Critical Threshold (U.K.) (The Daedalus Mission, Book 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

Brian M Stableford (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: London: Hamlyn / Littlehampton Book Services (March 15, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0600320413
• ISBN-13: 978-0600320418
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,710,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, relatively short; worth the read, March 4, 2010

By 

Caleb N. Diffell (Danbury, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Critical Threshold (The Daedalus Mission, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I disagree with the one-star review; this wasn't as bad as all that. Sure, it had its sections of political philosophizing that could've been cut out, and with some rutheless editing would've made a decent 80-page novella, but in all it was an interesting read with enough action and mystery to move it along nicely.

The tidbits of philosophy sprinkled throughout the book are amateurish and Stableford obviously hasn't anything like a consistent political philosophy, but they're infrequent enough to be worth reading to advance the story.

None of the main characters is particularly likeable, but that's OK; I think the undercurrent of animus and/or hostility between them is just subtle enough to be interesting, not annoying.

The secret revealed at the end is a bit of a let-down, but I often feel that way with these sort of novels, so I don't hold that too heavily against the book.

So far the Daedalus series has been interesting and worth the read. These can be had quite cheaply on eBay so I'd recommend picking them up. I like the concept of the series, and each of the novels seems to present different enough scenarios to maintain interest. Guarded recommendation.

1.0 out of 5 stars It's only 160 pages, but that's 110 too much., October 23, 2008

By 

Wade D (San Antonio, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Critical Threshold (The Daedalus Mission, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's an interesting concept about what happened to a colony planet 150 years after settling a forest planet. It gets bogged down with meaningless political rambling of the main character, told from his perspective in the 1st person. Actually the main character rambles in his mind, over-analyzing everything and nothing. It's as if every action and conversation needs a footnote. It gets to the point that I see he is going on about nothing, so I wonder if I can skip a paragraph, see he is still at it and could have skipped another. 2 pages later he's done, with no real point made. Then he starts over. After that I skimmed a lot. The mood is very downbeat and dry, and nobody is really that likable in the book. It probably would have made an ok short story.