saoki's review
4.0
A science fiction/fantasy story with some lovercraftian horror thrown in and packed with references to past stories could be a bit too much for such a small book, but it all works marvelously.
While the story is a sequel of sorts to System Shock (and the 2nd Doctor's era serial "The Web of Fear"), Millennial Rites was written by another author. I mention this because, if you look at my System Shock review you'd see I have some Opinions about the technology in that book and the way it was written. This one was written by an author with actual understanding of technology and the tech industry, and it shows. Even though the story is not without some very 1990's ideas about computer systems and their possibilities, the author makes up for it by crafting a good story with and, crucially, by having a much more interesting antagonist. Without spoiling anything I can say that while the story starts as a classic evil genius meets evil aliens set-up, things are much more complicated. It's a very straight forward plot, but the fact that it's complicated by the actions of the characters is what makes it shine. Agency! We all love when characters have agency and ruin things all by themselves.
Besides that, Sixie and Mel are very well characterized as are the secondary characters, which not only are well-rounded and show humanity, but even have their own subplots and get their own closure at the end.
All in all, this is the sort of book that makes me wonder what else the author wrote.
While the story is a sequel of sorts to System Shock (and the 2nd Doctor's era serial "The Web of Fear"), Millennial Rites was written by another author. I mention this because, if you look at my System Shock review you'd see I have some Opinions about the technology in that book and the way it was written. This one was written by an author with actual understanding of technology and the tech industry, and it shows. Even though the story is not without some very 1990's ideas about computer systems and their possibilities, the author makes up for it by crafting a good story with and, crucially, by having a much more interesting antagonist. Without spoiling anything I can say that while the story starts as a classic evil genius meets evil aliens set-up, things are much more complicated. It's a very straight forward plot, but the fact that it's complicated by the actions of the characters is what makes it shine. Agency! We all love when characters have agency and ruin things all by themselves.
Besides that, Sixie and Mel are very well characterized as are the secondary characters, which not only are well-rounded and show humanity, but even have their own subplots and get their own closure at the end.
All in all, this is the sort of book that makes me wonder what else the author wrote.
philosopher_kj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
leonard_driscoll's review
adventurous
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? It's complicated
1.5
A bit of a slog. And weirdly misogynistic. Mel makes a series of bizarre, judgemental claims about all of the other women in the book—they’ve had too much plastic surgery, they’re too ugly, they don’t look after their kids properly.
The idea of having the villain succeed and the doctor having to deal with the consequences has potential. But it took so long to get there, I just wanted the world to end at that point.
The idea of having the villain succeed and the doctor having to deal with the consequences has potential. But it took so long to get there, I just wanted the world to end at that point.
nwhyte's review against another edition
"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1348972.html#cutid2[return][return]This was the first book I had read by the late Craig Hinton, and I thoroughly enjoyed it: resurrecting Anne Travers from The Web of Fear, references also to The Invasion; also rather intriguingly the action is set around the 1999/2000 New Year's Eve, and the top floor of Canary Wharf plays a prominent role. (This was written a year or two before The TV Movie, let alone Army of Ghosts.) And as an extra bonus the book is a sort-of prequel to All-Consuming Fire, my favourite of the New Adventures. It also follows through on the logic of the Valeyard from the Trial of a Time Lord, which is less exciting for me but it all hangs together rather well. I shall look out for more of Hinton's books."
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