Rating: 
Summary: 'Twas cool.
Review: good book.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting, but choppy content and style
Review: I bought this book with the preconception that I was going to like it. The book itself sounded interesting, Levar Burton seems like an intelligent guy to me, and he's always seemed like a man with a lot of talent...What he needed was a friendly editor to guide him a little more. I believe the book would have been a better read without all of the native american mystical crap. Are we reading a book of sci-fi, fantasy, or mysticism? Levar, if you want to write a western, fine...everything has it's place. For a man who decries the monochromia of skintone in typical sci-fi...Excuse the pun, but he has become the pot calling the kettle black. This is a black novel written for black readers, and I am saddened by this. Can't characters be mostly colorless? Aren't we trying to teach our children that color doesn't matter? Isn't the quality of a person's character more important than the color of their skin? Most characters in the book could have been either black OR white. Why specify? Is it necessary to keep score how many characters are black and how many are white? Are all blacks good and all whites bad? Bigotry is bigotry, whether it is reversed or not. I don't hate the book. Really, I don't even dislike it, but I feel like Mr. Burton has tried to manipulate us with it, and that is something I do not like.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredible Reading for a First Effort!!!
Review: I have been a fan of Sci-Fi most of my life. When I was scanning the collection of my local library, I ran across this book and was thrilled to see that Mr. Burton had written his first effort! Upon opening the book late that afternoon, I found it hard to put down. It was addictive. I finished it the next day (which is odd - I almost never read a book this size in less than 24 hours). Even though some of the story line had a bit of cheese to it (such as Dr. Reynolds not knowing if 200,000 volts would kill a person and the rather late reception of the phychic voice by little Amy Ladue), the plot was good enough to overlook some of the minor knocks and pings that rattle any first effort. Overall, Mr. Burton's view of the future was insightful and racially fair. Although I feared that it might be a novel only for African Americans, I did not set the book down at the end and walk away feeling as if it was unduly prejudicial toward any race. I do look forward to seeing Mr. Burton's next book. I would definately recommend this book to anyone looking for a science fiction novel without the typical shoot 'em up space battles that plague the genre. Bravo Levar!
Rating: 
Summary: The Cheese at the End of the Reading Rainbow
Review: I like Levar Burton. His work in Roots is monumental. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Geordi LaForge has never failed to entertain. I even catch myself watching Reading Rainbow every once in a while. So I decided to give his new book, Aftermath, a try. Aftermath starts off with a incredibly believable series of events contributing to the eventual collapse of American society: the abrupt end of NASA; the first African-American president-elect assassinated; a devastating 9.1 mega-quake razing most midwestern cities; the stock market crashes, banks fail - another great depression. All this culminates into a Civil Race War - blacks against whites - that destroys any last remnants of infrastructure left in the collapsed American society. Wow. This dramatic beginning paints a dark, hopeless future America where nearly every urban area is populated exclusively by homeless casualties of the Race War. In the midst of this, an American Doctor has invented the Neuro-Enhancer, able to cure humans of every disease and ill. But she has tested it on herself and found that it produces side effects - she is able to project her thoughts. She is captured by an evil doctor and taken to Chicago. A homeless man in Atlanta, a little girl in St. Louis and a Lakota medicine man in South Dakota pick up on her "thought projections" and immediately drop everything and travel across the broken American countryside to Chicago to rescue the thought projection lady. The main problem with Aftermath is the cheese factor - in the pits of this hopeless society each traveling character meets overly friendly, helpful strangers willing to give up the shirts off their backs. I think Burton was attempting to spotlight the ability of the human spirit to bond, but lets face it, this doesn't happen TODAY - why would it happen in a bleak future where either you fend for yourself or die. It is simply too happy a story for such a sad future. Now if you excuse me, Reading Rainbow is on. I just love that opening song.
Rating:
Summary: Novel with potential fails to deliver.
