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Book reviews for "Moran,_Daniel_Keys" sorted by average review score:
The Long Run (Limited Edition)
Published in Hardcover by Quiet Vision (30 September, 2001)
Author: Daniel Keys Moran
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I'd give it more that five stars if I could.
Not only is Trent one of the best characters but Moran's writing is superb and his world is all encompassing and immersive. Great book and great writer. I have two copies. I cannot wait for another book.

In my top 5 of science fiction
The book excels in both character and environment. I very much recommend this.

Trent, is one of the most remarkable characters I have read in the science fiction genre. Whether he is heisting high-tech, arguing political ideologies, expressing emotional ties, flying around the down town high rise projects at 500kph on an escape and evade -its all very tangible to me. It takes me there

If you are a Sci-Fi regular you need to read this one. Most Sci-Fi is bunk (I'm not even the author or a friend either [these things always make you wonder]).

Things to be in store for:
- He lives in an apartment that just happened to come w/ a bazooka (all I got was shag).
- Trent was genetically created and it deals with some of the personal details that arise from such a situation in adequate detail.
- The action is BTB (Better Than Bond) and yet Trent has a philosphy against killing. Instead he uses a gun with something akin to DMSO + a few sleep inducing agents.

At one time the screen play for this was on the net. Might give you a taste -though the book is much better. He has a site too with other short writings etc. on it. Hope this of use.

One of the best Cyberpunk novels around
This novel quickly sucks you in with its richly imagined, plausible but ever-so-slightly off kilter alternate "future history". This is the second novel in the "Tales of the Continuing Time" and follows a young, gene-modified thief named Trent as he emerges from a comfortable coccoon of technology and close friendships to the bigger, badder world around him. The sweep and vista of the novel grow with the character as you begin to discover that he's not just a VERY smart near-future hacker, but one of two remaining genetically engineered humans that are quite simply homo superior.

The back-story for this novel is what really makes it unique. It helps if you've read the previous novel (Emerald Eyes) but it's not required since Moran fills in more than enough detail to keep you up to speed. The alternate future where a reorganized United Nations overcomes and occupies America (think the West Bank writ really, really large) and has to contend with a dozen different species of American "terrorists" rings very true, especially considering how the real world has turned out (think 9/11)...

It's fast paced and eventful, and all in all, it leaves you breathless and wanting more...luckily the author has written one more book in this series -- The Last Dancer. Read Emerald Eyes and then RUN out and buy the next novel.

The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time
Published in Paperback by Spectra (August, 1989)
Author: Daniel Keys Moran
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To quote the commericial "This IS Sci-Fi"
The 3rd book in the series (Armageddon Blues being first followed by Emerald Eyes, The Long Run and the latest book, The last Dancer) is AWESOME! I have been hunting another copy of it for 7 years now! An intricate plot that moves at a good pace, well developed charactors, and believeable, easily explained science combine to produce one VERY good read! Daniel Keys Moran is to Sci-Fi what Tom Clancy is to Spy novels!

May Be Coming Back in Print!
This is a great sci-fi story. I read on DKM's website that a deal has been signed to re-release the books in the Continuing-Time series. If you can, pick these books up! Start with Emerald Eyes, it sets the ground work for the series, but definitely read The Long Run. Trent is seriously a character with mythic potential, in the same vein as Conan, James Bond, or Sherlock Holmes, and Moran has a solid grasp of where this story is heading.

Absolutly one of the most fantastic books I've ever read
BEFORE you read this, you should read Emerald Eyes, the prequel. You will have to read this book a couple times in order to catch the greater plot. This book is one of a series with a overall plot between them. The Long Run is about 'Trent', a young man who is the last of his kind. Trent is a genetically engineered human with a tiny flaw. Everyone else was a telepath, Trent is simply a genius with an intense desire to live in a better world. Each and every character is developed and is significant. The pace of the book is excellent. I've read this one nearly 20 times

The Last Dancer
Published in Paperback by Spectra (November, 1993)
Author: Daniel Keys Moran
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A worthy successor to arguably the most interesting series.
If I had to sum the book up in one word, I'd select "meaty". There is a great deal of plot development, as well as a logical evolution of most of the characters in the very exciting "Continuing Time" milieu developed by DKM. The main setback to the book, however, is the inherent weakness of the main character, Denice Castanaveras. Whereas, in the previous novels, characters ranked "main", such as Trent, Mohammed Vance, at least two Artificial Intelligences, Jany McConnell, and Carl Castanaveras, among others, are as decisive as they are emotional, it becomes more difficult to identify with and cheer for Denice, who seems to be expecting a solution to provide itself for her. Bottom line -- definitely worth buying, but read the others first.

A pleasure to read and a fine addition to the series.

Daniel Keys Moran is an insightful and creative storyteller who combines a beautifully detailed universe with a hard, gritty, fast paced future filled with political, societal, and technological uncertainties and dilemmas.

Moran's style of writing satifies the classic SciFi fan while it entertains and enthuses those with the borderline post apocalyptic bent of Blade Runner and the Cyberpunk genres.

