Customer Reviews

City Of Diamond

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I LOVE City of Diamond. It's one of my favourite books. A cast of fascinating characters, a world on a spaceship that's a mixture of the futuristic and medieval, mysterious artefacts to track down, future mysteries to be solved, moments of pathos and humour, a clear and flowing writing style . . . What more could you ask for?
I've been waiting years for the sequels and they haven't appeared. To my knowledge, this is the second time Doris Egan/Jane Emerson has had a series cut short. DAW, what's going on?

Interstingly enough, I was actually browsing Amazon to see if Ms. Emerson had published the rest of the story yet. I thought this book was a great read, if you like your science fiction heavy on fantasy with lots of great characters to identify with.

This is the best science fiction novel I've ever read.

Other reviewers have alluded disparagingly to the plot(s), but (originality aside) I can't think of any other book that balances so much, so effortlessly. Let's face it, THE PLOTS ROCK.

Then there's the characters. I've never felt so fond of or close to characters in a book before. In such a plot-happy book, the amazing thing is that it's the characters that come back to me, day after day.

I can't get this book out of my head! I love this book. Did I say that already?

For its genre, and excellent book. The characterisation was good, the character of Tal being one of the most interesting I've come across yet. Falls down slightly on plot, especially the love plot between Adrian and his new wife which I found rather nauseating and pat. However, the author does keep several plots spinning at once, which is quite successful for the most part and makes the overal plot quite complex.
I assume there are two sequels, "City of Opal" and "City of Pearl" which I have been waiting for since buying "Diamond" in 1998. Will someone please print them and put them out of my misery???!!!

For its genre, an excellent book. The characterisation was superb, especially that of Tal. The book did fall down a little on plot, especially the sub-plot with Adrian and his new wife, which I found at best rather nauseating - but perhaps that was because I found his character a bit too good to be true. On the other hand, the author did keep several sub-plots spinning, which are in the main successful and satisfactory. If I could write pulp-fiction, this is what I would want to write.
I assume the sequels are to be "City of Opal" and "City of Pearl", and I have been waiting for them to come out since I bought "Diamond" in 1998. Please publish them somebody!

This book was very intriguing. It was amazing how Jane Emerson was able to maintain several complex cultures at one time without being too cliche or contradicting herself. The charecters' motivations and morals mixed with the politics and various small-scale conspiracies make the plot particularly alluring. The humanness of the charecters in itself would make this book worth reading. The way they react to eachother and the situations around them make them seem real in such a way that it almost forces the reader to care about and identify with them. I especially enjoyed the mysterious personality of the demon, Tal.

Great characters, especially Tal and the little princess. But how exactly the economy of these city-ships works? I would like to inform all the readers who loved Ms. Emerson's book "City of Diamond" that she also wrote under the name of DORIS EGAN the Books: "Ivory Gate" , "Two-bit Heroes", "Guilt edged Ivory". This trilogy was great too.

This is the fourth time i have read this book & i'm only 12 years old! In short I loved this book! the plot was intresting ( enjoyed the political aspects ) & the charecters were ppl i'd want for friends. I wish to know more of Tal's background.

Well, they say the plot is maybe thirty awesome new ideas, tops, and the rest a pastiche of every great science fiction novel you ever read, and that's probably true. The characters though, the characters: there's 5 or 6 of them, and they're drawn like you've never seen before in fiction. Anywhere. Buy this book. Buy 10 copies; no one you ever loan it to is going to give it back.

This was a good book in many ways, the characters were extremely well developed, I felt like I got to know them personnally.. and the setting was great. I think the book should continue. I was only a bit disappointed by the overall "story" with so many great characters it seemed like we were being set up for something great... but i think the story itself could have been further developed. There has to be another novel... we were all left hanging a bit. I hope she does write more... I would say that she is one of the better sci fi writers i have read in a while, (reminds me a bit of Dan Simmons books, a bit like Dune books). I recommend the book!