Review: I must admit that I purchased this novel because it was written by Levar Burton. This, I believe, was what his publisher was hoping. The novel has some interesting concepts, but much of the action hinges on the existance of a fantasy- like healing device which was not believably realised. The protaganists are pleasant enough, but seem devised to provide racial harmony at the expense of realistic characterisation. Much would have been helped by judicious editing (Is it believable that a scientist who works to develop an electrical device wouldn't know whether 200,000 volts would be fatal?). I doubt that Mr. Burton would have had this effort published without the strength of his name, which is a pity because it is a good attempt which does show some promise. It just isn't ready yet.
Rating:
Summary: 274 pages- minuscule manuscript relevant to humanity today
Review: I picked up "Aftermath" in the morning and could not put it down. I finished feeling that it is Mr. Burton, not the character in the book who is ahead of his time. Anyone wanting the benefits of the "neuro" -enhancer" need only look inside themselves-- after they read "Aftermath."...again
Rating:
Summary: A SO_SO BOOK THAT DOESN'T LIVE UP TO IT'S POTENTIAL
Review: I read AFTERMATH by LEVAR BURTON and although he gives it a good try I found my mind wandering while I was reading the book and here's why. I felt that the charachters were just too uninteresting they didn't grab my attention like they should to make a good story although I was intrigued by some of the book's points such as the earthquake and the civil war I felt that it could'nt compensate for the above. So all in all I can not recommend AFTERMATH.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I think that Levar Burton had a good theme to build on. He was trying to say that we should correct the schism between the races, which is a wonderful endeavor. However, times it came out a little too much against "the white man" and that disappointed me.
I don't think the book was too badly written, although there was one page where a paragraph was almost word for word repeated in the one below it, but it didn't really capture my attention or my sympathy. I kept reading hoping it would get better, but it really didn't.
Rating: 
Summary: You can't even call this worthless book sci-fi!
Review: If you want a perfect example of the way black, Democrat, new age minds operate, then read Levar Burton's fictional book, "Aftermath: A Novel of the Future." He details how a great race war will wipe out the US as we know it. Unfortunately for people like Burton, racism is ending. He must be trying to bring it back with this book.? In the "aftermath" only the black people and the remnants of Native America will be able to save the day against viciously evil rich white people. The main character was a meterologist working for NASA before the war. You won't believe what Burton comes up with as this guy's "scientific accomplishment" for the "betterment" of mankind. How could any rational, logical mind come up with something so utterly stupid as to say that space shuttle launches are causing violent weather patterns around the globe and are upsetting the "fragile" balance of the Earth's atmosphere? That's absurd! Obviously Burton can't even begin to understand how science works. That's like saying cutting grass releases deadly chemicals that hurt the ozone layer (Burton's ilk has said this). If you can stand the first few pages it's worth it just to get Mr. Burton's outlook on our world. I couldn't take it after that. I skimmed through the thing and got the general idea of what was going on. Only Oprah Winfreys and Woopie Golburgs could read this book without... on it. Burton paints a picture of a world so far out of touch with reality that it goes even beyond fantasy. Save your money for Starship Troopers and Bitter Legacy.
Rating:
Summary: You can't even call this worthless book sci-fi!
Review: If you want a perfect example of the way black, Democrat, new age minds operate, then read Levar Burton's fictional book, "Aftermath: A Novel of the Future." He details how a great race war will wipe out the US as we know it. Unfortunately for people like Burton, racism is ending. He must be trying to bring it back with this book.? In the "aftermath" only the black people and the remnants of Native America will be able to save the day against viciously evil rich white people. The main character was a meterologist working for NASA before the war. You won't believe what Burton comes up with as this guy's "scientific accomplishment" for the "betterment" of mankind. How could any rational, logical mind come up with something so utterly stupid as to say that space shuttle launches are causing violent weather patterns around the globe and are upsetting the "fragile" balance of the Earth's atmosphere? That's absurd! Obviously Burton can't even begin to understand how science works. That's like saying cutting grass releases deadly chemicals that hurt the ozone layer (Burton's ilk has said this). If you can stand the first few pages it's worth it just to get Mr. Burton's outlook on our world. I couldn't take it after that. I skimmed through the thing and got the general idea of what was going on. Only Oprah Winfreys and Woopie Golburgs could read this book without... on it. Burton paints a picture of a world so far out of touch with reality that it goes even beyond fantasy. Save your money for Starship Troopers and Bitter Legacy.
| 
