Astrologer #1: Heart of Stone [Paperback]

Denny DeMartino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2001

In the year 2130, the discovery of zero point gravity changed everything. Now, the afterlife is no longer a mystery. Interplanetary travel is possible-and increasingly popular.

And forensic astrologers like Philipa Cyprion are solving crimes-by way of the stars.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ace; Astrologer #1. edition (January 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441008070
• ISBN-13: 978-0441008070
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,001,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cute idea. Terrible execution., April 2, 2001

By 

David Hewitt (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Astrologer #1: Heart of Stone (Paperback)

I was very hopeful when I picked up this novel; it seems to want to be the first book in a series, and the cover blurb and preview page grabbed my attention immediately. The level of the writing on any individual segment of the book seems ok, but there is no continuity here at all.

The "mystery", such as it is, exists only because the author fails to provide us with any information about the world, the plot, or the motives of the perpetrators. The world appears to be constantly in re-write as the story progresses. For example, several times, one of the main characters will suddenly have a vitally necessary tool. Why do they have it? Well, remember that scene back in the hospital? I swiped it then, but didn't mention it...I didn't even mention that tools like this one existed at the time.

Possibly the story will make more sense if you are very well versed in astrology. Probably not; the pseudo-science is laid on pretty thick to no good effect. The relationship between the characters is very strained, and the ending is basically a deus ex machina.

It gets two stars in total. One for originality, and one for being, in patches, readable. I left the book in a restaurant and actually went back to get it, though I seriously contemplated leaving it there.

If you're looking for something along the same lines, but better, try Miller & Lee's A Conflict of Honors, or maybe Catherine Asaro's the Last Hawk. Better yet, pick up something by Laurell K Hamilton or Lois McMaster Bujold.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too shabby, November 5, 2001

By 

Timothy Capehart "Review-a-holic" (Dayton, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Astrologer #1: Heart of Stone (Paperback)

These two books (this one & Wayward Moon the sequel) are a couple days' pleasant diversion. The SF world is central to the mysteries and how they are solved. The mysteries are well imagined and quite logical. The characters are...well, mostly believable. The aliens are more believable.

But this series despite it's high-tech, metaphysical future remains a pale reflection of the author's other SF mystery series. Denise Vitola (the author's real name) has a series of five books about a "werewolf" in a decidedly lower-tech (and more believable) future. Ty really isn't a werewolf, but you'll have to read those superior books to find out why.

All that said, if you have finished those five books, these two are not a bad follow up...they just read like an author's first attempt when held up against the others.

1.0 out of 5 stars There was a second book?, October 26, 2008

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Astrologer #1: Heart of Stone (Paperback)

Interplanetary travel is possible, the afterlife is no longer a mystery, zero-point gravity has changed everything, aliens are everywhere and there is an Emperor. Sounds great. Too bad the author isn't James White or Larry Niven or some other person who knows how to write.
The story is slow. There are many reasons for this. Too many twists and turns, the main character is an East Ender and sometimes I don't understand the meaning of her words, the science is out of fantasy or Doctor Who, and for a person who is a astrologer she never really seems to know what's going on. We're thrown right into a gritty, dirty, shiny, high-tech thriller, with fast food, spaceships, mud huts and slow light technology. You REALLY have to be a super-skilled writer to pull it all together and NOT make a mess of it.
This is a mess. I would come to a complete screaming stop every time I ran into something that just didn't make sense. Check it out of the library if you REALLY have to read it.