As I mentioned in an earlier comment, His Robot Wife is selling about three times as well in the UK than it is in the US Kindle store. I’m sure this is in large part to the very nice review (previously mentioned also) by Mr. Horrigan. Thanks to all of you in the UK. I appreciate your support.
5.0 out of 5 stars A very apt title., 17 Mar 2011
By S. Horrigan (London) – See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Dark and Forbidding Land (Senta and the Steel Dragon) (Kindle Edition)
I discovered Wesley Allison’s work only a short while ago when I read His Robot Wife. That story impressed me so much that I bought The Voyage of the Minotaur (Senta and the Steel Dragon) the first in the Senta and the Steel Dragon series.
The title of this second book is very appropriate. It is a much darker read than the first volume. The colony at Port Dechantagne has now been established for a couple of years and is expanding rapidly. More and more people are arriving looking for a new life, for adventure hunting dinosaurs or to trade with the colonists.
In places this book is a much less comfortable read than the first book. The native lizard men are servants almost in slavery to the humans. There is corporal and capital punishment, religious persecution and the parallels that are drawn to our own world and to some of the more abhorrent events in our history are very and sometimes brutally obvious. There is a lighter side though with the now 10 year old Senta, Bessemer the dragon and their gang of childhood friends running riot through the pages to keep the story in balance.
Once again presentation is perfect and again idiomatic English is used to great effect.
Overall 5 stars. This was a highly enjoyable read and I will definitely be downloading the next in the series but I am fully expecting the story to get much darker before the end.
Amanda Hocking is big in the news this week. Clever readers have noticed that she is one of two authors mentioned in His Robot Wife. It may be the first book to mention her by name. The other author? Sci-fi great James White.
After saying just the other day that this project was on the back burner, I have turned around and started working on this and the first draft is almost done. I should have it pounded out in about three weeks. Then comes revision, then editing, then…..
Just a reminder that all my books are DRM-free.
The following review is from Amazon UK.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A really great little book!, 11 Mar 2011
By S. Horrigan (London) – See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: His Robot Wife (Kindle Edition)
Mike Smith is a happily married, early retired, middle class ex-school teacher. The only unusual thing about him is that his wife Patience is a robot.
Told in a deceptively simple style this is a classic Asimov style robot story. It is not particularly long (it took me about two hours to read) but it does cover some very emotive issues about the rights of an artificial intelligence.
The character development of Patience is the key to this story. Starting as a very robotic robot, her discovery of her real self and her development as an individual rather than just being “His Robot Wife” are beautifully handled by the author. The story actually had me questioning my own opinions.
The Kindle presentation is perfect with no formatting or presentational errors that I could see. The cover picture is also included. The cover picture deserves a quick mention too – it is absolutely perfect for the book and is what first attracted my attention when browsing the Kindle science fiction section.
Overall 5 stars! The biggest compliment I can pay the author is that after finishing this book I immediately searched to see if he had written anything else. I found several other Kindle books by him and will definitely be reading some more of his work.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars It really shouldn’t work but it does!, 16 Mar 2011
By S. Horrigan (London) – See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Voyage of the Minotaur (Senta and the Steel Dragon) (Kindle Edition)
After reading and being rather impressed with Wesley Allison’s novel His Robot Wife I decided to read some more of his work on the Kindle.
This story is totally different! Set in the country of Greater Brechalon, populated by ladies wearing corsets and dresses with bustles, carrying parasols to keep the sun off their alabaster skin and gentlemen with very stiff upper lips driving steam powered carriages, this is a very steampunk version of an alternate Victorian England.
Steampunk however is only one of the multiple genres that are thrown into the mix. There are wizards and sorceresses, airships and analytical engines, dragons and dinosaurs, lizard men and a good old fashioned series of Jack the Ripper style murders to solve too.
Quite honestly this book should never work. There are too many things thrown into the melting pot, but somehow not only does it work, but it works wonderfully well!
It’s not all perfect though. The author clearly loves language and his use of idiomatic Victorian style English is really very good, but there are still a few occasions when you are left in no doubt that the book was written by an American author. The end of the story is also rather abrupt in my opinion and the final few paragraphs should probably have been an epilogue, but these are minor things really.
It is quite a long book being over 8000 Kindle locations and provides several hours of hugely entertaining reading. Presentation on the Kindle is excellent with good formatting and no obvious errors that I could see. The cover art is missing from the Kindle version though (although it shows up on both Kindle for PC and on my Android phone).
Overall – 5 stars! I will be reading the rest of this series very soon. I will say though that I have a huge weakness for both steampunk style books and for anything set in an alternate Victorian style setting, so you might want to download the sample and try a few pages for yourself before you decide to buy it. Personally, despite my minor petty criticisms, I absolutely loved this book!
Mr. Horrigan, who recently reviewed His Robot Wife (and is probably responsibile for a boost in sales) also reviewed The Voyage of the Minotaur. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and review my work. I’m very glad you liked it.
One of the great things about publishing a book is hearing from people around the world who enjoyed it and who care enough to let you know. This past week I’ve had emails from places around the globe I have never visited (but hope to). It can make you feel both very small and big at the same time.
Did I mention that I’m sick and tired of being sick? Well, I am. I just finished my run of antibiotics, so hopefully I’m on the mend.
City of Amathar 