Ripley I

I always worry when a book is "only" around 10 hours, that I am not getting my moneys worth. But just about all of Robert Sawyer's books grab you right away and never let you go - I mean you just can't stop listening, and there are no dull parts. Factoring Humanity is just awesome! He always has really wonderful female characters and this is no exception. But in particular, the story just feels good all around and has just enough sci-fi techno to keep it modern!

The character development in general in this series is not particularly good, which is why I rated the first as a young adult book as OK. However, the female characters have really crashed and burned! Not one is a good example for any girl in this century.
Sorry, this series fails seriously and is quite a disappointment!

Good (4*s) story for the teenage age group....only 3 for the adult population.

The narration is a bit monotone at times. The politics are overly simplistic: Reviewers seem to think the "liberty" party somehow is punching fun at the libertarian party, but the liberty party in the book is clearly similar to a militaristic communist country.

I like that there are good female characters, albeit adolescent...so are the male ones for that matter.

Although the settlers were fleeing an authoritarian system to build a capitalistic democracy, they clearly wouldn't have survived and done as well as they did without being a socialist democracy - all helping all.

The invading army's politics is clearly overdrawn as well...but I'll review on the next book.

I was concerned that this book would be too graphic based on a few other reviews. That was not the case at all. This was well done - giving you the jest without too much. It is also a really intriguing story as well. I also think this is one of her best. It was engrossing from beginning to end!

This was the worst of Sawyer's books I've read. Actually I loved all the other books (maybe 5 of them) that I've read or listened to. The concept is great, new and interesting but I didn't feel anything for any of the characters. The human interactive element that exists in his other books just wasn't there.

The mysteries in all these stories (I've listened to five) are first rate, the problem lies in the unrealistic relationship between Eve and Roarke, and the stupid sex scenes. These make the stories hokey. No one would put up with Eve, particularly not the richest, best looking and devoted male. She frequently acts like a child, and please spare me the excuse of her background, but he is so patient and thinks so highly of her, he puts up with everything.

I'm not prude but I don't care about their sex - I don't want it in a mystery - just allude to it. The mysteries stand on their own merit...

Again, I let stupid reviews keep me from getting this for too long. I was worried this was a complete change for Barr with graphic child violence. Its not graphic, certainly much less than what you can get on regular TV. The writing is superb, this is one of her best!

I'm glad I didn't listen to the bad reviews. Yes this is a mystery, but its also a story about different people and relationships, and it is very interesting.

Not often will you get a fantastic story, a great narrator and 18 hours of it for just one credit! This book alone is well worth it, and the sequel is too - you really get like 3-4 normal books for the price of two.

This time the narration is just fine. The problem is the only bad men are the "towel heads", except for one Sargent - who is just kind of dumb - out of say 15 men. The women on the other-hand (all 5 so far), either want to sleep with the main man, are power-hunger vapids (all high ranking officers), or mommy who is drunk all the time and didn't get married cause was pining for baby daddy. Then there is grandma, who is OK and a secretary who also seems OK (but not muscling in on the men's turf). 3 out of 5 of woman are just clich??s...
I am only 1/3 through but not sure I can stomach any more misogyny...