Customer Reviews

Farscape: Dark Side of the Sun

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

You *have* to *watch* the show in order to be able to write a book that seems like the show.

For those of you who don't know about the author's past, two important things you should learn: 1) Andrew Dymond is apparently a pen name for Jim Mortimore, if Amazon.co.uk is correct (which I believe it is, based on the similarity in the writing styles); and 2) Mr. Mortimore wrote the fourth Babylon 5 novel. The book was decent on its own, but the characterizations were lightyears off. It should be noted that this is because Mr. Mortimore had never seen the show; he wrote the novel based only on scripts.

Mr. Mortimore repeats the same sins with Dark Side of the Sun. The characters seem like they only share the same name and appearances at times. Now, I don't know whether he has seen any episodes of Farscape--but I doubt it. Even "Premiere" would have given him at least *something* of an insight into their characters.

Overall, a decent read; but don't come into it expecting something which should be titled Farscape.

Being as impatient as I am, I ordered this book months ago and was very disappointed. Following Keith R. A. DeCandido's House of Cards (which I loved), Andrew Dymond's approach to Farscape left me very cold. Part of the appeal of Farscape is the visuals and I found his descriptions to be lacking. Most of the characters were left mostly on the sidelines and the ones we saw the most of didn't feel like the characters we've come to love from the series. And what good is a Farscape story if we don't see the crew interact and argue and eventually come together? Unsatisfying descriptions, uncharacteristic characters, and an annoying lack of teamwork makes this adventure a far cry form a Farscape story. It almost get the impression that Andrew Dymond had this sci-fi story in mind for a long time and merely reworked it to be a Farscape adventure. The only point that makes this book worth one star is we see another Hynerian! And we see this subplot resurface on the actual series (season three: Fractures). But for a silver lining, it's pretty thin. It isn't fair to compare this book to it's predecessor (House of Cards) but that's unavoidable in a series and let's face it, House of Cards is the book to read and Dark Side of the Sun is the book to stick under your desk to keep it from wobbling.

If I could, I would give this book 0 stars, but that wasn't an option! I read this book when it came out in the UK and was horrified that the powers that be at Farscape would allow this piece of "dren" to be published. I doubt that Andrew Dymond ever watched an episode of Farscape. He seemed to have missed the most basic of points, including what the interior of Moya looks like. He made it blue for Pete's sake! If you want a good Farscape novel, check out House of Cards by DeCandido, but DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT waste your money on this book.

I couldn't even finish the book, the characters simply bore no resemblance to the people on the show. To make matters worse the author's writing style is choppy and the plot was very difficult to follow. This book is not worth buying for the story and the characterization is so poor that the "Farscape" characters are practically unrecognizable.

Having read all of the other reviews, I feel a need to add in my two cents/vent. I've never written a review before this, that's how strongly I disliked this book. Farscape: House of Cards was amazing. Dark Side of the Sun was just painful to read. In my opinion, if Dymond saw any Farscape eps at all, he must not having been paying any attention. In addition to all of the other details everyone's already mentioned, he repeatedly says that Chiana is white. Did I miss something? She's gray on my television. And doesn't Rygel have eyebrows, not ears? These are just two of the many things that make this book so far off base. The alien in some distant part of the universe talking like an inner city youth ("flipside") just made me want to scream. I couldn't even follow Dymond's cryptic way of writing. I still have no idea how Moya's crew escaped from the PK's. There's only one thing that this book is good for. Torturing scifi fans.

I've read SF and Fantasy for over twenty years and I've watched every episode of Farscape. There are so many discrepancies the book should be made of Swiss cheese! I read the author's apology but really, to actually have to pay for this book is unbelievable. I read the first 100 pages, then began to skim along through page after page of tripe. The characterizations were iconic in their extremes. I got really tired of all of the Crichton-isms that NEVER stopped. D'Argo was portrayed as a mindless bloodthirsty savage, etc... Did the author watch the show...ever? I hope the publishers read these reviews, which have all been negative, and get a good SF writer to write the next one. I've read so many good Star Trek novels...what about David Gerrold? Bottom line to you other non-believers like me who thought the book couldn't be THAT bad...it is.

