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lurker_stalker's review against another edition
2.0
I've gone back and forth with the rating on this one. I think technically, it should be a one star (I didn't like it) because I didn't like it. But there were parts of it that were ok. It could have been a really good book but the execution of the idea was awful. To me. I disliked all of the Fata Morgana crew, I disliked who the main female Wenda (?- I listened to the audio and that's what it sounded like) became when she was around Joe. "You make me feel like a woman!" Pffft.
The narrator did a great job. So I'll bump it up to two stars for that. But I definitely don't recommend this one.
The narrator did a great job. So I'll bump it up to two stars for that. But I definitely don't recommend this one.
thewallflower00's review against another edition
4.0
It's a marathon, but a good one. The story is a basic portal fantasy (a B-52 crew flies into another dimension), but you feel like you're there: all the detail about the plane, the crew's lives, how they interact with each other, the equipment, and the war. It got me excited about World War II (there is a lot more detail about World War II stuff than the fantasy world) and balances description with plot.
The fantasy elements are underwhelming. It's a standard domed city, a flying mechano-dragon, bad guys in the other domed city across the wasteland, the man from the past falls in love with the woman from the future, and so on. It's all very sixties Star Trek or H.G. Wells "The Time Machine". Nothing exceptional. Mundane even. I kept waiting for the thing that made the world extra-special and unique.
And I have a hard time believing that any of the crew could help with anything mechanical in this world. It would be like a watchmaker fixing my iPhone. Besides that, some threads don't go anywhere (like the whole chapter dedicated to the new crewmember's "story" of his haunted plane), making the book unnecessarily long. I hate when that happens.
The magic comes from the plausible character development. It's a satisfying read and entertaining, but make sure you can handle some World War II history and mechanics.
The fantasy elements are underwhelming. It's a standard domed city, a flying mechano-dragon, bad guys in the other domed city across the wasteland, the man from the past falls in love with the woman from the future, and so on. It's all very sixties Star Trek or H.G. Wells "The Time Machine". Nothing exceptional. Mundane even. I kept waiting for the thing that made the world extra-special and unique.
And I have a hard time believing that any of the crew could help with anything mechanical in this world. It would be like a watchmaker fixing my iPhone. Besides that, some threads don't go anywhere (like the whole chapter dedicated to the new crewmember's "story" of his haunted plane), making the book unnecessarily long. I hate when that happens.
The magic comes from the plausible character development. It's a satisfying read and entertaining, but make sure you can handle some World War II history and mechanics.
ryanpfw's review against another edition
4.0
Three stars feels about right for this one, but I’m giving an extra star for effort. I’ve been reading less this year than past years due to more distractions, so books I’d power through in three days are taking a couple of weeks at times and that can make it more difficult for a book to hold my attention. I’m working to separate when it’s the book’s fault, and when it’s my own. This one feels a bit more like the former.
This is the story of the Fata Morgana, a WW2 flying fortress, and her crew, who travel through a time vortex into the the relatively distant future. I’m not going to give away spoilers or the ending, and there was one twist towards the end I very much appreciated with the identity of a pilot. The prominent romance here that didn’t land for me. It’s sold as an epic “beyond space and time” fated-to-be situation and it felt relatively shallow. There was also a “I must sacrifice my happiness to make the world a better place” plot that seems to have been wasted by the ending.
As for the ending, it sparked an intriguing question, was deeply moving, but didn’t really go anywhere. It commented on a situation, tugged on the heartstrings, but continued unimpeded to its natural conclusion. Part of me wanted something to change as a result, for the characters to force a change, but that didn’t happen.
All in all, we got tons of description and characterization of our crew, our plane, and of our settings, but the bad guys and the future plot seemed shallow and paint by the numbers. Still, it aimed high.
This is the story of the Fata Morgana, a WW2 flying fortress, and her crew, who travel through a time vortex into the the relatively distant future. I’m not going to give away spoilers or the ending, and there was one twist towards the end I very much appreciated with the identity of a pilot. The prominent romance here that didn’t land for me. It’s sold as an epic “beyond space and time” fated-to-be situation and it felt relatively shallow. There was also a “I must sacrifice my happiness to make the world a better place” plot that seems to have been wasted by the ending.
As for the ending, it sparked an intriguing question, was deeply moving, but didn’t really go anywhere. It commented on a situation, tugged on the heartstrings, but continued unimpeded to its natural conclusion. Part of me wanted something to change as a result, for the characters to force a change, but that didn’t happen.
