Review: Not for lovers of Science-based science fiction
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 19, 2014
I love science fiction especially well written science fiction with a good solid plot full of great characters.But unfortunately this does not qualify as either.To start: the characters are inconsistent. The first book introduces a character who is supposed to be a caring, rational person; a doctor and a highly trained soldier. Situations unfold and this supposedly rational person behaves in the most unlikely emotional ways, completely losing my respect for the story.A knowledge of psychology is also needed to write this type of story well. The initial character becomes a minor plot-point character after the first storyline. And suddenly his name changes to a nickname. And this nickname was used over and over and over and over again. If this wasn't annoying enough suddenly everyone is using the nickname, including the character himself. But people do not change the way they think about themselves, a name is important. And in times of stress we do not call out nicknames, we use our given names. This may be minor but it turned out to be a major irritation.I persisted - because I love science fiction & I really wanted to know where this was heading.At first I was intrigued but then the lack of solid story telling ability annoyed me. A plot line was introduced with an easily foreseen denouement, and how to get from start to end of plot line was simply silly. This happened several times. New situation develops and a foreseeable conclusion is in the wings, with a ridiculous set of plot points in between.And there are echoes of Dr Who and Star Trek and other successful universes. What is a tricorder doing here? and on reading some of this book I can hear a computer somewhere telling me that "Donna Noble has been saved." I could go on with other parallels of borrowed ideas, but won't.The original writings have no real science in this science fiction. Much of the science is made up and here is the essence of the problem with these books. Once you get wrong science or faulty character portrayal, you lose the ability for the audience to suspend their disbelief in the world you have created.You can create all the worlds you want  but if they are not based in something that can be believable, then those worlds will fail - much like this universe.In the end [actually the middle of the collection] I just didn't care enough, or was willing enough to suffer through the faults to continue.So here it is: bad character development, bad science, silly situations, plot lines signposted.I didn't finish these books.