donaldson's "Gap" series(a tough read themselves, because VERY bad things happen to people you want to like, then those people do things that make you not want to like them) perhaps merely because of the outlaw-space setting and the gargantuan government/corporation enemy. There's plenty of good science and engineering in this novel. There are plenty of likeable characters (although once again, we're only TOLD they're likeable, without much visible proof). And there are a few rather deep concepts and some wonderful descriptive scenes. But a few deep concepts do not a deep novel make. As a book in itself, I'd say this one was rather disappointing, but I give it extra points for potential.
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow and boring
Review: I had forgotten what I didn't like about Lee's Rama books until I began reading this. The Rama books were all full of underdeveloped, oversexed characters. This book was heavily laced with gratuitous sex and nothing but gratuitous sex... There was no plot, there were no characters. I read about 100 pages, put the book down and picked up the Orson Scott Card book I had waiting. When I finally got the nerve to finish the book I found even more gratuitous sex and even less plot. I did manage to finish the book... well, I think I finished it. I'm wondering if there may have been missing pages at the end or maybe one or twelve missing chapters. There was no climax to the book (well, so to speak) and the ending just... well... ended. Unless the author is planning a sequel to answer all the questions left at the end of this book (like "what was the plot?") don't waste your time. You'll be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: World building
Review: I have just finished this book and found it interesting and will recommend it, although conditionally. If you are into the hard science and straight forward prose similar to his collaborations with Arthur C Clarke than it will work for you. The book appears mistitled, there is no war, only a corrupt governments attempt to undo the work of the social outcasts- the pirates. The pirates (the good guys) go around the solar system looting and stealing and they are treated as just the mosquitos on the back of an elephant. You are about two thirds of the way through the book before the government swings into action. Perhaps it should have been called the "Tranquilty Disagreement." Still I found Mr. Lee's vision of the future compelling and the main chracter very sympathetic. For Hunter Blake, a young man from a small asteroid, events seem to propel themselves away from his control at every turn. The author shows Hunter Blake to be a person who does not have all the answers, or the decisiveness, to solve all of his problems. However, for a 21 year old the lack of maturity is very realistic. I enjoyed it and do recommend it with the above reservations.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not on Par with his other books
Review: Set four hundred years in the future, when a large part of humanity has moved into space, Tranquility Wars is a sci-fi/adventure story. Not much of the story can be told with out taking away part of the fun of the book. But the basic idea can be told. The main character is Hunter Blake, a 20 year old who lives with his parents on an asteroid in our solar system. Out side the asteroid, the solar system is split between two governments. The first controls the south side of Mars, and every thing within Mars??? orbit, including Earth???s moon. The second controls the north half of Mars, and everything outside of Mars??? orbit, including the asteroid that is home to the Blake family. The book follows Hunter on his first trip to Mars, to become one of a few selected government scholars. The book does a good job of describing some of the problems of living in space, and how they could be dealt with, along with creating a vivid and complex political system. While the book is a fun read, in general the story is lacking that which turns a fun read into a good book. As stated before, the book follows Hunter on his trip, and while we see him make a few choices, the key decision are made for him. But the reader is still given pages of inner thought on key issues, ranging from how far science should go, to how much control the government should have. But these segments on key issues feel forced, and don???t fit with the characters??? other traits, almost as if Gentry Lee was trying to address key topics with a story along side. (In his other books, he wrote a good story that had important topics on the side.) There were also several cases of irrelevant side stories, that neither advanced the plot (as they suggested during the reading), nor helped develop the characters. This proved frustrating, as some of the suggested plot developments were more interesting than what really happened. Overall this book was fun to read, but not worth a great deal of praise. And it is most definitely not at the same level as the Rama series or the Bright Messengers story.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not on Par with his other books
Review: Set four hundred years in the future, when a large part of humanity has moved into space, Tranquility Wars is a sci-fi/adventure story. Not much of the story can be told with out taking away part of the fun of the book. But the basic idea can be told. The main character is Hunter Blake, a 20 year old who lives with his parents on an asteroid in our solar system. Out side the asteroid, the solar system is split between two governments. The first controls the south side of Mars, and every thing within Mars' orbit, including Earth's moon. The second controls the north half of Mars, and everything outside of Mars' orbit, including the asteroid that is home to the Blake family. The book follows Hunter on his first trip to Mars, to become one of a few selected government scholars. The book does a good job of describing some of the problems of living in space, and how they could be dealt with, along with creating a vivid and complex political system. While the book is a fun read, in general the story is lacking that which turns a fun read into a good book. As stated before, the book follows Hunter on his trip, and while we see him make a few choices, the key decision are made for him. But the reader is still given pages of inner thought on key issues, ranging from how far science should go, to how much control the government should have. But these segments on key issues feel forced, and don't fit with the characters' other traits, almost as if Gentry Lee was trying to address key topics with a story along side. (In his other books, he wrote a good story that had important topics on the side.) There were also several cases of irrelevant side stories, that neither advanced the plot (as they suggested during the reading), nor helped develop the characters. This proved frustrating, as some of the suggested plot developments were more interesting than what really happened. Overall this book was fun to read, but not worth a great deal of praise. And it is most definitely not at the same level as the Rama series or the Bright Messengers story.
Rating:
Summary: A good read with understandable characters
Review: The competition between the Federal Space Independent Colonies (FSIC) and the United Democratic Space Colonies (UDSC) over control of the solar system is fierce. However, Covington Fellowship winner Hunter Blake is oblivious to the goings-on as he sees the scholarship providing him an easy ride to the top of society. His girlfriend Tehani Wilawa pays off her deceased father's enormous debt by earning her living hooking at the popular Sybaris pleasure palace. Even with her financial problems, Tehani enjoys the indulgences of the privileged. Because of the dispute between the FSIC and UDSC, pirates have begun to successfully roam space. One such band abducts Hunter and Tehani. Soon the duo begins to question their lifestyle. Is this the case of a taste of true freedom not all it is cracked up to be or just the Stockholm Effect? THE TRANQUILITY WARS is a coming of age science fiction novel that pulls the rug out from underneath the reader, helps the fan back up, and re-pulls the rug again reminiscent of Lucy and the football. The story line is entertaining, but action aficionados need to understand that the war is tranquil on this novel. The brilliant Hunter is the star of the tale, but in spite of his obvious superior intellect, he is one dumb stud when it comes to females and clearly no Buck Rogers. Gentry Lee provides an intriguing comparative social systems tale of competing ways of life in the twenty-fifth century. Harriet Klausner
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