Thursday, August 18, 2011

Book Review Round Up: A Review

A review of the reviews. Note there is an updated version of this review with later reviewed books added and one or two slightly clarified definitional changes that can be found here.
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Here are all of the books I have reviewed.  The first section was in our recent round up, the next section is scattered throughout, and the last two are posted as partial reviews very early on.  Linked are the novel (usually at amazon), its author (sometimes), and a link to my review.  The first reading is realism, the second is readability.

I did not have enough room to go back over the cozy question again.  The post originated with an excell file, so I may go over a deeper categorization later.

Realism had to exclude the cause of disaster, because some books that are very real and very gritty had fairly unlikely or nearly impossible disasters.  Only when the very nature of the disaster caused unique problems within the book did I deduct for that.  Speculative science fiction tends to be more interested in ideas than realism, so they are often relatively unrealistic.  Beyond that, many of these books had a sense of whimsy or adventure, that may make for a good story, but tend make the reality of the situation fuzzy.  For instance, Nova's Gardener Summer combined very well thought out economic collapse with an odd cowboy western mystique.  If the novel has many little interesting vignettes as the hero wanders through a strangely altered landscape, you may have something of an interesting hero quest, but you don't have realty.

Note that the readability issue should not be taken to much to heart. Some types of books are easier to bring an excitement and energy level to than others. Flue pandemics make for a pretty fast paced immediacy.   Slow collapse novels, or novels that go deeply into character preparations tend to be a little more difficult to keep moving. Be forewarned, a "7" that is also listed as 'L" (Literary) under type is relative to that type. There will not be a ton of action, and it likely will be very brooding.
I did the numbering quickly to avoid too much circular cross-comparison.  It is very possible I may have made a mistake somewhere. 

 
Review Roundup
 Author
 My Review
Type
Disaster
Real
Read
Ardath Mayhar
AP
N
5
5
C, SF, YA
PO, GW, B
4
6
Honey Brown
AP
D
7
7
AP, L
EC, D
6
7
C, SF
PO, GW, B
4
7
C, SF
GW, PO, NP
4
6
PA
GW
5
6
Cormac McCarthy
PA
PD
6
6
Nathan Poell
AP, PA
W
5
5
Stephen Pressfield
-
-
7
6
Chris Sullins
AP, M
EC, NP
7
4
Jean Hegland
AP, L
EC
7
5
AP
PO, GW
5
4
Jack Womack
AP, L
EC
5
4
AP
GW
5
5
Richard Michaels
AP
N
7
2
Alex Scarrow
AP
PO, NP
7
7
Terry DeHart
AP
N,E
6
4
Carla Buckley
AP
D
7
6
Louis L’Amour
-
-
6
5
Neil Strauss
-
-
-
6
AP, M
EC
7
4
AP, YA
M, V
6
5
AP, YA
M, V
7
6
AP, YA
M, V
7
6
AP
N
7
5
Philip Revene
C
EC
5
5
PA, SF
W
4
3
AP
PD
5
5







Reviewed Earlier






Thomas Park
AP
EC, NP
5
4
AP
GW
5
5
Michael S. Turnlund
AP
EC, NP
5
3
Nova
AP
EC
6
5
PA
GW
3
4
AP
D
7
6
B.T. (Brooks) Post
AP
EC, GW, NP
6
5
Michelle Widgen
AP, L
PO, GW
7
7







Partial Reviews






Doris Lessing
AP, L
EC
5
4
William R. Forstchen.
AP
E
6
4

 
Type:
AP = Apocalypse in Progress
PO = Post Apocalypse
C = Collapsed- The agency of collapse is mostly past
M= Militia Element
SF= Elements advanced enough to be unfamiliar to us today
L= Literary (think low on action, lots of talking)
YA= Young Adult
Disaster
N= Nuclear
E= EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse)
D= Pandemic Disease
PD= Plant Disease
B= Biotechnology
PO= Peak Oil
NP= Nefarious plotters trying to bring the world down
EC= Economic Collapse (other than peak oil)
NN= Nanotechnology
V= Volcano
M= Meteor or Comet strike
GW= Global Warming
W= Weird Science
Real
Realistic in tone - is it trying to portray an expected future.
7 = yes this will happen 4= barely possible   1 = strong elements of fantasy
In most cases, where the effect is not ongoing, I am not factoring in unlikely disaster types.
Read
Readability = is it a fun book to read.
7 = classic  4= somewhat enjoyable 1= Awful
Note that you will enjoy a "4" if it is your type of book, but probably hate it if not.

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