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The Underground by Ty Pape- Book Review

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

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Summary

In a not-so-distant future apocalyptic world, everything known has been thrown into a whirlwind of despair. Life as Josh Kimbo knows it is lived in a deep underground bunker built by the government nearly a century prior. Ten years of living in a secure bunker have driven Josh and those around him to their brink. Josh is forced to decide whether to escape from an authoritarian leader’s firm grip or risk breathing the “toxic” air above ground. Josh not only faces the people whose purpose is to put him down but his biggest enemy continues to be himself. Throughout his journey, Josh not only battles outside forces, he battles against his own inner demons to discover who he is. Love, fear, pain, comfort, action, and tragedy drive Josh’s story past anything that he thought was possible for himself. Physically and mentally.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

REVIEW

Josh Kimbo leads a simple life in the Underground. Ten years ago, there was a great disaster and since that time Josh and his brother have lived in a relatively safe space underground, protected from the radiation above and doing what they can to live a meager existence. Josh tends the garden in the underground, helping to grow the food to feed the people living there. It’s an important job that helps him to feel fulfilled but he still has the sense that there is more to life. The community is strictly regulated by the Governor of the Underground. Any infraction against the rules leads to punishment up tp and including execution. While this system seems to work well enough, there are signs the community is questioning what the future will hold. When Josh’s friend Reek is taken away by the Governor, it’s inevitable Josh will be taken next. Josh’s brother has a bold plan to get them out of the Underground. But, even if Josh makes it out, he doesn’t know what kind of harsh conditions he’ll have to face and if he will be able to survive. Will he give in to his fear or will he survive to help those he knows and loves?

The Underground is at times reminiscent of The City of Ember in setting but does tell a unique story. There are some intriguing action scenes and the reader gets to know Josh quite well as a character. While the author does a decent job of putting the story together, there are times where there is more telling than showing. There is also a bit too much head hopping in some scenes for my taste but overall this doesn’t detract too much from the story. The book truly picks up in the last third of the story and has a few surprises by the end.

If you like post-apocalyptic books like The Hunger Games, The City of Ember, or Divergent, you will likely find this worth reading.

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The Movement (Time Corrector Series Book 2) – Book Review

The Movement by Avi Datta

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

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SUMMARY

ACROSS TIME AND REALITY, THIS IS WHERE WE WILL FIND EACH OTHER.

In this mind-bending sequel, The Movement finds absolute genius and the prophesized time corrector living the life of his dream. His AI firm is booming, he’s in better control of his powers, and Akane is with him after all this time. But, there are gaps in his memory and a new enemy, Vandal, is hell-bent on destroying everyone and everything in Vincent’s life.

Vincent works frantically to stop him, but Vandal is always one step ahead with a sinister smile and blood on his hands. When Vandal comes after Akane, Vincent realizes there is only one way to protect her. Alter her reality so that she never meets Vincent.

To set things right, Vincent finds himself back at the core of time and reality, unveiling secrets from his past that reshaped his reality as he knew it. It only takes a moment to change everything. Alternate realities collide, and unfathomable powers and greeds unwind in this gripping new saga of the Time Corrector Series.

REVIEW

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In the first volume of The Time Corrector series, Dr. Vincent Abajian, saw one of the only people who cared about him slip away lost to time. Vincent dedicated his life and all his resources to finding Akame. But in the process he also found Emika who he developed a romantic relationship with. Meanwhile his breakthroughs in AI technology and time travel created enemies he was unaware of, causing ripple effects that would sweep him and everything he cares about just out of his reach.

In The Movement we get a new perspective on several of the events from the first book and more of the puzzle of Vincent’s past is revealed. He’s now torn between Akame who he tried to rescue for more than thirty years and Emika, the mother of his child.

While Vincent struggles to put together lost memories and get a better understanding of his time powers, a new threat named Vandal is on the horizon. Dr. Abajian, Emika, Akame and everyone else in the little circle of brilliant scientists and business leaders are under threat. Vincent will be forced to use all skill, brilliance and cunning to outsmart his enemy while keeping those he loves safe. But doing the right thing sometimes means losing everything.

The Movement is the rare sequel that not only matches but perhaps outshines the original. Avi Datta has proven to be an exceptionally skilled writer, able to handle both deep human connection and incredible action sequences.

