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adeselnaferreira's review against another edition
5.0
Que facada no coração! Ian Sales pega no sentimento mais bonito do ser humano: esperança, esmaga-o, deita-o ao chão e ainda pisa-o! O_O Venha mais FC assim :)
hakimbriki's review against another edition
3.0
A group of astronauts are stranded on the moon after a nuclear war breaks out on earth. Nevertheless, all hope is not lost, for they have a "torsion field generator", the one and only wunderwaffe! The Nazi bell, which may or may not allow them to find a version of earth that was not ravaged by the war.
Amazing though the premise may seem, this first installment was a bit of a led down insofar as it is more an introduction to the universe Ian Sales has fashioned. Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that this reading experience was negative. I enjoyed getting acquainted with the main character, and learning the space mission lexicon. I expected more, I suppose. I have high expectations for the second book.
Amazing though the premise may seem, this first installment was a bit of a led down insofar as it is more an introduction to the universe Ian Sales has fashioned. Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that this reading experience was negative. I enjoyed getting acquainted with the main character, and learning the space mission lexicon. I expected more, I suppose. I have high expectations for the second book.
kynan's review against another edition
2.0
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a review.
This is a science-fiction/alternate-history/fantasy mash-up with a largish side of infodump.
The story is post-nuclear-armageddon told from the perspective of Colonel Vance Peterson, USAF (United States Air Force), who is a complete tool. The story revolves around Peterson and we switch between "now" and flashbacks that explain how things came to be. It's hard to say more without getting into spoiler territory.
I didn't like Peterson, you're not meant to, but I don't see how he could ever have possibly gotten into the positions he was put in, based on his behaviour. Because of this, large chunks of the narrative just don't gel and the final twist continues that trend most admirably. This is part one of a four part series and I was ever so vaguely curious as to what might happen next, but when I read the synopsis of [b:The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself|17557655|The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself|Ian Sales|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362474300s/17557655.jpg|23959559] it was obviously related in theme (the Apollo program), but there's no connection between the individual stories.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and I think that was a mistake. The infodump is the main problem with the audio version of this story. I understand that approximately a quarter of the text-based book is made up of glossary and timeline. The audio version attempts to work around this by including the expanded version of each acronym the first time it appears. Seems reasonable until you discover that every fifth word is an acronym. OK, that's an exaggeration, but not that much of one, the first paragraph alone chalks up USAF, PLSS and A7LB; OK, that last one's not an acronym, but it still gets an explanation. I was constantly jarred out of the story to process and memorise the expansion of the current acronym.
In conclusion: The story wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it. It was a little like an old Twilight Zone episode (most of which I feel the same way about, semi-plausible with a really annoying end). I would definitely NOT recommend the audio version of this if you want to read it, there's no problem with the narrator, it's just not something made for listening to - stick with eyeballs for this one.
This is a science-fiction/alternate-history/fantasy mash-up with a largish side of infodump.
The story is post-nuclear-armageddon told from the perspective of Colonel Vance Peterson, USAF (United States Air Force), who is a complete tool. The story revolves around Peterson and we switch between "now" and flashbacks that explain how things came to be. It's hard to say more without getting into spoiler territory.
I didn't like Peterson, you're not meant to, but I don't see how he could ever have possibly gotten into the positions he was put in, based on his behaviour. Because of this, large chunks of the narrative just don't gel and the final twist continues that trend most admirably. This is part one of a four part series and I was ever so vaguely curious as to what might happen next, but when I read the synopsis of [b:The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself|17557655|The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself|Ian Sales|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362474300s/17557655.jpg|23959559] it was obviously related in theme (the Apollo program), but there's no connection between the individual stories.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and I think that was a mistake. The infodump is the main problem with the audio version of this story. I understand that approximately a quarter of the text-based book is made up of glossary and timeline. The audio version attempts to work around this by including the expanded version of each acronym the first time it appears. Seems reasonable until you discover that every fifth word is an acronym. OK, that's an exaggeration, but not that much of one, the first paragraph alone chalks up USAF, PLSS and A7LB; OK, that last one's not an acronym, but it still gets an explanation. I was constantly jarred out of the story to process and memorise the expansion of the current acronym.
