Planetfall

I've read it before, in 2016.A starship returns to Earth after an unsuccessful voyage to a distant planet. Hundreds of years have passed and the earth has changed - and as HG Well's time traveller found, the world is split into two warring tribes.We never really find out what has happened - something wiped out the cities, but what? Who are the Ares?But the novel is really about the conflicts in the mind of Major Birch, the central "hero". Life has not been gentle, and it shows.

I've enjoyed this book, and don't regret the time spent, but I can't say it is a great read.Unlike other reviewers, I think it is wrong to get hung up on the book not explaining why the world was in such a mess. Cormac McCarthy doesn't tell you the back-story in The Road, and here also, it isn't required.However, the author seems to lack a decent editor. The sea of awkward verbiage does nothing to progress the tale. Much of it, especially at the start, is overly pretentious and lacking artistic merit. The author may possess a better dictionary than me, but he doesn't have to whack me over the head with it.The basic premise of the story is a firm foundation. A lack of complexity can be highly profound (The Road, again) but here I feel the opportunity for a better book as squandered by the merciless failed attempts to be a talented wordsmith getting in the way of telling a good story. The effort could have been better spent adding some layers to the story.I can definitely say that if you are after a quick-fix scifi story with laser battles and light-sabres, then look elsewhere. There is hard work here and reading it leaves you with the nagging sense that the cumbersome wading wasn't entirely worth the effort, but you are never quite sure.

The book just doesn't flow, over worked descriptions of the unimportant abound, stuff you really want and need to know is left untold. There's basically two characters, the rest (perhaps another 6 or so) are deemed so unimportant they barely get a mention. The first scheduled excitement lays in the seemingly impossible odds of re-entry. The author is desperate to impress on you that they are certain to die. l don't want to spoil it for you but I am sure you can work it out, as there isn't anyone else in the book at this point, except a rather odd Zoo Keeper, and as it isn't a Stephen King book...say no more. I am sure the whole idea is probably moderately interesting but I haven't got the patience. I am afraid it is yet another amateur American sci fi writer with cringe worthy dialogue and template action scenes and hoping that this will replace a decent story and believable characters. Sorry, it doesn't.

Though some of the reviews give a negative reaction I greatly enjoyed this book. The plot of what was going on in a future time on earth was gradually revealed and the ending left you wondering. I was not surprised to see there will be a sequel next year. The descriptions of the ruins, people and countryside kept me wanting to find out just that little bit more. I would have liked more information about the enemy and how they evolved, or did I miss this? You felt the frustration of the leading character who is being kept in the dark about what is happening. I We already see people who spend a good part of their lives in a virtual reality. It is not so hard to see, without giving anything away, that our future could be something akin to this book. Maybe I have read too much SF! I look forward to his next book.

We all love an anti hero. But the main protagonist is so angry and obnoxious that he would never have realistically been put in the role he is in the book. There is an attempt at his redemption but in a clumsy and unrealistic way. An intriguing premise that throws up a few interesting plot threads but then never follows through. I literally waded through this book, trying to give it a chance. I was hoping that the often hinted 'off to see the wizard' finale might at least redeem it. But unfortunately no. Even the author seemed to have lost the plot, suddenly cutting the action almost mid sentence with a ' part two coming soon!" ruse. I love books and hate giving bad reviews but just felt I had to be honest.

It rather wandered between various plot ideas which lacked credibility and weren't properly explained. Notably the Aries seemed an absurd invention which I'd hoped we're going to turn out more interesting, but were just mindless suicidal killing machines for the most part. Also the central character was so consistently obnoxious he could never have been specially selected for any team! There was no character I could relate to. A proof reader could have eliminated some irritating spellchecker misspellings eg route/rout. However I liked the writing style, and look forward to another book with more consistent story and sympathetic characters.

Not entirely sure about the storyline as it meandered from one point to another with a where is this going feel to it. Not sure it stacks up, but it is well written and I stayed with it to the end. Probably too much unanswered or too little detail to fully understand the journey or what was really going on. It reads like a series of events rather than pieces of a jigsaw coming together to form a picture.

Frustrating indeed. Some nice ideas put together in a lumpy fashion that ultimately leaves you hanging and not in a good way. So many obvious plot points that would/should have given depth are just never mentioned, visited or explained. The main character is so obnoxious he would never have settled for not having at least the half dozen obvious questions you would want to ask after being away for "hundreds of years" answered. A book full of cardboard cut out characters that have also lost all common sense. I won't bother with the follow up.