Science Fiction Fantasy Books

This book was a total page turnner and was a extremly good book! I recomend this book to any one and schools. I can't wait fir the next book FireStar!

For a moment after the student had gone, Bergstrom sat back staring at the door. Behind him the snowflakes swirled and landed, making small drifts on the thin-lipped sills. He rolled the talisman through his fingers, rubbing his thumb along the lenght of the shafot as if he was shaping a lump of clay. And then he muted voice, he spoke,"Stay close to them. Follow their auma." And what had been amorphous suddenly took shape. And the shape it made was that of a bear.
this story takes Place in the Artic the small house of the Pennykettles in #42 Wayward Cresent. Here lives Liz, her 11 year old daugter Lucy, and their tenant, David Rain who has just finished writing the book Snigger and the Nutbeast. David is a smart 21 year old that does not really believe in all the dragon stuff. Lucy is a very naive 11 year old that acts like a 6 year old. And Liz is a widowed landlord that carves dragons out of clay for a job. She also teached david and Lucy About Dragons.
After living at the Pennykettles for a while, David becomes acustomed to all of the dragons and the cat Bonington. but when he accidentally brings his classmate Zanna to the house,her auma causes all of the dragons in the house start to go haywire. David now must work together with LIz and Lucy to fight against any evil that comes their way.
The Title Ice fire comes from somthing in Liz's past that helps her create all of the dragons.
I loved this book! The pacing goes really fast from the very beginning. This book is different than most fantasy books because it has mystical creatures in the real world. The theme would be just like the first book to not judge things by how they look. This book is not in a Christian perspective because they talk about dragons and polar bears having to do with the creation of the world. I rank this book 5 out of five stars and think that any one who loves dragons or fantasy genres should read this book.

In this incredible sequel to The Fire Within By Chis D'Lacey, David has to learn more about what happened along time ago to the last living dragon Gawain and where his fire tear(scale) is. At the beginning of the book David is trying to find a publisher to publish his book Snigger. David is a college student living with two people Liz and Lucy. While David is living with them, Lucy makes David a wishing dragon. Then David goes to a professor named Dr. Bergstrom gives him and essay to write about dragons. Lucy and Liz are telling David stories about dragons from along time ago. They tell him about one dragon named Gawain that lost a scale. Then David wishes with the dragon that he could find the scale. Then he meets a Goth girl names Zanna. She becomes David friend she knows a little about dragons. If David does the best on his essay he will get to go to the Arctic for free and not have to pay the $700. After Zanna comes in Liz's mother or Aunty Gwyneth comes over. Then David has to live with the neighbor Henry Bacon. Then David learns that Dr. Bergstrom went to the Arctic. Will David find the scale? Why has Aunty Gwyneth come? Will David go to the Arctic? You will have to read the book to find out.

this book was thrilling and exciting, and i would highly recommedt it to children between the ages of 9 and 14!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this fantastic book provides more informations on davids knowledge of dragons. He even learns how to speak dragontoungue which provides more suspense to this action packed adenture

I will just make this short and to the point. 'speechless'.
He was a master at storytelling. I would recommend this to any one who enjoys the sword/sorcery genre. I have this in hardbound, but cannot find vol 1 and 2 in hardbound.

It is amazing that Conan and all the stories he featured in could be covered in three books. I have the first and have to get the second, and I will, but the fact that such a huge Hero in the sword-and-sorcery genre came out of only a five year time period of short stories seems to me to be as amazing as how realistic the character is. He is flawed, humorous, sometimes greedy, always willing to bed a pretty lady and has a heart of gold. And, of course, nerves of iron. While you may watch the movies or the TV series, remember the real Conan are on the pages of these books.
Get them new or used.

This is one of three books containing the original Conan stories, as written by Robert E. Howard.
The stories in these books are organized in the order they were written, which helps see Howard's development of Conan and of the new (at the time) sword and sorcery genre.

