Rating: 
Summary: Evergence I The Prodigal Sun: A review
Review: "Evergence" is a book which can appeal to a lot of sci fi fans who like futuristic space & planetary adventure novels. The story is set in the distant future when human beings have evolved into different species with different talents - some of which are rather surprising. There is fair amount of technology with an imaginative twist to it. But you never feel like you are reading a dull science journal. The characters are non traditional quasi heroes. You don't quite know who the good guys really are as the story unfolds. The suspense and mystery never lets up. There are lots of unexpected twists and turns in the plot with one fight and escape scene after another much like you find in Star Wars. But "Evergence" is definitely not kid stuff. You have to pay attention when you read this book or you will miss a piece of the puzzle, but the authors lucid writing style makes the story pretty easy to follow. There were a few too many kick and punch scenes for my taste, but outside of that, this book has never bored me. With only fifty pages to go in this first of the "Evergence" trilogy series, I am looking to buy parts II and III.
Rating:
Summary: Evergence I The Prodigal Sun: A review
Review: "Evergence" is a book which can appeal to a lot of sci fi fans who like futuristic space & planetary adventure novels. The story is set in the distant future when human beings have evolved into different species with different talents - some of which are rather surprising. There is fair amount of technology with an imaginative twist to it. But you never feel like you are reading a dull science journal. The characters are non traditional quasi heroes. You don't quite know who the good guys really are as the story unfolds. The suspense and mystery never lets up. There are lots of unexpected twists and turns in the plot with one fight and escape scene after another much like you find in Star Wars. But "Evergence" is definitely not kid stuff. You have to pay attention when you read this book or you will miss a piece of the puzzle, but the authors lucid writing style makes the story pretty easy to follow. There were a few too many kick and punch scenes for my taste, but outside of that, this book has never bored me. With only fifty pages to go in this first of the "Evergence" trilogy series, I am looking to buy parts II and III.
Rating: 
Summary: Evergence 1: The Prodigal Sun
Review: A well written book. Fast paced, straight into the action and hard to put down. I can't wait for the sequel, due soon!
Rating:
Summary: Prodigal Sun -- The Start Of A Awesome Space Opera
Review: After reading this book, my first thought was, "When is the next book coming out?" Prodigal Sun is a unique space opera, with many charactes, a complex society, and a universe where you don't know who is on your side, or who to trust. Your friend may be you enemy, and your enemy just may turn out to be your friend. The story exemplifies the addage, "Politics makes strange bedfellows." I found the character of Morgan Roche to be as engaging at Ellen Ripley character from Alien. A strong enduring woman, who is an unwitting pawn in a grand scheme where the reader is unsure as to who is pulling the strings. The culture is portrayed in a richtapestry, where humanity exist in genetically modified caste system. I recommed this book for anyone looking to get involved in a space opera of a grand scale. Only downfall is that once you finish Emgerence, you're going to have to wait for the next book in the series to come out.
Rating:
Summary: Prodigal Sun -- The Start Of A Awesome Space Opera
Review: After reading this book, my first thought was, "When is the next book coming out?" Prodigal Sun is a unique space opera, with many charactes, a complex society, and a universe where you don't know who is on your side, or who to trust. Your friend may be you enemy, and your enemy just may turn out to be your friend. The story exemplifies the addage, "Politics makes strange bedfellows." I found the character of Morgan Roche to be as engaging at Ellen Ripley character from Alien. A strong enduring woman, who is an unwitting pawn in a grand scheme where the reader is unsure as to who is pulling the strings. The culture is portrayed in a richtapestry, where humanity exist in genetically modified caste system. I recommed this book for anyone looking to get involved in a space opera of a grand scale. Only downfall is that once you finish Emgerence, you're going to have to wait for the next book in the series to come out.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent space opera
Review: Commander Morgan Roche is an intelligence agent for the Commonwealth of Empires (COE), on a mission to escort a powerful artificial intelligence back to Intelligence headquarters. She meets up with a mysterious man named Adoni Cane who has no memory of his past, who is found later to be a genetically-enhanced super-soldier. The ship she is travelling on is ambushed and destroyed by the Dato Bloc, a government that has broken away from the COE. With the help of the AI known as "The Box", and the warrior Adoni Cane, she escapes the destruction of the ship and crash-lands on the prison planet Sciacca's World. From there, the rest of the book chronicles her mission to escape the planet and return the AI to COE Intelligence HQ, while constantly on the run from Dato Bloc forces, who are in league with the corrupt COE officials on the planet.If I could give this book a 3.5 star rating, I would. It's good but not great, and as another reviewer said, it doesn't have a lot of original ideas. If you like a space opera type of story with a good deal of action, you'll like this book. My problems with it were the cliches of the "all-powerful AI" and the "mysterious warrior". In every dangerous situation that Commander Roche faces, it's either Adoni Cane or The Box that pulls her out of it, through some kind of trick or previously unknown ability. After a while, it starts to read like an episode of one of the newer Star Trek shows, where the characters are put in seemingly impossible situations, but are really not in very much danger at all, because it becomes obvious that either Cane or The Box will always come through and save her. The ending of the book, especially for the first in a trilogy, was a little too much of a "happy ending" for me. Usually, at this point in a story, there should be a certain level of tension that is worked through in the second book, and then ultimately resolved in the third book. The reader is not left with a lot to look forward to in the next installment. I was also a little puzzled by this installment's title, "The Prodigal Sun". It's apparently supposed to be a play on words for "The Prodigal SON". This phrase is mentioned in the book (with the spelling SON), as it relates to one of the characters, but there is nothing in the book to indicate what is meant by the spelling of SUN in the title. Perhaps this will be revealed in later books; so far I have only read the first one.
