The premise: in this second book of Landon's series, years have passed since Linnea Kiaho and her lover Iain sen Paolo escaped the Cold Mind infestation on the planet Freija, since they learned that Linnea had the talent to fly. Now, they must recruit and train other Pilots, outside of the Line, because the Line refuses to acknowledge the Cold Mind invasion, and is content to let the poorer worlds rot. Linnea, who pines for her home, won't let that happen, even though the situation seems hopeless with an enemy that's impossible to destroy and allies who are content on destroying themselves.

My Rating

Give It Away: if you enjoyed the first book, The Hidden Worlds, then this is worth the cash. But if the first book gave you serious problems, I'm not sure you'll want to keep reading. There's no doubt that Landon is more comfortable here with her setting, her characters, and her story (and I do love the sense of hopelessness that pervades the story), but overall, the book didn't click for me, and it's because I had trouble buying character motivation and swallowing the supposed changes the characters underwent during the course of the book. Maybe it's middle-book syndrome, if this is in fact a trilogy (I don't know, but the third book, The Dark Reaches will be released June 30, 2009), and I do like the fact that while I don't buy the character changes, I do buy the changes made in the overall world and political system. Also notable, but not affecting my enjoyment in a negative manner, was how this second installment doesn't count at all as SF-Romance, whereas I felt the first book, The Hidden Worlds, did. The relationship between Linnea and Iain is far more strained and also more believable in this book, and that was refreshing, as it allowed the author to really focus on the bigger picture. And while this book didn't click for me, I'm still interested in reading forward, in getting the third book, especially since its premise looks like it'll really push the story forward. And I will also say that this is a trilogy (or series) worth checking out, but you definitely need to start with the first book, The Hidden Worlds, because while The Cold Minds tells its own complete story, I feel readers will be lost without the first book under their belt.

Review style: this review is divided into two sections, what I liked and what I didn't. I'll avoid specific spoilers. So, if you want to read the full review, just hop over to my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Kristin Landon's THE COLD MINDS ( )

[Amy] I was, to some extent, reserving judgment on the prior volume until I'd read this one. It is, after all, better to judge the whole story rather than just the first half (at least, I think it's over now). Well, I've read this one now, and my assessment of "decent airplane book" probably still holds. Unfortunately, I wasn't on a plane when I read this one, and so I was rather less enamored of it.

I find the protagonists and antagonists alike unconvincing as such, though a few of them are at least believable as people. None of their plot-relevant actions seemed to have much weight behind them, and it was almost as if I were watching an early rehearsal or something, when all the actors were saying their lines just fine, but didn't have the intonation, character motivations, or the blocking down yet.

The Cold Minds don't seem very good at what they do, either, or perhaps I'm missing the point of them. If they're supposed to be nano, though, making nanozombies is a damned inefficient way of turning people into machine-useful things, especially if you can't do it well enough to make them still act like people and therefore work undercover. I do, however, grant that they are OMG CREEPY.

In short, I don't resent the time I spent reading it, but don't expect I'll be re-reading it any time soon.
[http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/zenos-library/2009/03/the_cold_minds_kristin_landon.html]