There are other collections of Conan stories out there (in particular the 12-book series), but those collections contain revised ("modernized") version of Howard's Conan stories, and Conan stories by other authors (such as L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter) which may be worthwhile stories, but they're definitely NOT Howard Conan stories.

Enjoy this volume; enjoy all three volumes. The original Howard stories are definitely a gift.

Dont miss out on these Robert E. Howard Books, to bad he killed himself, or we may of had more than 12. I have to give 5 stars i loved them, its the only fantasy books i have ever read

Most people have heard of Conan the Barbarian, what with the comic books and the movies, but few people really *know* Conan.

When I first began reading Robert E Howard's Conan stories my expectations were quite low, I expected Conan to be a stock "hack everyone to bits" hero with little depth. As I continued to read I became more and more amazed at the staggering difference between Howard's Conan and the muscle bound galoot characterised by Hollywood.

Conan, of course is a barbarian, a man brought up in the hardened lands of Cimmeria, taught at an early age to fight, ride and survive. But at the same time he is a dichotomy; a man of furious, explosive fighting prowess tempered with a thoughtful intelligence that defeats his enemies in battle not simply by use of brawn, but with a mind that knows how to outwit opponents with superior strategies and brilliant, off-the-cuff, tactical decisions.

He has many friends, many enemies, plays many parts; the mercenary, the reaver, the pirate, the commando and eventually a wise and just king. But for all these things the underlying barbarian is never far from him. It is the thing that defines him, and with it he has a code of honor that often puts, so-called, civilised people to shame.

If you buy this book it is well worth the price if only for "Beyond the Black River", which in my estimation is one of the finest Conan tales by Howard. But there are four other admirable tales included as well. Enjoy.

I am somewhat new to the Warhammer Fantasy universe's novels and found this to be a great read. The author did a good job of putting you right in the action and the stories where interesting and fun to read. Definitely am hooked on the series and planning to purchase the rest of the series.

These two are great together and I wish there were more books about them. The Warhammer universe is so varied and huge there has to be more room for books. I loved these stories and went out and got the second omnibus immediately!

I have not finished reading them but what I have read so far its great
The author goes in to great details and it helps to understand how it was back in the time they where at. Can not wait to start reading the others

Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus (Warhammer)
This series is absolutely fantastic. For any fans out there who want to dive deep into the world of Warhammer via a funny, entertaining and immersive storyline, this is the series to get. Each book focuses on a different plot, but they all interweave perfectly. The characters are rich and the tale of their adventures are descriptive and fascinating. You get a taste of what it's like to live in the Warhammer world, and get exposed to epic tales of battles and lustful encounters. It's a must buy for anyone who wants to get into the Warhammer series!

Done with a sense of humor, much better than most of this type of work.

I bought this book with "The King's Stilts" (see my review). I think this is one of the best kids' books ever, and my kids loved it when they were small. It was a sad day when our record of it got buckled by being left in the sun. Unavailable as a book when my kids were little, this is a delightful story with a typical Dr Seuss moral ending - change is not always for the best and novelty is fraught with peril. Get it for your kids, or your grandkids - they will love it, just as I, my kids, and my grandkids do!

This book was one of my all-time favorites when I was a kid! It was so exciting... very mysterious and magical. And full of goo! What kid doesn't love goo? Every kid needs a book like this.

An excellent item and although the cost to get it here quickly was expensive, it was worth it. Thank you

I had loved the book as a child myself. So I bought it for my neice. We read it together and she loves it as well. I haven't met a child (or adult) that doesn't like Dr. Seuss!

This was a gift for my niece. The adults in the room enjoyed it as much as she did.

