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The Mirrored Heavens | 
 enlarge | Author: David J. Williams
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy Used: $5.48
You Save: $6.52 (54%)
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 189319
Media: Paperback
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0553385410
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780553385410
ASIN: 0553385410
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In this thrilling debut, David J. Williams delivers a hard-hitting blend of military SF and dystopian cyberpunk, set in a futuristic landscape where hostilities rage from the Eastern and Western hemispheres to the outer ranges of space.
In the 22nd century, the first wonder of a brave new world is the Phoenix Space Elevator, designed to give mankind greater access to the frontier beyond Earth. Built by the U.S./Pan-Asian Coalition, the Elevator is also a grand symbol of superpower alliance following a second cold war. And it’s just been destroyed.
The South American insurgent group Autumn Rain claims responsibility for the attack, but with suspicions rampant, armies and espionage teams are mobilized across the globe and beyond. Enter Claire Haskell and Jason Marlowe, U.S. counterintelligence agents, and former lovers—though their memories may only be constructs implanted by their spymaster. Forced to set aside the enigma of their past, their agenda is to trust no one. For in a time of shifting loyalties, the enemy could be anyone—from a shadowy assassin working a questionable mission on the dark side of the moon, to a Euro data thief working under deep cover and wooed into a dangerous pact.
As the crisis mounts, and the search for Autumn Rain spans both Earth and Moon, the lives of all those involved will converge in one explosive finale—and a startling aftermath that will rewrite everything they’ve ever known—about their mission, their world, and themselves
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Almost Good. August 1, 2008
TheAdlerian (Philly, PA)
I just finished the book and trust me, I don't think that this review needs a "Spoilers" warning for the reader, and I'll tell you why.
Before I do, I have to say that the story has a lot of action if you're in the mood for it and some interesting settings. However, I can't provide spoilers because I have no clear idea about what happened. Of course, I know WHAT happened but I'm not sure WHY it happened.
That's because the book is narrated as if the events were viewed by a person living in another dimension. As if they have no concept of the players, their philosophies, their technology, or their motivations. We just get scene after scene of interesting, yet fairly meaningless, activity. It's as if a cowboy from the 19th century decided to tell you his impression of the Mideast war as seen through a crystal ball.
It was vague to the extreme---but still interesting.
The author, if he plans on writing more, needs to bore us with the details. Without a little bit of world building the story borders on dull and hard to care about. I was having trouble figuring out who to like in the story, and one guy, I still don't know who he is.
I'd like to say that I have several grad degrees in a complex verbally oriented subject, so I know how to read and comprehend. The author made it tough to do that.
Although I'm saying negative things, seemingly, I'm actually asking the author to do a better job. He clearly has a good concept in mind, and I'd like him to tell us about it.
Cyberpunk:
Get rid of that.
You're writing something more like "cyberpro" and it needs to sound like it.
Cyberpunk frequently features uneducated outcast types who "know cyberspace" and so their narration is like that of a laconic teenager chewing gum, or something along those lines.
The text of this book was written like that with short sentences and the repeated use of "says" after the dialogue, much like a kid would say. However, the subject isn't about that, and has to do with super highly trained people, some of which may never have been exposed to pop culture.
The "punk" needs to be fixed.
 Wowed by the Adrenelin July 20, 2008
SUZANNE RICHARD (Washington, DC)
I couldn't put this book down. From start to finish, it had me breathless to see what would happen next. Characters were developed and intricate in a world that they struggle to survive and master. Surprise twists kept me on the edge of my seat.
This is not a book for the faint of heart or the sci-fi uninitiated. However, if you can hang, it's totally worth it.
 Mighty thin gruel... July 14, 2008
Waruihito (Seattle)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Little to no plot. No character development. Little to no world building exposition. It's basically one severely over-extended action piece with no back story or realistic motivation present, strung together with positively Shatnerian dialogue. If you want cyberpunk, read a real book. Gibson and Stephenson would be good authors to choose.
 You'll love it or hate it. July 4, 2008
Steven M. Klotz (Los Angeles, CA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mirrored Heavens won't leave my mind. The present tense, staccato prose with constantly shifting POV (indicated nicely with icons), and a narrator so personal, it feels like it's in your head ... all that was refreshing and new. The action is constant and well written, but it comes off as a media tie in novel. I'd have given this a 4 star review if this was set in a world I'd been immersed in for 20+ hours already. As it stands, while I found each individual page enjoyable, and think many people will enjoy this book, it overall didn't work for me.
Dystopian Thunderstorm July 2, 2008
bladerunner2180
There's a lot to be said about this book, and most of it is even good.
Basically from the first page of the story, it takes you on a rollercoaster ride with half a dozen characters that is so full of twists and turns that keeping track of what is actually happening becomes a task of its own after one's halfway through the novel. The action is unforgiving and direct, with the battle raging through the streets of bleak concrete molochs, the emptyness of space, the grey wastes of the moon and the depths of cyberspace. The writing style immerses the reader directly into the action after a short while. It's a tale about a looming world war, about idealism and about the uncertainty of identity in a future where mind and technology can interfere with each other very easily.
The picture David paints of the future is deeply dystopian, with the world locked in a cycle of inner and outer conflict, with a completely collapsing ecosphere and a society where a life's worth less than even in ancient Rome. It's a world that's been completely thrown off balance, a world in which sometimes your own side is far more dangerous to you than your supposed enemies might be.
The technology shown in "The Mirrored Heavens" is not too far out there. Whether we will truly be that advanced with regards to neuro-interfaces and cyberspace by that time is up for speculation, but at least the space technology and weapons systems shown already exists in their basics today.
The novel is a great one - once you've adapted to the writing style. Usually I'm not fan of third person present tense writing, but with this novel it works rather well. There's also a certain degree of ambivalence in me with regards to the dystopian setting. I'm no optimist, but I think that most political systems primarily strive to achieve internal order. Thus, while the setting works well for the novel, I'm no great friend of it. Moreso, the very literal mindf*** that nowadays cyberpunks presents us with is, well, positively disturbing. If one has ever seen Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, he know's what I'm talking about.
My last point of criticism is that the actual information you get about the world is rather thinlayered. I understand that the novel focusses on the plot, but there is hardly said more than a) there are the Eurasians, and they have different factions; b) there is the USA and within it different factions intriguing against each other for influence on "The Throne"; c) and there are Combines and the Euromagnates, on which basically nothing substantial at all is said. I'm an avid fluff-reader, digging through pages of explanations is a good read to me, so that disappointed me somewhat.
All in all I'd call "The Mirrored Heavens" a solid and action-packed work and definately a great first novel of David Williams. Maybe the world it plays in will be elaborated on in possible sequels.
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