Star Dragon

Rating:
Summary: A Tight Science Fiction Novel
Review: I found that Star Dragon gave many themes thoughtful treatment over the course of a relatively compact novel. An AI struggles with its desgner limited awareness and artificial recollection of a past human life, human characters deal with the specie's new found immortality in radically different ways, and a 'star drive' which balances singularities as a means of propulsion are some of the themes which are well thought out and treated with depth. Overall I found the plot well paced and the characters' varied approaches to life and the stresses of the vayage intersting and well developed.

Rating:
Summary: Hard SF that delivers a rip-roaring story!
Review: That Michael Brotherton has a PhD in astronomy means this book is chock full of good science and mind-blowing astronomical details. But you don't need a graduate degree to enjoy the exciting adventure story he tells in this book or the intriguing characters. If you're a space-science fan, or enjoy manly adventure in the spirit of Ernest Hemingway, I believe you'll enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Hard SF that delivers a rip-roaring story!
Review: The crew of the Karamojo has been selected to make the perilous journey to the binary star system Cygni approximately 250 light years away. Their mission is to capture and return with a star dragon, a strange unusual essence that is allegedly some form of stellar plasma held together by magnetic fields.

No nonsense Captain Lena Fang heads the quest. She only lets her hair down when no one except the Hemingway artificial intelligence can see her. Even when she shares sex with a crew member she remains in charge. Exobiology expert Dr. Samuel Fisher uses his sexual encounters with Lena to improve his standing at the cost of morale. Meanwhile crazy Biosystems engineer Axelrod Henderson plans to discharge a virus that will impregnate every female on Earth with his offspring. With a crew in discord, they reach SS Cygni only to find the intelligent star dragons are capable, sly, and tricky.

Mike Brotherton provides readers with powerful alien-creatures tale that will hook readers of outer space encounters. The story line makes the Star Dragons seem real and somehow turns the subplot containing biomods that alter human bodies into bizarre life forms into what feels like yesterday's science. Though the Karamojo crew seems two dimensional, fans will value this trek to a truly realistic alien race.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: powerful alien-creatures tale
Review: The crew of the Karamojo has been selected to make the perilous journey to the binary star system Cygni approximately 250 light years away. Their mission is to capture and return with a star dragon, a strange unusual essence that is allegedly some form of stellar plasma held together by magnetic fields.

No nonsense Captain Lena Fang heads the quest. She only lets her hair down when no one except the Hemingway artificial intelligence can see her. Even when she shares sex with a crew member she remains in charge. Exobiology expert Dr. Samuel Fisher uses his sexual encounters with Lena to improve his standing at the cost of morale. Meanwhile crazy Biosystems engineer Axelrod Henderson plans to discharge a virus that will impregnate every female on Earth with his offspring. With a crew in discord, they reach SS Cygni only to find the intelligent star dragons are capable, sly, and tricky.

Mike Brotherton provides readers with powerful alien-creatures tale that will hook readers of outer space encounters. The story line makes the Star Dragons seem real and somehow turns the subplot containing biomods that alter human bodies into bizarre life forms into what feels like yesterday's science. Though the Karamojo crew seems two dimensional, fans will value this trek to a truly realistic alien race.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes too much
Review: There's an endorsement from David Brin on the cover of the book, saying something along the lines of "*this* is science fiction." And I am the kind of guy who really does enjoy reading about ramscoops and ansibles. But I found Brotherton's descriptions of the ship's propulsion and the binary star system to be a bit much to read through.

I like the world he's created, with the abundance of cheap biotech (as will be crammed down your throat in the first three pages), but compared to the richness of the technology, his characters are relatively flat. The story is servicable, but holds no great surprises. A fine book overall, but won't become one of my all-time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes too much
Review: There's an endorsement from David Brin on the cover of the book, saying something along the lines of "*this* is science fiction." And I am the kind of guy who really does enjoy reading about ramscoops and ansibles. But I found Brotherton's descriptions of the ship's propulsion and the binary star system to be a bit much to read through.

I like the world he's created, with the abundance of cheap biotech (as will be crammed down your throat in the first three pages), but compared to the richness of the technology, his characters are relatively flat. The story is servicable, but holds no great surprises. A fine book overall, but won't become one of my all-time favorites.