This is a very well-structured, well-written book set in an alternate version of Queen Elizabeth I's reign. The settings are finely drawn, the characters are engaging, and the plot is gripping. I reread this book about once a year just for the pleasure of it, and I snapped up this hardcover when it came out. If you like alternate history and fantasy, and don't mind them mixed together, read this book. If you just want to read about people living in Elizabethan England, read this book. And if you just have to have any book with Shakespeare as a character... you, too, have some reading ahead of you.

I'm the cover illustrator, and I don't always like everything I read. Often, even if I liked a story the first time, I don't like it when I have to read it about the fifth time to check on the color of someone's shirt. Or I start noticing the lapses in historical detail or logic or characterization.

This book I still read for pleasure, even after I finished the cover. I read a lot of alternate history, and this surely ranks among the best.

This is the best work of historical fantasy, and one of the best works of historical fiction, which I have ever read. Although the universe (an alternate history Elizabethan England where magic works and where Sydney and Marlow survived the events which killed them in our time line) is fantasy, the approach is basic science fiction "what if", extrapolated on a magical rather than physcial technology. Rather than overlaying modern concepts of magic onto their characters and history, the authors present magic as it was understood by the various classes of Tudor England, and in so doing create a world that feels like reality and avoid the one-dimensionality common to much contemporary fantasy. All this, and a great read, too.

This book is excellent. It fits into the cyberpunk genre and runs alongside authors such as Neil Stephenson and William Gibson. The story is set on Persephone, where everyone lives under the planet's surface, except for outcasts and interplanetary cargo ships. Various castes, characters and lifestyles are clearly portrayed. Vivid imagery is presented surrounding the birth of true digital sentience.

This book was the first I've read by Melissa Scott, and I was not disappointed. I had no idea that it was a sequel to an earlier work, and it read like a new piece. The story follows three characters seperately and does a fine job of keeping you interested in the different aspects of their lives. My favorite was Fortune, the dancer. Celeste was quite a surprise at the end, reminiscient of Arthur C. Clarke's Hal 9000. I recommend this book to any science fiction fan.

I truly enjoyed this long awaited sequel to Dreamships. I felt angered and betrayed by Manfred's actions in Dreamships. Reverdy Jian should not have been used and violated that way. I was not disappointed by Dreaming Metal. Once I began this book, I could not put it down. I was intrigued by the changing perspective, with the same event being described by different eyes. Now there are more questions about the enigmatic Red as well as new people to worry about. I am now eagerly waiting to see what becomes of Celeste. Very few authors are able to engage the reader as Melissa Scott. The genre of cyberpunk is full of writers of incoherant technobabble who violate their own universal laws and throw in jargon to cover a weak storyline. Ms Scott does none of this. This is but the latest volume in a wonderful body of work that is enjoyable and inspiring. Now, if only I could get a skinsuit..

Oonawassee Summer is a fabulous book! My fourth grade students simply loved it! It is chalked full of knowledge about Florida and life on the river. My students' related with the book's two young characters,Addie and Tanner. They loved the sense of adventure and all the mystery and suspense. A definite must read for children ages 8-12. You will never feel the same about dangling your feet off a pier into murky river water again.

As a Florida native having spent some time on the rivers in the backwoods, I re-lived the sights, sounds, smells and excitment of discovering Florida's natural treasures with Addie and Tanner at Uncle Henry's bait shop on the Oonawasee! Melissa Fourney captures with lucious details the same kinds of people and places I remember from my childhood visits to the river. Her story gives life to the REAL Florida which is rapidly disappearing. Teachers will love the story's vivid descriptions for classroom reading, along with the wonderful illustrated glossary of fabulous Florida facts!

In Oonawassee Summer, Addie and Tanner (two twelve-year-old cousins) are spending the summer with their grandma and great-uncle on the backs of the Oonawassee River in Southern Florida. That is where they engage in exploration, discovery, and find intrigue and adventure. Although the river is fictional, Melissa Forney's fun and engaging novel is enhanced with a wealth of factual information about jon boats, river otters, cypress trees, herons, alligators, cast nets, and other fascinating details of life in southern Florida. Highly recommended reading for boys and girls ages 8 to 12.

