Customer Reviews

The Tranquility Wars (Bantam Spectra Book)

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

 

 

This book was dull and uninteresting. There is not much action and even less plot. There are several graphic sex scenes sprinkled throughout the book. I found myself reading the first sentence of paragraph after paragraph waiting for the author to get on with the story. I eventually concluded that he really didn't have much story to get on with. On the positive side, all the words are spelled correctly and the punctuation is fine.

I have just finished this book and found it interesting and will recommend it, although conditionally. If you are into the hard science and straight forward prose similar to his collaborations with Arthur C Clarke than it will work for you. The book appears mistitled though, there is no war, only a corrupt governments attempt to undo the work of the social outcasts- the pirates. The pirates (the good guys) go around the solar system looting and stealing and are for the most part treated like mosquitos on the back of an elephant. Two thirds of the way through the book the government finally decides to swing into action. Perhaps it should have been more accuarately titled the "Tranquilty Disagreement."

Still I found Mr. Lee's vision of the future compelling. There is no star trek like 'Federation' that encompasses all human acheivements. In "Tranquility" there are various different government entities and political interest groups who deny liberty to it's citizens in many ways. And for Hunter Blake, an honest young man from a small asteroid, events seem to propel themselves away from his control at every turn. The author shows Hunter Blake to be a typical 21 year old- somewhat lacking in maturity and decisiveness. I did enjoy this book and do recommend it with the above reservations.

I don't usually review books but this book failed on so many levels and is attached to the Rama series so I think a warning is in order.

First, the writing is horrible. There are few spelling or grammatical mistakes but the wording just isn't compelling. The characters, scenes and atmosphere seem literally paper thin and nothing is described in anything more than a very "functional" fashion. Instead of "It was a dark and dreary night" Gentry Lee would write "It was night time and there wasn't a moon and it was a little cold and wet". The words do not flow and do not evoke a sense of being there (I'm not an author but this book makes me question why not).

Second, the plot doesn't make sense. We have these three competing "groups". The first two are the acronym governments (FISC and UDSC). These are basically carbon copy established competing totalitarian governments that have divided the solar system and control 99.99% of the population. Then there are the "pirates". These are numerous groups of a several hundred individuals scattered throughout the rest of the solar system. The one "pirate" group we get to know seem to be supported by a single "genius" that somehow can compete and excel at numerous scientific disciplines (programming, systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control system engineering, aeronautic engineering, etc...) vastly out inventing and out producing the combined intellectual and economic might of the two acronym governments. I mean, when the pirates need a new electrical outlet they call this guy and when they need to hack into the acronym governments computer system they call the same guy! This "genius" joins the pirates despite the fact that the leader of the band of pirates he has joined (the "Utopians") is a megalomaniac kidnapper and rapist and that the band doesn't even seem to have any overt economic power among the economically powerless pirates. How he accomplishes this feat is explained to the reader by "he is very very smart". Then we have our "protagonist" who's supposedly also "very very smart" (but not as smart as the Utopian geek genius) and yet for all his intelligence and insightful consideration he never seems to notice and/or question that the pirates are basically psychopathic criminals not bent on creating a better society than the two acronym government's totalitarian systems but instead building "cults of power" built around leaders of dubious emotional stability. Finally, we end this book with our "protagonist" abandoning his "first" love to a life of indebtedness, prostitution and sexual liaison (bordering on rape) without so much as a consideration so that he can live in peaceful sexual bliss with his 17 year old pregnant pirate girlfriend. Of course the author presents a world where the protagonist had no choice in the matter, but in a universe where a single impoverished genius can compete with entire societies is it so unreasonable that the protagonist can do better than this?

Thirdly (and last) there is no "science" in this book. The people of this universe flit around the solar system but we have no idea how. We have no idea what sort of acceleration is involved. People live in space but you would barely know it. There are a few vague mentions of some sort of adhesive shoes which allow them to walk around like normal but little else (the author could have spent a second talking about the mechanics of walking around in a weightless environment even with adhesive shoes). People seem to sleep on beds with sheets sans gravity. They have some sort of "domes" to keep them safe but no mention of how those might work or how they regulate temperature, pressure, etc... People eat normal foods in space and drink normal drinks. They have normal sex just about everywhere. There is no attempt to explain how this weightless environment differs from what we are used to every day. People transition within a day or two from complete lifelong weightlessness to planet gravity (Mr. Lee does mention exercise though so it must be OK). There is an entire "VR" game world but we know nothing about it other than the fact that it is enjoyed through some sort of "booth". Is it a 3D visual experience, are there touch and/or sound components? Are other senses involved? Is it by external interface or is there some sort of direct brain interface? We don't know because the author doesn't spend one second trying to provide a picture of how this works. It's typical of the degree of thought that has gone into everything in the book.

