Spinward Fringe Broadcast 4: Frontline

A few interesting twists and unexpected turns kept the book very interesting. The insight into the individual characters is fantastic. The ending of the book makes you want the next book to see what happens.

This book wandered here and there. Central characters well developed, but too many things just did not go together. Needs a good editor. Preceding works had a great deal more focus and were better written.

Up until Broadcast 4, I've really enjoyed this series but I find myself struggling to finish this book. I'm currently at 75%.
Whether from a lack of proper editing by the publisher or gives-a-craps by the writer, this book is in need of some serious grammar checking. I've discovered a new master of the run-on sentence. Its extremely distracting.

I will finish Broadcast 4 and hope for better in Broadcast 5.

Update:
Just learned the technical term for what is wrong with the writing in this volume: comma splicing.

In Broadcast 4, we move from more isolated problems to a galactic scale confrontation, and the crew of the Triton as expected are wrapped up in it from many angles. Here I think we have reached what I call the "Two Towers" stage of a series - in Tolkien's epic series, the middle section is the most difficult section to get through. We have exposed the plot lines, set the characters and the stage, and generally in the middle ugly things happen to our heroes and the plot bogs down before we resolve things in the latter stages of the series. By no means should you avoid this book, however, as the bog is not nearly as bad as the one in "Two Towers," and we meet some interesting new characters. Lalonde strikes a really nice balance with his work - there is enough tech to please the hard SF crowd, but the plot moves along with a lot of action and plenty of soap-opera style interpersonal conflict. A very worthwhile read, folks - just remind yourself that as things become dark, eventually the light must also come...

I've literally "just" started reading this book and I'm finding grammatical errors abound! I find the writing to be as great as the previous books, but in places the grammatical errors interrupt the flow of my reading, and decreases my enjoyment. :-( As I read on, the errors became less. One significant error was the use of, for instance, Jack and I, when it should have been Jack and me. I is not always appropriate, and this author uses I exclusively.

There is a website about Spinward Fringe, with more info on this series. In some cases the books were a bit too fantastical, but sometimes that's part of a good sci-fi! I love book series in general and this one was a good, easy read and lead me to look for the next in the series (how many in the series? Well I've read 6 and I'm expecting there is a 7 out there or coming - I'll be looking for that next).

Everytime this book gets going - it quits!! Again - yap, yap, yap. He wanted something different and got it. The trouble is he lost what hooked us to begin with. He should have stuck with what was working instead of trying to be different. He could have wqritten two different series - one we were hooked on and one to make himself happy. I am having trouble getting through this book - I'm just not getting hooked.

I am thoroughly enjoying reading the Spinward Fringe series. I forgive the author the few typos or grammatical inconsistencies as this is a huge tale. In my reading an original and believable universe. Imaginative, engaging and I can't put them down. Who nees sleep anyway.

If you're looking for nonstop action, plot twists, fun characters and an overall enjoyable reading experience--this is a book for you. My only complaint is that I wish someone had proofed it, even one time through.

I READ all the way to here straight through. have already bought the next book and will get to it soon. took a break from the story to check out a different author but missed the good ol' sci-fi within 3 chapters of the new detective novel. Definetly a fan

This was poorly written. The grammar was atrocious; the plot was ill-conceived; the story did not flow smoothly at all. Subplots which showed promise were neglected or orphaned altogether. This was a sad letdown from the first three stories and was a harbinger of what could be expected of the remainder of the series.

Have enjoyed the series to this point but I think it is becoming a bit mired down. I am OK with some spelling errors and lack of consistency that other reviewers have pointed out. It is the characters and story line that are losing steam.
I have purchased broadcast five and will give series one more chance.

I really enjoyed the previous Fringe novels but this one seemed to take a nose dive. It is full of unnecessary fluff. Too much about clothing and fashion (seriously, enough about the vac suits already!), decor, dating and silly dialog that does not contribute to the story. I think this was just filler to sell more books in the series. Not sure that I'll read any further books in this series.

great series. couldn't wait to move on with each book. well written. well conceived. good characters. a little bit too easy for them to keep reappearing after they had been knocked off. Still liked the story.

The Spinward Fringe Broadcast series is a good read. In this book there were a lot of grammatical errors and typos. Other than that the story line continues with some interesting twists and slants on the main charactors

The story is quite complex,and sometimes maybe a little too far-fetched,but enjoyable all the same.

Our friends are now well developed characters facing a myriad of plot turns which keep me coming back for more

Frontline is another excellent installment in the Spinward Fringe series. The action ramps back up and some new faces are introduced while we say goodbye to others...Mr. Lalonde has created a very compelling universe here, and as others have said, a story worth seeing on the silver screen for sure.

This series started with fast paced exciting space action and sucked me in. Yet much of that momentum has been lost. This book is full of idiotic decisions that serve to do nothing more but try and fail to create dramatic situations. (Spoiler: There is no sane reason in the world for why Jonas would go to Pandem alone. The captain of the ship does not do taxi runs. It's absurd.)

The planet side events are dull, especially now that Jonas is essentially invincible. The end result is that the vast majority of the book feels like complete filler with little to no plot main advancement. The fact that characters are essentially being resurrected isn't helping this book at all and completely diminishes the sacrifices that were made and risks that were taken by the characters in the past.

This series is starting to feel like a bad TV show where each episode does nothing more than introduces some detraction and ends almost exactly where it started.