Anomaly (First Contact)

I read this book in one day - couldn't put it down. The story line is intriguing and keeps you pushing forward. It also has substance - not just the usual violence and chase-the-bad-guy drama.
I'm looking forward to the continuation of this book into a series - take us into the future and explore first contact.

i have been a sci-fi fan since the 1950's. in the last 30 years, i have settled on preferring hard sci-fi, where i am informed about science, as well as being challenged to have philosophical thoughts. this novel rings both of those bells! an excellent story with well-develped characters. it also moves along at a good clip. the writing is clear, without any kind of pseudo-jargon to disturb your thinking process. a great story, and an enlightening read. highly recommended!

Based on some of the negative reviews, I expected far less from this novel. I guess there weren't enough 'splosions and space battles for some people's taste. I like my science fiction thought provoking and my protagonists down-to-earth; Mr. Cawdron provides both in Anomaly.

The reason I'm not awarding five stars is that the writer, here as in his other work I read recently, Galactic Exploration, had trouble providing a completely satisfying conclusion. In both books, the ending seems rushed or tacked on, as if he had a word limit that he had stay under and realized he was closing in on it, or maybe a deadline he absolutely, positively had to meet.

And I'd like to warn Mr. Cawdron about a device he uses in both these books that I think shows his lack of experience (not his talent or wordsmith ability, which are both considerable). Please, sir, don't reveal major elements of a story by having one character verbally describe to another character significant actions that happen off stage.

For example, in the apartment scene with the nurse and her family, and in the action scenes immediately preceding, you had the reader right in the middle of the action. This is good. I experienced all of it first hand, seeing, hearing, feeling, and even smelling everything our protagonist was going through. It was immediate, first-hand, and extremely well-done. Kudos to you.

But then at the very end, you conclude an otherwise fine novel by having our protagonists describe, after the fact and to other characters, extraordinarily interesting events that would have been better experienced directly.

Don't do that! Show me first hand through action and dialogue, as with the apartment scene, don't fill me in third-hand through a monologue. Whatever you're working on at the moment, please take a look at it with this in mind, and if you've fallen into that trap again, please fix it before you publish.

And now I'm about to download Monsters to my kindle. I'm looking forward to another good read.

This book has earned a place on my bookshelf. Stunning, on a par with Andy Weir's The Martian and Hail Mary, along with Deepak Malhotra's The Peacemaker's Code, Lindsay Ellis' Axiom's End, and Harry Turtledove's Three Miles Down. If you want a SF novel that requires a few minutes to return to your reality after you have finished it, this book qualifies.

It started out fairly well, but then I got to page 43 and the elementary school teacher has figured out what all the NASA scientists couldn't. I got this sinking feeling in my stomach and came to the reviews to look at the critical ones. They all said basically the same thing, that it reads like it was the first draft of a teenager's book.

Contact or Rendevouz with Rama

I got burned by the reviews on this one. It's not a great book and could be best described as a collection of tropes on first contact. Not recommended.

This book grabbed my attention from page one! Each encounter with the anomaly sent my imagination on a new road of wondering. What is this "anomaly"?. Where did it come from? Is it dangerous? Friend or foe? How were the people reacting to it? The story and characters were very appealing. I didn't want it to end.

love good sci fi and this is

Overall a good book. I didn't realize when I ordered, but this book is self published. Some of the syntax makes that blatantly obvious. It introduces a couple of really interesting concepts, but brings little new material to the sci-fi scene. If you're just coming off a series like three body or dune, this book will fill the hole in your reading schedule.