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Jennifer Z. (JenZ) - Reviews

1 to 20 of 26 - Page:
Bard (Bard, Bk 1)
Bard (Bard, Bk 1)
Author: Keith Taylor
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 11/24/2008
Helpful Score: 1


I found this book extremely entertaining. It seemed to be based quite a bit on Celtic folklore and intermixed that with an intriguing tale.


Brave New World
Brave New World
Author: Aldous Huxley
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 791
Review Date: 11/24/2008


Not much to say here. It's a classic sci-fi book. A must-read for any sci-fi fan. It's actually scary when you read it, consider when it was written, and considering everything thing going on today...


City of Hawks (Gord the Rogue, Book 3)
City of Hawks (Gord the Rogue, Book 3)
Author: E. Gary Gygax
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 8
Review Date: 11/24/2008


This is not the first Gord book from Gygax, but it is chronologically first. This book gives the story of Gord's childhood. I foudn the first two-thirds of the book exciting and fast paced. The last third of the book got a little strange, but all-in-all, it was a good read - especially if you like fantasy books along the lines of Sanctuary or Lahnkmar.


Cyborg
Cyborg
Author: Martin Caidin
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 11/24/2008
Helpful Score: 2


Did you ever watch the credits to the TV show? This is where the idea came from! I actually looked for this book for a while. Having read it, I believe it is safe to say that this is a foundation book. Don't get me wrong, it is interesting to read, and the story did captivate me, but if you are looking for something akin to the TV shows, this is not it. As I stated, it is a foundation book. It provides the foundation for the characters like Steve, Oscar, and Rudy. There are a couple adventures, but a good portion of the book is about the accident and the recuperation.
Still, all that said, I have NO REGRETS on reading this book. I really liked it, and it was neat to see how the original idea was written.


Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently, Bk 1)
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently, Bk 1)
Author: Douglas Adams
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 27
Review Date: 11/24/2008
Helpful Score: 1


If you liked the Hitchhikers Guide (now misnamed) Trilogy, you will like this. It's just as wacky as always with Douglas Adams...


The Dosadi Experiment
The Dosadi Experiment
Author: Frank Herbert
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.8/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 11/24/2008


This book was the sequel to Whipping Star. Unfortunately, it didn't captivate me as much as Whipping Star, and since it was longer, it made it a little harder to rate as high as Whipping Star.


The Entropy Effect (Star Trek: The Original Series, Bk 2)
The Entropy Effect (Star Trek: The Original Series, Bk 2)
Author: Vonda McIntyre
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 11/24/2008


Vonda had written Enterprise, which I loved, so I decided to give this book a try. I liked it. It was shorter than the other book, but the writing and interplay of the characters was decent. I enjoyed it.


The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion, Bk 2)
The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion, Bk 2)
Author: Dan Simmons
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 169
Review Date: 11/24/2008


Honestly, the break between this and Hyperion hurt me. As I stated in my review of Hyperion, it was like Ten Little Indians - except Dan Simmons stopped it at 5! When I finished Hyperion, I was like an addict looking for this book. It was painful waiting for it to come in! Needless to say, this continues the same plot line of telling why the people have been brought together, but it also begins intermixing the "present" more with the stories of the peoples' pasts... It was on par of the same excellence as Hyperion.


House Atreides (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 1)
House Atreides (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 1)
Author: Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 132
Review Date: 11/24/2008
Helpful Score: 2


This was the first book that Brian Herbert took on to try to carry on his father's legacy. In all honest, I was sceptical at first. However, getting a familiar character back (Duncan Idaho) was nice, and to get some early looks at the worlds that would come to play major roles in the original 6-book series was great!
Brian Herbert ability to keep the same feeling in his novel as were in the original novels was great! I felt like I was still reading the same seemless story that Frank Herbert began to weave all those years ago.


Hyperion (Hyperion, Bk 1)
Hyperion (Hyperion, Bk 1)
Author: Dan Simmons
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 270
Review Date: 11/24/2008


So this book won the Hugo award, and I understand why! This book was a pretty quick read, and I found the story very captivating. I often compare this to sci-fi version of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. Beyond that (without giving away too much) there is a combination of suspense and intrigue that keeps you reading. Loved it!!


