Book Reviews on SF found at the Dollar General

[I cannot get Rebel Moon on Amazon today. I did get it at the Dollar General a few years back.]

Above are the books from Amazon. Some must be purchased as ebooks.

I went into the Dollar General to get that inexpensive $1.00 box of Milk Duds to satisfy my sweet tooth on the drive to the house. I decided to check out the books while there. Lo and Behold, there were 4 science fiction paperbacks that looked interesting (I am soooo pickey). I did not buy the Ethos Effect, since I had already read that one by Modesitt.

What I did buy for $1.25 were The Hidden Worlds, Cosmonaut Keep, and Horizons.

Yes, these are all older books which are mostly sold as used books today. But then, in order to read the vast amounts of SF that I desire, I must shop at the used book stores and at the local library where used paperbacks are sold for a quarter and few SF fans release their copies. So I was thrilled to find 3 books I wanted to read at the Dollar General!

Of the set I have mentioned here, Enemies by Lee Hogan is on of my favorites; Rogue Moon is very like the movie Moon; and The Ethos Effect is the most thought- provoking. I recommend each to other SF fans as books that explore politics and alien relationships in multicultural futures. Rogue Moon's "alien" is a human clone, but...

Of the set I just bought, The Hidden Worlds is the only one I have had time to read yet. It could be called an SF Romance, but should appeal to men as well as women since it is not a bodice-ripper. It deals with some gritty references to aberrations that influence the story, so I, as a teacher, would not recommend it to YA readers; however the aberrations are not described or named, just implied, so maybe a mature YA reader could handle the content. Homosexuality and bisexuality is considered the norm on one of the planets and these relationships are handled as normal by the author. It is the cruelty of one psychotic, drug-addicted character, Rafael, that is the source of the aberrant behaviors.

In this future world, the Earth is a conquered planet and humanity has migrated to planets hidden from the enemy Cold Minds. The many new worlds of man are held together by a fleet of Master Pilots who can navigate the interstellar ships needed for trade and political cohesion. Author Kristin Landon deftly builds 3 distinct cultures spread between 3 worlds and an alien enemy in this page-turner that posts a mystery early on and explores family, traditional, and political relationships in uniques ways. What do you do when your whole life is built on a lie? Would you forfeit power and wealth to save others? Would you destroy a world so other worlds can survive? I rate the book a 5 and hope to read the other 2 that follow in this trilogy.