I can only speculate as to the past-life Melissa Scott might have enjoyed as a loyal soldier-officer in the Macedonian army of the Great Alexander, but in what is arguably her best short work, A Choice Of Destinies, the reader is certainly swept into the passion, place, and time of this remarkable man, as Ms. Scott unfolds an epic tapestry that presents Alexander and his generals with a choice they never had in Antiquity: an opportunity to embark upon the trans-Oxus campaign, or face the formidable power of the early Roman republic. An engaging read for lovers of classical studies as well as the science fiction/fantasy enthusiast, A Choice Of Destinies will fire the imaginations of all who've ever wondered what might have been if we had only chosen to zig, instead of zagging, on the slippery slope of Time.

I thought that this book was really good. I did a research paper using this book and I'm sure I'll get an A. The beginning of Francis Scott Key's life was interesting. I was surprised to learn that Francis Scott Key defended Aaron Burr. The book gave perfect information on how he got his idea for his poem that became The Star Spangled Banner. I thought the pictures were good and I promise that anyone else who reads this book will like it.

This is one of my favorite books ever. Melissa Scott approaches science fiction with the eye for detail that is the hallmark of the best historical writers. We explore the world of Orestes with her characters, especially Captain Leith Morrigan and Trey Maturin. A stranger to Orestes, Captain Morrigan is drawn into a complex web of intrigue and war, while Trey, a licensed Mediator, is pulled into deadly fights between clan factions. This may seem like a typical plotline, but Scott handles it with the same kind of delicate detail one would expect from Mary Renault. (I re-read this book every year, just like the Persian Boy.) As the clan conflicts turns into open war, we are treated to a beautifully written escape and space travel sequence. (My heart is always in my mouth as Pipe Major makes her final lift from the field at Destiny!) Strongly written female characters are another plus in this hidden treasure!

This is quite a wonderful book. Intriguing characters, a good plot, an unusual world-view (yes, there are some sci-fi cliches but they do not interfere much with the story, i think) and good details to keep this futuristic world real for you. I read it with great interest, and would like to keep on reading any new books from Melissa Scott.

Gamers will recognize the dungeon and dragons quality of this future world where scenes from a known set of characters are acted out across galaxies while a gamesmasters on a politically repressive planet is threatened in "real life". Game play and "real life" play mix creditibly here to create an fabric of tales and backdrops that are also tales.

In this book instead of pro sports everyone takes part in a great inter stellar virtual reality game that is awesome. U can tell that the author is really into gaming and she describes the whole gaming system so that you feel like your playing in it yourself. Very highly recommended.

This a great reference book for those interested in the mystery of the LBH. The digs followed a grass fire that provided an opportunity for archaeological excavations. Helps lend credence to the accuracy of markers, IDs the 40 odd bogus markers with Custer and indications of cause of death and mutilations based on skeleton remains. Also lends proof that the latter burials were haphazard at best and guess work at identifying the dead. Great gems in the possible identification of the scout Mitch Bouyer and a trooper skeleton far from the field that may have been trying to escape. Great detail on weapons used and provides evidence that the Indians had significant fire power with repeaters. Also, covers Reno-Benteen field and provides detail on possible military and Indian positions. Deep ravine is still a mystery, why couldn't remains of the 28 fallen troopers be found? If you have a Custer library, this is a great book to have.

Richard Allen Fox has the ability to look at the physical evidence and make his theories about what happened either mesh with history or make us rethink what history says about the event. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to look at the battle from the physical remains left on the site.

Point of Dreams is the plain little sister of the delightful fantasy/mystery Point of Hopes. Though the books share background, genre, and main characters, Dreams just doesn't shine the way Hopes did.

The plot of Dreams is fairly weak. It's hard to write SF/mystery that obeys all the rules of traditional mysteries, and though Barnett and Scott succeeded in Hopes, they fail here - the mystery is remarkably easy to solve and is transparently clear by the book's midpoint.

Also, the setting, which was easily the best part of Hopes, is in Dreams just a backdrop for a (relatively) normal theater production. Hopes established a fascinating world. Dreams inhabits a tiny portion of it.

