Rating: 
Summary: An engaging read!
Review: A King of Infinite Space is a strong book. It is well written and grabs you from the very first page. And, while they say every story has been told, this one managed to put some unique twists on the "what if science could allow is to live again" story. WARNING: This paragraphy gives clues about the ending! The ending was a bit too tidy. Alec's world had been getting worse and worse and then, in one fell swoop, he entire life comes together (anyone have a magic wand?). But, that didn't really bother me. The reality is that by that point in the book, I wanted things to go right for Alec. I liked Alec and I wanted things to work out for him. And, really, so what if the ending is a little forced. I read this book for fun and it was fun. I have no problem at all with everyone living happily ever after in a light scifi novel! This book was a fun story that I enjoyed immensely. As long as you don't read this book looking for something deeply intellectual (and you enjoy science fiction) you'll enjoy it too.
Rating:
Summary: An engaging read!
Review: A King of Infinite Space is a strong book. It is well written and grabs you from the very first page. And, while they say every story has been told, this one managed to put some unique twists on the "what if science could allow is to live again" story. WARNING: This paragraphy gives clues about the ending! The ending was a bit too tidy. Alec's world had been getting worse and worse and then, in one fell swoop, he entire life comes together (anyone have a magic wand?). But, that didn't really bother me. The reality is that by that point in the book, I wanted things to go right for Alec. I liked Alec and I wanted things to work out for him. And, really, so what if the ending is a little forced. I read this book for fun and it was fun. I have no problem at all with everyone living happily ever after in a light scifi novel! This book was a fun story that I enjoyed immensely. As long as you don't read this book looking for something deeply intellectual (and you enjoy science fiction) you'll enjoy it too.
Rating:
Summary: The best novel in the Near Space series
Review: A King of Infinite Space is the culminating work in Allen Steele's Near Space series, which began with Orbital Decay in the late 80's and concluded with this novel roughly ten years later. Although the name of Steele's universe is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Larry Niven's Known Space series, I personally find Steele's work to be much more compelling than Niven's. Whereas Niven's characters will traverse hundreds of light years with the flip of a single switch, Steele's Near Space series is perhaps the most satisfying attempt by a contemporary sci-fi author to envision a realistic history of humanity's expansion throughout the solar system over the next few decades. Steele never forgets that people, no matter where they are and what level of technology they have at their disposal, will always be people. A King of Infinite Space is basically an overview of this universe from the perspective of a Gen Xer revived on the cusp of the twenty-second century after his death in 1995. As such it's probably a good place to start for anyone new to Allen Steele. The beginning of the novel, which depicts Alec's death and subsequent rebirth on the asteroid colony of Mr. Chicago, is particularly well-written and engaging. I would go ahead and agree with other reviewers by saying the ending is a little too pat, but it hardly destroys the overall story. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The best novel in the Near Space series
Review: A King of Infinite Space is the culminating work in Allen Steele's Near Space series, which began with Orbital Decay in the late 80's and concluded with this novel roughly ten years later. Although the name of Steele's universe is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Larry Niven's Known Space series, I personally find Steele's work to be much more compelling than Niven's. Whereas Niven's characters will traverse hundreds of light years with the flip of a single switch, Steele's Near Space series is perhaps the most satisfying attempt by a contemporary sci-fi author to envision a realistic history of humanity's expansion throughout the solar system over the next few decades. Steele never forgets that people, no matter where they are and what level of technology they have at their disposal, will always be people. A King of Infinite Space is basically an overview of this universe from the perspective of a Gen Xer revived on the cusp of the twenty-second century after his death in 1995. As such it's probably a good place to start for anyone new to Allen Steele. The beginning of the novel, which depicts Alec's death and subsequent rebirth on the asteroid colony of Mr. Chicago, is particularly well-written and engaging. I would go ahead and agree with other reviewers by saying the ending is a little too pat, but it hardly destroys the overall story. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A King of Recent SciFi
Review: Alec Tucker was a rather spoiled, thoughtless young man who was killed in an auto accident while driving home from a rock concert. Also in the car with him were his girlfriend, Anna, and his friend Chris. He wakes up about 100 years later to find that he is a slave in a closed environment in space that is ruled by someone called Mr. Chicago. Alec is forced to work hard whether he wants to or not. Bored and lonely, Alec sets out to uncover the fate of his friends. His quest also turns out to be a voyage of discovery, as Alec becomes aware just how selfish and thoughtless he was in his former life. I have read some of Steele's earlier books. Each succeeding effort stuck me as an improvement over the previous one, but I didn't find any of them particularly memorable. All had rather predictable, linear plots. This book, however, is a major leap forward. The premise is interesting and there are plenty of surprises as the plot develops. Alec's persistence in trying to find his friends is illustrative of his personal growth. The ending holds some shocks for Alec. Probably more than he deserves. To me, this shows that Alec turned out to be a better person than others in the story. He seems to get the last laugh, as well, so I didn't find the ending unsatisfying (as some other readers apparently did). This is not a great piece of literature, and if it were in a different genre, I wouldn't have given it five stars. But it was, at least for me, a very enjoyable read. Relative to other scifi that I have read in recent years, it is a standout.