Legal Aid lawyer, Margrit Knight, loves to tempt fate and run at night in Central Park. That's how she first met Alban, a gargoyle, in HEART OF STONE, the first book, and how she finds out that about the Old Races, Djinn, Dragons, Vampires, Gargoyles and Selkies. As one of the few humans who knows about them, Margrit's skills as a negotiator are in-demand as the Old Races' balance of power is shifting and they need an outside party. Margrit also owes crime kingpin and dragonlord, Janx, a favor and he calls it in, concerned that a powerful rival, Daisani, a wealthy developer and vampirelord, is having his men knocked off as revenge for the death of Daisani's personal assistant in the last book. Janx asks Margrit to protect his second-in-command, the djinn Malik, a powerful being who hates Margrit. Margrit is only human. She tries to call on Alban for help, but Alban is trying to keep Margrit from further involvement with the Old Races, which includes himself. And there is Daisani, who wants Margrit to work for him...

Margrit continues to be an interesting character, gutsy, but very human (although with a touch of vampire blood from Daisani that makes her heal quicker). The strict rules and precarious balance of power between the Old Races is fascinating. They have old rivalries that could easily lead to them wiping each other out, but they are dwindling and rules exist to prevent this... somewhat. And they also prevent the humans from finding out about them. The strange dynamic between them all, and with Margarit, negotiator and also catalyst, it seems, is full of both action and suspense. This is still a more character-driven book... the various plots are there, but sometimes only in the background as Margrit deals with her friends and family and job and tries to fit her new life with the Old Races into it all. And to try to fit her longing for the reluctant Alban into her personal life that still has Tony, her on-and-off-again boyfriend, in it. There are also issues of what is human and what is not and how important it is. Margrit, who is mixed race, has no problem accepting that the Old Races count as beings as much as humans, but she finds that this is not true of all those she knows.

I thought that this was a solid sequel to HEART OF STONE. If you liked that one, you should like this one. Many of the characters are the same and we get to learn more about them all.

I thought it was even better than the first. I love the characters. I think they are very well rounded and interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Another great book! I cannot wait for the third. The only bad part about trilogies is that they seem to end in the middle of something that you want to scream about when it does...Great book though. A mix of love, loyalty, and strength.

Loved it.

This is a very good second book in a series -- it is strong, with a very natural continuation of friendships, romances, and business interests. That is, where business interests equal meetings with Eliseo Daisani and a group of attorneys with something to hide. I have to say up front that one of the things about this book which seemed more realistic to me was this: Margrit and Alban do not get together quickly or without misunderstandings on both of their parts. This book is not just an urban fantasy romance, where the majority of the story is a romance. The romance is definitely a part, but not overwhelmingly so. Also, the action falls down the line very naturally, with plot points that lead one to the next. I am very eager to read book 3, and give kudos to this author for breaking out with a very different urban fantasy and her own mythology

SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW:


It's something of a cliche of Urban Fantasy that even in settings where Humans know about vampires and werewolves etc, the various supernatural clans get to wage vendettas and kill each other without being subject to the state's monopoly on lethal force (the Kitty books are an exception). I don't like this: If a vampire is a person, then staking him is murder (or self defense as determined by a proper jury). Anyway, that's a lead-up to saying I find Magrit's attitude towards the Old Races puzzling. She's a lawyer with a passion for justice, but is prepared to forgive all of Janx's illegal activities just because he's a dragon and dragons need hoards? She made the connection in this book between the Old Races coming forward and the Civil Rights struggle. Well, that struggle was for ONE justice system for everyone. If Janx needs a hoard, he should amass it legally.

The Tony problem from book one continues here. It was obvious from chapter one, book one, that Magrit/Tony wasn't going to happen, so the romantic triangle was stillborn, but yet we keep having to deal with Tony. In this book, even after Magrit and Tony have a definitive breakup, under bad circumstances and with finality, we *still* have to deal with Tony.

I had a bit of a character problem with Janx and Elisio (the vampire) also. We're told many times that these are dangerous men, but Magrit faces them down so many times that they are starting to seem like creampuffs. They're only dangerous because the author says so. The way Cole reacts to Magrit's revelation seems out of character as well, as does (in a diffrent way) the reaction of Magrit's mother.

It's still an entertaining series, and I'm looking forward to the final book.

