Customer Reviews

The Warriors of Spider (Spider Trilogy, No 1)

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

 

 

In the future, out in space, six hundred years after the Directorate has taken over the care of mankind on planets and stations there is no war. One planet called World by its people who are descendants of crash-landed American Indian tribes is beyond the edge of inhabited space. They call their God Spider. And, they are warriors.

The story flows well and pulled me along. I had a gripe about some word choices but, they were only a minor distraction.

I am looking forward to the other two books.

I read the book years ago, but it's still one of my all-time favorites. Interesting and thoughtful philsophy, lots of action, lots of mystery and adventure. The first book is good, and the rest of the series just gets better and better.

i READ THIS BOOK AS WELL AS THE OTHER TWO OF THE TRILOGY AND I THOUGHT IT GOT BETTER AND BETTER. IT WAS A VERY DIFFERENT LOOK AT SPACE SCI-FI OPERA IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT THAT. THE CHARACTERS ARE FUN AND THE ACTION IS WELL WRITTEN.

I don't ordinarily write reviews on fiction but this one seems a bit low on reviews and it really struck a chord with me.

What I would like to emphasize for a potential reader is how amazingly readable this book is. Often when I read I am very aware of the page number, the chapter and how many pages are left until the next chapter. That's just how I think and thus read. However, when reading tWoS, the book seemed to blur past, my mind slipping behind the words into the realm of imagination. Here I breezed through pages and I even would blow through transitions into new chapters without even noticing! I honestly do not remember the last time a book captivated me so. Whatever it is, I can only assume that it is Gear's writing style that does this. This is my first book of his that I've encountered so I eagerly look forward to his successive books to verify this.

The book itself is just all right. Many of the plot points and sci-fi ideas are not all that original as much of the book smacks of Herbert's Dune with overtones of 1980s politics. Also, I found it hard to relate to some of the native references to sexuality. Regardless, the story just works, remaining original enough to catch my attention and hold it like no other book I've read. I'm beginning to suspect that this is because Gear is not trying to blow your mind and plumb the deepest recesses of the human psyche, but just weave a captivating story whose psychological resonance remains off in the background and off of center stage.

Awkwardness aside, the book seems to fly by leaving the reader in a fantastically lucid mental space where ordinary time seems to stop functioning. I really couldn't ask for more in a book.

Edit: After having written this review, I read through the entire Chronicles of Dune. Having done so, there is very little of this book that is actually original as most of the ideas are analogous to, if not identical to, some other plot-point from the six Dune books. I'm glad I read Gear before I read the last five Herbert books as I think I would have been far less enchanted.

I was not drawn into this story as much as I have been for all of W. Michael Gear's other books. It does not keep my interest and I keep putting it down and losing it.Usually I finish one of his books in one day.
Perhaps I just like looking into the past rather than a future