GREETINGS!

Welcome to Omphalos' Science Fiction Book Review Pages. This is my attempt at documenting the merits of the English language's best thousand or so science fiction books. At the time of this writing I am about 12% done, with just over 125 books read and reviewed. I am also going to try to review some "future masterpieces" as well, so look for two to three reviews of newer books for every five to six reviews of the classics.

I should also tell you that I have other motives here. I am also very interested not only in SF that is produced by the so-called "mainstream" authors, but also proto-SF works that came before the genre really was defined. From time to time I will put up a story that meets either of these two qualifications, but never unless I also consider it worthy of the time it takes to read and write a review. For example, I have up already a story from 1599 by Godwin which as far as I can tell, is the very first proto SF story ever written that is not a mythological, magic or religous tale. I will also be putting up a review of E. M. Forster's The Machine Stops. There will of course be others, so keep your eyes open!

All books are chosen and reviewed of course by me and me alone, and to a small degree, the master list changes every time I look at it. All opinions here are mine. If you wish to have the ability to leave a comment, please drop me a note at the address below and I will register you. I do it that way to keep the spammers the hell out of here. I currently do not accept reviews from anyone, as I wish for this to be my work alone. If I get enough requests I will happily set up a sister site, or give you privileges on my SF forum, so let me know if you are interested. My e-mail address is: Omphalos@distantsoil.org.

MAJOR UPDATES COMING SOON!!!!!!

Thanks to my gifted brother, many of the problems with the search features on this website will soon be fixed. For example, you no longer have to enter the exact title or author's name to find what you are looking for. Now, if you enter the word "war," you will not get the error message, but instead will get a hit for any book title that has that word in it anywhere! You will also be able to toggle between ascending and descending by clicking, for example, on the year, or author's name, or book title columns. And best of all, the genre, format and theme search engine will soon be up and running, so that you can search, for example, for every SF and horror novel and novella that deals with plagues and nuclear wars. Watch for changes to go live soon!!!

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Well, even though I planed on slowing down in 2008, I somehow have managed to pick up the pace of my personal reading just a bit. In early July I have 62 books read, and I plan on writing reviews of 55 of them. I think I have about 46 up right now, and I have 8 more that are in various states of completion. Some are in the can, some I am proofing, one I am writing and several are still in note form. I have managed to get through some "big" books this year, and I have five or so more that I plan on reading before January, 2009.

I have tried to keep a running log of the last several months' worth of read and reviewed books here, but it has started getting too damn long, so I think I will just put up recently read reviewed ones only. Sorry if you only come here a few times per year, but you will just have to figure out what you have not read from the master list. Since June, 2008 that list includes the following: Ill Met in Lahkhmar, by Fritz Leiber, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, The Saturn Game, by Poul Anderson, The Last of the Winnebagos, by Connie Willis, A Meeting with Medusa, by Arthur C. Clarke

, The Mountains of Mourning, by Lois McMaster Bujold, and The Ballad of Beta-2, by Samuel R. "Chip" Delany.

Coming shortly are We, by Yevgeny Zamaytin, and a dozen or so others that I have read, but not written about. I am also trying now to keep the list current, and will do my best to put up one or two books published in 2008 for every five to ten or so older ones. This likely will depend on how many review books I get sent from publishers, as my stack is starting to dwindle.

STAR RATING SYSTEM

So what do the stars in the rating system mean? First and foremost, I am not one of those people who says that he hates everything he sees or reads just because its not perfect. I personally have trouble reading negative and unconstructive reviews of movies and books. I also definately do not do a comprehensively thorough review, even though I tend to tear apart books while reading them. I prefer to let my overall feeling of the complete strength of the work guide my hand in determining the tone of the review, even if some parts suck and some parts are fantastic, and I hope that shows as you read. That means that I make notes on what is good and what is bad as I read, but I let my overall feeling of the work guide my hand when I decide what to include in the review and what to leave out.

Now, that being said, I wish I had half-stars or ten stars available here. My brother, Ragabash, just has not gotten past that technical hurdle for me yet, so I'm stuck with the five star system for now. Here is what I am trying to generally say with the stars:

You should also know that for now the only books I review are those that I personally consider worth keeping and reading again. I am currently going through my book cases and reviewing the books that I love. For that reason you will not usually see any book with less than a three star review. However, I will read and review books upon request, or that are parts of series that I generally like even if the individual book blows, and I have decided to pick up new works a few times per month. The latter Dune books are perfect examples of the first two of these qualifications. Frank Herbert's books are incredibly good. His son's Dune works (co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson) are not. And also, I was asked to review them. Since I also review books upon request, sometimes a stinker or two will creep into this list. Gardner Dozois' Yearly Best Of volume is another example. I usually like that particular series, but some years it is not very good.

Finally, keep in mind as you read these reviews that they are full of spoilers. I'm not sure that a reviewer can fully communicate the strength or weakness of a particular work without discussing plot. But especially for the older books I'm not going to cry if someone gets upset because I revealed the secret in any of Asimov's Foundation books. Come on! Those things are 60+ years old!

PUBLISHING INFORMATION

This is where things can get confusing. Often you will notice that I do not give the original publisher in the information blurb. I have tried to give you the name of the work's current publisher so that you can get the book if you wish. Where the book in question is currently not being printed, I have given original data. However, the year given is the year of original publishing. I have done this so on one hand you will be able to find a current copy quicker, and on the other so that you can arrange the books by year published, which I think is an interesting way to look at them collectively. Please note that I will not be going back to check to see if the publisher link is still correct, unless Amazon UK takes down the photo I am using.

LEGAL NOTICE

Copyright © 2007-2008, Gregory Tidwell ("copyright holder"), an individual. All rights reserved. All content text, images, graphics, photographs, and other materials on this website ("site") are subject to the copyrights and other intellectual property rights of copyright holder. Copyright holder owns the copyrights in the selection, coordination, and arrangement of materials on this site, unless otherwise noted. The contents of these materials may not be altered or modified in any way. You may electronically copy and print hard-copy portions of this site, but only for noncommercial, personal use provided the materials are not modified, all copyright or proprietary notices are retained and conspicuous, and credit is given. Any other use of materials in this Site without the prior written permission of copyright holder is strictly prohibited. Nothing contained in this site should be construed as granting any license or right to use any Trademark displayed on the site without the express written permission of the copyright holder.

You can browse and search reviews », view interesting sites » and more, right here.

You can browse and read reviews without logging in, but when you’re ready to post a review or comment, login here ».

Have fun!

Our newest review

Neutron Star by Niven, Larry

Even though social science fiction is my favorite type to read, I still get a real kick out of the early and mid-career works of Larry Niven. Niven started producing in the mid 1960's while still a student at Kansas State University. He is one of the most wildly successful authors of in the history of the genre, and still produces today. Many of his works, both solo and in collaboration with other authors, are set in his Known Space sequence, which stretches from approximately 1977 to the year 2900, and beyond. Niven also owns one of the most successful…

Reviewed by Omphalos · Rating Rating of 3 star(s) · Read more »