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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
17 reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Good, old-fashioned sf adventure
20 Nov 2005
Format:Hardcover
Seventy-seven years after his first sale, Williamson is still producing sf worth reading. Will Stone, an English professor at Eastern New Mexico University, and three of his friends (Derek Ironcraft, a physicist; Lupe, an archeologist; and Ram, a professor of linguistics and African history) become interested in a recent discovery of a Stonehenge-like structure buried deep in the Sahara, and wind up planning an expedition to investigate it. In a bit of a good news/bad news development, they find it, and it turns out to be an interstellar gate-and the first stop is really unpleasant, and guarded by very hostile critters. Lupe gets snatched, and the others have to go after her. As they keep following the trail, they travel through several more worlds where there's clear evidence of a stellar empire that fell. Eventually Will and Ram, now separated from Derek also, land in the midst of a war that's still going on, albeit at a far more primitive level than the first stages of the war must have been. And since this war is humans against humans, and white against black, white Will and black Ram land themselves in trouble almost immediately, and never really get out of it.
This is good, solid adventure sf, not Williamson's best, but "not Williamson's best" is still pretty good. A fun read.
This is good, solid adventure sf, not Williamson's best, but "not Williamson's best" is still pretty good. A fun read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
"Try your little mama's magic key!"
11 Dec 2006
Format:Audio CD
If they make a movie out of this it will probably be one of those so-bad-it's-good hits. It is too hard to take this story seriously. I tried, but I lost it at the above quote. I was listening to a book on CD I checked out of the library so imagine Harlan Ellison's voice delivering the line....
The not so intrepid heroes of this story start belly-aching about wanting to go home barely seconds after passing through the mysterious ancient gate. (Think Stargate rip-off.) This would not be so bad except they invested a lot of time and money preparing for the trip. The story is therefore kinda ruined from the get-go.
The not so intrepid heroes of this story start belly-aching about wanting to go home barely seconds after passing through the mysterious ancient gate. (Think Stargate rip-off.) This would not be so bad except they invested a lot of time and money preparing for the trip. The story is therefore kinda ruined from the get-go.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Not Impressed
2 Feb 2006
Format:Hardcover
When I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought that it would be an interesting read. After the first 20 or so pages I was not sure what I had gotten myself into. The writing style seemed awkward and the phrase "I'd like to know" came up so often it became extremely annoying and at times out of place.
Writing style aside, the premise of this book was very similar to the movie and series "Stargate" but less interesting and more confusing. The book itself seemed to be a mishmash of different stories and ideas. The book never seemed to flow. Sometimes the story went quickly and the reader was left trying to figure out what was going on. The author created situations without any explanation and many times I was left to wonder "how did that happen?"
In other sections of the book, the author seemed to drag on forever. The longest subplot in the book seemed to be an odd take on Slavery in American and Colonial History. It seemed out of place and more of a rant on black and white culture and relations.
This book was so odd that I never could figure out what the author was trying to accomplish in writing this book. Of course, Williamson did leave an open ended ending which leads me to believe he was thinking of writing other books about the different subplots he created. In the end, who knows? All I know is that after reading this story I am not inclined to purchase another book from this author.
Writing style aside, the premise of this book was very similar to the movie and series "Stargate" but less interesting and more confusing. The book itself seemed to be a mishmash of different stories and ideas. The book never seemed to flow. Sometimes the story went quickly and the reader was left trying to figure out what was going on. The author created situations without any explanation and many times I was left to wonder "how did that happen?"
In other sections of the book, the author seemed to drag on forever. The longest subplot in the book seemed to be an odd take on Slavery in American and Colonial History. It seemed out of place and more of a rant on black and white culture and relations.
This book was so odd that I never could figure out what the author was trying to accomplish in writing this book. Of course, Williamson did leave an open ended ending which leads me to believe he was thinking of writing other books about the different subplots he created. In the end, who knows? All I know is that after reading this story I am not inclined to purchase another book from this author.
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