I read about this book somewhere - the where escapes me at the moment -
and the write-up made it sound interesting, so I bought a copy. It sat a
long time on my bookshelf, but last month I picked it up finally and
dove in.
I did like the book, but I would say that with some editing the book could have been much better. On the back of the book, the author mentions that he was a fan of some old time Sci Fi serials. This may explain the style of dialogue that he used, and the very short chapters and multiple sections - an editor might have talked him out of this which I think would have made the book much better.
As I said, I did like the book. The story and the characters were interesting and original in many ways. The book chronicles the expansion of human civilization in the universe by following the lives of a close knit set of characters. New technology allows almost instant travel between planets and even to far away galaxies. There are no encounters with aliens, however.
Most of the characters are "mildly" religious. Some are fundamentalist - and the very extreme of these are some of the bad guys. There are some evil communists as well.
There was one portion of the book that I thought the author should drop if he revises. It was not explicit, but concerned a sex slave ring. The author once worked in a state social services office, so maybe he thought this made the story more "realistic".
I did think that the travel beyond the Hubble radius was interesting in its implications.
Overall, the book was entertaining and provides a pleasant distraction.
I did like the book, but I would say that with some editing the book could have been much better. On the back of the book, the author mentions that he was a fan of some old time Sci Fi serials. This may explain the style of dialogue that he used, and the very short chapters and multiple sections - an editor might have talked him out of this which I think would have made the book much better.
As I said, I did like the book. The story and the characters were interesting and original in many ways. The book chronicles the expansion of human civilization in the universe by following the lives of a close knit set of characters. New technology allows almost instant travel between planets and even to far away galaxies. There are no encounters with aliens, however.
Most of the characters are "mildly" religious. Some are fundamentalist - and the very extreme of these are some of the bad guys. There are some evil communists as well.
There was one portion of the book that I thought the author should drop if he revises. It was not explicit, but concerned a sex slave ring. The author once worked in a state social services office, so maybe he thought this made the story more "realistic".
I did think that the travel beyond the Hubble radius was interesting in its implications.
Overall, the book was entertaining and provides a pleasant distraction.