I have never reviewed a book before but I read constantly and am always looking for new authors. I picked this up and thought I,d give it a chance and I'm really sorry I did. I hate to give a bad review, but actually started to fall asleep reading this book and that never happens to me!! I didn't red the first book in the series and from the reviews I've read the first book is pretty good but I have to say that this book isn't worth the time or the money. I couldn't even finish it which I always try to do no matter how bad the book. All that I learned in the 3 chapters that I was able to complete is that Cynda is a Sybil warrior who can't even control her own powers...LAME!! I'm supposed to believe that she's supposed to defeat all manner of bad guys? She can't even hold on to her sword.
So, I'm sorry but this story didn't do it for me. I'd much rather be reding something else even more exciting. Maybe my voters pamphlet.

This is the second book in a new trilogy The Dark Crescent Sisterhood. This story features Cynda, one of three Sybils. Her element is fire. She literally smokes. Her love interest is Nick Lowell, NYPD detective and half human, and half curson. Someone is killing fire Sybils all over the world. Cynda and Nick must find out who and why the fire Sybils are being destroyed. Overall, I enjoyed the book. There was plenty of action and interesting characters. I had to wade through the love scenes because I really didn't feel them as a couple. The flaws I found were mainly with Cynda's character. I didn't get a real feeling with her like I had with Riana in Bound by Shadow. Nick's character was also a little lacking. But the books action and story line of Nick's brother Jake, whom you don't know if he's a good guy or bad guy, made it worth the read. It all came through in the end with a bang! Overall, not as strong as the first but still very good.

Ok, it's not very often that a sequel can live up to the 1st in a series when it is as fantastic as the first in this series The Dark Crescent Sisterhood was, but it did! After reading '...Shadow' and loving every minute of it, I was so looking forward to '...Flame' and I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED! I literally finished this book in one night, I could not put it down. I love how Cynda 'smokes' when upset! I also love the connection between all the characters. Especially Nick and Cynda. My heart broke for her in the first of the book, when her....whoops, almost spoiled it! Very much recommend BOTH the books in this series so far. Anxiously awaiting Bound by Light.

I read this book back to back w/ the first book in the series. Compared to the first book, the follow was a disappointment.

I could not like the heroine, Cynda, the Fire Sister. In the first book, she narcs on her sister to the Mother superiors. In this books, when she is in a similar situation, she keeps everything secret. When her sisters find out, Cynda wants them to support her unlike how she supported Riana in the first book. I just found this character distasteful. She appeared to be very immature, constantly letting her powers out of control and burning her clothes the room or other people as a consequence.

Storywise, someone is killing off all the Fire Sisters. So Nick, Creed's twin cop, is guarding her. There is an instant attraction between the two, but the Mother Superios are against any type of union w/ them.

Ovearll, I did not like this story. The heroine was annoying, the hero was underdevoloped. Mostly what I got out of the hero, Nick, was that he was suppose to be cool and in control of all his powers and of Cynda. He didn't appear to have that much of a personality other than not wanting to get his new brother Jacob killed. The love scenes between the two were also very lacking. Plotwise, there were alot more weakness in theis story then the first book. No further details about the Sisterhood history was given; finding a sister of the Water element for the first time in centuries was mentioned in a couple of lines even though the character is one of the main characters; no real history or details about the Lowell brothers was given either.

I would only recommend this book if you wish to continue on the series. I will still likely get the 3rd book about the Wind Sister, because both the heroine and the hero appear different and interesting. But I hope the 3rd book will be better plotwise. I do not plan on keeping this book, it will immediately go to the used book store as this book will likely never be re-read by me.

Happy to say that I picked this book up and read it in one day, the book was exciting from the first page one and beyond. Loved the interaction between Nick and Cynda. I also enjoyed the more detail in how the Triad works and the connection deepens between the Triad Sisters and the Lowell Brothers. Someone is out killing Fire Sybils, and Cynda is the target,can Nick save her? The side characters are vey endearing and playing heavily into the story. Please read this series, you will enjoy it. Now eagerly waiting to read Merrilee and Jake,the the third Lowell brother. Really enjoyed this book and the previous one.