The story is not linear but still comes together with a sensible conclusion. A book similar to this would be The Time Traveller’s Wife, although Datta provides much more action than that book does.

If you love books capable of telling a non-linear story but still wrapping things up perfectly, The Movement is the book for you.

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Deadheading – Book Review

Deadheading by Paul Cristo

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

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SUMMARY

Lewis’s life changes forever after waking up one morning to find the world’s population just gone. Stranded without food or water, he’s forced to use ingenuity to survive, foraging resources from the desolate city around him.

Until he discovers he’s not alone.

Lewis is threatened by a violent gang of gun-wielding scavengers led by a deranged madman. He learns these men are harvesting survivors, inflicting slavery and torture for a horrifying purpose. Outmanned and outgunned, Lewis and some newfound friends must band together, employing their collective wit and cunning against a deadly foe to avoid being killed. Or worse… captured.

DEADHEADING is a post-apocalyptic journey of survival, ingenuity, and a dollop of vengeance.

REVIEW

Lewis is an average loner. He’s living a fairly solitary life, hanging out at home, watching television, eating convenience meals and peanut butter cups. But around him, the world begins to change. A sickness permeates the globe and most of humanity dies off as a result.

Somehow, Lewis has survived on his own, unscathed watching it all unfold on television. Until there is no television. Or supermarkets. Or anything else you’d find in a modern civilized city. Including food and water. Lewis finally has to go out to scavenge food and water for himself in order to survive. It’s a difficult situation and potentially lethal.

It gets worse once Lewis finds other survivors. There are gun wielding lunatics who are oppressing other survivors through slavery and torture so they can live a comfortable existence. Lewis has found a way to grow his own food and take care of himself so these other people are a threat to everything Lewis has.

After an encounter with one of these groups, Lewis comes to find there are still some rational people left in the world. Now it’s on Lewis and this group of survivors to defend themselves from the gun toting madmen.

Overall, Deadheading does a good job of portraying what life would likely be like in a city devastated by illness almost to the point of zero population left. The beginning takes a little bit of time to get the story going but once it does there is plenty of action happening. A nice touch is that Lewis does not instantly go from being a couch potato to an action hero. The author, Paul Cristo, shows us how Lewis does his research and learns his way out of situations.

There are a few moments in the book that stretch the imagination a bit, but those are few and far between so they are ultimately forgivable.

If you like post apocalyptic fiction like The Walking Dead, Divergent, or The Hunger Games but without any supernatural elements and a story more grounded in reality, Deadheading is the book for you.

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Daemon Rises – Book Review

Daemon Rises by Christopher M. Knight

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

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SUMMARY

BOOK TWO OF THE REMNANT TRILOGY

THE CONSORTIUM IS ADVANCING

Encroaching upon the once-hidden world at the edge of Sol, scouring through thousands of kilometres of the void in search of some long-forgotten threat. It’s a threat that very few know of, that even fewer dare speak of, but it’s an essential piece in the puzzle of probability that the artificial god was designed to solve. What the Thread cannot comprehend, is whether or not that piece will fit.

BASTION IS CHANGING

Evolving, and not just in the fearful preparation that had overcome the isolated civilisation upon the arrival of two strange foreigners. While the Lu’um frantically prepare for a threat that doesn’t seem real, the planet they call home is preparing itself for something even bigger. Something that even the Consortium are not ready for.

THE DAEMON WAITS IN STASIS

A long and silent slumber that hasn’t been broken in centuries. It’s a daemon that slaughtered hundreds, maimed thousands, and carved an entire starship into submission. With its primary function fulfilled, the daemon now sits in dormancy, destined to stay there until the end of time. Unless someone is foolish enough to wake it.

REVIEW

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Following straight on from the events of Bastion Awakens, the second book in the series, Daemon Rises takes us into the heart of battles both physical and philosophical. While many of the characters from the first book have been separated or changed significantly from where they started in the first book, we still are able to check in on them and how they fare in this volume.

In the last book a God carved from ones and zeroes woke. But the deeper truth of what it is might just be even more shocking.

Much like the first book, this one takes a while to get your bearings to understand the larger picture of what is going on but once you do, the payoff is well worth the read.

This is a giant space epic with a huge cast of characters so at times it can be hard to keep everyone straight. It would have been nice if near the beginning of the book there might have been a bit of a summary or recap of events just to refresh readers memories but this is only a minor complaint. As you read through the book the story becomes more and more clear and once again the ending is worth the effort.