The real problem, though, is the further development of the main characters. At the start of Dreams, Rathe and Eslingen are living together, having gone from unexpressed mutual interest to an ongoing, committed relationship between books. Scott and Barnett, in choosing not to show the early stages of the romance, are making an unusual, daring, and ultimately unsuccessful choice. They can't, or won't, write the relationship convincingly without the early bits. (I love Melissa Scott's writing, and I honestly believe she *could* do this right, but that only makes this book's failure worse.)

In Dreams, it's hard to believe that Rathe and Eslingen actually love each other. In the brief interludes they spend together, they show very little affection, let alone romantic love. The strongest emotion they seem to feel is mutual jealousy; that's not exactly proof of true love. And it doesn't help that the one passionate sequence in the book is between Rathe and an ex-lover. The intensity of that bit just underscores the absence of any such feeling between our heroes.

Despite the problems, though, the book is still a good one. Fantasy/mysteries are rare, as I said, and the book would be worth reading for that alone. Add in the marvelous setting and the light, fun writing, and Point of Dreams becomes more than worth the purchase price. I just hope that the third book in the series reveals more kinship with Hopes than with Dreams.

If you have not read "Point of Dreams" or its prequel, "Point of Hopes," give yourself a treat and do so. A perfect blend of mystery, fantasy, and historical. There's something here to delight just about any reader.

In the city-state Astreiant, it is the time of the year when ghosts are visible so city lawyer Kurin Holles expected to see the apparition of his lover, but the specter fails to appear. Kurin knows the most likely reason is his beloved is magically unable to return, which leads to the conclusion that her death was caused by a murderer. Adjunct Point Nico Rathe asks his superiors for permission to investigate the death, especially since the victim possessed a copy of the spellbook The Alphabet of Desire. However, the assignment goes to a subordinate Voillemin, who intends to do nothing in order to further his career. Nico decides to serendipitously make inquiries.

Former soldier Philip Eslingen provides weapons training to those performing in the upcoming The Alphabet of Desire midwinter festival. Soon corpses begin to appear on stage accompanied by the appearance of The Alphabet of Desire spellbook. The book provides a link back to Nico's other case, but if the cop digs too deep he will learn what death by magic means.

POINT OF DREAMS cleverly places a well-crafted murder mystery inside an enchanting fantasy tale. The cast makes this Renaissance world of magic seem real as Nico and Phillip are wonderful heroes while every hard worker has had to deal with a sycophant shirker like Voillemein. The taut story line works in such a way that fans of both genres will enjoy the plot and seek out the previous novel of Melissa Scott & Lisa A Barnett set in this realm, POINT OF HOPE.

Harriet Klausner

A well-written summary of more than a decade's analysis of battlefield archeology. Fascinating identification of several bodies from a few bones, especially those well-know persons who were found in sites other than where eyewittnesses placed them in written history. The book suffers, however, by a brief and weak synopsis that fails in its attempt to draw too-broad conclussions about the entire frontier population from a few soldiers' bones.

This was a superbly written volume outlining the archaeological reclaimation of the battlefield site of the Little Big Horn. A military archeologist (Scott), a forensic archeologist (Conner), and a forensics anthropologist (Willey) combined talents to preserve and identify the material evidence of the events that took place there after a wildfire stripped the scene of vegitation and exposed the site to erosive processes and human curiosity. The book details: 1) the history of the 7th Cavalry, including among other things, the age of the soldiers, their origin, and length of service, 2) the efforts to identify individual soldiers and the location of their fall in battle, 3) the effect of the rigorous life on the frontier on the health of the soldiers, 4) etc. I found particularly interesting the efforts to reconstruct the facial features of some of the skulls in an effort to identify the remains with specific people. This is a good text of archaeology at work.

This book describes all of the human remains found on the Little Bighorn battlefield and even gives positive identifications of a handful of them. This is also the only book where you can find analysis and information on the bones found on Reno Hill in 1958, and other bones and skeletons found from 1877 to the mid-20th century. Don't be dismayed by the scholarly subject matter - it is well-written and the prose is clear. The only criticism I must offer is the attempt to make far-reaching conclusions about 19th century American life in the West from what can be deduced from their bones. This was unconvincing because I didn't think there were enough bones available to justify any such hypotheses.