Showing posts with label Life on Other Worlds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life on Other Worlds. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2015

Something Coming Through

Something Coming Through by Paul McAuley
375 Pages

"The aliens are here. And they want to help. The Jackaroo have given humanity fifteen worlds and the means to reach them. They're a chance to start over, but they're also littered with ruins and artifacts left by the Jackaroo's previous clients. Miracles that could reverse the damage caused by war, climate change, and rising sea levels. Nightmares that could forever alter humanity - or even destroy it. Chloe Millar works in London, mapping changes caused by imported scraps of alien technology. When she stumbles across a pair of orphaned kids possessed by an ancient ghost, she must decide whether to help them or to hand them over to the authorities. Authorities who believe that their visions point towards a new kind of danger. And on one of the Jackaroo's gift-worlds, the murder of a man who has just arrived from Earth leads policeman Vic Gayle to a war between rival gangs over possession of a remote excavation site. Something is coming through. Something linked to the visions of Chloe's orphans, and Vic Gayle's murder investigation. Something that will challenge the limits of the Jackaroo's benevolence ..."

Parts of this book were interesting and enjoyable and other parts dragged.  This unevenness detracted from the success of the plot and the world McAuley created and I felt he got too bogged down in the human foibles when I wanted more information about the extraterrestrials and the worlds they gave to humanity.

  

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Artemis Awakening

Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold
304 Pages

 In this new series by Jane Lindskold, Artemis Awakening is the story of a pleasure planet, created centuries ago by a technologically advanced society where the inhabitants were bio engineered to help guests enjoy themselves.  After a war in which this advanced society was destroyed, the planet was forgotten until a young archeologist Griffin crash lands on the planet.  In his quest to find a way home, he teams up with the locals and uncovers a vast conspiracy to enslave and manipulate the locals.  

The book was okay, with some high points and some low points.  I think the major flaw was that the characterization was weak so I really didn't identify with any of the main characters.