Elizabeth Guizzetti

Because of this book, and the knowledge that it's part of a series, I now must go back and read the previous book. I must admit, my ventures in to science fiction normally bordered the lines of Doctor Who, Star Wars, Halo and Doom. This was the first time in quite a while that I took on a book such as The Light Side of the Moon. I'm happy I did. Elizabeth Guizzetti has broadened my horizons and showed me, I can actually take the time to fly to realistic galaxies and even work on the moon. Ha! Who'da thunk it?
The Light Side of the Moon is as realistic as it gets with real science fiction, taking on the environmental issues such as one I'd recently discovered: jellyfish! Now I don't remember it mentioned the Nomura jellyfish or not, but studies have shown that they are dominating the Japanese oceans and BAM! Guizzetti mention's that in this book! There are nanites repairing the ozone, androids are considered humans! What? And it's realistic because it's happening now; why can't it reach near perfection by 3026?

There are three main characters in this book, with many side characters that build them, and each is on a journey of sorts. There's Ellie who simply wants to be free, Ian who is doing his darndest to escape his father's medical shadow and be his own man, and there's Rosalind, The EC302 android who's considered human and looking to Evolve. Each is looking for a sort of perfect life on or beyond the moon, but everyone claims they're foolish, daft, or brave. Either way, it all made for a fascinating read. There was only one problem: several times, words are used that are not translated and do not translate when I look them up. That's rather difficult, like "Mapersonne" What's that? I don't know; I couldn't find a translation for it.

The book blew me away but I have to admit there were times where I wasn't sure where the book was headed. There was so much going on- and so much negativity for a while. It all came together though and I found myself happy I held on.

If you want science fiction, and I don't mean The Hitchhikers's Guide sorta scifi; I mean the real stuff, get this book! Oh, but you may want to get the first one (Other Systems) first! I'm off to a new book now; I hope you find one yourself!
http://tinyurl.com/ofp8ax7… (altro)

I got this book for free, in exchange for an honest review from Making Connections. Get your copy here.

What I liked:

loved the description of flora & fauna, as well as the space terms

that the rapist got what was coming

that Abby didn’t end with Mark or Harden.

I understood why Abby’s parents could let her go-the conditions on Earth weren’t going to improve and trusting the strangers was the only option they had, if they wanted their kids to survive.

What I didn't like:

there was nothing about the religious sects & I had been so looking forward to meet them.

I would have liked Harden’s POV,especially when, according to his dad, Abby looks like she needs a hug.

nothing about the other AI who had left-the way the author mentioned them felt like we would be meeting them later.

there wasn’t much about why Earth was the way it was or why India became a super power-it would have added more depth to the story.


Good sci-fi-ish novel and I didn’t want to put it down without finishing it.

Also reviewed at:
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B&N
Amazon
Shelfari… (altro)

I don’t normally read sci-fi, but someone loaned me a copy of this book for Kindle. This isn’t quite what I expected – this is more of an immigrant’s tale set in space than a space opera.

The first half of the book is very slow, and I struggled to follow along with what appeared to be two separate narratives and two separate sets of characters (Abby and Cole) who interact only twice during the course of the book. Contributing to the confusion are the disparate timelines and aging timelines. In the book, people who travel using FTL will only age months for years or decades happening planetside.

The book deals with some very sensitive subjects like immigration, rape, slavery, and discrimination. The author is careful not to go too graphic, however, this means that the intensity of the emotions the characters feel sometimes doesn’t make sense to the reader who didn’t really get a full grasp at the time of what the characters went through.

The descriptions of space travel, space ships, and the different planets are very detailed and intriguing, but I felt that sometimes the POV was lacking emotional depth and description. This improves towards the end of the book, as Abby final starts overcoming her PTSD and dealing head-on with her emotions.

The narrative evolves from an immigrant story into almost a space travel narrative by the end. I feel the author could have done a bit more to tie the two halves together. The ending seems to come out of the blue, and as a result feels a bit heavy handed. Yet it was a satisfying conclusion, tying up the dangling thread of Abby’s escape and her new life aboard the Revelation into one satisfying package.

Three stars, although I have a feeling that someone who enjoys sci-fi more might enjoy this more.… (altro)

*Book provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

I never realized until recently that I’m not a big fan of science fiction. I always assumed that I liked both scifi and fantasy (seeing as how they are usually clumped together), but I realized that I hadn’t read very many scifi books. So, I was afraid that I wouldn’t like this book but I took the chance anyway since it sounded very interesting. It also came with high recommendations from my two best friends.

The writing is very well done. So well done, in fact, that oftentimes I started to feel exactly what the characters were feeling (which is rather hard to do). I really loved the science parts interspersed with the story. Instead of just describing aliens and technology, Guizzetti actually explained it scientifically which I really enjoyed. Her imagination to create this story and these species is incredible. And it was so easy to picture it with the way she wrote it down.

The plot was interesting, though I can’t say I was really surprised by the turn of events. I really enjoyed the second half of the book with the new worlds and species. I loved seeing the interaction between the crew members and their friends off ship.

WARNING: The first half of the book is really intense. It contains explicit rape and mention of rape. This book could be very triggering to certain people. I personally had a hard time reading through those parts and even after it took me a while to sort through my thoughts and feelings on it. It is not for the faint of heart.

One of my favorite parts of the novel was the fluid sexuality. I loved how the fact that fluid sexuality was a norm and that it wasn’t a huge focus of the novel was refreshing. It was nice to see that it was a part of the book without having a huge spotlight focused on it. Actually, their outlook on sexuality and sex in general was really nice and I wish that our society was like it.

Like my fellow nerds, I would highly recommend this book to fans of science fiction. However, I do have to warn that it isn’t for the faint of heart and it could be really upsetting for some people.… (altro)