Rating:
Summary: A classic....
Review: All I can say on this one is wow. This is one hot book. Allen has always impressed me with his hard writing, meaning that he writes the way it will be seen and done in the years ahead. No make believe stuff here. Totally cool Mr. Steele. Please keep them comming. Wow.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Allen Steele has built a reputation in the past decade or so as one of the better new "Hard SF" writers. The bulk of his work has been set in a common future history, emphasizing the colonization of the solar system out to the asteroids, mainly, over the next century or so. The "gritty" details of much of his work, the settings, and also the casual, slangy, language Steele uses to tell his stories, have reminded many readers of Robert Heinlein. Steele has won a Hugo Award for his novella "The Death of Captain Future" (which turns out to have a slight link with the novel at hand), part of this future history. A King of Infinite Space is the first novel I've read in that future history, though I've read several stories. This novel tells of Alec Tucker, a spoiled rich kid from St. Louis who dies and wakes up decades in the future, as a slave on a space station. He has to learn to deal with his own personal issues (i. e. that he's a spoiled brat, and does some bad things), and he has to try to find his girlfriend, who is apparently on another space station, and he has try to figure out what's up with the mysterious crime figure Pasquale Chicago, who seems to be his "owner". All these plot elements are resolved in a fairly rousing and adventurous fashion. However, I had a major problem with the ending, which largely ruined the book for me. In essence, I think the ending is a cheat, in that it renders the main action of the story basically insignificant. In addition, the plot, which up to that time was reasonably believable, given the usual string of brushes with danger which always work out, becomes utterly implausible. It is as if Steele has constructed a tower of toy blocks, which totteringly support each other, and which we can just believe will stay erect. Then he asks us to believe that a whacking great big marble statue can be balanced on top of it (if I may be permitted a flight of metaphorical fancy). A King of Infinite Space is at the first level an acceptable, breezy, read. But in the final analysis three elements disappointed me. The first, and most important, was the implausible nature of the final structure of the plot. The second was that the characters are not terribly likable. The narrator is portrayed, quite realistically, as a spoiled brat for most of the novel. This makes sense, and is well enough depicted, but it does make it harder to sympathize with him. The rest of the characters are seen at a greater distance, and they are all either quite minor, or jerks of one variety or another as well. Finally, Steele has chosen to tell the story in a combination of present and past tense. This is a device that you might be able to pull off, if there was a good enough reason. But Steele goes so far as to switch tenses in the same sentence, and that's too much for me. And at any rate I couldn't detect a consistent reason for the tense switches. I've enjoyed plenty of Allen Steele's shorter work. I must say that both novels I've read have been disappointments, though. He does have a nice imagination, and a way with an adventure plot that makes his stuff fun to read. I won't write him off, by any means, but I can't give A King of Infinite Space any more than a lukewarm "passes the time" sort of recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: A classic!
Review: Allen Steele just plain knows how to write a book. Probably one of the greatest books i've ever read! The idea of someone being reincarnated as a servant is brilliantly original. The descripitons in the "learning period" are incredible. The book is just amazing! Especially in the pages while Alex rebels! It's awesome! I recommend this for anyone looking for a good read!
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Example Of Hard Science Fiction!
Review: First, I thought it was neat how part of the novel was located in the Saint Louis area, I know some of the places in the book as I grew up there, and I am also a fan of cryonics, so this book and I have a lot in common. I enjoyed the description of how a cryonic suspension works, it seems realistic for the most part. Some other reviewers gave this book poor ratings, I read a lot of science fiction and I consider this novel to be excellent, the ratings from those other reviewers are questionable to me. For me this novel was a page turner, in fact I devoured it. Steele is very adept with including human interst in the story, with technology in the background as it should be. Character development and plot are first rate, and I will have to disagree with some of the other reviewers again as I thought the ending was very much acceptable. This would make a great science fiction action movie with a bit of cerebral stimulation thrown in! This is good stuff. Steele has the main character, Alec, suspended via cryonics after a fatal accident, and he is re-animated at some point in the future, no more details here so I won't be a spoiler, but if you read it I think you will agree with me that this is a fascinating account of what may someday actually take place, with Steele's no-holds-barred style, my kind of writer indeed, and with the recent Ted Williams cryonic suspension in the news this novel takes on new immediacy.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book ... until the end.
Review: I thought this book was great and it kept me up late into the night reading. However, the ending was illogical and stupid. I would have given the book 5 stars if the ending was anywhere near as good as the rest.
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