Rating:
Summary: Decent space opera
Review: Commander Morgan Roche is an intelligence agent for the Commonwealth of Empires (COE), on a mission to escort a powerful artificial intelligence back to Intelligence headquarters. She meets up with a mysterious man named Adoni Cane who has no memory of his past, who is found later to be a genetically-enhanced super-soldier. The ship she is travelling on is ambushed and destroyed by the Dato Bloc, a government that has broken away from the COE. With the help of the AI known as "The Box", and the warrior Adoni Cane, she escapes the destruction of the ship and crash-lands on the prison planet Sciacca's World. From there, the rest of the book chronicles her mission to escape the planet and return the AI to COE Intelligence HQ, while constantly on the run from Dato Bloc forces, who are in league with the corrupt COE officials on the planet. If I could give this book a 3.5 star rating, I would. It's good but not great, and as another reviewer said, it doesn't have a lot of original ideas. If you like a space opera type of story with a good deal of action, you'll like this book. My problems with it were the cliches of the "all-powerful AI" and the "mysterious warrior". In every dangerous situation that Commander Roche faces, it's either Adoni Cane or The Box that pulls her out of it, through some kind of trick or previously unknown ability. After a while, it starts to read like an episode of one of the newer Star Trek shows, where the characters are put in seemingly impossible situations, but are really not in very much danger at all, because it becomes obvious that either Cane or The Box will always come through and save her. The ending of the book, especially for the first in a trilogy, was a little too much of a "happy ending" for me. Usually, at this point in a story, there should be a certain level of tension that is worked through in the second book, and then ultimately resolved in the third book. The reader is not left with a lot to look forward to in the next installment. I was also a little puzzled by this installment's title, "The Prodigal Sun". It's apparently supposed to be a play on words for "The Prodigal SON". This phrase is mentioned in the book (with the spelling SON), as it relates to one of the characters, but there is nothing in the book to indicate what is meant by the spelling of SUN in the title. Perhaps this will be revealed in later books; so far I have only read the first one.
Rating:
Summary: The Prodigal Sun
Review: Great read. Wonderful assortment of characters. Wonderful blends of all that is best in sci-Fi. Author really made you feel like you were there. I am back to read more from the authors.
Rating:
Summary: Well paced plot but dissapointingly cliched characters
Review: I had read a lot of hype about Williams and Dix's work of space opera. Since quality space opera (Vinge, Banks, Reynolds...), as opposed to stupid and tacky stuff, is one of my favourite genres, and since the authors are fellow aussies, I thought I'd give their book a try. I didn't expect another Van Vogt or Heinlein, but I thought it might be interesting.
Unfortunately what I too often found was an example of what bad SF is all about: today's world projected onto a galactic setting with space ships and ray guns. Many of the characters and events looked like they were lifeted straight from television sci fi. Cliches abound: loyal officer entrusted with an important mission, enigmatic AI, mysterious stranger, telepath girl, new adavanced ship, prison world, ruthless megacorp, brave rebels, toxic mutants, and so on and on. A few cliches are inevitable, even useful, in any good work of sci fi, but there's a limit. What's more, the various protagonists are never really fleshed out, or where they are it is not convincingly, their background is as cliched as the plot elements.
On the plus side, the pace was enjoyably snappy and fast - a refreshing trait so often missing in many stories - the writers have gone to some trouble to create their universe (there is a useful glossary at the back), and the cliche of the humanoid alien is thankfully missing. Instead there are castes of humans (races or species that evolved from the original "pristine" type) among which is the innovative transhumanist concept represented in the book by the High Humans.
Also, unlike other trilogies, this book doesn't end on a cliffhanger, another plus.
However, at least for me, these advantages - admirable as they are - are not sufficient to compensate for the rather banal story, characters, and setting, and I am not really inspired to read the other books of this series.
Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Start!
Review: I have been reading Science Fiction for more than 20 years and not many books have the fast start and enduring stamina that this book does! I could not put this book down. I picked it and Evergence II: The Dying Light at random. Boy, was I surprised. I am eagerly awaiting the third book and I am now looking into other titles written by these master story tellers.
|