In conclusion: The story wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it. It was a little like an old Twilight Zone episode (most of which I feel the same way about, semi-plausible with a really annoying end). I would definitely NOT recommend the audio version of this if you want to read it, there's no problem with the narrator, it's just not something made for listening to - stick with eyeballs for this one.
cal_jessamine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
sonofthe's review against another edition
4.0
Been interested in this series for a while. Finally got around to it. Wasn't expecting the alternate history element. The ending makes me wonder how Sales will continue the story.
krakentamer's review against another edition
3.0
A quick listen to an overall entertaining story, but it's definitely not consistent. By far the biggest problem I had with this was the too-intrusive acronym explanations. I think that a simple way to get across the same point would be to use the full term the first time, and then the acronym after that. Also, there were quite a few acronyms that didn't need to be expanded (e.g. AFB). Sure, not every reader will know what all of these terms mean, but this is book is going to appeal only to a very specific set of readers - and those readers will all be able to follow the story even if they don't know every expanded acronym. However, while nearly every subsystem in the Apollo space system got a shoutout, there was a major piece of hardware that got barely more than a handwave, and it was a bit distracting waiting for both the backstory as well as the actual operational description of this piece of equipment, and then to see that it never came.
My second gripe is possibly more with the narration - the narrator would spell out some acronyms that are pronounced as words (such as TAC - it was either "TACK" or the full Tactical Air Command, and it wasn't "The TAC" and definitely not T.A.C.), while pronouncing others that are usually spelled out in that context (such as LEO for Low Earth Orbit).
My final gripe is, again, with the narration - the narrator was a bit flat, and it would be a little jarring when he'd switch to a paragraph that started a flashback or memory. Ideally there'd be a little pause there to let the reader know that there was a context switch occurring, but the narrator just barrelled right through the paragraph gap, leaving me to wonder if I'd skipped ahead in the narration.
So in the end, the story itself was interesting, the flashbacks only made sense to explain some motivations near the end, and the acronym issue was a bit distracting.
My second gripe is possibly more with the narration - the narrator would spell out some acronyms that are pronounced as words (such as TAC - it was either "TACK" or the full Tactical Air Command, and it wasn't "The TAC" and definitely not T.A.C.), while pronouncing others that are usually spelled out in that context (such as LEO for Low Earth Orbit).
My final gripe is, again, with the narration - the narrator was a bit flat, and it would be a little jarring when he'd switch to a paragraph that started a flashback or memory. Ideally there'd be a little pause there to let the reader know that there was a context switch occurring, but the narrator just barrelled right through the paragraph gap, leaving me to wonder if I'd skipped ahead in the narration.
So in the end, the story itself was interesting, the flashbacks only made sense to explain some motivations near the end, and the acronym issue was a bit distracting.
wilygecko's review against another edition
1.0
Audio version. Not for me. Very dry narration and the background music was distracting. Storyline felt disjointed as well.
klfgasaway's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
djotaku's review against another edition
3.0
I got this book in audiobook form as part of a Humble Bundle that had a bunch of other space exploration non-fiction books that I was interested in. The other day I had run out of podcast episodes so I loaded this into my audiobook program.
This is a very short book - probably novella length so it's difficult to discuss without spoilers, so there will be some minor, unmarked spoilers ahead. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the USA never stopped exploring the moon after the Apollo Project. In this alternate timeline, a group of men have become trapped on the moon and are trying to figure out how to get back home.
It is an old fashioned SF story that reminds me of the style of the short stories in GRRM's Nightflyers collection. If the reader is a NASA nerd they'll probably get a huge kick out of the technical details in the story. For me as someone who just casually follows NASA and was listening to a bunch of acronyms, it could become a little dense. For example, a regular book would have said, "Commander so-and-so pushed the ignition button." But this book had text like, "Commander so-and-so pushed the BLAND (button lander alternative neutral dummy) button"
The glimpses we get of the world via the story are interesting. And I'm not against reading the rest of the quartet. But after the way this story ends, I'm curious where the author goes from here.
This is a very short book - probably novella length so it's difficult to discuss without spoilers, so there will be some minor, unmarked spoilers ahead. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the USA never stopped exploring the moon after the Apollo Project. In this alternate timeline, a group of men have become trapped on the moon and are trying to figure out how to get back home.
It is an old fashioned SF story that reminds me of the style of the short stories in GRRM's Nightflyers collection. If the reader is a NASA nerd they'll probably get a huge kick out of the technical details in the story. For me as someone who just casually follows NASA and was listening to a bunch of acronyms, it could become a little dense. For example, a regular book would have said, "Commander so-and-so pushed the ignition button." But this book had text like, "Commander so-and-so pushed the BLAND (button lander alternative neutral dummy) button"
The glimpses we get of the world via the story are interesting. And I'm not against reading the rest of the quartet. But after the way this story ends, I'm curious where the author goes from here.