Customer Reviews

Space Vulture

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Space Vulture by Wolf & Myers is a tour-de-force of space opera iconography.

If you're tired of 'literary' sf, if you're sense of wonder is fading, if you've been finding it difficult to willingly suspend your disbelief - Space Vulture is the answer!

A rousing adventure tale, a return to basics, and a solid argument against the kind of science fiction that wants to win academic awards instead of Hugos, if you like space opera or if you stopped buying new works in the 1980s, THIS novel is what you've been looking for.

I really can't recommend this highly enough. I saw it on clearance at a local bookstore and just from looking at the cover, couldn't say no. I will say that given that one of the authors is an archbishop, it is darker than I would have expected. For those of you who may be turned off when you see an archbishop is an author (I know I was), know that it really isn't that bad. There were a few parts where a paragraph or so got bogged down with religious nonsense that was obviously the work of Myers, but then it was back to quality sci-fi.

There are many parts where undefined alien technology is casually mentioned. I love it, though some may find it cheesy, but hey, if you don't want cheesy, you aren't the target demographic for old-school sci-fi. ;)

The day after I finished it (which took only two days because I couldn't put the book down... would have taken one day, but I guess my one month old daughter needed to eat) I loaned it to my sci-fi-loving father-in-law, because I *had* to share this brilliant book.

Stop reading this and buy it. Now.

A couple of reviews for this book decried how amateurish and unbelievable this book was. WELL OF COURSE, BUT YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!!!! It is meant as a homage to a style of science fiction that is long gone, but from which many of the ideas and stories of today's sci-fi took root. Enjoy it on its own terms, and for the simple morality play it presents (good vs evil, a bad man who learns how to be good from a child, etc.). It isn't profound reading but it doesn't try to pretend to be anything but what it is. I hope there will be a sequel with the Space Vulture returning to wreak his revenge. As funny as this may sound, I came to really like the characters and hope to find out more about them in future stories. Isn't this how we measure the success of any novel?

Jack

This book is a throwback to an earlier era when science fiction authors aimed at writing an entertaining yarn purely for the reader's amusement. The authors here don't try to bring you up-to-date on the most recent speculations about future science or technology, nor do they try to persuade you to adopt a viewpoint about the moral status of machines or aliens or biological technologies that still can only be encountered in your imagination; and really, why should the reader furnish his mind with ideas that come from a science fiction author? Wolf and Myers just try to tell a good story, and at this they succeed. I hope they prosper at it, and write sequels, and inspire imitators.

I bought this book off the $1.25 rack at dollar general. It is now one of my favorite books! It is fun to read. Dont worry about having to use a dictionary or physics book on hand to read this. it is a simple good vs bad guy story that is sure to become a classic. would make a good pulp fiction series.

I'm giving this book four stars not because I enjoyed it that much but because it's what it claims to be- a faithful re-creation of old-time sci-fi adventures. It's all there- the ray-gun blasts, the indestructible good guy, the monstrously evil villian, the short declarative sentences. Brings back memories of Tom Corbett and the Space Cadets.

The authors state up front that the story is intended to be a throwback to the kind Planet Stories published decades ago, and to an extent, they achieved that goal. But its hard to accept such a dimwitted, moralistic protagonist, and a villain that's supposedly more intelligent than any other being in the universe who does so many unintelligent things. A good space opera doesn't need to be this silly to be rollicking good read (e.g., Harry Harrison's Deathworld series), nor does it have to be quite so gross with regard to tortures, dismemberments, and humans for dinner. Overall, this book exemplifies why you don't see many SciFi stories like this anymore, and why I was able to buy it as a remainder just a few months after it was published.

Galactic marshal Captain Victor Corsaire has come to Verlinap, a remote planet to arrest two bit crook Gil Terry. However, before he completes the job, notorious pirate criminal mastermind Space Vulture leads a raid on Verlinap. He captures Corsaire and the planetary administrator Cali Russell.

Space Vulture decides to sell the rights to the renowned law enforcement official to the highest bidder. He invites the dirty dozen, who top the most wanted list to his auction. The highest bidder gets to do what he wants to Corsaire; Vulture leans towards making spunky Cali his toy. On Verlinap, the still free and still wanted Gil helps Cali's sons by picking pockets while they fix rockets; his goal is to regain his body parts hocked to his bookie whom he lost an arm and a leg and more to before the man sells them at auction; their goal is to rescue mom; no one's goal is to save Corsaire as he can rot in Purgatory as far as the kids and the crooks care.

Saluting the Buck Rogers 1950s space pulp fiction thrillers, SPACE VULTURE is an entertaining throwback tale. The story line is a nostalgic amusement to a pre Star wars era as the heroes seem to jump from one adventure into another. Although the plot is razor thin, fans will enjoy this fun space opera that takes readers back in time.

Harriet Klausner

This book is a lot of fun, especially if you're a fan of E.E. "Doc" Smith and other writers of the Golden Age.

I've read a very wide range of science fiction, and this is the most amazing single work of science fiction written in the past five years. It has strong roots in the older science fiction of the 1930s and 40s.