All Reviews by Matt
This Crowded Earth
by Robert Bloch
Too much exposition makes for awkward style of writing. Plus many of the assumptions are overly simplistic. Such as assured mutual destruction leads to lasting peace (must have been written before terrorists ran amuck) and people just go on multiplying. Dark and paranoic undertones make for an umpleasant read.
The Red Planet
by William J. Locke
Yeesh. Couldn't get through this one -- the main character goes on and on about how folks who aren't militant pro-war are anti-English, and that the military is great, etc etc. Very strident. And the plot was clunky, and couldn't seem to get started (or focused). So it might be good, but I doubt it... and I'll never bother to find out.
Return to Pleasure Island
by Cory Doctorow
Wow, someone named Steve is very unhappy that he can't get published and takes it out on successful writers...
Anyway, I thought this was a fairly good story that kept my attention, even though I wasn't really a fan of the fairy tale. I think that's as good a barometer as one can get! Not Cory's best, but that's why it don't cost a dime!
Ventus
by Karl Schroeder
Very complex and interesting story -- almost Dune-like in its use of ecological/nanotech systems. The characters are engaging, though I wish there had been a single main protagonist instead of five or six, and they're well delineated. But there wasn't anything to root against, in the end, which felt a little odd.
Men Are Trouble
by James Patrick Kelly
I wouldn't call this incomplete -- it's kind of hard-boiled, and in that way it feels kind of telegraphed, or like the rhythm is clipped, but the story doesn't feel incomlete. I liked it.
by
Read this for the first time as an adult -- and it was completely charming. I can't wait to be a parent so I can read this to my child.
Uller Uprising
by H. Beam Piper
Is this thing a satire? If it is, I don't get what it's satirizing. If it's not a satire, then it's just terrible.
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
Kind of a strange one, compared to Austen's other stuff -- not as clear-cut as Pride and Prejudice or Sense & Sensibility, but it is a social comedy in a way. The main character is sort of wimpier than I expected.
Still, it's a good story, and the dialogue is consistently entertaining.