At times it did seem there were a few too many space battles and the action is fairly relentless. However, all of the action in the book is fun and entertaining. Just make sure you have time to read because this one is a page turner.

All in all this is a fascinating sequel of an already excellent first volume. Christopher M. Knight is remarkably adept at surprising the reader and making a story with tons of pieces fit together properly.

If you are a fan of space operas, action filled novels, or just flat out good stories, this one is for you.

It remains to be seen if the third volume can live up to the standard of the first two but my guess is that Knight will knock it right out of the park on the whole series.

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Bastion Awakens – BookReview (re-post)

HI all, re-posting this as I will be publishing the review for the second volume in the series tomorrow and thought people might like to grab a copy of the brilliant Bastion Awakens before I do so.

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

SYNOPSIS

A sovereign empire, the Consortium, defies both science and religion in its race to colonise the Solar System. They carved a God from ones and zeros.
It searches for the Devil.

A hidden planet, Bastion, lies home to a descendant colony of humanity. Its original inhabitants are thought long gone.
But something stirs beneath the surface.

TAREV is a harvester. A moonblood. His life, indebted to the Consortium, entails trudging along the harsh, icy surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan. A life of struggle, harvesting methane for the rest of the Solar System to use, until he and his brother, Sevastian, discover something buried deep within the ice.

Something that will change their lives forever.

ELIA is a Weightless, a gravity wielder, after being injected with the biometal that litters the alien planet on which she lives. She’s also the genetic reprint of an ancient hero, a Catalyst, who paid the ultimate sacrifice over two hundred years ago. Elia struggles to live up to the expectations that come with being a Weightless. She struggles to live normally, while wearing the face of a Catalyst.

She struggles to live, when her planet refuses to die.

REVIEW

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Bastion Awakens is almost two books for the price of one. In one story we follow Tarev, a methane harvester from Titan. His life is not easy and he and his brother Sev do the best they can to make a living. Things seem to be set to improve when they find a huge pocket of methane to mine but they discover something completely unexpected while they are at it. The other story deals with Elia, a so called Weightless from Bastion, a hidden colony that has no contact with the other colonized planets. Elia not only is able to wield and bend gravity to her will, she is also a genetic imprint from an ancient hero, a Catalyst, who died over two hundred years ago. Needless to say, she has huge shoes to fill and is doing the best she can to live up to enormous expectations.

It takes a little while to get your bearings in the book (at least it did for me) but once you see how the stories reflect one another and start to understand the nature of the current state of civilization, the book is utterly gripping. It’s a huge space opera that touches on thematic elements from expectations brought about by ones surroundings, to grief, love, loss and self sacrifice. All this while still having a ton of action and life threatening situations to keep the reader engaged the whole while. And while a reader might wonder what the two stories have to do with one another, by the end, all is made clear, while still leaving questions out there that make one instantly want to read another volume in the saga.

To anyone who loves a good space adventure with intricate complexities and deep human emotions, you have got to read this book. While I am tempted to compare this to something like Dune, in that it takes place in space and there are complex politics happening,this stands in its own right as a unique story. By the end of the book the reader cares deeply about Tarev and Elia and can sympathize with all they have been through, gained and lost. To me this can stand with the best of space fiction and is an absolute must read.

Space Operatically yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Entropy – Book Review

Entropy by Dana Hayward

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)

SUMMARY

DESTINATION MARS! The Lunar Republic is on the run…

Life on Earth is dying from a mysterious cause, and President Kim bets her future on an obscure, young scientist whose theory can only be tested from outer space. The year is 2066, and the race is on against the Chinese to establish a viable lunar colony before the 100th anniversary of mankind’s first step on the Moon. Yet, the Moon is only the first step, the springboard for the permanent settlement of Mars.

“Entropy” is set in the near future where technology has evolved to an astounding degree. Human nature, however, has not; this futuristic novel reads like an expose on our own times.
“Entropy” is much more than a science fiction thriller; it is a running commentary on the times that we live. A dystopic, postapocalyptic, hard science depiction of epic space travel, colonization, and new beginnings for the human race: Entropy is a blockbuster, written by a new voice, waiting to be discovered.

REVIEW

Rating: 5 out of 5.