_The_Last_Dancer_ is the fourth book in the Continuing Time saga falling in line a couple years after the events of _The_Long_Run_ (a masterful piece ISBN 0-553-28144-5).

The story details the events in the life of Denice Castanaveras, a genetically engineered telepath and daughter of the notorious David Castanaveras (_Emerald_Eyes_). It is 2076, 14 years after she was believed to have been murdered in the massacre of "genies".

The TriCentennial Fourth of July is approaching in an occupied America held together by the iron rule of the French led UN. Denice finds herself poised to alter the events of the burgeoning rebellion, and the only person able to halt or help the ambitions of the mysterious and charismatic Reb leader Sedon.

Publisher - We want more. GET A CLUE!!!
Without a doubt, this is one of the best science fiction novels ever written. It is a credit to the genre. Moran made vivid characters come to life, and successfully interwove a variety of themes and stories into one integrated whole. Why, oh why, can't the publishers abandon their money-is-god attitude and at least support a few authors for the sake of good literature? I am anxiously awaiting the next novel in this series, and I hold my nose at the Dungeons and Dragons garbage he's working on now. Yo, Daniel, if you read this, I'm also a writer. I know how difficult a task the book was for you, but it's well worth the effort. To read your reviews is to realize that. Now heed your fans and write another!

Emerald Eyes
Published in Paperback by Bantam Books (July, 1988)
Author: Daniel Keys Moran
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Wonderful edition of a great book
Emerald Eyes is the opening act of Moran's stories about Trent and the Castanaveras telepaths. It covers how the telepaths were created, how they were destroyed, and how Trent and Denice survived. The characters are perhaps less well-formed than one would like--it's really not a very long book, and Moran spends a chunk of his time on showing us glimpses of the larger universe, glimpses that are hard to understand until you read The Last Dancer. But, if you like stories with a lot of mythic impact, then you'll love this one.

The text of the limited edition is slightly different from the paperback edition that came out in 1989. It's the same editor (who's now Moran's wife), so you don't get much in the way of really glaring changes; most of the ones I spotted were improvements. (I haven't gone through and compared them side-by-side yet, but I've read the paperback 5-10 times, so any differences tended to catch my eye.) Some of the more artificial bits have been trimmed (e.g., the line where Trent says of Carl, "His grammar is poor, but he never says anything he doesn't mean."), and some of the phrasings have been improved. Nothing major, but enough that I'm not going to get rid of the paperback.

The novella tacked on to the end, The Star, is from Trent's time in the Fringe. It's a nice bit of backstory for The Long Run, but mostly it's just a minor adventure story. Worth reading, but I'm glad I didn't have to buy it separately.

It Will BLOW YOU AWAY!!!
Every now and then, a book comes along that will simply blow you away. Even though I read this book several years back, it's on my list of books that I'll read again. Withstanding that though, it's a book that will stay with you forever. It will scar your mind with its visualizations and story-telling. Even after all this time, I remember a painting that Mr Moran described. A painting that allows you to look at the perceptions of the characters, and give you a deep horror born shudder. And I'm not going to describe the painting. For that, you'll have to read the book. And this book, along with the 2 sequels out so far, are on my list of Top 100 books of all time...in the top 10%. And considering all the books I've read, I think that high praise indeed

Unbelieveably GREAT
One of the BEST sci-fi books of all time! I first read this book about 15 years ago when it first came out. It, along with The Long Run and The Last Dancer, is definitely one of the best books that I've ever read. These are really the first great cyberpunk books in my mind. Every time I go to the book store I check to see if there's a new book out by Moran. Far better than Gibson and right up there with Neal Stephenson. I wish that some publisher would pick up Daniel Keys Moran and give us more of this great universe.

Characters that you realy care about and a plot that forces you to stay up all night long to see what's going to happen next are the reason that my original copy was worn ragged as I forced all my friends to read this series. Ask anyone who's read his books and you'll have to gag them to get them to stop praising his books. I liked it so much that I bought two copies of the whole limited edition series including Armageddon Blues which is not part of the series but is great for it's ideas. The writing in Armageddon Blues is not quite as polished as Emerald Eyes and the others but it's still a great read.

This is one of those rare stories that takes place in the near enough future with characters that are real enough that you really care what happens to them, and you have a sense that this could be the future that we will all experience in our lifetime. It's full of things like a reverse microwave to instantly cool things down that you wish you had in your own kitchen.

If you can't afford to buy this book go ask your local library to buy it. Just make sure that you READ this book!

The Armageddon Blues
Published in Paperback by Bantam Books (April, 1988)
Author: Daniel Keys Moran
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One of the most unusual sci-fi books I've ever read
Of the books by Daniel Keys Moran that I've read, this is easily my favorite. He builds a complex world, and at times, the way the story is going isn't clear, but I think it's worth the effort. This was, at the time it was published, a critically hailed book by some - I remember reading a review of it in one of the free newsletters offered at Waldenbooks - and I read it as a teenager during the height of the Cold War, so the future it predicted seemed all too easily imagined. It still is a good book, unusual in its premise, and, as I've rarely seen it in a used book store, worth finding and keeping.

