Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mirrored Heavens was just the overture..., June 14, 2009
BURNING SKIES deftly builds on the foundation Williams laid out in his debut novel, MIRRORED HEAVENS. Williams reuses his cast, a group composed almost wholly of characters who never doubt that the end justifies the means.
In MIRRORED HEAVENS, Williams teased readers with the Throne, the President of a militaristic America; a man so paranoid that even his own Praetorian bodyguards don't know what he's up to. Now we get a peak at the kind of man who can command the loyalty of the ruthless soldiers and assassins responsible for preserving order.
BURNING SKIES goes in a few different directions; some of them follow-ons from the first novel and some of them seemingly tangential, coming out of nowhere. Within the context of a creative, rather diabolical series of set pieces, characters brush against metaphysics and levels of technology not even mentioned previously. In other books I'd consider this to be a loss of focus, but I suspect Williams is once again lulling me into a false sense of security...
I can't wait for the next book- and you certainly shouldn't wait for this book. Get off the fence, pick it up, strap yourself into your reading chair of choice, and get ready...you're in for a fun ride.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read Mirrored Heavens First, May 27, 2009
It's the 22nd century, and the technology on Earth has progressed far past what any of us could imagine. People are now hybrids with computers, and the land you inhabit isn't nearly as important as the zone your mind is on. Which makes it a great target for hacking by terrorists. The Autumn Rain, in this case. They're out to destroy both the two superpower zones, along with the leaders who control them. Claire Haskell, the world's best razor, now sets out to warn the President of the United States, Andrew Harrison, of this treachery, before it's too late. But it's not long before she gets apprehended by the President's right hand man (known as the Hand) and joins forces with his men to save the President and the world as they know it. But is everything really as it seems?
Burning Skies, by David J. Williams, is the second book in the Autumn Rain trilogy. It was promised to be a book you could read alone, though, without having read its prequel, Mirrored Heavens. While it certainly was a thrilling book on its own, I feel like I missed out on so much back story by not reading the first book, especially towards the end. It seems that so much is left unsaid because it's already been said in another place. Since I haven't read the first book, though, I'm not sure whether this is a case of the author being so familiar with the world he created that he assumes everyone knows as much as he does, or if the world was really thoroughly created in the first book.
The characters aren't defined well enough in this book to really differentiate them. Many of the names are similar, and first names, last names, and nicknames are all interchanges throughout the book. The Operative is also Carson, Claire is Haskell and the Manlishi. The book is also written in such a way that it's sometimes very difficult to determine exactly who is speaking at any given time.
There's also the matter of the summary being very misleading. It seems as though everything that's mentioned on the back cover is done by the end of the first part, then completely turned around again after 20 pages. It's also not about Claire Haskell, though she does have a prominent role. So little attention is given to her in comparison to the other plot lines running through the novel that I'm left feeling unsatisfied at the end.
As far as the conspiracy goes, it's a convoluted mix of different loyalties sprung throughout the novel, which is the way Williams intended for it to be. It's enough to grab your attention for sure, but you may have to put the book down a few times to catch your breath at times as well.
I'm torn as to whether I want to read the first book or not; I feel as if I'll understand Skies better if I do, but it may be just as difficult to understand even with that background knowledge. Maybe after I get through a few lighter reads I'll chance Mirrored Heavens.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Hunting Autumn Rain, September 9, 2009
In The Mirrored Heavens, I was introduced to David J. Williams' intricately devised political, social, and technological conflicts - the tensions between East and West, the tensions between mech and razor, and the terrifyingly capable terrorist group, Autumn Rain, in the middle of it all.
The second novel in the Autumn Rain trilogy is The Burning Skies. (Note: The finale, The Machinery of Light, comes out next year and Dave promises to go all-out!) While Williams has written Burning Skies to be accessible to all, it definitely helps put things in perspective to have read Mirrored Heavens first. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers for those who have not yet read either.
Williams fully demonstrates his ability to bring you almost-irritatingly close to figuring out what's really going on, while withholding just enough information to keep you questioning your assumptions until he really wants you to know for sure. The parallel stories in Mirrored Heavens start to come together in Burning Skies, only to find that they really were intertwined all along and in ways a reader would hardly suspect. I'm one of those people who prides myself on being able to figure out the plot of a movie early on, so it's a lot of fun for me to go through the rollercoaster and still enjoy a few surprises at the end.
While the descriptions of the tactical combat maintain their quick pace and appreciation for the absurd, especially in the banter between the characters, the utter devastation inflicted by Autumn Rain and those trying to stop them is much more apparent. In Mirrored Heavens, we see the destruction of a space elevator under construction and various other megastructures. However, much of that is depicted from the perspective of a detached observer, or someone fleeing in the wake. Everyone's attention in Burning Skies, however, is focused on the Europa Platform - an O'Neill-type habitat with millions of people and the largest structure in neutral space. When everything goes to hell, there is no escaping the carnage.
The leaders of the United States and the Eurasian Coalition have agreed to meet at Europa in a gambit to end the cold war between their nations and draw out Autumn Rain on a ground of their own choosing. But nothing is as simple as it seems, nor are any of the characters. There are plans within plans at every step of the game and the cliffhanger ending leaves you wondering just how far Williams will go in Machinery of Light...
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