It’s been nearly one hundred years since humans first landed on the moon. The earth is dying and chances of survival both for the environment and humanity are getting slimmer by the minute. The world is not completely devoid of hope as a newly elected President Kim decides to shoot for the moon once again. There is a group of bright scientists, explorers, and military personnel will begin a lunar colony. As this is being established a young scientist has a theory the thinks may explain what is happening on Earth and find some solutions to keep humanity going. It won’t be easy and with a rival colony established by the Chinese government it will be a test of time, will, and deep thinking in order to move forward.

Entropy is hard science space exploration at its finest. It is engaging without becoming overwhelming. And while much of the science is still fictional, it is recognizable enough the reader of this era can relate to it. The events on Earth influence those on the lunar colony and vice versa. Geopolitics are not just window dressing here as they are important to the story.

There are also some military skirmishes but they don’t bog down the point of the story and are overall believable. Perhaps the one improvement which might be made is with the evolution of a wandering group who has some conflict with the government. While it’s still believable in the context of the story it was not always apparent how it related to the larger story but it does pay off enough in the end.

Although the story is about Earth literally dying, the reader comes away from the book more hopeful than they did going in.

If you like science fiction authors like Arthur C. Clarke, books like To Be Taught If Fortunate, or shows with deep thought and strong science such as The Expanse, you’ll find a great read in Entropy by Dana Hayward.

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Book Review – The Winding (Time Corrector Series Book 1)

The Winding (Time Corrector Series Book 1) by Avi Datta

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)

SUMMARY

Morally complex, orphan, and absolute genius Vincent Abajian is hellbent to uncover all he can on Artificial Intelligence. His relentless pursuit distracts him from a traumatic childhood loss—his childhood best friend Akane was engulfed in a time-turbulence, a random rift in space and time.

But when a beautiful, temperamental, post-doctoral scientist, Emika Amari, joins his Center, everything changes. Vincent is convinced that Akane is inside the irresistible Emika. As they begin a life together, Vincent’s past and his connection with a time turbulence survivor challenge everything they’ve created and push them into a spiral of politics and conspiracy. Vincent’s silence to protect Emika threatens to tear them apart. Unknowingly, Emika is torn between what she wants and what Akane wants from her. With his newfound power, Vincent struggles with whether or not he should create another time-turbulence to free Emika from the grasp of Akane once and for all. But will tinkering with time be more destructive than anything he has ever encountered before?

REVIEW

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Vincent Abajian is an orphan who grows up at a wealthy boarding school. His life is anything but privileged though as he has to fight school bullies, not knowing who his parents are, and prejudices of his schoolmates. That is, until he finally makes a connection with Akane, a sweet girl who shows him kindness and connects deeply with Vincent. She is soon lost to what is known as a “time-turbulence” where people can disappear from one reality to another. Sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t. They may even return into a new life as a whole other person with small fragments of memories from the first life.

Vincent spends his life in driven pursuit to be the best he can in his chosen field of AI robotics. He has given up on finding Akane again until Emika Amari walks into his life. She may be Akane or she may be only Emika but either way, Vincent loves her. He now has to grapple with what all of this means, if he can do anything to change it, and must figure out how to protect Emika in the middle of political turmoil even if it costs him everything he truly wants.

The Winding is an intricately detailed story full of deep emotion. It also makes the improbable seem possible. However, what really stands out is not just how well the plot is constructed with all of its connections but how deeply the characters connect to one another. The reader is able to sympathize with Vincent while also feeling for Emika and feel the sadness that comes with great loss and the joy that comes with great connection.

At some points, parts of the book feel like they may be disjointed but by the end everything comes together and makes sense to the reader. Vincent and Emika are especially well developed both in terms of their characters and in their relationship to one another. There are moments where the political situation seems slightly underdeveloped but in the end it comes around enough to be worthwhile.

Overall, this is an excellent story full of surprises, twists, turns, and especially, deep emotional resonance.

If you enjoy love stories with a bit of science fiction such as The Time Traveler’s Wife or books like The Great Gatsby this book is an excellent read and well worth the time. If you just love great stories, this is a must read book. And the best part is this is only the first in the series. It will be exciting to see where it goes from here.

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Movie Review – Blade Runner (1982) The Final Cut

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Hello people, it’s me Slick Dungeon. I finished watching a movie for my movie challenge checklist and I am here to do a review for it. This part of the challenge was a movie with an ambiguous ending and I decided to go for Blade Runner The Final Cut. Before I get too far into the review I should say there will be major spoilers below. I mean it, I am going to spoil the end of the film so if you have never seen this, I beg you not to read this review until you’ve watched this brilliant film.

