Reviews for Vorpal Blade (Looking Glass Series #2)

The average rating for Vorpal Blade (Looking Glass Series #2) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-08-20 00:00:00 Tom Mcgaffigan I read Mr. Ringo's comments on the reviews of the book before this one (Looking Glass) that he found on Amazon. He was annoyed at the people who thought the book had "too much science", and he said so. Well, I will say that these books ought to satisfy those readers who pride themselves on liking "hard science fiction". There was in this novel even more of the theorizing on physics and how the FTL (Faster Than Light) drive would work. We got discussions on gravity it's implications and we also got quite a bit of review on the fist book and a little "fill in" discussion on the metaphysical implications of "Tuffy" (an alien introduced in Looking Glass). Just in case you picked this one up without having read the first I guess. I personally found that this time, I was overloaded with the theoretical technical discussions and that (for me anyway) it did take away from the book. This novel (unlike Looking Glass) failed to establish an overall coherent feel to the story. It came across almost as a series of vignettes or episodes to introduce us to life on the first FTL star-ship. The troubles and dangers the crowding and handling of problems like temperature or replenishment of oxygen or H2O all finally lead up to a first contact story and then the "military" in the "military science fiction". It's certainly not a bad book and if like me you finally get a little bored with the technical and theoretical aspects of the story you can skim ahead a bit (and there is a lot of that in this particular book). So, worth reading however in my opinion, not nearly as good as the first in the series. I have the next two handy (my daughter knew I liked Looking Glass and came in from "MaKay used book store" a few weeks ago with the rest of the series). I'd say between 3 and 4 stars here...but I'm going to rate it 3 and give myself more distance between it and Looking Glass and more leeway between this one (Vorpal Blade) and the next book, Manxome Foe.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-05-10 00:00:00 Craig Demyan I love how this shows how the world has evolved since humans have encountered aliens. More so, that it wasn't some endless panic, but an easy acceptance. They'd destroyed the evil ones, and the good ones, Adars, are accepted into society. Especially considering how the Adar's technology have greatly advanced the life on Earth. However, the main story is the spaceship they've built with said technology meshed with good ol' human rigging, and them going into space to find what else may be out there. Ringo does a great job with making these people normal in the most bizarre environments. They're marines that you might meet on any base, and yet now they're among the stars meeting new aliens and fighting new battles. The best part was the pranks they play, and the way they deal with any who don't quite get along with the others is pretty humorous. It is a great sequel that in no way lags, and keeps the adventurous, exciting, new feel that made the first one so great, because this isn't rehashing the same old thing even as they are still hunting down Dreen. But that is just a small part of the greater story line. If you liked the first one you definitely need to check out the second.