This book is a very easy (if intellectually painful) read because nothing is overly complicated and/or explained. You'll breeze through a very formulaic space opera without any depth or embellishment on the central theme. "Good Boy destined for great things suffers trials and lives happily ever after". If you read that sentence then you really don't have to read the book because after almost 500 pages that sums things up and leaves out very little.

P.S. There is no war. The cover of the book shows explosions and space fleets but this is just plain deceptive.

I enjoyed myself while reading this novel, but I must say that Gentry Lee seems to be treading to many lines between ideas and ends up with a book which never commits to be truly interesting. Hunter Blake can barely be described as a protagonist ( the text of the book actually points out several times that he really has no choices as to what happens to him). As a theme in itself this might be interesting, but Hunter, though we are told he is brilliant, apparently understands very little of ANYTHING that happens to/near him, then later suddenly comes to conclusions that are neatly packaged in one or two sentences and hardly mentioned again. I am not a fan of books which contain chapters and chapters of self-torture, where the characters agonize over their perceptions of the truth, when the reader has come to he right decision hundreds of pages before. But I would like a little more realistic insight into the motivations behind decisions, supported by what we already know about that character- the only reason to leave them out would be for the purpose of suspense,as is not the case here. Much of the book is spent decribing in detail Hunter's many sexual encounters- I have read and enjoyed other SF books which concentrate even more in the area (any John Varley novel, Heinlein in his platinum years), and I am no prude, but here the sexual passages seem to be esatblishing themselves as a theme which serves apparently no external purpose. The villains aren't really that bad here, either ( we're TOLD that they are, and they plan a few nasty tricks, but that's about it). In fact, the hero's friends kill two people in an ambush and little is said or thought about it, although it is one of the very few scenes of real violence in the novel. It seems rather obvious that "Tranquility Wars" is the first of a series, since there is no war here, only the grumblings of dissention, and that Gentry Lee is planning a slow build to fill out his new universe. I only wish that some of that "filling out" had been established here. I saw this book as a VERY watered-down cousin to Donaldson's "Gap" series(a tough read themselves, because VERY bad things happen to people you want to like, then those people do things that make you not want to like them) perhaps merely because of the outlaw-space setting and the gargantuan government/corporation enemy. There's plenty of good science and engineering in this novel. There are plenty of likeable characters (although once again, we're only TOLD they're likeable, without much visible proof). And there are a few rather deep concepts and some wonderful descriptive scenes. But a few deep concepts do not a deep novel make. As a book in itself, I'd say this one was rather disappointing, but I give it extra points for potential.

The Tranquility Wars, by Gentry Lee, is soft scifi with a R-rated twist. Future human worlds in this solar system have two primary governments (those colonies inside Mars orbit, and those outside), with "pirates" living within and between. One young man, a rising star in one system, is captured by pirates. Over the course of the book, he sees an alternative perspective toward life, and gets a chance to be reunited with his original system. In the meantime, the "Utopian" pirates introduce him to mucho sex and drugs. Females in this book are basically folk to have sex with. As I stated, this has "teenage boy" written all over it.

Good for one time around. Not a classic

Lee has learned some of the basics - get the reader's interest, make a character that the reader can like, get in some good scenery, some action, and some sex.

What he didn't learn, however, was the rest of what makes a satisfying book. The main character doesn't grow or develop (we're *told* that he's changed, but he doesn't act any different), and he's whiney. He throws in sex scenes to plaster over plot holes/lack of plot development. Tehani is far more interesting than Hunter, but she's relegated to Sex Interest. And the ending...very disappointing.

I wanted to red ink the whole thing and send it back to him. I wouldn't read it twice. This is a slapdash piece of work.