Alright skin jobs, still with me? Good. That means you’ve watched this movie before and if you enjoyed it, you’ve got good taste. The film, Blade Runner is loosely based of a work of fiction by Phillip K. Dick originally titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Personally, I love the title of the short story more but it’s tough to sell that to a movie audience. If you know anything about the story or the film you know this is one of the earliest and best examples of cyberpunk. It’s influenced tons of films and television shows. There would be no Altered Carbon (books or tv series) without Blade Runner.

There are a fair number of versions of the film, all with slightly different cuts, with some leaving certain scenes and images in and others taking those out. The final cut version is the version where Ridley Scott (who you probably know from the Alien series) had full control of what ended up in the film. Most of us who enjoy Blade Runner like this cut the best but other versions also have their defenders.

The story of the movie is kind of a noir detective feel but the plot is somewhat simple. A giant and extremely successful corporation has figured out how to make robots so much like humans that they don’t know they are robots. These replicants are put to work in what amounts to slave labor on other worlds. On Earth they are not allowed to exist. While there are still plenty of people on Earth, most citizens are relocating. Only the poorest stay. Meanwhile, a group of these replicants has become self aware and are on Earth to find their makers. The replicants happen to be extremely strong and powerful so the police are authorized to kill replicants on sight, no matter that they are sentient beings with hopes, dreams and feelings. Richard Deckard is what is known as a Blade Runner. These are the cops who are tasked with figuring out who is a replicant and terminating any they find. But wouldn’t you know it, Deckard has a heart and when he meets a woman who is a replicant but doesn’t know it, he falls in love with her.

To fully appreciate the film we do now have to ignore that it takes place in 2019 but for the time this movie was released that was the far future and for all we knew it could have looked that way. The tone and atmosphere of the film is unforgettable with a dark and dreary but teeming with life Los Angeles to the cold and nearly silent Tyrell corporation headquarters.

The crux of the film is the love story between Deckard and Rachael but there are replicants who need to be stopped, at least according to the police. And since they murder people maybe there is an argument to be had there. To tell if anyone is a replicant there is a test called a Voight-Kampff test which can draw out memories and dreams that are implanted from real people into these replicants. How could you tell that your own memory was not your own?

This whole setup brings us into a morally gray world full of interesting and difficult to answer philosophical questions. And there is not necessarily a right answer to these questions at all. Are the replicants unfairly repressed and deserving of more life? Are they nothing but dangerous to humanity?

And the film does not let us as an audience get away with any assumptions either. At one point in the movie Rachael asks if Deckard has ever taken the Voight-Kampff test. He doesn’t answer. We also see him daydream about a unicorn at one point. At the end of the film Deckard is left an origami unicorn, implying that there is the chance that Deckard himself is a replicant. A replicant who is destroying replicants. But there is no certainty to that. It could be nothing more than a coincidence. The film ends brilliantly this way, not giving in to the audience desire for fast answers.

I think beyond the aesthetics, stellar acting, and interesting visuals, it’s this ending that makes this movie so good and is why I give it all five stars.

Ambiguously yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Book Review – The Augur’s View

The Augur’s View by Victoria Lehrer

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)

SUMMARY

The First Book of the New Earth Chronicles: The Triskelion, On Winged Gossamer, Tall-ah Earth A Visionary Science Fiction


EENA hasn’t survived Solar Flash of 2034 to be detained under the thumbs of remnant Landlords and Social Engineering minions. Three Mountains Community beckons, and though retrievers hunt down escapees from townships, she clasps the Journey of Man pendant and heads for the secret community where the Lakota Elder MATOSKAH awaits her and others.


At the summit of Quartz Mountain, the discovery of a portal to Ancient Mu offers a great boon to the community. Giant birds, once ridden by humans fly over the savannah. Eena bonds with the Augur, Cesla, and she and GAVIN patrol the skies over Three Mountains watching for the approach of rovers and military scouts.


Eena hasn’t come to Three Mountains to escape, but to regroup. Determination to thwart the Landlords’ enslavement of the “workers” in the townships prompts a scheme for a weaponless society to take back their power.

REVIEW

Rating: 3 out of 5.