Iceberg (Dirk Pitt, Bk 3)
Iceberg (Dirk Pitt, Bk 3)
Author: Clive Cussler
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 55
Review Date: 11/24/2008
Helpful Score: 1


This is another of Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels (3rd in Dirk's timeline, I believe). As always, this is a typical fast-paced adventure that is a quick and exciting. No matter what, I never seem to be able to get enough of Cussler, and this book was no exception. Although this book has Dirk by himself for the majority of time, there were a lot of twists and turns in the plot to keep you guessing.


The Martian Chronicles
The Martian Chronicles
Author: Ray Bradbury
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 19
Review Date: 11/24/2008


As with other Bradbury novels I have written, this one has left me in a bit a quandry. Seems to me he is known as a good author, and I have enjoyed his short stories, but his novels leave me stuck between the liking and not liking. It's supposed to be good. I thought it was OK, and since it was short, not too bad a hit to one's reading time. Perhaps I need to read it again, but my "to-read" bookshelf is not waiting on that!


The Mediterranean Caper (Dirk Pitt, Bk 2)
The Mediterranean Caper (Dirk Pitt, Bk 2)
Author: Clive Cussler
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 53
Review Date: 11/24/2008


This another of Cussler's books (the second in Dirk's timeline, I believe). As always, it was a pretty quick read and an exciting adventure. This adventure had Dirk paired up with his (seemingly constant) companion, Giordino.


Methuselah's Children (Future History, Bk 4)
Methuselah's Children (Future History, Bk 4)
Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.8/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 11/24/2008


I began reading Heinlein with Stranger in a Strange Land (great book). After reading that and expressing my liking of his style, a friend of mine introduced me to his Future History series. It was advertised to me that this was the first, but Wikipedia seems to say otherwise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_History). Either way, this was a great, short book to read. Heinlein had some really interesting ideas, and it is my understanding that this may have been the first book that introduced Lazarus Long - a recurring character in his books.


Neuromancer
Neuromancer
Author: William Gibson
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 391
Review Date: 11/24/2008


You better have read this then! Gibson's book was absolutely phenomenal, and the way he bends your mind with new and different ways he sees technology (and the world) going in the future is absolutely wild! Be warned, he sees a dark future, so this is not for the feint of heart! However, the adventure this book takes you on is one you will remember!


Pacific Vortex (Dirk Pitt, Bk 1)
Pacific Vortex (Dirk Pitt, Bk 1)
Author: Clive Cussler
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 145
Review Date: 11/24/2008


Another Dirk Pitt book from Cussler (the first in Dirk's timeline, I beleive). As always this is a fast and exciting read. The ideas Cussler comes up with are crazy! However, this books serves as good introduction to Pitt and how he operates...


Rim (Virtual Reality, Bk 1)
Rim (Virtual Reality, Bk 1)
Author: Alexander Besher
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 11/24/2008
Helpful Score: 2


When this book was originally recommended to me, it was mentioned in the same vein as Gibson, and I would have to disagree. I am actually kind of puzzled with this book. It reads very much like some sort of Zen book in some respects, but it also has some advanced / futuristic technology in it. Personally, I found it hard to follow at points because the transition between cyberspace and real world were not well-defined, but I did manage to read it rather quickly and found the overall story intriguing. The overall story was definitely interesting and allowed me to over look the points I had trouble with.


Ringworld (Ringworld, Bk 1)
Ringworld (Ringworld, Bk 1)
Author: Larry Niven
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 205
Review Date: 11/24/2008


This book certainly earned its Hugo award! The concepts in this book are so wild and futuristic! This book the science in science-fiction. The title itself, Ringworld, is the equatorial slice of a Dyson sphere! That's getting pretty hardcore in my book! Certainly a good read!


The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion, Bk 4)
The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion, Bk 4)
Author: Dan Simmons
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 71
Review Date: 11/24/2008


This was (sadly) the last book of the Hyperion saga. Although there was a rather drastic trasition between books 2 and 3, the second too books were a magnificient adventure in and of themselves! Honestly, if you read Endymion, I am not sure how you couldn't be thirsting to read this!


The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
 9
Review Date: 11/26/2008


This was one of Heinlein's "juvenile books" in that he had written these books with a younger audience in mind. The book is a quick read, but the story isn't that magnificient. I enjoyed the book, but it seemed a little to simple...


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