Although I had already watched both movie adaptation, I wanted to read this book. It was well worth it. Anyone who gave this novel one star is being dishonest, and I doubt they read the book. If someone didn't enjoy the story they should not give it one star unless the writing it self was poor, and Dune is written well. That is why it won both sci-fi awards for best novel.

I really like how more indepth the book is, which is always the case vs a movie adaptation. You learn so much about the characters, their motivations, etc, that the movies do not show.

If you have not seen the movies, then the book is going to blow you away. if you like this sort of thing. The last line almost made me cry, and only one book has ever made me cry, and that was Swan's Song. Where the red fern grows came close.

Seasoned readers might sympathise about this being my 2nd Sci-Fi experience - Lord of the Rings was the first. Tough acts to follow, and 35 years later I'm still trying.... Dune is breath-taking for the sheer feat of imagination. The combination of medievalism and high-tech is particularly well wrought, as is the polico-economics of spice and water.

Its a total immersion experience and one that's hard to let go at the end.

Dune truely is one of the absolute finest fantasy (and sci-fi) novels ever and subsequently has become a role model for many science fiction works that came after including George Lucas' Star Wars. The complex plot throughout is stunning, how Herbert creates a fantasy world that is so flawless down to every little detail shows how much dedication he took in writing it.
The only problem with Dune is--the writing isn't as smooth and easy to read as it should to make this a true masterpiece. Herbert might be capable of creating a plot around his entirely fictional world flawlessly, but Dune is not a fast easy read. Unlike writers like Kurt Vonnegut for example you find large parts of this book are far too wordy, making it at times a slow, and other times, occasionally Dull. Plot events don't just flow from one part to the other. Herbert also has a strange habbit of throwing in far too many obscure vocabulary words into characters dialogue. In descriptions this is actually a blessing, but in all seriousness, who talks like they're reading out of a thesarus in conversation? With better writing this book would be totally flawless. Because of the writing the plot is occasionally cumbersome and jagged, but the ideas behind it are so stunning that the read is certainly worthwhile. Rest assured...if you have ANY bypassing interest in this genre check this out.

I read Dune before and was very confused by the story at first. Maybe that happened because I read much too quickly. Then I recently re-read it and was immediatly drawn into Herbert's world. His creation truly is epic. It's obvious to see how it has gained so much attention. Herbert creates a world filled with political strife, internal problems and real mental dilemmas, particularly in Paul Atreides as He delves deeper into the Muad'dib persona and continues on throughout the later books.

Dune is a great read for sci-fi fans and anyone who enjoys a riveting tale of adventure and loyalty.

PARTY ON, DUDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everybody else has already grokked "Dune" to the high heavens, and it definitely deserves all such praise. Here I just want to mention a few thoughts I have about "Dune" that should add to its lustre and help explain (but not explain away) its runaway success.

1) "Dune" is extraordinarily well-written on a literary level. Most sentences have the look of having been polished to a high sheen. Not that they necessarily were... point is, there's no "filler" here at all. Every word is in its place. The richness of detail is overwhelming, especially sensory detail. The narrative is well constructed, there is masterful use of 3rd-person omniscient narrator, and the plot unfolds at exactly the right pace.

2) Frank Herbert never wrote anything as good before or since. Not even close. The "Dune" sequels? No way. They don't even feel like they take place in the same universe, although the same terms, organizations, characters, etc... are still there. Why? Because starting with "Dune Messiah", Herbert's writing lost that hallucinogenic vividness. Speaking of which...