This book confirms Moran as an unusual writer... (!)
Moran became a cult writer with the publication of his first book, the Armageddon Blues. Let me give you some idea of what this book is like. Good? Well, I think that some readers will find enjoyment in reading it. But Moran doesn't seek the middle ground with his readers. I found it disjointed and hard to read as a continuous narrative, with some clever ideas. Unusual features of the Armageddon Blues include: (A)its presentation, in short, punchy vignettes that feel like single scenes rather than full blown chapters. Chapters?! (B) A sense of some grand, plotted machinery occurring someplace offstage in the universe, with aliens and stuff. Drama?! Only the personal stuff, about Jalian D'Arsenette y ken Selvren, his female lead, and a couple of others, guys. She doesn't like them. (C) Time travel into the past through a negative entropy universe-- where time flows backwards, basically. The best thing about this book is the tightly focused scenes, some being pretty exciting. At times I found myself laughing and saying WHAT IS HIS PLAN HERE? The book gives you just a hint of what he has planned for later books in this timeline, which he calls the Great Wheel of Existence. This book is not a part of his Continuing Time series. The Continuing Time is set on the Great Wheel, but it gets better kudos than the Armageddon Blues.

the armageddon blues
The Armageddon Blues, I found was incomparable to nearly any other sci-fi title I have ever read. It is replete with concepts and implications of science and reality that astound the imagination and occasionally are quite hilarious. Though the actual form of the book can be a bit rough and difficult to read at times, the content more then makes up for this. The "enemy of entropy" Georges Vezina driving on the road, with the stereo, heater, and air conditioner all simultaneously operating, left me laughing for minutes. An excellent book, by an excellent imaginative mind.

The Ring
Published in Hardcover by Doubleday (October, 1988)
Authors: Daniel Keys Moran, William Stewart, Joanne Nelsen, and Daniel Keys Moran
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Great book, with tragedy but the right sort of ending
I loved this book, which is unusual for one that is an adaptation of a screenplay. Perhaps it's because it hasn't made it to the movie screen yet. It has the scale that normally requires at least 3 volumes, but it is all in one book. The best of scifi. Comparable to A Plague of Angels by Sheri S Tepper

Classic! One of Keys best!
It has been a while, but this novel is still seared into my memory. It brings to mind so many genres from modern screen epics, to comic books, to the "Ring" opera it honors, and the even earlier myths. The characters, storytelling and action are broad yet detailed and beautifully drawn. It's one of those books that you make you so sorry you've reached the last page. If you like space opera - snap it up. Steve Berman, UCLA

what it is about
since no one else will say what this is about... this is the story of earth after a hugely destructive war, there is only the valley left that is not covered with water, and this valley is controlled by the Rulers, genetic perfections who can teleport themselves, and who dominate the lower class human Workers because of this ability, which the humans lack. into this place is born Cain, a clairvoyant, a telepath of unusual ability , he is a wonderfully portrayed character, a man too hard and too focused on his leadership of the rebellion of the humans against the rulers to see anything else, until a small orphaned boy is left in Cain's care--a boy whose unknown heritage will decide the outcome of this war over freedom and revenge. (by the way the ring doesnt really have much to do with the story, its just a good setting for the introduction) this book is sweeping and honest, Cain isn't nice or kind , but neither is he evil , you must decide who is right in this book , it isn't handed to you. like so much of real life, none of this is black and white, just shades of gray

The Flame Key (Keys to Paradise, Book I)
Published in Paperback by Tor Books (April, 1987)
Author: Daniel Moran
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The Flame Key
Having been extremely taken with "The Last Dancer", I've been trying to get my hands on Moran's other books. This is an interesting story that moves along very quickly (too quickly in my opinion), but there isn't the same kind of character development here. It comes off as kind of simple in comparison. Maybe incomplete is more the word because the book is so short and leaves you with the desire to pick up the next one right away. Entertaining, but why didn't they put all three into one volume!

Key of Ice and Steel (Keys to Paradise, Book 3)
Published in Paperback by Tor Books (May, 1988)
Authors: Daniel Moran and Robert E. Vardeman
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Good conclusion
I had read the first two books in the series years before I found this one (through Amazon.com). As I started the book I came to recall the characters and why I constantly searched for the concluding book to the series. This is not great literature, but it is a good solid fantasy tale and has the added benefit in today's epic fantasy literative world of being short. All three books together would not equal one Robert Jordan WOT novel. So, if you are looking for a nice series that can be completed very quickly - this is for you - good luck finding them all!

The Skeleton Lord's Key (Keys to Paradise, Book II)
Published in Paperback by Tor Books (August, 1987)
Author: Daniel Moran
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Terminal Freedom
Published in Paperback by Quiet Vision (Duplicate of QVIS9). (February, 2002)
Author: Daniel Keys Moran
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