This page has the Science Fiction books that I have rated as B
Here are the books rated A+, the books rated A, the books rated A-, and the books that are NOT recommended.
| Name |
|
Notes |
NOTE – the most recent books I have read are listed near the top of each section below. |
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| Binti
by Nnedi Okorafor |
B | This is a “young adult” novel about a young girl on one planet, who ventures to another world. LOTS of stuff happens during the spaceflight. It was a pretty interesting read. |
| Zodiac
by Neal Stephenson ISBN 978-0-8021-4315-0 |
B | This is probably Neal Stephenson’s first work, BUT it is not quite science fiction. It reads like the diary of a militant mad scientist who is working for GreenPeace. I bought this on a whim, but I should not have. It barely held my interest. |
| Harm
by Brain W. Aldiss ISBN 978-0-345-49671-3 |
B | This is rather strange book. There are two interwoven stories, one of which is about a man being tortured for writing a satire that discusses assassination of the prime minister. The other story is about the survivors of an expedition from Earth to the planet Stygia. I found this story to be far more interesting than the first one! |
| Neurogenesis
by Helen Collins ISBN 0-978-52321-4-5 |
B | This is pretty strange book. It is also pretty annoying, because it contains a large number of typographical errors. It appears to be self-published -UGH-, and someone forgot to pay an editor to review it carefully.The story is about a group of people who embark on a trip to a destination many light years away. They find a planet where different bird-like species are the primary life forms. The majority of the story covers details of the interactions between various crew members. A lot of this is pretty strange stuff.Somehow the people on the ship survive the trip, and return to their home planet. In spite of traveling many light years, they find that the people they once knew are still alive. Apparently their ship has the ability to travel faster than light, but this is only an assumption – it is not explained. |
| The Fall of Hyperion
by Dan Simmons ISBN 0-553-28820-2 |
B |
This novel continues the trilogy which started with Hyperion. It attempts to tie together the stories of the Shrike pilgrims. At the beginning, it was fairly interesting. But about halfway through, I found it unsatisfying. Some of the ideas were interesting, but the whole conclusion seemed rather forced and implausible. Maybe I just didn’t get it. Oh well, this once again proves the adage that trilogies are rarely as good as the first novel in the trilogy. |
| Absolution Gap
by Alastair Reynolds ISBN 0-441-01291–4 |
B | This is the sequel to Revelation Ark, and its part of the trilogy that includes Revelation Space. I don’t feel that this third part was up to the standards of the earlier two novels.
About half of the novel is interesting, but things tend to drag in the middle of the book. I also did not like the way some of the plot points were resolved. |
| The Transmigration of Souls
by William Barton ISBN 0-446-60167-5 |
B | This is quite an interesting book. There are lots of neat ideas here, and it could have been really GREAT – but it seems to run out of steam about 3/4 of the way to the end. The fact that everyone is nude for the last half of the book seemed quite contrived. |
| Broken Angels
by Richard K. Morgan ISBN 0-345-45771-4 |
B | See my review at Amazon WARNING – EXTREME VIOLENCE Not for the faint of heart! |
| Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
by Cory Doctorow ISBN 0-765-30436-8 |
B | A light read about an interesting alternate future. I would have given it higher marks if the conclusion was a bit more believable. I found the main character’s motivation quite illogical. |
| Prey
by Michael Crichton ISBN 0-06-621412-2 |
B | This is a fast paced story of nanotechnology going out of control. It is a very quick read (took me less than 1 day). Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors. |
| Einstein’s Bridge
by John Cramer ISBN 0-380-78831-4 |
B | The title refers to a bridge between two universes. The novel describes a world where the Superconducting Super Collider project was NOT cancelled. This has a lot of action, but is light on character development. |
| Bug Park
by James P. Hogan ISBN 0-671-87874-3 |
B | An interesting story about the use of remote controlled robots. It is a fun read, not too deep. This has a lot of action, but is light on character development. |
| Standing Wave
by Howard V. Hendrix ISBN 0-441-00553-5 |
B | This is a fascinating, wide ranging story about the conflicts between several segments of society. There are lots of neat ideas here, and it could have been really GREAT. But it seems to run out of steam about halfway through. |