Books Described Badly

Ring by Stephen Baxter

It’s pleasant when a cunning builder of sentences gets to just go nuts with interesting subject matter. This is hard science fiction, and as such the stereotype says it’s supposed to be ill-written and populated with dull characters.

Not all the characters are amazing. Many of them are flat, and lots of them have dry information to deliver more than interesting stories to tell.

There are exceptions, though. Some of the characters are amazing.

And, at his best, Baxter writes a damn fine paragraph. Fluid when it’s good and adequate the rest of the time. That’s as good as you can dream for from most writers.

This book described badly: a scientist who specializes in solar mechanics embarks on an ambitious research expedition.

I give this book two stars, but they’re both really big ones.