Best Star Trek Series
The omnibus edition of an epic crossover trilogy uniting characters from every corner of the Star Trek universe, and revealing the shocking origin and final fate of the Federation's most dangerous enemy--the Borg. No one knows how they are slipping past Starfleet’s defenses, so Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise have to find out—and put a stop to it. Thousands of light-years away, Captain Riker and the crew of the Titan follow bizarre energy pulses to a mysterious, hidden world. At the same time, in the Gamma Quadrant, a new captain and her crew investigate the wreck of the Earth starship Columbia NX-02, missing in action for more than two centuries. The Titan’s freedom hinges on the action of fellow prisoner Erika Hernandez, commander of the long-lost Earth starship Columbia. David Mack is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure, including the Star Trek Destiny and Cold Equations trilogies.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Troi baby started out quite sad actually won't give any details but get a few tissues."
"The biggest complaint was the Enterprise crew having little to do in the plot, and Captain Picard not being terribly heroic for three consecutive books."
"This is a must for anyone who likes The Next Generation, or Deep Space 9 or Voyager, as it weaves together a selection of characters from these series and pits them against their most fearsome enemy."
"Mack captured the essence of characters I love, believably, but also took them through a journey that was believable for me and pulled at my concern for the characters."
"I strongly recommend this series to any and all who are fans of Star Trek in general, and of the post-TOS series in particular."
"With that being said, it is a wild ride that has kept me wanti g to keep reading til my eyes can't stay open."
"It is worth your time to read, but it is not the best among the Star Trek novels I've read."
"Some of the plot elements require you to already be familiar with the Next Generation characters and remember certain episodes of TNG."
The Twin Novae battle had been one of the last of the Idiran war, and one of the most horrific: desperate to avert their inevitable defeat, the Idirans had induced not one but two suns to explode, snuffing out worlds and biospheres teeming with sentient life. Hailed by SFX magazine as "an excellent hopping-on point if you've never read a Banks SF novel before," Look to Windward is an awe-inspiring immersion into the wildly original, vividly realized civilization that Banks calls the Culture. Set in Banks's far-future interstellar civilization known as the Culture, this highly literate novel from this celebrated British SF author (Inversions) centers on an act of revenge. In a recent attempt to covertly overthrow the repressive caste system at the center of Chelgrian society, agents of the Culture's secret Special Circumstances unit accidentally triggered a civil war that left five billion Chelgrians both dead and dishonored. Ostensibly he's there to try to convince Ziller, a famous Chelgrian expatriate composer, to return home, but his real mission is to eliminate the AI that controls the Culture orbital.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Most of the story is concerned with a master composer and a humanoid (who hads a retrieved soul within him with whom he has many interesting discussions) sent on a secret mission which supposedly involves the composer."
"One such civilization is the Chelgrians, a kinda-sorta humanoid species with a fifth limb, the midlimb, and other deviations from human norm like fur and being descended from predators rather than omnivores. He is composing a new symphony to be played by the light of a nova caused in the Culture's last great war, hundreds of years ago, as it reaches the Orbital. Other parts take place in an "airsphere," a bubble of air so large that it is, apparently, gravitationally stable, and supports "dirigible behemothaurs," creatures bigger than most starships, who may or may not be sentient as we understand it."
"I have been reading the Culture novels in order and each outdoes its predecessors."
"I enjoyed this book the first time around and my second reading was even better."
"Elegant writing that one comes to expect with Iain Banks, and delightfully paced."
"Iain's command of language and supreme story telling ability coupled with his peculiar sense of humor make his books fascinating and entertaining reads."
"Given Banks's history of giga-death level war crimes he keeps the tension going up until the end."
"I had the impression it was a repository for many of the atmospheric and contextual notions of the author draped around a fairly straightforward story."
An all-original novel based upon the explosive new series on CBS All Access. Aboard the Starship Shenzhou , Lieutenant Michael Burnham, a human woman raised and educated among Vulcans, is promoted to acting first officer. David Mack is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure, including the Star Trek Destiny and Cold Equations trilogies.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The reason I have it 4 out of 5 is the old Star Trek trope of super vulcans."
"Spent the last couple of days enjoying this novel... liked having a deeper picture of the new Discovery characters and some old ones as well... had a great time!"
"Desperate Hours really explores Michael Burnham's back story and rise in Star Fleet as well as her personal relationship with Spock and interpersonal relationship with Saru."
"I'm a huge Star Trek fan, and this book did not disappoint."
"This book helps fill any holes about the differences between the Original series and Discovery."
"Really fast faced, lots of action, like Discovery."
"I really enjoyed this book."
"The story begins with Captain Phillipa Georgiou offering a conditional promotion to Lieutenant Michael Burnham as first officer. Along the way, Mack includes interesting character studies through combined boarding parties, such as Una from the Enterprise and Saru, but particularly through Burnham and Spock. As Bryan Fuller, co-creator of the new series, specifically requested Mack write this story featuring the new ship and the most iconic "Star Trek" ship, it can be considered more canonical than other Trek novels and a good introduction to the new series for fans and newcomers alike."
Best Star Wars Series
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this definitive novel, readers will follow Thrawn’s rise to power—uncovering the events that created one of the most iconic villains in Star Wars history. One of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars universe, from his introduction in bestselling author Timothy Zahn’s classic Heir to the Empire through his continuing adventures in Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and beyond. Thrawn’s observations and tactical thinking are utterly captivating.” —New York Daily News. Timothy Zahn is the author of more than forty novels, nearly ninety short stories and novellas, and four short-fiction collections. Zahn is best known for his Star Wars novels ( Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future, Survivor’s Quest, Outbound Flight, Allegiance,Choices of One, and Scoundrels ), with more than four million copies of his books in print.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There are familiar notes including character and ship names readers of Zahn's Legends material, new material including Thrawn's young protege, and for those who require an Imperial villain, we have Arhinda Pryce and her ruthless climb to political power that also explains a great deal about her character on Rebels and how she and Thrawn became allies of a sort. New-canon only fans may find things like the explanation of the "civilian casualties" on Batonn strange or not in keeping with the so-far almost simple-minded insistence in new canon on black and white morality, but readers familiar with Zahn's work recognize this is a design feature, not a bug."
