Reviews for Mirrored Heavens

The average rating for Mirrored Heavens based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-12-11 00:00:00 Lonzo Cotton I'm going to give you one last piece of advice. Get it together, or get taken apart. This is another of those novels that's been receiving a measure of bad press; some reviews here on Goodreads are quite scathing, to say the least. A possible injustice that has been done the book (and the author) is the comparison to Neuromancer (Necromancer?), because, frankly, it really isn't the same thing. I'm fairly convinced that readers have been charging into The Mirrored Heavens, only to find themselves somewhat bewildered… hence all the negativity. They're upping their game. Rapidly. The one thing I will say for this novel: it's in high gear all the time. See, this is one of those over-the-top books that I inevitably end up enjoying, even though I probably shouldn't. Mirrored Heavens is a novel about intelligence and counter-intelligence, and at its heart of hearts it attempts to be a political techno-thriller. However, it's rather easy to lose sight of all this, because in practice what this novel really is about, is big explosions. They're warped here and there. They're far from broken. He means to change that. One of the actual problems here is that the writing sometimes borders on cryptic. More than once I simply had to wonder what exactly the author was trying to say. It does convey a measure of atmosphere, and I never really struggled to follow the plot, but I'm not sure whether this tactic actually works in the book's favour. They don't seem to have spotted him. They're about to, though. He releases the safeties of his wrist-guns. And the combat starts up. Mirrored Heavens contains some pretty decent power-armour action, although some fight scenes did seem to go on indefinitely. The story is built on the premise of the Mechanic (combat component) and Razor (hacking component) team, and the tactics that can be deployed in such a combination. Textbook procedure: the razor's wreaked havoc with the base's security and surveillance systems, allowing the mech to move untracked inside the perimeter and reach the inner enclave, where the house node itself is situated. Sometimes both razor and mech aren't necessary. But this base is well-protected. Not quite cutting edge; not quite grimy used-future - but the novel does have its charm, occupying a fairly edgy middle-ground where nothing and nobody is what it seems (there really is a bewildering array of factions and agendas). The novel isn't entirely sure what it wants to be either, skirting quite a few genres in haphazard fashion, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I quite enjoyed the mix. It comes down to this. It always would. You always knew it. This is your moment. This is your time." "That's what I'm afraid of." The novel is grotesquely violent on occasion - expect some blood. "What have we unleashed?" We're left with: a ludicrously convoluted futuristic Anime-like Mission Impossible that takes place on both Earth and Moon with elements of Tom Clancy / Robert Ludlum and Total Recall … add to that some Sci Fi tropes like power armour, hacking, Artificial Intelligence, cybernetics and memory implants and a smidgen of Horror. Now you have an inkling... "Open the door while I cover you with the house weapons." "The house weapons?" "Gatling guns mounted in the ceilings." 3.5 stars

Review # 2 was written on 2010-04-15 00:00:00 Ivan Jovanov Unlike any book I've ever read, The Mirrored Heavens blasts out the gates and never lets up. I have to admit that I'm not the most well-read when it comes to science fiction (I'm working on it), but I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this story about a very real future world where terrorists are attempting to take over. It's not too often that you read a book that's completely told in the present tense. This annoyed me at first, but the more I got used to it the more I realized how much it actually plays into the ideas of the book, whether intentional or not, it was actually quite impressive. In the 22nd century, the first wonder of a brave new world is the Phoenix Space Elevator, designed to give mankind greater access to the frontier beyond Earth. Cooperatively built by the United States and the Eurasian Coalition, the Elevator is also a grand symbol of superpower alliance following a second cold war. And it's just been destroyed. With suspicions rampant, armies and espionage teams are mobilized across the globe and beyond. Enter Claire Haskell and Jason Marlowe, U.S. counterintelligence agents and former lovers'though their memories may only be constructs implanted by their spymaster. Now their agenda is to trust no one. For as the crisis mounts, the lives of all involved will converge in one explosive finale'and a startling aftermath that will rewrite everything they've ever known'about their mission, their world, and themselves. The Mirrored Heavens is told from four different points of view and each person is either a mech or a razor. Mechs and razors are always paired together as an elite team operating within one of the many organizations working against each other in a massive power struggle. One operates essentially as a hacker and brains of the operation and the other is the physical presence. Razers can connect to Zone, which is in effect the World Wide Web times a bagillion, and hack through systems and even into other agents and each agent has the ability to communicate with each other through the Zone. As I mentioned earlier, the pace is blazing fast, which serves as both a benefit and a detriment to the story. It keeps you reading and surprised at each twist and turn but this is done in lieu of world building and character development. The Mirrored Heavens switches back and forth between characters many times very quickly (like every page) and this made it hard to remember where all there characters were exactly. Sometimes I wouldn't figure it out until a sentence or two before the next character came in. Overall, this was great fast-paced fun with lots of futuristic action and some great twists that make for an excellent ending. When Should You Read The Mirrored Heavens? The Mirrored Heavens is filled with great ideas and moves at an amazing pace. Definitely recommended. I'm already well into The Burning Skies and it's just as good so far.