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whatsmacksaid's review against another edition
1.0
It's almost remarkable how bored I was by a book with such a fascinating premise. I suspect I was just not the right audience for this.
deemazztan's review against another edition
2.0
Really wanted to like this book since my TAB partner librarian loved it and I love Sci-Fi, but I just couldn't get into it. I have tried several times since Sept. I really dislike the cover which may be a shallow thing to say. I did like that there was an instant, adventurous hook in the first few pages, but then it just dragged.
With the piles of books I have to read, something that drags is not going to stay on my nightstand for long.
I may give this book another try next year since it has such great reviews.
With the piles of books I have to read, something that drags is not going to stay on my nightstand for long.
I may give this book another try next year since it has such great reviews.
dantastic's review against another edition
3.0
Everett Singh's father is kidnapped right in front of him. Turns out, Papa Singh was working on a project involving parallel universes and has left Everett the Infundibulum, the map of 10 to the 80th power parallel universes. Only other people are after it and Everett leaps through the Heisenberg Gate to another world, a world of airships where electricity was discovered much earlier. Can Everett evade the bad apples in the Plenitude long enough to bring back his father home?
I love wibbly wobbly timey wimey parallel universe stories so this one was an easy sell for me. I'll cover the parts I liked first before I turn into Ebenezer Scrooge and crap all over the rest of it.
The worldbuilding was exquisite. I liked the setup of the ten worlds of the Plenitude and the Panopoly, the multitude of parallel universes and traveling between them using Heisenberg Gates. I have no trouble believing corrupt people would exploit parallel universes for personal gain. The parallel earth Everett visits was also well thought out. A world were electricity is discovered sooner and thus the world doesn't become dependent on oil? Pretty cool. Sen and Captain Anastasia were both interesting supporting characters, more interesting to me than Everett.
And here is the wad of dog hair in the omelet. I'm just going to gloss over the fact that 90% of parallel Londons in sf/fantasy literature feature airships and just get right to it. Everett was such a Gary Stu that I wanted to shake the crap out of him. Not only is he a teenage quantum physics genius, able to solve problems the adult scientists have been working on for years in just hours, he's also a great cook. Really? I know that's a staple of YA but it was still irksome.
I guess my main hang up with this book was that I've read similar books in the past and didn't feel like this one brought anything super awesome to the table. I preferred the two Paul Melko books, Walls of the Universe and Broken Universe, to this one.
Three stars. It was fun and had some good world building but wasn't the five-geared awesome machine that I was hoping for.
I love wibbly wobbly timey wimey parallel universe stories so this one was an easy sell for me. I'll cover the parts I liked first before I turn into Ebenezer Scrooge and crap all over the rest of it.
The worldbuilding was exquisite. I liked the setup of the ten worlds of the Plenitude and the Panopoly, the multitude of parallel universes and traveling between them using Heisenberg Gates. I have no trouble believing corrupt people would exploit parallel universes for personal gain. The parallel earth Everett visits was also well thought out. A world were electricity is discovered sooner and thus the world doesn't become dependent on oil? Pretty cool. Sen and Captain Anastasia were both interesting supporting characters, more interesting to me than Everett.
And here is the wad of dog hair in the omelet. I'm just going to gloss over the fact that 90% of parallel Londons in sf/fantasy literature feature airships and just get right to it. Everett was such a Gary Stu that I wanted to shake the crap out of him. Not only is he a teenage quantum physics genius, able to solve problems the adult scientists have been working on for years in just hours, he's also a great cook. Really? I know that's a staple of YA but it was still irksome.
I guess my main hang up with this book was that I've read similar books in the past and didn't feel like this one brought anything super awesome to the table. I preferred the two Paul Melko books, Walls of the Universe and Broken Universe, to this one.
Three stars. It was fun and had some good world building but wasn't the five-geared awesome machine that I was hoping for.
nssutton's review against another edition
3.0
It is hard not to see this book as a mishmash of other sci-fi fandoms. You've got your Sliders, with infinite worlds and a device that can take you back and forth between them at random. You've got Firefly, with your scrappy band of renegades on a ship. There's Levithan, with the living ship. Let's not forget your steampunk and your nanotech.
