Winter World

A fun ride, this is carefully straddling the line of being good, hard sci-fi, and a script for a sci-fi adventure movie. It's not quite a script treatment, but the characters are a little flat, however they are better than a lot of classic sci-fi. I enjoyed the concepts, and the intrigue kept me reading, so overall it's pretty good--I am rounding up to 4, and I am interested in reading more from the series.

I found this quite enjoyable. It's what I call a "procedural story" - you have a clear start, but you never know where the story might go next. It's about following a process - usually a process of discovery - and going wherever the next steps take you.
I enjoy these kinds of stories because anything can happen and you can never predict what's going to happen next. At the same time, every action is itself entertaining: building something, researching, preparing for an event. Every step of the journey is engrossing and rewarding.

The premise is that the Earth is going through an unexpected ice age, so a couple of probes are sent into space to investigate if the sun is putting out less heat in general, or if it's just a local problem. Turns show more out aliens are involved. This is the first chapter. From this point on, a team is assembled and tasked to investigate and possibly fix the problem. Every step they take poses new questions: What do you need to go to space? How do you establish first contact? If necessary, how do you fight a superior race?

Why not 5*? Because the middle is a bit drawn out and the author pulls the rug from under you in the last couple of chapters. Having read the whole trilogy, I understand why those things were necessary, but they could have been staged a bit better. show less

In the near future of Winter World Earth faces a climate crisis, but it's not global warming. In fact, it's just the opposite - a new and inexplicable ice age is upon us. Soon though, scientists have sent probes into space to take readings of solar radiation and they discover that a mysterious unnatural object is moving toward the sun and blocking it's light and energy from falling to Earth.

Thus begins the race to understand what the object is, who or what sent it here, and what humanity can do to end the "Long Winter" that has set in.

A.G. Riddle has had great success as a self-published author with a number of books under his belt, and with several of them optioned for TV or movies. As the action unfolded in Winter World I could easily show more imagine its adaptation as a TV series.

Riddle does a great job with character development and with the overall plot line. The science in the book is strong in some parts (the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body) and weak in others (would object(s) of size sufficient to block the sun and cause a new ice age really require us to send probes into space to detect them?). He also has a couple of big teasers that are only revealed at the end of the book, and for me both were kind of obvious and a bit of a let down.

Overall though the book is fun and entertaining, with likely appeal for lots of sci-fi fans. I rate Winter World Three Stars ⭐⭐⭐. show less

I was frustrated with Books 1 and 2 because they left things unexplained. I was pleasantly surprised to find all of it explained in the last book. And boy what an explanation it is, a total brain twister that will hurt your brain.

I gave all 3 books 5 stars because I couldn't stop reading them. Mr Riddle found a way to keep me engaged throughout the entire series. He always found a way to end a chapter with a cliffhanger that made me want to keep reading to discover what happened, only to find another cliffhanger. Seems frustrating and I guess in a way it was, but in a good way. It kept me entertained throughout the entire series.

A sexist sci fi alt earth adventure. The book starts with the female commander of the international space station working a serious issue and at the end of the book she has become a 50s housewife as she runs into the hero's arms after he comes home from saving the world.

I loved the Atlantis gene series and his other books but this was no where near as good. It is missing some world building, there are too many characters, and the heroine turns into Molly maid, the finale was rushed And the big dramatic reveal was a let down.I

3 stars for unrealized story and because I like the author.

Is energy is the most precious commodity in the universe? If you believe a mysterious entity known only as “the Grid” that seems to travel throughout the galaxy collecting the energy of stars that would be true. According to the ‘Grid”, energy must be conserved and used with the greatest efficiency. And so the grid began harvesting the energy produced by Earth’s star, Sol. Earth became an icy snowball; humans, an endangered species.

Dr. James Sinclair, a trained physician and roboticist, is elected by NASA to deal with the Grid to the disgust of his arch enemy, egotist, manipulator and fellow roboticist, Dr. Richard Chandler. Combining talents with Emma, the endangered commander of the International Space Station, another show more roboticist and a Russian Cosmonaut, James undertakes the task of first contact, in a hostile environment, with an advance alien intelligence determined to harvest the energy of our sun and drive mankind extinct.

Along the line, James encounters love, physical debilitation, assaults by his detractors and the pressure of being the last hope for the human race. Is he smart enough, determined enough and strong enough to pull it off? Can the human race bring enough material, effort and technology to bear on the problem to defeat the “Harvester”?

These questions will keep readers of Winter World up through the night turning page after page. A great read for any sci-fi, action adventure and apocalyptic fans. show less

Thought I was going to read an Apocalyptic-ish novel where the Earth has froze over, but it turned out to be a Science Fiction-ish novel about how the Earth has froze over; with lots of holes in the plot.