When I first started reading this book I went and looked at some of the reviews of it and they struck me as being a little harsh. I found the book entertaining and a quick read. Now that I have finished it and had a few days to reflect on it myself I find myself agreeing with the other reviewers more and more. Since so much has already been said this book, I will just say that this is not a book that sticks with you at all. In my other reviews I have posted several on some of the serial novels out there. This book reminds me very much of one of them. There is not a lot of background detail the characters are not really fleshed out, and many of the events in the book are really implausible. But yet I continue to read those sorts of books. In the end I think the biggest criticism of the book is that a story that is so shallow does not deserve to be in a 625 page book. The fact that this author is also the coauthor of the excellent Rama series makes it all the more disappointing. ( Rama being mentioned in the book on several occasions is only twisting the knife). This book is a decent summer read but don't expect to remember it by

Set four hundred years in the future, when a large part of humanity has moved into space, Tranquility Wars is a sci-fi/adventure story. Not much of the story can be told with out taking away part of the fun of the book. But the basic idea can be told. The main character is Hunter Blake, a 20 year old who lives with his parents on an asteroid in our solar system. Out side the asteroid, the solar system is split between two governments. The first controls the south side of Mars, and every thing within Mars orbit, including Earths moon. The second controls the north half of Mars, and everything outside of Mars orbit, including the asteroid that is home to the Blake family. The book follows Hunter on his first trip to Mars, to become one of a few selected government scholars. The book does a good job of describing some of the problems of living in space, and how they could be dealt with, along with creating a vivid and complex political system.

While the book is a fun read, in general the story is lacking that which turns a fun read into a good book. As stated before, the book follows Hunter on his trip, and while we see him make a few choices, the key decision are made for him. But the reader is still given pages of inner thought on key issues, ranging from how far science should go, to how much control the government should have. But these segments on key issues feel forced, and dont fit with the characters other traits, almost as if Gentry Lee was trying to address key topics with a story along side. (In his other books, he wrote a good story that had important topics on the side.) There were also several cases of irrelevant side stories, that neither advanced the plot (as they suggested during the reading), nor helped develop the characters. This proved frustrating, as some of the suggested plot developments were more interesting than what really happened.

Overall this book was fun to read, but not worth a great deal of praise. And it is most definitely not at the same level as the Rama series or the Bright Messengers story.

I had forgotten what I didn't like about Lee's Rama books until I began reading this. The Rama books were all full of underdeveloped, oversexed characters.

This book was heavily laced with gratuitous sex and nothing but gratuitous sex... There was no plot, there were no characters. I read about 100 pages, put the book down and picked up the Orson Scott Card book I had waiting.

When I finally got the nerve to finish the book I found even more gratuitous sex and even less plot. I did manage to finish the book... well, I think I finished it. I'm wondering if there may have been missing pages at the end or maybe one or twelve missing chapters. There was no climax to the book (well, so to speak) and the ending just... well... ended.

Unless the author is planning a sequel to answer all the questions left at the end of this book (like "what was the plot?") don't waste your time. You'll be disappointed.

The competition between the Federal Space Independent Colonies (FSIC) and the United Democratic Space Colonies (UDSC) over control of the solar system is fierce. However, Covington Fellowship winner Hunter Blake is oblivious to the goings-on as he sees the scholarship providing him an easy ride to the top of society. His girlfriend Tehani Wilawa pays off her deceased father's enormous debt by earning her living hooking at the popular Sybaris pleasure palace. Even with her financial problems, Tehani enjoys the indulgences of the privileged.

Because of the dispute between the FSIC and UDSC, pirates have begun to successfully roam space. One such band abducts Hunter and Tehani. Soon the duo begins to question their lifestyle. Is this the case of a taste of true freedom not all it is cracked up to be or just the Stockholm Effect?

THE TRANQUILITY WARS is a coming of age science fiction novel that pulls the rug out from underneath the reader, helps the fan back up, and re-pulls the rug again reminiscent of Lucy and the football. The story line is entertaining, but action aficionados need to understand that the war is tranquil on this novel. The brilliant Hunter is the star of the tale, but in spite of his obvious superior intellect, he is one dumb stud when it comes to females and clearly no Buck Rogers. Gentry Lee provides an intriguing comparative social systems tale of competing ways of life in the twenty-fifth century.

Harriet Klausner