Anti-Grav Unlimited, by Duncan Long
This review is based on the version of the book provided by the Baen Free Library, at http://www.baen.com/library/.
This book reads a lot like Quantum Connection, by Travis Taylor. There's the down-to-earth scientist with a breakthrough (in this case anti-gravity), the rapid escalation of the breakthrough into fantasy fulfillment territory, and the attempt by various other people to kill the scientist and bury the breakthrough. Even the tone of the book and the writing style is similar.
One of the things I don't like about the book is the use of made up terms. Many books about the near future do this, using terms like compucalc, Mastvisa (for a future credit card), caffinex (for coffee), and others. Some of that is fine for important bits of the story, but in this book the new terms come rapid fire, to the point where it becomes cutesy.
Another oddity in the book is that almost every technological advance except for anti-gravity is present...holographic projectors, hoodlums carrying needlers and portable rail guns, dome houses, electric vehicles, etc. It makes you wonder why it took this guy so long to come up with anti-gravity, even with a world-wide energy conspiracy going on.
The writing is also filled with misspellings and typos. I'm not sure if a copy-editor ever made a pass through the book or not, but if so they didn't do a very good job.
It's hard to know what more to say about the book, except that it's so much like Quantum Connection in tone and style that if you liked one of the books, you would like the other. Neither is my favorite, and I've read both to the end only to see what happened.
If you've enjoyed the books that I have recommended, you probably will want to give this one a pass.
This book reads a lot like Quantum Connection, by Travis Taylor. There's the down-to-earth scientist with a breakthrough (in this case anti-gravity), the rapid escalation of the breakthrough into fantasy fulfillment territory, and the attempt by various other people to kill the scientist and bury the breakthrough. Even the tone of the book and the writing style is similar.
One of the things I don't like about the book is the use of made up terms. Many books about the near future do this, using terms like compucalc, Mastvisa (for a future credit card), caffinex (for coffee), and others. Some of that is fine for important bits of the story, but in this book the new terms come rapid fire, to the point where it becomes cutesy.
Another oddity in the book is that almost every technological advance except for anti-gravity is present...holographic projectors, hoodlums carrying needlers and portable rail guns, dome houses, electric vehicles, etc. It makes you wonder why it took this guy so long to come up with anti-gravity, even with a world-wide energy conspiracy going on.
The writing is also filled with misspellings and typos. I'm not sure if a copy-editor ever made a pass through the book or not, but if so they didn't do a very good job.
It's hard to know what more to say about the book, except that it's so much like Quantum Connection in tone and style that if you liked one of the books, you would like the other. Neither is my favorite, and I've read both to the end only to see what happened.
If you've enjoyed the books that I have recommended, you probably will want to give this one a pass.
posted by Jay | 4:39 PM
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