TC (Thomas Christensen)
The website was originally started by TC (Thomas Christensen) and most of the reviews prior to 2005 have been written by him. TC was born in Denmark (and possibly still lives there) and started reading science fiction and fantasy after reading his first book - The Hobbit.
He began reviewing novels in English (his second language) as a way of remembering what he had read and then this expanded so that others could contribute.
Books reviewed by TC (257)
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![GatewayFrederik Pohl]()
Science FictionGateway is a classic science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. Rereading classics or old favourites is something that I've done all to seldom the last couple of years, which is both a testimony to the high quality of the book published today and the fact that I actually have the money to buy ne...
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![The Dragon KnightGordon R Dickson]()
FantasyThe Dragon Knight is the sequel to the Dragon and the George, by Gordon R Dickson. Fans of the Dragon and the George will enjoy this novel that continues the adventures of Jim and friends in an alternate 14-century reality. The novel begins 5 months after the battle at Loathly Tower. Jim and Angie...
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![The Dragon and the GeorgeGordon R Dickson]()
FantasyThe Dragon and the George is a fantasy novel by the author Gordon R Dickson. Welcome to Gordon R. Dickson's alternate reality. Within that reality, we find ourselves in a medieval landscape balanced between the natural forces of Chance and History. A landscape filled with knights, castles, dragons,...
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![OlymposDan Simmons]()
Science FictionOlympos is a science fiction novel by the award winning author Dan Simmons. It's strange how something good, can be turned by it's association with something bad. I really loved the first volume in Dan Simmons Ilium/Olympos saga. I really did. But after having read the second volume Olympos, it's h...
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![Shakespeare's PlanetClifford D Simak]()
Science FictionShakespeare's Planet is a science fiction novel by Clifford D Simak. The plot of the novel lacks overall action. There is some exploration of the ruins, pond and hill by Carter Horton but this come to very little information or help to solve the problems the characters face. Most of the time the ch...
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![A Choice of GodsClifford D Simak]()
Science FictionA Choice of Gods is a science fiction novel by Clifford D Simak. The novel raises a number of very interesting issues including: Robot society structure and religion Human society reaction to removal of technology Man developing psychic powers to travel to the stars and interstellar communication U...
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![The Half Blood PrinceJ K Rowling]()
FantasyThe stupidity around the release of this book has grown to new heights. If somebody 10 years ago have told me that a book series would become so popular that, people would go to great lengths as breaking and entering, just to read the next volume before everybody else, I probably wouldn't have belie...
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![The Human FrontKen Mcleod]()
Science FictionThe Human Front is a science fiction novel by Ken Mcleod. I read this after finishing the Engines of Light series, and to be honest didn't expect a whole lot from it, especially after finding out that it was only 90 pages long... but to my pleasent surprise, my inital views were nothing to go by....
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![Deadhouse GatesSteven Erikson]()
FantasyDeadhouse Gates is the second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Picking up where Gardens of the Moon left off, Deadhouse Gates reunites a host of old characters and throws some new ones into the fray. This time the action is focused not on Genabackis, but on the continent of...
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![The System of the WorldNeal Stephenson]()
Science FictionThe System of the World is the third and final volume in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. In 1714 Daniel Waterhouse arbitrates the irrational dispute between the aging mathematical giants Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, both angrily insisting they invented the calculus. However as t...
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![Sunrise AlleyCatherine Asaro]()
Science FictionSunrise Alley is a science fiction novel by the author Catherine Asaro. By 2033, biomech research scientist Samantha Bryton tasted success with the development of "forma" androids, but has fled to Northern California to reconsider her values as the wealth and fame she has accrued feels wrong. A bad...
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![Engine CityKen Mcleod]()
Science FictionEngine City is the third volume in the Engines of Light series by Ken Mcleod. I've been holding back on reading this the last book in the Engines of Light series, as I was rather disappointed with the second book. Luckily Newton's Wake was a wonderful book, as it gave me the strength to t...
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![IliumDan Simmons]()
Science FictionDan Simmons can write just about any genre he takes a stab at and be good at it. Carrion Comfort for horror, Crook Factory for War/thriller and of course the Hyperion Saga for some of the best SF ever written. Ilium is a meta-literary meta-historical science fiction story. That's a lot of meta. I b...
