Stuart McMillan

• Rated 3 stars

“Overlong exposition and clumsy dialogue can't hide some clever ideas in this space opera on a grand scale with Hamilton's usual vast canvas approach.

This has enough source material in it to be spun off into a dozen smaller novels and the scale of the thinking and the casual discarding of story ideas must make other authors, perhaps in the throes of a block, weep.

All this cleverness of plotting can't disguise the author's obvious guiding hand in manipulating the characters. I desperately want to believe that somewhere in the vast menagerie there must be someone who isn't part of some global conspiracy or being puppetted by alien intelligences.

Mind you, this is Hamilton, so these are all essentially hallmarks of his work, so what did I expect when I started reading it!”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review 2 hours ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Really shows its age and it's clearly from the same stable as Alistair MacLean with paper thin characterisation and stereotyping ('banana' republics, communist revolutions, fat and lazy Americans, heroic Americans haunted by the war etc) . The plot was ok tho and I'm surprised that this has not been given a Hollywood 'treatment' as it's got the ingredients to keep people entertained for a couple of hours. I did have a chuckle at one point when I recognised a scene that had been stolen completely and incorporated into the 1982 movie Firefox - I hope the Bagley estate got some corn for this!”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review 2 hours ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Have just listened to this book for possibly the 3rd or 4th time on my daily commute back and forth from the office - the fact that I've 'read' this so many times speaks volumes.

The excellent alternate and parallel world that Neil Gaiman's characters inhabit in this rendition of America combined with the sense of place evoked by elegant prose makes the whole book read effortlessly, but with a sense of repletion missing from other books in the genre.

To top it all, the narrator, George Guidall is obviously enjoying himself, and this comes through with a perfectly balanced and nuanced rendition of the book.

I can't recommend this one highly enough!”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Friday, March 8, 2013. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“Was very good. In fact, the recent crop of London based urban fantasy and horror from the likes of Mike Carey, Benedict Jacka and Ben Aaronovitch implies some kind of collusive club. Maybe in some dark cellar somewhere near Victoria (Gordon's Wine Bar?) there's a cabal of authors worshipping the (still living) shades of Gaiman and Henry for 'Neverwhere'...

Anyway, I digress. What a good book, and told from the 'good-guy' perspective too, with the team of coppers battling some of the less savoury (and less corporeal) elements of the criminal classes in England. Some great background with the characters and the use of the 'forgetting' device had me re-reading elements to see if i'd missed stuff.

Thoroughly enjoyable and I'd recommend this one to fans of police procedurals and urban fantasy alike.”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Sunday, February 3, 2013. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“As usual, Peter Hamilton delivers a doorstopper of a book that is monumental in scope, but still human in scale, with fantastically detailed environments ranging from the nearly familiar (Newcastle) through to the alien and exotic.

The characterisation puts real personality into the protagonists with everything from domestic dramas about who gets the bathroom (mirrored across the galaxy) through to the internecine politics of both corporate and public service. All interwoven with what starts off to be a brutal murder in the Toon that turns into an epic battle for survival for humanity.

If I have any complaint, its that the novel at 1100 odd pages could have actually been expanded (sorry Mr Hamilton) and this could easily have been a multi-volume epic rather than the single slab it turned out to be. Reading the last few pages I got the sense that he needed to wrap it up to meet a deadline - I suspect that there may be more stories to come from this milieu! ”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Wednesday, October 24, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Enjoyable classic of 1970s American paranoia about the threat of breakdown in individuality that is a melange of fear of technology and of communism. A bit dated now, but still feels modern enough that it can still strike a chord. Well worth the read!”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Wednesday, October 24, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 1 stars

“Poorly written, with an over simplified holey plot, poor characterisation, Mcguffin's aplenty. I wouldn't bother with this one and won't make the effort with any of the other ones.”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Wednesday, October 3, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Very good continuation of the Enzo series - I have thoroughly enjoyed all of these and recommend to anyone who likes a good murder mystery. The closure in this book still leaves enough room for Peter May to reopen if he needs to. Go read and enjoy!”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Wednesday, October 3, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Good fun space opera that - fairly successfully - walks the tightrope between human and inhuman scale. The plot is not hugely original (heroic loners fighting to save humanity in the shadow of a larger conflict), and the characters are, to an extent, caricatures of loner drunk cop, square jawed hero, superengineer etc.

Add to this the same kind of alien menace I first read about in Trillions (Nicholas Fisk) when I was still in short trews and it all starts to sound like a collection of cliche.

...and yet, I enjoyed this. The writing is good and relatively tight, with well imagined action sequences and an (almost) complete adherence to the laws of physics as we know them. The politics of intersolar conflict are painted in broad strokes, providing enough backdrop to the action and nicely setting the scene for a sequel - which I will be buying!”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Tuesday, September 11, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Not the strongest of the series, I'm afraid and it all kinda gets a bit jumbled up in the middle with the multiple planes of existence, but almost worth it to get to the denouement, which given where the last one ended, is pretty predictable. I would have thought this had pretty much run its course, but I understand there's a fourth one to come - which might be one too many.”

Stuart McMillan wrote this review Wednesday, September 5, 2012. ( reply | permalink )