"Timothy Zahn returns to the "Star Wars" universe with "Thrawn", a novel exploring the origin of his character, Grand Admiral Thrawn, a Chiss working with the Empire."
"Now that Disney has canonically introduced Thrawn in their Star Wars: Rebels series, I was excited to read Thrawn to see what Zahn could add for the character. His familiarity with the Star Wars universe allows him to fully immerse the reader in the story and setting in a way that honestly makes the reader feel like they are watching a Star Wars movie."
"Tim Zahn has always been one of my favorite science fiction authors, when I stumbled across The Thrawn Trilogy when I was 13 years old back in the bleak Texan midwinter of 1997-1998. Fast forward twenty years, and I find myself watching DisneyXD clips on youtube when I stumbled on the Season 3 trailer for Star Wars: Rebels when who should appear but Grand Admiral Thrawn."
Best Stargate Series
The team members have dispersed and are beginning new lives far from the dangers of the Pegasus galaxy. With the help of General Jack O’Neill, Atlantis rises once more — and the former members of the expedition must decide whether to return with her to Pegasus or to remain safely on Earth in the new lives they enjoy... These all new adventures take the Atlantis team back to the Pegasus galaxy where a terrible new enemy has emerged, an enemy that threatens their lives, their friendships — and the future of Earth itself. Thrusters fired again, tilting the city slightly, increasing the drag. They were wrapping around the world in a high polar sweep, bleeding speed as they went. The planet’s largest landmass was embedded beneath the polar ice cap.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As a fan of all the Stargate TV series, I was glad to finally come across the Atlantis continuation after the unfortunate end of the series."
"The positives are good characterization, the beginnings of a great story arc, and most importantly a fantastic answer to the question, What happens next? The series finale of Atlantis was a satisfying wrap-up of the storylines (don't you hate it when a beloved series ends with major plot lines unresolved? There's also a great new character: Eva Robinson, a psychologist with the Ancient gene. (Personally, I always shipped John/Elizabeth, but that ship sailed when Weir was written off the series.)."
"The formatting (or lack thereof of) in the kindle version made it confusing to figure out when the story had skipped to follow another person or event, but it didn't take too long to figure it out as you kept reading."
"I rather enjoyed reading sensible and involved character histories that made logical sense and held my interest. These things are suppose to be such a great power source, and yet continuously the "Atlantis" story calls for an unbelievable draining of the ZPM's. Planning and deciding to fight at a stargate against incoming Wraith made no sense. There must be a hundred very obvious alternates every reading could imagine when reading that portion."
"When I see a typo of a word it just stops me in my tracks and takes away from the enjoyment of reading the ebook."
Best Doctor Who Series
The Daleks and the Time Lords deploy ever more dangerous weapons in desperate attempts at victory, but there is no end in sight. A weary, angry Doctor leads a flotilla of Battle TARDISes against the Dalek stronghold but in the midst of the carnage, the Doctor's TARDIS crashes to a planet below: Moldox. GEORGE MANN is the author of the Newbury & Hobbes steampunk mystery series, as well as numerous other novels, short stories and original audiobooks.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In the midst of this we have the War Doctor, the one between Eight and Nine, the one who ultimately ends the Time War by destroying both the Daleks and the Time Lords. The Doctor (for ease of reference, even though he’s not the same Doctor) and his TARDIS and the Time Lords and their battle TARDISes are engaging the Dalek fleet near the Tantalus Spiral, at least at this point in time. The Doctor reluctantly brings Cinder along to figure out what the Daleks are doing, and then it’s off to Gallifrey to report on the Daleks and figure out how to end this horrific war. Upon reflecting upon the story, I see not so much the transition of the Time Lords to the moral equivalents of the Daleks, but the Doctor’s realization that this transition has taken place, thus showing how he feels forced to make the repugnant decision to destroy the Daleks and the Time Lords."
"This is a much-abridged version of the complete review as it appears (http://ianwoodnovellum.blogspot.com/2015/01/doctor-who-engines-of-war-by-george-mann.html) at my blog dedicated to reading, writing (no 'rithmatic! In severe withdrawal after the Xmas Doctor Who show, I needed a good fix, and this delivered. We don't begin with his regeneration, but at a much later point - several centuries later - when he looks more like he did in the fiftieth anniversary special, and not long before he unleashed The Moment. The Doctor informs her that he has to go to the nearby city to find out what the Daleks are up to, and despite her extreme fear, she accompanies him. On Gallifrey we discover that Rassilon has been resurrected to lead the Time Lords, and he has a few dark secrets of his own. Having said that, of course, the time-lock seems to have failed dismally, since the Time-Lords were indeed tied up by it, but not, evidently, the Daleks - not in the least, given how often they've showed up in the rebooted TV series!"
"This is the first Doctor Who "book on tape" I've bought, and the purchase was based solely on the fact that Nicholas Briggs was the reader. I've been a fan of Big Finish for years, and even though this isn't one of their products, I knew that Briggs would put in the love and the work needed to bring the story alive. But to be fair I originally assumed there would be no special sounds -- just a straight reading --- so there is actually a lot there to sweeten the experience."