This gave me a brief hope for the future.

This is such a good book! I didn’t find it slow at all, and every aspect was fascinating, be it the characters, the universe or the aliens. I like that the aliens’ physiology is realistic, with explanations to support the physical and mental development of their species. I recommend this book, obviously. :)

It didn’t impress me very much. Its main new idea just wasn’t enough to keep the movie interesting, and the plot was so-so, without any twists or surprises. The acting, however, was great and the movie accomplished everything it set out to do. I’m sure this is one of the better sci-fi films, but that’s not saying much because, in my opinion, books are a better medium for communicating ideas. It could be that I am just spoiled. If you are a fan of sci-fi and movies, go ahead and watch it; you won’t be disappointed unless you read a lot of books :)

Wow! This is a great book! No cliches anywhere; I was interested throughout the entire book. I will definitely be checking out more of his books- I strongly recommend this one.

I found it to be too cliche… the sentient planet, the telepathic animals, the mysterious man who knows everything needed but doesn’t help until the last minute.

I found this book to be refreshing. There are many ideas in this book that I haven’t found developed as well elsewhere. The characters are believable and the issues relevant; the only problem that I have found is that the author didn’t develop the character of Ames enough for my liking. But that is a small quibble- I highly recommend this book!

All three books I’ve read so far have a different “atmosphere”. Each book is separate from the others, except for taking place in the same universe and rough timeline. The first book seemed like a lighter read, as if to easily draw the reader into the universe and give a glimpse of what it is all about. The second focused on dolphins on an aquatic world, and the third had a lot of politics that were mostly played out by chimps and gave a lot of detail about the way different species interacted. I enjoyed all of them.

The summary at the back of the book misled me; it didn’t say that the majority of the book would be about a virtual reality game that teaches history. I wasn’t much interested in the subject matter, so I wasn’t too interested in the book either. I’m sure it would be great for someone else as it’s well written, but not for me.

Nothing much interesting happened in this book. I liked the premise: an alien civilization is preparing to drop a “seed” of some sort on Earth, using the planet as a preserve for certain species, one of which is a superior strain of Human. However, this book reads more like a biography, with every major character thinking a whole lot about their past without it impacting the story line much, if at all. I was bored, and would have stopped reading if it weren’t for the fact that I was waiting for a good or surprising ending, which didn’t happen either.

I wasn’t really impressed with this collection. At least three of the stories were blatantly Fantasy, and most of the rest were just bleh. I liked the last and longest story, but not enough to add this book to my collection. Back to the used book store you go!