The front end of the book covers First Editions, various book clubs and the general terminology you will run into while collecting books.

This is all a good introduction to book collecting however you son find that the majority of the book is about British Authors with some other European and North American authors listed.

All prices are in British Pounds and values start as low at 3 pounds and on up.

So if you exclusively collect rare books by British Authors then this is your book. If your collecting habits run beyond Britain then there are probably better guides available.

My rating is based on the later situation and would be one star higher if the focus was British Authors

This is definately a YA oriented story. I found the plot simplistic and the references to Sherlock Holmes distracting. I was looking for the Steampunk Detective, not a less capable clone of Sherlock Holmes.

The characters would be engaging to the YA crowd.

So the bottom line to me is if you are over 30 just pass this book right by, if under 30 you will probably enjoy it.

When this book first came out I looked at it and passed.

I have now read it after buying it at a reduced rate and my first instincts were right. Not really one of Bears stronger books.

It was not as enjoyable to read as many of his other books I have read. It's a story that starts out with a fully grown man popping out of a birthing chamber with very little of his memory in place. He the meets varied people/creatures that help him reach Hull Zero Three.

He finds he is on a heavily damaged triple hull space ship that has sustained significant damage and the ship is now systematically killing everything aboard.

He runs into other inhabitants that are trying to stay alive and tags along with them.

The main problem I had with the book was that there was not a good link for me to the character , so that I didn't really care whether they made it or not. Also the story was scattered and confusing at times

This review is from an Advance Readers Copy supplied free of charge by the author

In a post apocalyptic world life for the ordinary, like you and me, just sucks. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but in this group of short stories what doesn't kill you is going to keep on trying until they do !!

Each story has a cast of characters that are trying to get by. In this world the religious leaders have determined they know best and as long as you agree with that doctrine you will be okay. You lose all your independence and most of your money and belongings but you survive. The religious dogma floats through most of the stories here.

The author drops in on his cast of characters at opportunistic times, reports what is happening, and then jumps forward one to four years.

All characters are not in each story, but there is a linkage between them.

It's an interesting format for a story and each new story feels fresh yet familiar.

Recommended

THIS REVIEW IS OF THE SEVENTH EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2012

There is nothing more aggravating to a book collector to find out that the First Edition they bought is in fact not a First Edition. Various publishers pay varying degrees of attention to identification of their First Editions and some are very laid back about it.

As there is no Industry Standard (hint, hint, BIG hint to Publishers) each has chosen different methods. Add to this the fact the various Book Club Editions sometimes use the First Edition imprints without removing the reference to First Edition and all bets are off. This leaves book collectors in a quandary as to the pedigree of their beloved First Editions.

What Bill McBride has attempted to do in this handy guide is first define what a First Edition is, and more importantly what it is not. Second and also of importance he has extensively investigated various Publishers and denoted how they treat the First Edition issue.

Much expanded from the last version issued in 2002, the 2012 issue lists 5,835 past and present English language publishers and the methods they use to identify First Editions.

As this is truly a pocket guide you can take it with you.

A great resource tool for book collectors. Recommended.

This large sized book is a great way to get your kids interested in birds.

I have spent many hours with my grand kids going over this book and when we are in parks, or just out in the yard, I see their eyes twinkle when they recognize a bird.

A great introduction to the beauty that is birds

This book is huge. I was surprised when it was delivered but also DELIGHTED. A bigger book means more information, more secrets explained and ultimately more projects.

The book is logically organized and there is enough details so that you can complete the project.

All the ones I've tried have worked the first time and for me I don't have the patience to do it more than once so that is why I am impressed

Although small in size this compressor definately stands tall in the usefullness department.

I bought this for air brush painting and it works perfectly. This is the second one I have had and I can't rate it too highly. At a reasonable cost you have a compressor that will last you for many many years.

On both mine I've also got the moisture trap which is an inexpensive insurance against unwanted moisture.

Recommended

Having met, in the first book of this series called "Cryptum", the Didact: who is a Forerunner warrier frozen in the Cryptum, Bornstelllar: the inquisitive young Forerunner who releases him, and Chakas and Riser: two human variations on the planet Erde-Tyrene this book carries on with the discovery of an Autonomous Mechanical Intelligence (Forerunner Monitor) device by a science team.

The monitor contains Chakas' memories and proceeds to describe Chakas memories of his life and what happened to him after the battle at the end of book one.

Along the way the device tells a story that at times the science team finds hard to believe except that some key pieces of information match that from other sources

In this the final book in the trilogy we are again privy to thirty-nine strings of Forerunner data. This is a great way to tell a story and engage the reader as itis a different perspective.

In this volume I found that without the benefit of the first two stories it could be confusing. So best to read volumes one and two. Theye are both great stories so that's a benefit.

The Flood is taking over the entire galaxy and the Master Builder is brought back, put in charge, and ordered to end the war with the Flood. Unfortunately the only way to do that is with a secret weapon hidden away and with a really bad side effect.

It appears that the Flood is going to take over the galaxy but the mater builder still has that secret weapon available.

Dense reading at times it is none the less a get a story and addition to the HALO series.

Recommended

This story revolves around two main characters. Adelaide Rechnov is the grand daughter of the man who built Osiris after the water wiped out most of the planets population. He is called the Architect.

The Rechnov's are one of 3 families who rebuilt and thus control Osiris. Adelaide does not appreciate all the rules and expectations that the Rechnov family requires of all their members, and she is rebelling against that even to the point of adopting the last name Mystik. Here the author has inserted a little gotya in that this is very close to "mistake" ; which is how Adelaide feels about every thing.

Adelaide's twin brother Axel goes missing and no one seems to be working very hard or fast to find him.

Vikram, again the authors gotya on "victim" , lives on the other side of the track if you will in an area called the Westerns. Here is where you would say the down trodden left overs of society live. Electricity is scarce. Food is scarce. Basically it's the slums. But Vikram wants to change that. However to get any improvements he will have to get support from someone in a power position in Osiris.

His best bet is Adelaide and he is soon sneaking into Osiris to get her help.

While originally put off by Vikrams lack of manners, general lack of cleanliness she does eventually come around and start to help him. She is also still looking for her twin brother Axel.

The book is an interesting expose of an ultra rich culture versus an ultra poor culture with Vikram tryingto get a better balance.

The pace of the book is slow and I note the author states that this is the first book in a trilogy so the story ends with a cliff hanger.