All in all, we got tons of description and characterization of our crew, our plane, and of our settings, but the bad guys and the future plot seemed shallow and paint by the numbers. Still, it aimed high.
d_sebek's review against another edition
4.0
Rounded up from 3.5 stars. The beginning was great, the lives of the airmen and the insight into their missions was amazing. After the inciting incident, the story seemed to lose a bit of traction and it became a bit melodramatic and very similar to other novels I have read recently, specifically 1632 by Eric Flint. I did enjoy the allusion to Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder at the end.
stevenguglich's review against another edition
4.0
A fabulous tale that twists the real with the surreal. The authors do a fabulous job of writing a genre piece that starts off as historical fiction during WWII and transitions into a sci-fi story with a side of romance.
The main characters are a lovable bunch; the crew of an Air Force bomber named The Fata Morgana. And this is where this book really shines. These characters, feel relatable and real, plucked straight out of the Golden Age of the 30s and 40s. As they struggle to adapt to a world with technology far beyond their own, their quirkiness stands out.
This is a story that Hollywood needs to pick up and turn into a movie. From beginning to end this a tale that takes the reader on a wild ride.
The main characters are a lovable bunch; the crew of an Air Force bomber named The Fata Morgana. And this is where this book really shines. These characters, feel relatable and real, plucked straight out of the Golden Age of the 30s and 40s. As they struggle to adapt to a world with technology far beyond their own, their quirkiness stands out.
This is a story that Hollywood needs to pick up and turn into a movie. From beginning to end this a tale that takes the reader on a wild ride.
ncrabb's review against another edition
4.0
This is the perfect book for me. World War II, time travel, and parallel worlds on Earth. It just doesn't get better. Add to that the fact that I love what I know of these characters. Even the ending touched my heart. This is easily the best book I've read in 2021 so far, but it's still early.
Captain Joe Farley is in charge of a B-17 bomber crew. These are 10 unique and mostly lovable men whose banter is snappy and whose wit is quick. They are a product of their time for sure. My favorite was Shorty, the radio guy. I could relate to him--the consummate ham operator trying to pull signals out of the ether with that massive old tube radio he doubtless had to use. He had a love for both the medium and the equipment, and what's not to appreciate about a guy like that.
Captain Farley had seen an image of a girl in his dreams--an image he could never explain, but one he wanted painted on the fuselage of his bomber. They christened the plane Fata Morgana, and one of the crew faithfully painted the woman's image on it.
Ere long, they get orders to bomb a munitions plant in East Germany. While they are en route, the mission goes bizarrely awry. The electrical equipment gets flaky, and they find themselves inexplicably in a world whose main feature is desolation.
The plane and crew land and find that they are guess of a warring group of people with each faction living in one of two cities. In that place, Farley finds Wennda, the girl he has seen in his dreams and whose image is on the plane.
This is a little reminiscent of the Destroyerman series where a ship goes into a squall and comes out in a different place, but this is a better book than those. I loved the discussions about the equipment--both the B-17 and the stuff they found in the new world where they landed. This is fast-action relatively light character development golden-age-type science fiction. On a personal, you might argue irrelevant note, I have a lifelong friend who died recently who would have thoroughly enjoyed this book. The only down side to reading it was that I have no way of convincing him to read it so we could discuss it in depth.
Captain Joe Farley is in charge of a B-17 bomber crew. These are 10 unique and mostly lovable men whose banter is snappy and whose wit is quick. They are a product of their time for sure. My favorite was Shorty, the radio guy. I could relate to him--the consummate ham operator trying to pull signals out of the ether with that massive old tube radio he doubtless had to use. He had a love for both the medium and the equipment, and what's not to appreciate about a guy like that.
Captain Farley had seen an image of a girl in his dreams--an image he could never explain, but one he wanted painted on the fuselage of his bomber. They christened the plane Fata Morgana, and one of the crew faithfully painted the woman's image on it.
Ere long, they get orders to bomb a munitions plant in East Germany. While they are en route, the mission goes bizarrely awry. The electrical equipment gets flaky, and they find themselves inexplicably in a world whose main feature is desolation.
The plane and crew land and find that they are guess of a warring group of people with each faction living in one of two cities. In that place, Farley finds Wennda, the girl he has seen in his dreams and whose image is on the plane.
