A review by pjonsson
Dark Matter by Ian Douglas
3.0
I have to say that I was rather disappointed with this book. The star rating I have given it is just barely and I was tempted to give it an even lower one but the writing itself is good enough so I stuck to the one I have given it.
Previous books have impressed me with their detailed space combat and good solid science. Fictional science of course but solid within that context. This book is still rather hard core when it comes to science but most of the book is simply spent either discussing science, social engineering or politics. Actually the first two-thirds of the book is very disappointing and borders on being boring with all the discussions, info-dumps and political rubbish. I really like when the science or situation is properly explained but this book is taking it too far.
Also, I really dislike the part of the story were, instead of actually fighting the aliens, the humans fight among themselves. I am both a EC-citizen as well as working in Geneva and I really have nothing kind to say about the EC political dimwits nor a lot of the wasters of oxygen sitting in Geneva but this book is taking said dimwits so far into the realm of frustrating stupidity that it is simply not enjoyable reading.
The enjoyment of this book lies almost entirely in the last third of the book where we actually get some proper action in space. The actual plot finally get moving somewhat and in the last couple of pages we, at least, get a resolution of one of the political issues that bugged me tremendously throughout most of the book.
There are indeed hopes that future books will be more enjoyable due to the ending of this one but it was quite frustrating to slug through the first two-thirds of the book to arrive at this ending. I hope that the next book truly picks up the good parts and preferably focuses on the extraterrestrial issues rather than more political nonsense on Earth itself.
Previous books have impressed me with their detailed space combat and good solid science. Fictional science of course but solid within that context. This book is still rather hard core when it comes to science but most of the book is simply spent either discussing science, social engineering or politics. Actually the first two-thirds of the book is very disappointing and borders on being boring with all the discussions, info-dumps and political rubbish. I really like when the science or situation is properly explained but this book is taking it too far.
Also, I really dislike the part of the story were, instead of actually fighting the aliens, the humans fight among themselves. I am both a EC-citizen as well as working in Geneva and I really have nothing kind to say about the EC political dimwits nor a lot of the wasters of oxygen sitting in Geneva but this book is taking said dimwits so far into the realm of frustrating stupidity that it is simply not enjoyable reading.
The enjoyment of this book lies almost entirely in the last third of the book where we actually get some proper action in space. The actual plot finally get moving somewhat and in the last couple of pages we, at least, get a resolution of one of the political issues that bugged me tremendously throughout most of the book.
There are indeed hopes that future books will be more enjoyable due to the ending of this one but it was quite frustrating to slug through the first two-thirds of the book to arrive at this ending. I hope that the next book truly picks up the good parts and preferably focuses on the extraterrestrial issues rather than more political nonsense on Earth itself.