Nebular Collection 1 - The Triton Base (Issue 1 - 5) [Kindle Edition]

The first two or three of these shorter stories are entertaining and there are some original ideas. I read up to the 6th one, and by this time the sequence of events was definitely becoming tedious, also characters were not developed much further than after they are introduced.

I have to say I really enjoyed reading this book, it's really easy reading but not to annoy the Rhodan fans...but it seems to me that this author takes his characters to a personal level, instead of mass spaceship battles where uncountless und unnamed beings being obliviated and not even a thought being lost to them and their fates.

I enjoyed the time line jumps to the story although not always smoothly presented, while reading the one passage I could not help but to wonder what the development would be when the time line re-continued.

..I am very excited to read the following novels because I have really noticed that this books Universe is really based on our current one which makes it easy to relate to if one has a basic knowledge our post millennium modern astronomy.

I find this first novel to be extremely modern and depicts a view into a real possible future which our species may one day find themselves in(underwater cities and colonizing the known Star system(s)) , although currently the United States Government's annual budget for the tent air conditioner systems in Iraq and Afghanistan is higher then that of the NASA program....maybe we will get lucky one day.

..ahh this book lets you dream again....

I took a risk on this. After finishing the book, I was left dissapointed and have no wish to read any sequel.

There are some good things about the book. The book reads Ok and the for someone who is not knowledgable in Physics etc, the science feels convincing enough.

Also, some of the general concepts and ideas in the book are very interesting and worth exploring in fiction. I just feel that the story didn't do it justice.

Now to the problems of which there are several.

Some of the book has a 1950's feel to it. In some ways it is like reading a novelisation of a 1950's sci-fi. Now, I don't really know what 1950's sci-fi is like, but the point I am trying to make is that some of the sci-fi feels dated compared to contemporary vision of aliens and Technology. Some people, my like this, but I didn't.

There are very few aliens in the book. But the few aliens there are seem one-diemnsional and very over-powered. I did not find the aliens to be interesting or believable. But that may be a matter of taste.

Another problem is that the story completely changes half way through. We spend the first haldf of the book in one location, buliding up characters, etc. The suddenly, half-way through, we are taken to a completely different location with completely new characters, to the extent that the original characters are almost forgotten. In fact, the the change is so great, that I felt I was reading a sequel rather than the same novel. It spoilt the continuity of the novel, at least for me.

There is also a flashback from way back in Earth's History to provide some part of the background. I felt that this did not really fit into the story that well and left a lot of questions unanwered. However, funnily enough, I found these flashbacks to be the most interesting part of the whole novel, to the extent that it may have been better on its own in a stand-alone story.

I did not like the ending that much. I felt that the technology described to fight the aliens very unoriginal plus too advanced to be believable. But again, some may like this aspect of the novel.

A lesser problem for me is that Earth is supposed to be a unified state and reached a technological level so that it has established bases in the outer reaches of the solar system and built under water cities by 2113. This seems optimistic to me, although I could accept it if the story had been better.

In general, this is uninspiring sci-fi that feels dated. There are some interesting ideas, but it is not enough to make the book a worthy read. There are a lot of questions unanswered in the book. But sadly, after reading the first one, I have no motivation to find out the answers in the sequel.