Rolling Thunder
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Kindle Customer
> 24 hourI resisted Varleys Thunder series for a long time, mostly because I thought the initial premise was plain silly. Little did I realize that if Heinlein were writing YA fiction in the 21st Century he wouldnt be able to out do what Varley has produced with this title and its two predecessors. I started in the middle (still need to read the first one) and loved it, just finished this one and loved it more. I was totally smitten with Varleys Podkayne and the innumerable references to Heinleiniana, including Manny Garcia and Kelly Strickland (Manuel Garcia OKelly-Davis, anyone?), a little brother named Mike (Mycroft, perhaps), a genius name Jubal (Broussard, not Harshaw), a farmer in the sky, a (possible) tunnel in the sky, the Red Planet, between planets, and citizens of the galaxy. Me oh my! And, yes, I agree with Varleys Podkaynes assessment of Heinleins Podkayne -- what a mean old man! Richard Jasper Oneonta, NY
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Charles Engelke
> 24 hourThe characters are thin, but the real problem is with the plot. Its full of magical devices that nobody but the inventor can understand, and he can pull new ones out of his hat whenever theres a need. A disappointment.
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David Masters
> 24 hourThis is the third book in Varleys Thunder & Lightning series - the others being Red Thunder and Red Lightning, and it continues the theme of following the clan Garcia/Strickland/Redmond; as with Red Lightning, this is the story of the next generation of the clan. Everybody says that the T&L series are a lot like the Heinlein juveniles, such as Red Planet or Podkayne of Mars, and its even more apparent in this book - the lead character is even named Podkayne, and there are plenty of other Heinlein references scattered throughout. However, the characters are more adult than anything in Heinleins juveniles, and, typical Varley, theres plenty of sex and nudity... though its nowhere near as descriptive or involved as Steel Beach or his Gaean Trilogy. Still, theres enough sex and brutal violence in it that this is definitely not a book for kids. Varley does his usual with Earth, trashing it. Each book in the series has gotten a little darker and more murderous, and this is no different - but at the same time, this is the lightest book in the series (so far), as it seems to brush over or alter previous plot points from the other books, and there are plot points in this book that just seem to disappear, with no effort to resolve them. Podkayne isnt quite the attention grabber that previous characters have been, and most of the time she just seems to mindlessly go with the flow - no questioning anything, no real serious thought, no real attempts to control her own life. It is readable, and interesting enough, and with the fourth book in the series due out in August 2014, I suppose you need to get this one as well - especially as the fourth one seems to start almost exactly where this one ends, rather than skipping ahead 20 years as the previous ones have. One thing to note: this is the second copy of this book that I have bought... but only because the first one I got (paperback, picked up at a yard sale) was missing almost 50 pages (281-328), and after the story ended pages 329-376 are reprinted. Probably a once-only error, but...
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Thoma B
> 24 hournice series
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Dr. van der Linden
> 24 hourI hadnt gotten more than a couple chapters into this novel published in 2008 when I realized that the 17th of November, 2009, must have hit John Varley like a boot in the gonads. He was REALLY suckered by the man-made global warming fraud. From start to finish, ROLLING THUNDER is a glimpse into the way an ex-hippie and failed college physics major who has schemed deliberately to assume the mantle of Robert Heinlein and build himself a reputation as a hard SF writer can fail to understand how scientific method works, and thus gets gulled, cullied, and thoroughly diddled by the climatology caliphate peddling the preposterous bullpuckey that increases in Earths atmospheric carbon dioxide content caused by human beings burning stuff could cause enough tropospheric heat trapping (by way of the greenhouse effect) to jack up the global temperature in any significant way. Im inclined to give the fundamentally stupid author a pass if he can give me a good story and decent characters, but Varley NEVER gives this garbage a rest, even finishing up the last chapter with the classic brain-dead IPCC-bamboozled idiot Repent! Repent! message about deadly-awful-horrible-nasty global warming. ROLLING THUNDER is readable as fiction, with a fair goshwowboyoboy factor (as Varley has shown from early days he knows how to do), but in succumbing to the mundane stupidity of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming hoax, he demonstrates that even a talented journeyman speculative fiction writer can get himself led down a blind alley and whacked upside the head. Ive gotta wonder what John Varleys reaction was when he downloaded that FOIA2009.zip archive from the Net for himself and confronted confirmation that those of us on skeptical side have been calling this ginormous fraud correctly for the past thirty years. Anybody know how hes been responding at any SF conventions hes attended since the next-to-last month of 2009? I havent been able to Google up anything about him on this subject online.
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Kindle Customer
> 24 hourVarley is perhaps not at his strongest here, given his virtuosity in the Titan series, but he nevertheless provides an entertaining space romp with some unusual and truly engaging characters. There are enough plot kinks to keep you interested in our heroines fate (with the unlikely name of Podkayne), and the end run heads us off to a feel-good launch ramp for the next novel (surely theres another in the writing as we speak....) After a long hiatus between this and his Titan series, Im delighted to see Mr. Varley is back in the saddle. I give it 4 stars for decent characterization, continued use of ingenious gadgetry developed in a prior novel, a reasonably complex plot, and for not taking itself too seriously. All in all, a worthy, happy read.
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Ed
> 24 hourKinda slow through much of the book with character development - then non-stop action. Stick with it for a good read.
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Amaxon Customer
> 24 hourOkay, this is another generation of Manny Garcias tribe, and it beggars belief that there are this many influential members. Each with a different talent, yet sharing intelligence, grit and fast reactions. Must be in the DNA. Red Thunder used a mechanism named a squeezer to store energy, then power spacecraft. Fine, it worked for a prototype and performed flawlessly. But in any rational universe, scientists must duplicate the unit; begin to investigate the physics involved. But no, that is impossible. Only the original inventor can make them.... Then he makes himself scarce, to thwart potential kidnappers. Now Podkayne, a singer, gets a gig with a traveling entertainers group, sent to a ruggedly beautiful outpost- dangerously so. She is just earning fame when disaster strikes. The family mourns, but the planets do not stop turning. She lives on in her music. However, Varley has other plans.
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Stephen Davis
> 24 hourI loved the character/narrator Podkayne. She is a fine addition to the series, maybe my favorite narrator. But there were some significant flaws in the story, in my opinion. There is one person who should be dead, but shows up alive, it seems primarily to give him a better smackdown. The explanation as to his being alive seemed very, very weak (as in, soap opera fans would be shaking their heads). Also, the romance seems contrived, like the author decided after writing book two to move the character that direction, then had to walk back almost everything hed said about the character in the prior books. Final quibble, Im not sure what I think about the driving event. There seemed to be a lot of convenience in the areas of both timing and abilities, (They are too big to be aware of us but constantly cause minor equipment failures.) as well as unresolved red herrings that only function, it seems, to move the plot. But still a good read and follow-up to the first two. And I especially enjoyed the Heinlein titles Easter-Egg hunt at the end of the book.
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sdmaturin
> 24 hourThis is the third book in Varleys ongoing tribute to Robert Heinleins juveniles. Its not the best (thats the first) and not the worst (thats the second one) but its solid Varley - playful and joking, yet deadly serious.