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![HardcaseDan Simmons]()
Science FictionHardcase is a detective fiction novel by Dan Simmons. Dan Simmons certainly gets around. He has written straight horror, epic SF, thrilling espionage and with this book he has opened a door the the hard-boiled Private Investigator genre. Hardcase is the first book in a series of books, about the fo...
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![Dead LinesGreg Bear]()
Science FictionDead Lines is a science fiction horror novel by Greg Bear. Peter Russell’s life turned out much different than he expected. He wanted to write books but instead made a living taking picture and making movies of naked people when the soft porn industry flat-lined. Now he is a little more than an err...
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![The World InsideRobert Silverberg]()
Science FictionThe World Inside is a science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg. Silverberg's "THE WORLD INSIDE" is about the giant apartment communistic/yet caste ridden complex (the floors are divided up according to job 'importance), and thought this is the straight bullet shot to the future. Population goes...
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![Newton's WakeKen Mcleod]()
Science FictionNewton's Wake is a science fiction novel by Ken Mcleod I've been looking forward to this book for a while. The Engines of Light series kind of fizzled out for me with book two and I never got around to book three. And that got me worried a lot, since I really, really liked MacLeods Fall Revolution...
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![The Last MermaidShana Abe]()
FantasyThe Last Mermaid is a historical fantasy drama by Shana Abe. In 531 on the island Kelmere of the Kingdom of Isles, Picts ambush the royal party as they near their keep. Prince Aedan, heir to the High King throne, is stabbed trying to save his younger sister. When Aedan next awakens he finds himself...
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![Tritcheon HashSue Lange]()
Science FictionTritcheon Hash is a science fiction novel by Sue Lange. The first thought that popped into my head after having read a couple of pages of T. Hash was; “What? Lesbian Science Fiction?”. After at few chapters it's clear that it isn't and after having finished it, I'm not even sure that it qualifies a...
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![PreyMichael Crichton]()
Science FictionPrey is a science fiction novel by the late author Micheal Crichton. Micheal Crichton, the well-known author of Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain continues his long list of precautionary tales in his most recent novel, Prey. If you are familiar with Crichton's work, you no doubt know that he...
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![Nightingale’s LamentSimon R Green]()
Science FictionNightingale’s Lament is a novel in the Nightside series by Simon R Green. The Nightside occupies the same space but in another dimension as London does. To travel there one must know the correct portals. John Taylor lived in Nightside all his life until it was discovered that his mother was not hum...
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![The City and The StarsArthur C Clarke]()
Science FictionThe City and The Stars is a science fiction novel by Arthur C Clarke. This little story has a rather nice premise: After decades of exploring space and it's many wonders, The Intruders force Humanity to retreat into an enclosed city on Earth that is totally self-sufficient. Humans have lived in thi...
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![QuicksilverNeal Stephenson]()
Science FictionQuicksilver is the first volume of The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. The thing about Neal Stephenson is that he usually presents something new and fantastic that runs as the core of his books. Diamond Age has the Primer, Cryptonomicon has the economics of virtual money (or cryptography if you w...
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![Pandora's StarPeter F Hamilton]()
Science FictionPandora's Star is the first volume in the The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton. "Part one of the Commonwealth Saga" it says on page five. "Main characters" it says on page seven and then it goes on to list 44 characters. Then follows nearly nine hundred page of story which ends with the text...
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![CryptonomiconNeal Stephenson]()
Science FictionCryptonomicon is a speculative fiction novel by the American author Neal Stephenson. I've been a bit apprehensive about starting on Cryptonomicon. Neal Stephenson is a bit like Vernon Vinge – they both make wonderful books, and they both take their time about it. Also Cryptonomicon is about mathema...
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![Wolves of the CallaStephen King]()
FantasyIt has been six, nearly seven, years since the last volume in the Dark Tower series and if you, like me, didn't even like the fourth volume, it has been an even longer wait. Luckily this book delivers. It's all action, it's all about the Ka-tet and it's about The Dark Tower from front to back. Havi...
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![The Shores of TomorrowRoger MacBride Allen]()
Science FictionThe Shores of Tomorrow is the third volume in the Chronicles of Solace series by Roger MacBride Allen. In the far distant future, mankind has learned, thanks to Oskar DeSilvo, how to terraform planets. Once that operation was complete, humanity would colonize that world but what few people know is...
