Kodai Okuda

When I judge a Science Fiction novel I do so using the Campbellian model.
That model being the kinds of science fiction that John Woods Campbell of Astounding magazine published and/or wrote.
In short, I determine whether it's Hard SF or not and will rate it accordingly.
I dislike Soft SF (unless it is exceptionally done), and have a personal preference for Military Science Fiction, thus I usually give my rating based on how close a novel/story is to Hard SF verses Soft.

Tobias Cabral's Night Music meets most of the criteria for a Hard SF novel in my opinion.

Basic overview (no spoilers):

This story covers a future expedition to Mars by an international team. The team arrives at Mars during an upheaval of the entire planet's surface by an event caused by a force originating from outside our solar system. With the fate of the first expedition to Mars hanging in the balance, the portion of the team in Martian orbit sends a lander down to investigate. What they find is more than they bargained for.

My critique:

The Good.

The technical details and science within the book are top notch and presented in a real-world fashion that makes the entire mission believable.
Character development is quite good, the characters are well rounded, and readers should be able to relate to them exceptionally well.
The dialogue is smooth, enjoyable, and easy to understand.
The writing overall is done in a more cranial style that is akin to Arthur C. Clarke or Asimov and is very entertaining for those who enjoy Hard-SF.

The Bad.

This story is clearly not for anyone who doesn't enjoy detailed explanations of realistic spacecraft or space science in general.
The story lacks a "clickable" table of contents, and there is no NCX file for diabled readers.

The Ugly.

This story could use an editor to polish up a few things, but nothing major or critical.

Available at:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Music-eb...9331128&sr=1-1