It’s the future and the world has undergone a cataclysmic event. Solar Flash burned out most of the world’s electronic capabilities and infrastructure. In the power vacuum that follows the United States government is converted to the Union of the Americas of the World Federation. The UA is an authoritarian regime that does not respect individual rights or life choices but will keep the streets safe from bands of criminals if you fall in line with them.

In this new world there is a place that is a bridge between time and Eena has discovered it. Through this portal there are giant creatures, including birds called Augur’s who can bond telepathically with humans. These creatures will be key in the fight to bring freedom back to the world. But, the small community that knows about the Augurs could be discovered at any time as the world outside closes in.

The Augur’s View does a nice job of blending fantasy and science together. There are scenes that feel magical and interesting and ones that bring the scientific to the forefront. Overall it is a good read with an interesting premise. The heroes have a large challenge before them, especially since they prefer to cause as little bloodshed as possible. That some of the heroes are not simply out for revenge was a refreshing and enjoyable aspect of the book.

However, the cast of characters is large and there are times where the author head hops a bit much and keeping everyone straight can be a bit challenging. The events occurring are clear but it is sometimes not as clear who should be the focus of the scene.

The story is dystopian and fits in well with other books such as The Hunger Games series but with a bit more fantasy thrown in. This is the first in a series so if you enjoy it there is more story to read. If you need a book with a bit of future science fiction fantasy rolled up into one this is worth reading.

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The Gods Themselves – #BookReview

Hi everyone, Slick Dungeon here and I finally finished reading a book recommended to me by a friend. This crosses off one of my book challenges for the year. If you’ve read this or if you are following along with my reading challenge this year let me know your thoughts in the comments. This time I read The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov.

Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)

SUMMARY

In the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth’s Sun—and of Earth itself.

Only a few know the terrifying truth—an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, a lunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun. They know the truth—but who will listen? They have foreseen the cost of abundant energy—but who will believe? These few beings, human and alien, hold the key to Earth’s survival.

REVIEW

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Gods Themselves is set in the far future when humanity makes a breakthrough in contact with other universes. It seems that there is a parallel universe that is able to exchange materials with us giving us what seems to be an unlimited amount of energy that can propel our society forward forever.

As nice as that sounds, doing things come at a cost. Science could investigate and find out the answers of whether or not this energy is dangerous to us but the prospect of all the energy at our fingertips is too tempting to question for those who benefit from it.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first section we learn about the existence of a parallel universe and how one scientist took credit for the discovery although he really didn’t understand it. A young scientist looking to investigate further discovers there are major flaws, including the destruction of the universe, that will happen if no one does anything about the problem. It’s not easy for him to go against popular opinion and there is a good part of him that just wants to prove the man taking credit for the discovery is wrong.

In the second section of the book we go to the parallel universe and learn about three creatures who learn about the energy transference. It’s very alien and reads like something far removed from humanity but is still extremely relevant to the situation.

The third part takes us to the moon where the scientist who learned of the danger is now doing work. He realizes that not only does he need to point out the danger of the free energy, he needs to come up with a comparable solution. This is no easy task but he is as determined as can be.

Every time I read Asimov, I am blown away by how good he was at predicting what the future would hold. This book feels as on point to our current world problems as can be. I think the best example is a quote from the third section of the book. Our hero is speaking to a woman on the moon who doesn’t understand why people on Earth would ignore potential danger from the free energy source.

“But why should they want it, if it means death?”

“All they have to do is refuse to believe it means death. The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.”

If that doesn’t sum up everything from climate to politics to health care, I don’t know what does.

That’s not to say that everything in this book is perfect. There is a reason in this review I didn’t name the characters. As far as personality and character development they are all fairly forgettable. The situation is intriguing and engrossing and that is enough to make this worth a read but the characters are not what sells the story here. Secondly, the characters that do have a strong personality are the ones in the parallel universe and they seem to just be forgotten about by the end of the book. It would have been nice to have a little more wrap up with them.

All in all, I highly recommend reading this book. I tend to recommend Asimov to anyone though so take that as you will.

If you are doing my book challenge this year and need to read a book recommended by a friend, you can consider me a friend who recommends The Gods Themselves.

To conclude, I think I will just leave a little Asimov gem here which was his dedication for the book.

“To mankind, and the hope that the war against folly may someday be won after all.” – Isaac Asimov

Scientifically yours,

Slick Dungeon