3) "Dune" is the only fiction book I've ever read that has the power to raise my awareness every time I read it. This comes from two sources. The first is something I mentioned above - the extraordinary sensual richness of the writing. The second is that Herbert is describing human beings with extraordinary powers of perception. Somehow, Herbert hit on a manner of describing human beings with psychedelic levels of awareness which is vivid, authentic, and subjectively-congruent enough to actually bring this level of consciousness out of the person who is reading his work. To read any part of "Dune" is to have your senses immediately sharpened. You don't just read about the Bene Gesserit "voice" -- you actually sense its power within you. You don't just read about the psychedelic power of the "spice" -- you actually consume the spice yourself as you read, and feel its power. You don't just read about "plans within plans" and intricate Machiavellian strategies -- you actually gain access to this level of strategic intuition within yourself. You don't just read about the knife-fights -- you actually feel your muscles and nerves becoming more subtly attuned and your reflexes sharpen as you read.

I don't know quite how Herbert managed to pull this off... but pull it off he did, and it's wonderful.

I love this series and eagerly anticipated The Crow. However, I wasn't as impressed with this third installment as I was with the previous two. I felt that the first sixty or so pages were very boring and therefore hard to get through. I also found myself skipping paragraphs or whole pages throughout the book to get to the "good parts", something I had not previously done with the other books.

I felt it was a decent sub-back-story and it provided a lot of pertinent information on our villain, but here's to the fourth and our return to Maerad!

My granddaughter(age 14)wanted this book in the worst way, so I ordered it for her. She read this book in 3 days! Now she is asking for more! Apparently this is an excellent book for her to have read it so fast.

This is the third book of an excellent four book fantasy series. Book publishers don't help their own sales by labeling books as for young adults because I am by no means a young adult and I can hardly put this series down. They are written in a female voice, are very creative, and exciting. I am anxiously awaiting book four to be published.

This book was a fantastic read! It was really easy to get into and the characters are very believable. It is the third book in the Pellinor series, of which I own the other two. It is a great series for young adults to read. The vocabulary is easy to get through and the story line is easy to follow. There is always a feeling of excitement, of what will happen next that captures you and keeps you reading. It was very hard to put down. I would urge anyone to purchase this book!

I have been a HUGE fan of Alison's after I first read her novel, The Naming. Ever since then I have been hooked on this series, and it even remains today as one of my favorite series of all time. The book opens with Hem, Maerad's brother, who has split from her and traveled to the beautiful city of Turbansk with his mentor, Saliman. But all is not fun and learning for Hem, when the threat of war begins to become a reality. Along with his newfound friend, Zelika, his mentor, Saliman, the white crow, Irc, and other Bards, Hem will travel the landscape into a dangerous child army camp, and even into the heart of The Nameless One's domain. While this book is very depressing and sad, it is shot through with love and compassion, hope and courage. This book is masterfull written, and will quickly win your heart as one of your favorite series.

My nine year old daughter loves fairy books about Tinkerbell and all her friends. She adores these books and devours them as soon as I can get them. What a boost for the imagination!

We own all of this series! Started reading them when my daughter was 4 (she just turned 5 now), and they are age appropriate. Not too scary and always a happy ending. One book only takes us about 4-5 nights worth of reading together. The longer ones are good too "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg" and "Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand", but they are a little bit scarrier than the short books (more appropriate for ages 5-7 I would think).

My first and third graders love this series. We have the last two that we haven't read on order. The kids know that they can easily talk me into reading extra chapters because I also enjoy reading the books.

My daughter has always struggled to find a book that would get her attention. She must complete reading tests in her school and she has excitedly read nearly all of them. Thank you.

Honestly, I enjoyed reading the research notes--which, seriously, are an extremely interesting and thought-provoking read--more than I did the book itself. Watts has taken on the challenge of writing a novel cast entirely with characters who barely qualify as human beings investigating an alien form of life whose processes of cognition and perception have almost nothing in common with any form of life on Earth. In places it requires intense concentration to follow what is happening, more than I think should be necessary in a book that is presumably trying to communicate with the reader. But in general the descriptions of complex ideas and events are handled with skill.