This is a little reminiscent of the Destroyerman series where a ship goes into a squall and comes out in a different place, but this is a better book than those. I loved the discussions about the equipment--both the B-17 and the stuff they found in the new world where they landed. This is fast-action relatively light character development golden-age-type science fiction. On a personal, you might argue irrelevant note, I have a lifelong friend who died recently who would have thoroughly enjoyed this book. The only down side to reading it was that I have no way of convincing him to read it so we could discuss it in depth.
danlewisfw's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of those books that I can see thinking about long after today. The author did not stick to the most obvious paint by numbers pathways so it will make you think about the things that happened a lot more than a more paint by numbers story. There were a few times I had to go back and re-read something because it went from people talking to lots of action all of the sudden and its easy to miss a detail that will come up a little later. So pick this when you can pay attention!
If you enjoy WW2 stories or Time Travel stories pick up this book, it also has some alternate universe, alternate history elements. Mostly though, it was a great story. I tend to pick up a book, read it for a while put it down and forget about it for a while and did with this book but once I got to the halfway point I just could not put it down.
If you enjoy WW2 stories or Time Travel stories pick up this book, it also has some alternate universe, alternate history elements. Mostly though, it was a great story. I tend to pick up a book, read it for a while put it down and forget about it for a while and did with this book but once I got to the halfway point I just could not put it down.
unsquare's review
4.0
I think what drew me to Fata Morgana was the promise of an old-fashioned adventure with a bit of romance: a WW2 bomber plane flies through a portal to another world and the crew has to learn how to deal with extreme culture shock while their captain falls in love with a mysterious woman. However, I wasn’t expecting that it would also include an obsessive attention to detail about the intricacies of flying and crewing a bomber.
Fata Morgana does deliver on that initial promise of adventure, but I have to admit that it required a bit of patience on my part to get invested in the story. I don’t generally enjoy it when an author has clearly gone out of their way to get every little detail right and wants to make for damn sure that you know about it. If you want to read an exhaustive catalog of the US Army Air Force bomber crew experience during WW2, you’ll probably love this book, but if you aren’t into that level of minutiae, you might have to give it some room to grow on you.
It doesn’t help that the characters are all fairly one-dimensional archetypes and they never rise above their first impressions. They wisecrack, they make earnest speeches, they sacrifice for the good of the crew, they’re generally stand-up guys. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, per se, because the story well-executed and there isn’t a false note throughout, but I can barely remember any of their names.
There is one interesting sequence late in the book where reality comes unstuck and things get a little surreal, but it goes on for long enough that it started feeling repetitive. The best parts of the book are when the crew has to do their job and fight back against their enemies, be they Nazis or otherwise. These sequences are thrilling and evocative, and are part of what brought the book home for me. There are a few action sequences full of heart-pounding moments and thrills, especially late in the book.
I did like Fata Morgana, but it feels like this review landed a bit more on the negative side than I intended. I think this a book for a certain type of reader laser-focused on verisimilitude, even in their science fiction. I don’t generally fall into that category, but I can still appreciate a story well-told.
Originally posted at Full of Words
Fata Morgana does deliver on that initial promise of adventure, but I have to admit that it required a bit of patience on my part to get invested in the story. I don’t generally enjoy it when an author has clearly gone out of their way to get every little detail right and wants to make for damn sure that you know about it. If you want to read an exhaustive catalog of the US Army Air Force bomber crew experience during WW2, you’ll probably love this book, but if you aren’t into that level of minutiae, you might have to give it some room to grow on you.
It doesn’t help that the characters are all fairly one-dimensional archetypes and they never rise above their first impressions. They wisecrack, they make earnest speeches, they sacrifice for the good of the crew, they’re generally stand-up guys. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, per se, because the story well-executed and there isn’t a false note throughout, but I can barely remember any of their names.
There is one interesting sequence late in the book where reality comes unstuck and things get a little surreal, but it goes on for long enough that it started feeling repetitive. The best parts of the book are when the crew has to do their job and fight back against their enemies, be they Nazis or otherwise. These sequences are thrilling and evocative, and are part of what brought the book home for me. There are a few action sequences full of heart-pounding moments and thrills, especially late in the book.
I did like Fata Morgana, but it feels like this review landed a bit more on the negative side than I intended. I think this a book for a certain type of reader laser-focused on verisimilitude, even in their science fiction. I don’t generally fall into that category, but I can still appreciate a story well-told.
Originally posted at Full of Words
vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
*Need to Review
Thoughts-
5 Stars for Story Atmosphere
5 Stars for Narration by Macleod Andrews
3 Stars for Characters
4 Stars for Concept
2 Stars on Drawing Concept into Clear Visual/Action/Sequence
Thoughts-
5 Stars for Story Atmosphere
5 Stars for Narration by Macleod Andrews
3 Stars for Characters
4 Stars for Concept
2 Stars on Drawing Concept into Clear Visual/Action/Sequence