David R. Smith (5)
Author of First Flight (The Dark Eagles)
For other authors named David R. Smith, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
David R. Smith holds a Ph. D. in electrical engineering from GWU, an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in physics from Randolph-Macon College. Smith is a professor at George Washington University (GWU) and a consultant for SAIC among other show more companies. 050 show less
Works by David R. Smith
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Smith, David Randall
- Gender
- male
Members
Reviews
Things I liked:
Interesting and unique storyline.
Tarc was a great character – honest, loyal, brave, impulsive, and quick to anger (a trait which is always getting him in trouble.)
The author has done a great deal of work providing maps, charts, and sketches to explain the world of Fundautum. These helped this reader to picture some of the details (like the scoop sails.) Plus, I love maps!
The fast-moving, adventure-packed, danger-filled second half of the book. When these characters set their show more minds to something, they stuck with it. I lived in constant fear that they would be caught.
Things I found lacking:
It started slowly and it took me a long time to figure out what was going on. It seemed at first to be a series of incidents about Tarc and his family. The action and page turning really started when Tarc went to the academy. Although some of the details in the beginning are necessary to the end, the book would have been stronger if we had gotten to the main story problem sooner.
I would have liked to know more about the Gars. They were one dimensional to me – just bad guys.
This read like a middle grade novel, but the main character is in his twenties – far too old to interest younger teens.
This was a great adventure story when I finally got into it. My suggestion: stay with it. It just gets better and better!
Hope the series will be available in ebook format soon.
I received this book in a giveaway from the Goodread’s First Reads program. show less
Interesting and unique storyline.
Tarc was a great character – honest, loyal, brave, impulsive, and quick to anger (a trait which is always getting him in trouble.)
The author has done a great deal of work providing maps, charts, and sketches to explain the world of Fundautum. These helped this reader to picture some of the details (like the scoop sails.) Plus, I love maps!
The fast-moving, adventure-packed, danger-filled second half of the book. When these characters set their show more minds to something, they stuck with it. I lived in constant fear that they would be caught.
Things I found lacking:
It started slowly and it took me a long time to figure out what was going on. It seemed at first to be a series of incidents about Tarc and his family. The action and page turning really started when Tarc went to the academy. Although some of the details in the beginning are necessary to the end, the book would have been stronger if we had gotten to the main story problem sooner.
I would have liked to know more about the Gars. They were one dimensional to me – just bad guys.
This read like a middle grade novel, but the main character is in his twenties – far too old to interest younger teens.
This was a great adventure story when I finally got into it. My suggestion: stay with it. It just gets better and better!
Hope the series will be available in ebook format soon.
I received this book in a giveaway from the Goodread’s First Reads program. show less
Good book by a first time author. A few holes will have readers scratching their heads, but overall a very entertaining read. Really looking forward to a second book in the series that will likely be more polished.
Statistics
- Works
- 1
- Members
- 11
- Popularity
- #857,861
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 34
- Languages
- 1