Search - Ship of Fools

Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo
I haven't read anything from this author before but the back of the book sounded interesting. The first person narative is great with Bartolomeo, being unique in himself, and talking about everything around him.

I won't say the book is well written (and it could be me, this isn't usually my style of sci-fi and its a new author for me), but it draws you in and leaves you in the end with a chill down your spine. I'm not a big fan of horror but this one had a twist a "Sci-Fi / Mystery / Horror". The story leaves you with questions or maybe the author allows you to draw your own conclusions. Sometimes this is good and others leaves you wondering.

The book had kind of a creepy feeling about it, and at times an almost "Event Horizons" feel if i can compare it to that movie/book. The book has its internal power-struggles and unique personal situations, on a huge spaceship that has been in space for centuries.The ship has run into problems in the past and is tracking down signals. What they find might be more than what they expected. Enjoy

I really, strongly enjoyed this book. This has been my favorite science fiction book I've read, at the very least, in the last 6 months.

While reading the book, the thought that this would make a splendid movie was omnipresent. The fact that this book is science fiction is almost a coincidental thing - more than that, it's a good mystery and an exciting read with lots of different well-written parts, like: a plot worth spending time on, and a mystery you're interested in finding more about; a main character you're both interested in and root for, and surrounding characters that you're interested in and that complement the story; scary parts of the book that are terrifying thoughts more than bloody depictions of violence and gore; interesting discussion of religion without going overboard about it, and discussion of other "big ideas".

That said, there are some bad parts as well. This book, at +/- 350 pages would have been better if it were longer. While the surrounding characters are interesting and well-written, we don't get to see enough of them. Characters come in and are dropped just as quickly. Though, really - the biggest problem with this book is that it reads like a good movie, and not necessarily a good book. I could go further into why, but it will take away from reading the book and being engrossed in the story.

This is solid 4 star science fiction that I wish had been twice as long and it's recommended to any science fiction fan, or anybody interested in an exciting and quick read. This is a book that would be ideal for an airplane (for me).

Easy reading, kept my interest. Has suspense and scary sections when exploring the alien ship. I enjoyed this book.