I almost gave it one star, but then thought about this book from a reader's perspective, not a Farscape fan's and went with three, thus the two star rating.

Ummmm, I think Mr. Dymond needed to watch one episode of the show, or even read the Farscape website to get that Pilot ISN'T on the bridge nor could he be in Crichton's room. At the end, Crichton is in his bed and the author writes, "All his friends were there, D'Argo, Zhaan, Chiana, Rygel, and of course Aeryn. Pilot, too, was present."

If you're a die hard fan of the show (which I am), don't waste your credits... some of the characterizations are way off. If you're not a fan of the show, you may well love this book. The writing is done well, if not a bit dramatic at points. But the story is sound and the plot moves at an even pace. Mr. Dymond spent much time writing from the perspective of Rygel, and from the back of the book I gather was the story supposed to be about Rygel... and it carried itself relatively well once it got going. However, the other characters seemed mere props and left me cold. The premise of the show is the group of misfits and their relationships. And their relationships seemed cold or non existant...

"Andrew Dymond" is a pseudonym for Jim Mortimore, who, as some readers know, has written numerous compelling DOCTOR WHO novels, and is one of the best tie-in scribes from the UK. The "buy in advance" listing on this book did, in fact, show JM's by-line, so when the AD byline showed up on the cover (of the UK edition), I wrote Jim an email to ask whuzzup. Here is the relevant part of his reply -- published here because his email specifically gave permission for it to be passed on:

"Yep. Andy Dymond is me. Or rather I am he. Or rather... oh hell, I might as well come clean. The Macmillan Editors of the farscape book jerked me around savagely on this one, so I walked. They cut about a third of the book out and castrated the rest with some frankly awful passages. I had talked to Rockne O Bannon about the book and was encouraged to write something sophisticated and rather cool. What happend then was that three editors decided it was too clever, they didn't understand it and so the fans wouldn't. Frankly this is bollocks. I had just gone through the same process with Campaign [a DOCTOR WHO novel, at length published independently] and evidence has proved me right on that one, . Generally speaking I'm a cutie pie, but I do not suffer fools gladly. And these guys rewrote the book of fools. (well they edited the clever bits out anyway.) So what you're reading is about half (or just over) of the book I wrote..."
Having read the "unexpurgated" version, I can attest that Jimbo was a lot more on point than the evidence of the published tome would indicate. And that said: The edited version is not quite as bad as the reviews before mine indicate. It's a misfire, but the prose style is lively enough -- not the leaden, anonymous style one associates with bad tie-ins. So there are some pleasures to be had ...

I have to say, this was absolutely horrible. I am ashamed to have spent money on it. The charachterization was COMPLEATLY off. First of all, Rygel is polygamous he has no 'one true love.' Second Zhaan would never trade /sex/ for something, or at least she would not be so blunt. Third there is no mention of John having CD's. Fourth Chiana was /never/ married, and she left Nebari Prime with her brother. Fifth, Pilot's den is not located in Command. Sixth, how can Moya's corridors be her arteries? Shall I go on? Anyway, if you're a fan of the TV series, don't bother with this one. It's not worth it.

I am an extreme fan of the show and I have read the first FS novel, House of Cards by: Keith R.A. DeCandido, which was a really good, but this book was a very big dissapointment. I don't think that the author, Andrew Dymond, has ever seen the show. He couldn't get the personalities of the charaters right and did a bad job with the ones he created for the story.

He was also off on the description of Moya and since when does the FarScape 1 have a stero system with a CD player. Another thing I found off was that Crichton's tape recorder used CDs instead of tapes. I also found a few other inconsistencies were just a bit too off from what they were supposed to be.

He could have also done better with the dialoge of the characters, which I found was lacking or just plain bad. Some things, like how the fuzzie creatures talked, was just wrong and made me wonder where this author thought the story was supposed to take place.

I am truly suprised that this story was even published. I wonder if it was even revised for that matter. Most FS Fan Fic floating around the net is much better then this story will ever be and you don't have to pay 6 or 7 bucks to read them. I hope the next FarScape novel, comming out in January, will have a much better writer and a much better story then this one did.