Fade Out

Rating:
Summary: I checked to see if someone had ripped out the last chapter
Review: After reading all the 5 star reviews, and having loved the Amtrak Wars (vols 1-6), I was really looking forward to this book. I enjoyed Fade-Out but what happened at the end? I found the ending extremely unsatisfying, I even checked to see if someone had ripped out the last chapter of my book. I would have liked a little bit more explanation (or even any). Anyone can write an impossible situation, I expect a good author to solve it.

Rating:
Summary: A stunning work of SF, stands up more than 20 years later!
Review: I first read this book as a teenager in the 70's, and was stunned. An excellent balance between finely detailed science fiction (such as the kind Robert L Forward excels at), but with a human warmth and an odd spiritual twist that sneaks up on you. While I would have loved to have seen this become a trilogy, perhaps Tilley's greatest strength was in resisting the temptation to franchise this wonderful tale into tawdry little strip mall like installments, watering down the impact of the original. If someone ever figures out that this is a script that would write itself, it could still be made into a grand "alternate universe" saga...I would hate to see someone update it from it's 70's context. My hardcover copy is well worn from repeated re-reading...my only hope is that I could produce at least one novel this wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Is the End of Civilization here?
Review: I found the book Fade-Out to be extremely compelling from the first page to the last! If you like books with a twist, then this is the book for you. The plot is well thought out and executed with just the right amount of intrigue to interest even mystery readers. You will not be able to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Is the End of Civilization here?
Review: I found the book Fade-Out to be extremely compelling from the first page to the last! If you like books with a twist, then this is the book for you. The plot is well thought out and executed with just the right amount of intrigue to interest even mystery readers. You will not be able to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: PROBABLY THE BEST SCI-FI BOOK WRITTEN !!
Review: I'M NOT THE WORLDS BIGGEST LOVER OF SCI-FI BOOKS BUT THIS OLD CLASSIC WILL GRAB YOU FROM PAGE 1. WHY NO FOLLOW ON AND WHY NO FILM ?

Rating:
Summary: A gripping read. 1 of the best sci-fi 'alien contact' tales.
Review: Just re-read the book yesterday, makes surprisingly good read even after 20 yrs and the unexpected collapse of USSR! One of the best 'alien contact' sci-fi tales ever written, IMHO. Surprised X-Files never used his ideas! Ranks right way up there with 'Rendevous with Rama', 'Solaris' and 'Stranger in Strange Land'. Patrick delivers the goodies:- his grasp of details and dramatic-tension is masterful. Anyone who knows Patrick Tilley's email address pls contact me at [e-mail]! Patrick is one of the very best, and this book a sadly 'lost' classic of hard sci-fi:- they don't come harder than this.

Rating:
Summary: A gripping read. 1 of the best sci-fi 'alien contact' tales.
Review: Just re-read the book yesterday, makes surprisingly good read even after 20 yrs and the unexpected collapse of USSR! One of the best 'alien contact' sci-fi tales ever written, IMHO. Surprised X-Files never used his ideas! Ranks right way up there with 'Rendevous with Rama', 'Solaris' and 'Stranger in Strange Land'. Patrick delivers the goodies:- his grasp of details and dramatic-tension is masterful. Anyone who knows Patrick Tilley's email address pls contact me at [e-mail]! Patrick is one of the very best, and this book a sadly 'lost' classic of hard sci-fi:- they don't come harder than this.

Rating:
Summary: toilet reading
Review: Oh my god this was one of the most dull books I have ever read. I must admit that it had a good chapter or two but I had to fight my way through..
The start was so slow I really hoped that it would speed up but no such luck... This book ended up as a great toilet read as it was so easy to put it down..
As for those of you who cant sleep at night or suffer form insomnia then get this you will be asleep befor you even finish the first page....... "I give this a big boooooooooooooooo"

Rating:
Summary: It could have been brilliant
Review: The premise of Fade Out is that a spaceship arrives in the Earth's orbit. Interesting start, because you probably wouldn't even look at this book if you didn't have a passing interest in this topic, or at least the idea of "Are we alone?" and/or "Is there a smarter race out there than us?"

I really enjoyed some parts of this book but at others, the pace is kind of slow. There are also some really irritating bits. For instance, I thought the description of the spaceship was very cliched - imagine a "flying saucer" and you've got it; the disappearance of a couple of people is never explained; and the ending is a major cop-out and really disappointing.

To summarise, this is a book with some interesting ideas that are never fully developed. That's a shame, because it could have been brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: More explanations please...
Review: The premise of this book, a coverup of the landing of an alien spacecraft, has been used so often that for me, to read a 25 year old story, I expected something more original.
There is no doubt that any government would try to act in about the same way than in the book if a saucer landed on Earth. What is interesting in this story is that civilization is threatened no by small green men but by the loss of electricity and technology. There is a glimpse of something more when some people succeed in getting into the spaceship, like increased mental abilities, but this subject is never broached again.
I hope M. Tilley wanted to write a followup because the ending is quite unsatisfactory. What I believe will happen, is that people will eventually return to an earlier age when everyone was supposed to be telepathic. There is some mention of it in the book. Technology is not the savior of humanity? God forbid! :)