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![Pilgrims' MoonStacey S Thompson]()
Science FictionScott is going to Terranova to begin a new life. Most of the trip is supposed to be done in biostasis, so Scott is rather surprised to be awoken in the middle of nowhere, just to be told that their ship has been thrown five hundred years into the future and far away from their intended target. Soo...
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![Boy's LifeRobert R McCammon]()
FantasyBoy's Life is a speculative fiction novel by Robert R McCammon. Boy's Life is a masterpiece of magic and mystery, of splendors of growing up in a small town, and of the wonders beyond. Narrated by one of the most engaging young voices in modern fiction, Boy's Life takes us back to our own childhood...
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![The Drowned WorldJG Ballard]()
Science FictionThe Drowned World is J.G. Ballards first novel. It's written more than twenty years before he writes his, probably, best known novel The Empire of The Sun. Ballard actually wrote about 10 SF novels (and countless shorts) before he writes Empire of the Sun, and if you enjoyed Empire of the Sun and y...
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![The Order of the PhoenixJ K Rowling]()
FantasyThe latest book in the Harry Potter series is twice as long as the previous one (which was twice as long as the one before it), it darker and somebody actually dies in it. Somebody not evil. That doesn't make it worth reading though. The fact that it's well written and highly entertaining, does mak...
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![The Centauri DeviceM John Harrison]()
Science FictionThe Centauri Device is a classic science fiction tale told by M John Harrison. Picking up another classic from the SF Masterworks series, by an author which was a total unknown to me. It's kind of a high risk gamble, it could open my eyes to something completely new and it could be a complete waste...
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![Gideon's WallGreg Kurzawa]()
FantasyGideon's Wall is a fantasy novel by Gideon's Wall. After being promised that there would be no dwarfs, elves or wizards in this fantasy book, I decided to give it a chance. Not that I've anything against dwarfs, elves or wizards but most fantasy authors seem to be going round and round without gett...
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![SlantGreg Bear]()
Science FictionSlant (/) is a science fiction novel by the award winning writer Greg Bear. With nano machines taking care of the human race, from food to both physically and psychologically health, we seem to have it made. There's even a small free heaven for the freaks that for some reason would rather live witho...
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![Grunts!Mary Gentle]()
FantasyLooking for something different I stumbled on "Grunts!" by Mary Gentle – it's subtitled "A Fantasy With Attitude". It certainly got attitude – the problem is that it doesn't have much else. The basic idea is to tell a fantasy story from the point of view of an Orc. As we all know the Orcs are the l...
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![This Alien ShoreC S Friedman]()
Science FictionThis Alien Shore is sort of a corporate mystery novel set in the far future, written by C S Friedman. The reader knows about as much of what is going on as the main character. She learns something new, you learn something new. Despite not having any big fire-works ending, this book is good. Very goo...
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![The Other End Of TimeFrederik Pohl]()
Science FictionThe Other End Of Time is a classic science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. I bought The Other End Of Time because it was a scifi and more importantly because Pohl is referred to as asking unpleasant questions. ...Some of them are outright disturbing. I would dissagree with this comment. While the...
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![Cheap Complex DevicesJohn Sundman]()
Science FictionCheap Complex Devices is a science fiction novel by John Sundman. Sundmans novel 'Acts of the Apostles' was a kind of a weird techno thriller - this one is just weird. The premiss is that once upon a time (about five years ago), there was a computer generated novel contest, where two winners where...
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![AxiomaticGreg Egan]()
Science FictionAxiomatic is a collection of science fiction short stories by Greg Egan. Most science fiction fans these days would agree what when it comes to hard science fiction, Greg Egan is one of the best. In ten years he has given us a good handful of novels, all every much driven by the laws of nature, as...
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![The Duke of UraniumJohn Barnes]()
Science FictionThe Duke of Uranium is the first volume in the Jak Jinnaka series by the American author John Barnes. The Duke of Uranium introduces Jak Jinnaka. Jak is Barnes try at an arse-kicking, undercover agent for the thirty-sixth century. Somebody who can compete with Miles Vorkosigan, The Stainless Steel...
