Review: Fantastic Book for the Thinking Person!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 20, 2012
I really loved "The Black Ships". It is very different from your typical space opera book. The author takes an ensemble approach i.e. a large number of characters are being introduced and each one as a minor role but when you put all the minor roles together, you have the major outcome the world need. The book reminded me of the movie "Contagion" in how a lot of characters are introduced but none of them have major role above the others.The idea is simple: In a near future, humans have installed scientific and mining operations on Mars. Suddenly, hostile aliens invade the situation. The main question become: What would humans do? If you are expecting the President of The United States to jump on a flying jet and destroy the enemy ships all, by himself, this book is not for you. If you are looking for a very well thought out and researched answer looking at the political, economical, societal and religious aspects of the answer to the question, this book is for you.I especially loved the fact that the author is well versed in history, politics and geography as he kept dropping small references and allusions to current and historical events.The first 60% of the book are the answer to the question and the last 40% is the actual encounter with the aliens. Both parts are very different but keep me turning the pages on my kindle. The chapters are relatively short and very engrossing. I felt the book was nearly perfect for an ensemble movie.The one criticism I would have is that the alien race is never really discussed in any kind of details. I would have enjoyed to learned more about the aliens other than they were hostile.This is a great read and I am looking forward for more book from the author.