Entertainment Weekly Review of TGB
Posted on February 25, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 7 Comments
And it’s written in publicist-friendly pull-quote form:
“A mix of Starship Troopers and Universal Soldier, Ghost evokes awakening, betrayal, and combat in the best military sci-fi tradition.”
Yeah, that’s just about guaranteed to go on the paperback edition of the book somewhere prominent. And it got a grade of “B+,” which makes it the second time I’ve gotten that particular grade from EW. I’m consistently above average! One does what one can.
What’s interesting about the review is that it doesn’t note that TGB is the second book in a series, which means either the reviewer didn’t know or didn’t care (or didn’t have space to note it, as it’s a short review). Whatever the reason, it’s a little more proof of the book’s stand-alone-ability, which makes me happy.
Hey John, I noticed on that page they have an “About John Scalzi” link, but it only pops up this most recent review. I wonder if you could get them to hyperlink to the first one as well (and thus encourage people to read the first one).
Probably, but that would require effort.
I’m only halfway through, but as with OMW, I’ve already laughed several times (guess I’m realborn) and care about the characters.
Dude, I give you an A. Good book (oh, please tell us you have another one in this series in you).
Yes, one more. I start writing it soon.
I bet the lack of mention of OMW is because the author didn’t know. I love EW, but sometimes there’s a staggering disconnect from one writer to another. Case in point, last week’s issue gave “Night Watch” the Russian vampire movie an F. This week, the Cheat Sheet recommends “Night Watch”.
Actually, I would contend that offering different opinions on such a subjective medium as cinema is good. In my opinion, too much conformity points to censorship and group-think.
As for the brevity of the review: In the print version of EW, TGB was listed in a small space with three (The Plot to Save Socrates, Levinson; Starfist:Flashfire, Sherman & Cragg; Genetopia, Brooke) other books under the heading of “Sci-Fi 101: Mothers of Invention.” For brownie points I’ll also point out it had the highest grade of the four.
Why is the heading “Mothers of Invention” when all the writers are men? Odd.
Brief reviews: Yeah, that’s what I figured. They did that same set-up when they reviewed. It’s EW’s way of making note of genre fiction. I can’t complain. What makes me happy is that I’ve got two of the other three books. I’m keeping up!