The Cheap/Free Ebooks Thread!

pat5150, on 26 May 2026 - 02:04 PM, said:

David J. Williams' The Mirrored Heavens is 2.99$ on Kindle. You can get the entire Autumn Rain trilogy for only 6.68$!

Oh gods.... this. Cue flashback.....

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Abyss, on 24 October 2022 - 02:31 PM, said:

pat5150, on 24 October 2022 - 02:01 PM, said:

David J. Williams' The Mirrored Heavens is 2.99$ on Kindle.

You can get the entire trilogy for only 7.02$.

....huh... you enjoyed these... your reviews prompt me to think that i may have to reassess my decision to bail after the first book.

Abyss, on 19 February 2009 - 10:24 PM, said:

David J. Williams writes a staggeringly awesome action scene. Seriously. Power-armoured soldiers fighting across mega skyscraper cities during nuclear strikes rendered in cinematically stunning text awesome. Dueling super cyber hackers frying each others brains. Buildings dropping on everyone. Innocent bystanders deaths in the thousands lovingly rendered in semi-guilt-ridden third person. Trains, plains and automobiles get wrecked. So do spaceships.

Unfortunately, his concept of 'plot' appears to be based on the video-game model, that is to say his approach is to spend maybe four pages on weak weak plot explaining what the characters next widget-quest/assassination-mission/escape-route is and then 25 pages of lasers, 'splosions and kicky stabby. Sometimes characters sheboing, but that's usually folded into the four plot pages - altho he does do one sequence where a hacker netsurfs while getting their jollies that is actually quite clever... or just stands out because someone in the story is doing something besides kill kill internet shoot internet kill fly killy kill kill. Literally it amounts to a five or six versions of Commanding Officer type stating something like 'Ok, you two have to go steal/kill/escape. Here are some weapons. Good luck.' and off they go to the shooty 'splody some more. His 'big twist' endings aren't all that twisted and his three plotlines never, ever, ever, ever crossover. At all. Ever. They all take place in the same world during the same events but that's as far as it goes.

And what kills me about this is that his action really IS that good. He even writes some fun characters and dialogue but the fun is slotted in bits and pieces in between the next set of hammering lasers, evading missiles and falling real estate. After the second or third fight/flight sequence it's like reading a really well written online report of a Gears of War mission... ok neat tech and all but really not doing much for me here.

Comparisons to William Gibson's works are laughable. Gibson's books, at least his earlier ones, are well plotted cyberpunk stories that were novel for their time and featured generally interesting characters in interesting settings. MIRRORED HEAVENS... well, not so much. I mean, the potential for interest is there but Williams spends more time explaining how its being destroyed than why it was interesting in the first place.

Anyrate, i grabbed this for free from a hotel book exchange and i was entertained enough to finish it but sort of relieved i didn't spend dollars on it. I'll keep an eye open for the forthcoming second (of a trilogy, of course) in mmpb but unless it's an airport grab or a freebie, more likely to wait on it but likely to read it eventually.

I'm intrigued by the notion of a sequel just because holy fnck, what can he possibly detonate next?!?! And hopefully he'll develop his plot and characters a bit more. Okay, a LOT more.

- Abyss, ....likes to stimulate the thinkymeatz before boiling them...

Abyss, on 25 October 2022 - 05:47 PM, said:

pat5150, on 25 October 2022 - 01:33 AM, said:

Well, you have to be in the mood for some balls-to-the-wall sort of thing. But if you are, this series will definitely scratch that itch!

These books will scratch my balls. Got it.

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