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What's New
Review Features
S - Science Fiction
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
Complete Listing
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Adams, Douglas (S)
Asher, Neal (S)
Aylett, Steve (S)
Banks, Iain M (S)
Barclay, James (F)
Barker, Clive (H)
Baxter, Stephen (S)
Brin, David (S)
Bury, Stephen (S)
Card, Orson Scott (S)
Cherryh, CJ (S/F)
Clute, John (S)
Cockayne, Steve (F)
Cook, Glen (F)
Danielewski, Mark (H)
Dick, Philip K (S)
Egan, Greg (S)
Feist, Raymond (F)
Gaiman, Neil (F)
Gibson, William (S)
Goodkind, Terry (F)
Grimwood, Jon C (S)
Hamilton, Peter (S)
Jeter, K.W. (S)
Jordan, Robert (F)
Lethem, Jonathan (S)
McAuley, Paul (S)
MacLeod, Ken (S)
Martin, George RR (F)
McMullen, Sean (S)
Miéville, China (S)
Moran, Daniel K (S)
Morgan, Richard K (S)
Nagata, Linda (S)
Niven, Larry (S)
Noon, Jeff (S)
Robinson, Kim S. (S)
Rucker, Rudy (S)
Simmons, Dan (S)
Smith, Michael Marshall (S)
Stephenson, Neal (S)
Sterling, Bruce (S)
Vinge, Vernor (S)
Westerfeld, Scott (S)
Williams, Sean (S)
Williams, Tad (S/F)
Collections (S/F)
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| The Classics |
Bradbury, Ray (S/H)
Burgess, Anthony (S)
Tolkien, JRR (F) |
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| Daniel Keys Moran |
| Author Information |
Reviewed Books |
Other Books |
| Notes: (C) - Continuing Time Series |
Last Dancer
(C) |
The Armageddon Blues
Emerald Eyes (C)
The Ring
The Long Run (C) |
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Our Ranking The Last Dancer is the third
book in a Daniel Keys Moran series with Emerald Eyes (thank you to a reader for
pointing this out and correcting me) being the first. Despite this being a series,
the books are very stand alone. In fact I read the Last Dancer first and was able
to follow it completely. The Last Dancer is certainly does not contain any ground
breaking technology ideas. And it doesn't provide any unique insight or warning
to the future. What it does do though is provide is a thoroughly enjoyable science
fiction adventure tale that you will not be able to put down. To put it simply,
the Last Dancer is just a fun book. Set in the late 21st century, the entirety
of Earth is run by one government; the UN. The 300th anniversary of Independence
Day is growing near and the UN is trying to crack down on the rising unrest in
the occupied United States. What the UN, and even most of the rebels, don't realize
is that there are far greater forces at work using the 4th of July anniversary
as a catalyst for their own plans. The setting is well done and believable for
the late 21st century. Man has occupied and now inhabit the moon and limited space
travel is available. The adventure winds up carrying out through most of the US
and stretches into the Lunar colonies. Moran does an excellent job describing
a very believable world. The characters are certainly the highlight of the story.
I can say with complete honesty that my favorite character ever written, Trent
the Uncatchable is here. While he doesn't play a major role, (he is much more
featured in the Long Run where is so wonderfully developed) he is just an excellent
character. Moran manages to shroud him in such mystery and just purposely doesn't
explain exactly how Trent manages to pull of some of his capers that he leaves
you guessing and frustrated in a good way. If you read any message boards on Keys,
there are always raging debates about how Trent has pulled off his stunts. The
rest of the cast is also very solid. Their motivations, desires, history and traits
are spelled out perfectly, revealing enough to tease you for a bit and then slowly
unmasking them for what they really are. As I said above, the plot is a fun one.
It is pretty much non-stop action that starts nearly right from the beginning
of the story. It's hard to find an action book that manages to grip you and keep
you interested for almost 600 pages. This is one of the rare ones that do. It
is constantly fresh, and Moran throws in enough twists and turns to keep you guessing
and on the edge of your seat. Overall this is one of my favorite science fiction
books. The problem is for some reason it, and the rest of Moran's books are out
of print so it is nearly impossible to find. I managed to get my copy on eBay
(I originally read a friend's copy). eBay always seems to be auctioning them so
you have a good shot at getting one. If you want good, solid, action sci-fi, this
is worth putting a few bids on, believe me. |
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