I think Watts probably succeeded in his goals, hence the three stars. But by the end I really didn't care. I suspect that's because I'm not a barely socially functional human being or an alien that doesn't really think in self-aware terms. So while many of the extrapolations are brilliant, including the vampires--just about the best version I've ever read--I just don't think the book works very well as a piece of fiction. In order to be invested in the outcome of a novel, I need to generate more than just some intellectual curiosity about what happens to everyone and everything in it. I felt sorry for a few of the characters and disliked others, but even those emotions were fairly mild. The most effective sections were the flashbacks that Siri has to his life on Earth, where at least you have interactions with other characters that are recognizably human. Mind you, I believe Watts can write characters you become emotionally invested in. I'm just saying that in this novel he seems to have consciously decided not to do that.

Ultimately, I'd much rather read this material in a nonfiction work by Watts. The story is just so unremittingly bleak--I would hate to live in the future he describes--and its protagonists so unsympathetic that the elements of horror are blunted. And the science would be just as interesting as an essay or a thought-experiment.

At the dawn of humanity there was a human sub-species which liked to feed off us. A supreme predator, 100 IQ points smarter than us, we drove it to extinction at the onset of agriculture. In the high-tech world of the near tomorrow, there is competitive advantage in using such beings in certain ... leadership roles. And so with paleogenetic engineering, we brought them back. Meanwhile, the AIs have transcended the singularity, baseline humanity is basically useless and those few humans who still have a role are very ... different.

The aliens announced their presence with two to the sixteen kinetic missiles which entered the atmosphere on a global grid. No-one was hurt, but the flashbulb was ideal for imaging. The AI-ship Theseus is sent to make first contact. Its crew are altered and its captain a certain top-predator.

There is a style of SF writing deriving from pulp detective novels: laconic, dry, matter-of-fact, jokey. Think Richard Morgan or Greg Egan. Peter Watts does dialogue well and he's pretty good at high-tech descriptive writing too. Only occasionally was I conscious that I had not got a good picture of a ship scene, or the relative position of Theseus and the alien artefact.

Plot development was also not bad. Contact novels have a problem of tempo: by definition the reader starts -with team-human - in knowing essentially nothing about alien morphology, motivations, capabilities, technologies, intentions. Inevitably, increase in knowledge takes time and the interest-level can sag. Blindsight is not immune from this effect, but there is always enough going on to encourage the reader to persist in the middle section of the book.

Watts is both incredibly smart and well-educated. He weaves a lot of advanced concepts into the plot: advanced propulsion technologies, artificial intelligence, nanotech, genetic engineering, neuroscience and consciousness studies. Without introducing plot spoilers, the crux of the novel is centred around the nature and rationale of consciousness itself. Watts has managed to find another, orthogonal dimension of alien difference.

Blindsight does not avoid the traditional problems of concept-heavy SF. Towards the end, there are chunks of the novel which are indistinguishable from an article in New Scientist magazine. But Watts manages to keep the story on the rails and delivers a suitably bleak conclusion.

It is possible to imagine a further final polishing of this novel which integrated expository material more organically into plot development and produced a more compelling account of the final redemption of the main protagonist, Siri Keeton.

I read the whole thing in a few intense hours. I really think, though, that this is a novel it's essential to read twice. It's rare and rewarding to encounter something which has passion and humour behind it, which radiates intelligence and which is happy to assume the reader is educated and smart too. More, please, Mr Watts.

This is excellent hard science fiction, but it is not a light read.

The world that the author creates is great. He takes current human society and, given some reasonable technology, creates a new world and explores how society has been shaped by technology. The basics are hard science and I loved many of the ideas presented.

I did want more details in the writing; more visuals of the world. The author has some brilliant ideas and I wanted more explanation of the technologies. Admittedly most of the book takes place on space ships, but I wanted to 'see' more of what the world was like and what it would be to live there as a 'normal' human. While the thrust of his book wasn't about the technology, it was so compelling I wanted more.

The thrust of his book was an exploration of what consciousness is and what it is to be human. There are a number of sci-fi stories that cover similar ground, but this was one of the few books that really took me there. After reading I was able to touch the ideas that the author presented and it stretched me. I imagine I will be digesting this for a while.

