Well....for those of you who didn't like Son of Heaven, all I can say is...too bad.
I enjoyed it thoroughly!! However...I cannot imagine ANYONE truly enjoying it who hasn't read the whole series from the 90s like I did. And I did it TWICE!! Well...to be honest...I stopped at book 05 because I couldn't find books 06 or 07 (I actually thought that they cancelled his contract because all the bookstores I went to could never seem to find who I was talking about...or the books!! Weird. Of course, I wasn't using computers back then...so that's also my fault.) and book 08 had yet to be written..
By the by...I enjoyed book 08 a lot...even though it was apparent that a whole bunch of stuff was totally skipped over...or explained rather hastily...so I can see why people said it was weak. However...as weak as it was, it was 10 times better than the vast majority of sci fi that's either been written or is being written today. As a matter of fact, it seems sci fi has taken a HUUUUGE step back and just caters to caterwauling teenyboppers. Outside of Alastair Reynolds, nobody is writing good sci fi. I had hopes for Peter Hamilton...but his last series was a bit strange for me... of course, I haven't finished it...yet. So, I have hopes it will turn around as I'm about 50% through book 02...and I AM enjoying it...but not nearly as much as I enjoyed The Commonwealth Saga...which was awesome.
And I guess a nod goes to Dan Simmons...but he hasn't written any sci fi for years and years. He's Mr. History now, for some reason...which is fine. I like his Joe Kurtz series and wish he'd write more of those...
Well...that's all I have to say.
I'm looking forward to reading the whole thing...again..but with 13 new books..or 12? Whatever it is...should be fun!
But, really, I know it's impossible for anyone to do...but if you have a chance, read the first series...and THEN read this upcoming revision...because, to be honest, I probably wouldn't be as excited as I am without knowing the whole story as I do...
Couch