It's good, action packed, with topics I enjoy, such as fancy tarot cards and being on the lam and reuniting families. I like that there's a multicultural cast of characters and a lot of places the series can go to. But it felt really long in places and tighter writing could have propelled the story much further.
It's good, action packed, with topics I enjoy, such as fancy tarot cards and being on the lam and reuniting families. I like that there's a multicultural cast of characters and a lot of places the series can go to. But it felt really long in places and tighter writing could have propelled the story much further.
skybalon's review against another edition
4.0
A good start to the series and pretty interesting. Sometimes the actions of a teenager didn't feel like a teenager but it wasn't too distracting. I'll continue the series.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Simple multi-planes YA but a welcome break from Reamde. Somewhat different characters than typical which is what may be typical for Ian McDonald - and author I do expect to read more of. Others do steampunk air ships - but this book has Airish.
missprint_'s review against another edition
1.0
Planesrunner by Ian McDonald (2011)
I liked a lot of things about the basic premise of this story. It seemed to have a lot of potential--a book about many worlds and a device to navigate them? Cool! A thoughtful main character who likes to cook and play video games? Rad. De facto diversity? Awesome! Even with some fairly obvious hints to Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and the TV shows Sliders and Stargate, Planesrunner sounded like a good time.
Unfortunately this one never quite hit the mark. MacDonald seemed to have an idea of what a teen narrator should do and think and seemed to be checking marks off as Everett does all of these strange things in the narrative with random sound effects and a really annoying habit of providing a nickname for literally every character Everett meets.
I tend to be wary of adult authors trying to transition into YA writing because more often than not something gets lost on the way as if the author is so used to writing older characters that they are unsure how to transition. I really felt that here. Everett's behaviors and decisions were very erratic--either too mature or too immature for his given age.
Uneven pacing and odd writing choices made for an uneasy read. The plot picked up significantly in the second half but problems remained as the story continued to feel like two books slapped together. What I mean is there is a very clear direction in the first half of the story and then priorities and focus shift very suddenly in the second half. (Speaking of the second half, McDonald also includes Pallari in the latter part of the novel which is really interesting but requires a lot of glancing at the dictionary in the back.)
I can see this book appealing to fans of pure science fiction as the plot here hits all the marks. Fans of A Confusion of Princes may also see some appeal here. That said, Planesrunner isn't the smoothest read and it isn't always easy to connect with Everett though I'm sure readers who finish the story will be rewarded and likely look forward to continuing with the series.
I liked a lot of things about the basic premise of this story. It seemed to have a lot of potential--a book about many worlds and a device to navigate them? Cool! A thoughtful main character who likes to cook and play video games? Rad. De facto diversity? Awesome! Even with some fairly obvious hints to Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and the TV shows Sliders and Stargate, Planesrunner sounded like a good time.
Unfortunately this one never quite hit the mark. MacDonald seemed to have an idea of what a teen narrator should do and think and seemed to be checking marks off as Everett does all of these strange things in the narrative with random sound effects and a really annoying habit of providing a nickname for literally every character Everett meets.
I tend to be wary of adult authors trying to transition into YA writing because more often than not something gets lost on the way as if the author is so used to writing older characters that they are unsure how to transition. I really felt that here. Everett's behaviors and decisions were very erratic--either too mature or too immature for his given age.
Uneven pacing and odd writing choices made for an uneasy read. The plot picked up significantly in the second half but problems remained as the story continued to feel like two books slapped together. What I mean is there is a very clear direction in the first half of the story and then priorities and focus shift very suddenly in the second half. (Speaking of the second half, McDonald also includes Pallari in the latter part of the novel which is really interesting but requires a lot of glancing at the dictionary in the back.)
I can see this book appealing to fans of pure science fiction as the plot here hits all the marks. Fans of A Confusion of Princes may also see some appeal here. That said, Planesrunner isn't the smoothest read and it isn't always easy to connect with Everett though I'm sure readers who finish the story will be rewarded and likely look forward to continuing with the series.
gabyk_lib's review against another edition
5.0
It's been weird reading these in the wrong order. I'm normally pretty good with that but this was quite a complex story. I've enjoyed every minute. Well worth a read. I want my own Everness tarot deck tho
lian_tanner's review against another edition
4.0
A beautifully constructed alternative world, great characters and a strong plot. I'm off to find the next one.