It is not the easiest read, but the different characters and perspectives are necessary to build the idea(s) the author is exploring. If you are willing to put some effort in to reading then the book can take one to a very unusual place in looking at the nature of mind/ consciousness/ 'being human' from outside of it.

The book tends to be somber, but I think it helps to tell the story and keep the reader focused on the possibilities, both positive and negative, of what it is to be human.

Dark, vivid, cold as ice, frighteningly brilliant - this is the book that's been lying in wait under my bed to ooze up and touch me in the middle of the night. Relentlessly intelligent, thoughtful, well-written SF such as this is truly a rarety - and Watts' scientific meticulousness makes the the story that much more chilling and real.

This is the first Watts book I've read, I haven't yet gotten hold of his Rifters trilogy - but I'm ordering that now.

With a central premise that is truly amazing, fiercely drawn characters, and aliens that are truly, utterly, alien (but completely plausible), this novel has been on my mind daily since completing it two months ago.

'Blindsight' is a hard sci-fi novel well written enough for everyone to enjoy. Unique characters keep the mood while detailed descriptions set the atmosphere.

First let me introduce you to the eclectic cast:

Theseus - a ship with AI whose "body parts" (such as hatches) have reflexes. She's the Captain of the expedition.

Siri Keeton - Half of Siri's brain was removed when he was young, a dramatic cure for epilepsy that left him incapable of emotions such as empathy. Through observation, he can almost psychically predict the actions and thoughts of others. He's known as a Synthesist.

Isaac Szpindel - The crew's biologist, a mostly human looking cyborg

Susan James - The crew's linguist with surgically induced multiple personality disorder (known as The Gang, including Susan, Sascha, Michelle (Meesh) the Synesthete, and Cruncher)

Major Amanda Bates - The crew's "security", a professional soldier who's career defining moment involved consorting with the enemy. She shaves her head.

Jukka Sarasti - A sociopathic, genetically engineered vampire with the ability of conjoined intelligence with the Captain.

Robert Cunningham - Another biologist, also a cyborg, who doesn't use pronouns and chain smokes.

After an event called Firefall on Earth, when thousands of probes fell from the skies, Theseus was sent out into space to follow the trail back to the source of the probes. The crew comes out of "the crypt" where they have been kept inert and death-like for the trip, near Big Ben - a failed disc-shaped, black star. Orbiting Ben's chaotic field is an alien vessel unlike anything ever seen before. Then the ship makes contact, speaking their language and calling itself the Rorschach. Susan and "The Gang" communicate with Rorschach until, unbelievably, Susan cuts off communication, announcing that it's not a sentient presence they are speaking with. So what exactly is Theseus and the crew dealing with? Sarasti, working with the Captain, decides to send the crew over to the alien ship though from every aspect they have viewed it from, the Rorschach seems uninhabitable, uninviting, and possibly unfriendly. What they find, or what they don't find, will keep you reading right up to the very end. Between Scramblers, vampires, constructs, and AIs, the crew has their hands full.

The story is told in first person by Siri, and though it sometimes seems to slide to a different POV, its simply Siri using his talents as a Synthesist to project their thoughts through translating their speech and behavior. Believe it or not, Watts makes the concept work. There's even a first person glimpse from Theseus's POV. Siri also uses flashbacks to his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Chelsea to give us deep glimpses into who and what he has become after his childhood surgery.

Within the book, intriguing issues of sentience and intelligence are brought up. What defines sentience or consciousness for that matter? Free thought? Self-awareness? Speech? Higher brain? Brain stem? Reproduction? What separates a dandelion from a human? The story is rich and complex without losing any entertainment value, even when delving deep into these subjects.

The book is 362 pages, with acknowledgments following. There's also a section titled Notes & References, covering vampirism, human sight, "telematter", sun types (the "superJovian") Scrambler anatomy and physiology, Sentience/Intelligence, and misc notes. This section includes bibliography footnotes.

I think it would be fantastic if they made a movie from this book. I highly recommend it, whether you're a fan of hard sci-fi or not. Enjoy!