Dan Simmons - Worlds Enough and Time

• Author: Dan Simmons
• Title: Worlds Enough and Time
• Publisher: Eos 2002
• ISBN: 978 0060506049

[update ="28/5/2010"] I have since read some other Dan Simmons stuff and wish to retract my statement about not looking for more of his books, I was wrong, I admit it, why can't you let me get on with my life?????[/update]

The first thing I ever read of Dan Simmons was the short story "On K2 with Kanakaredes," which would have to be up there in one of the great alien visitor stories of recent times.  It's this great adventure story in which a bunch of guys discover that the incredible differences between people can be overcome by the common ground, if you are willing to take the time to look for it.

I was expecting a lot more from this book.  Maybe that is a bit unreasonable.  I have to say that I was fairly disappointed overall.  I really thought this was going to be massively awesome.  It was just ok. I probably won't go hunting for more books by this guy, although I would still read a story if it was in an anthology.

• Looking for Kelly Dahl alright, a pretty good premise, but it fell down at the end.
• Orphans of the Helix was ok. Space-operaish but nothing really earth shatteringly brilliant.
• The Ninth of Av didn't make any sense to me at all, as expected from the intro.  Really fucking weird, plot was so strange I couldn't keep track, did not like.  Sorry Dan.
• The End of Gravity was a bit dull.  The intro describes it as written for the screen, and I hate the screen anyway, so I might have just been showing my literary elitism here.

Oh well, back to Ms Moon and Mr Reynolds I guess.