YOUNG, JANINE ELLEN

Aliens light years from Earth seek other intelligent life by sending out probes. These aliens, the Kasarans, have built a stargate and hope that a distant species will build another to form a bridge between them. When a probe finds Earth, it releases viruses that quickly spread to all corners of the planet. The Kasarans communicate via colour and viruses and are unaware of the potential havoc of viral communication to human beings.

The initial chapters of this book had me hooked. The onset of a viral plague and the struggles of a handful of central characters provided plenty of good reading. I found my interest waned slightly after the plague and the political manoeuvring of some characters didn’t do much for me. One character did begin to create interest when her health started to take a strange path, and the eventual meeting with the Kasarans was long overdue.

THE BRIDGE did have potential which I thought wasn’t fully realized.

Good  (7.5)

November 2002
 

ZELAZNY, ROGER

(Belated Review)

Conrad Nomikos lives on an Earth that has almost become uninhabitable due to excessive radioactive pollution. The remnants of humanity share the planet with a variety of mutants or Hot Ones. Conrad himself has been affected by way of an extended lifetime.

Conrad has been employed to show Vegan Cort Myshtigo around the Earth in order to determine its future. The Vegans are the blue alien masters of the Universe. Cort's life is under threat while travelling through the ruins of Earth.

This Hugo Award winning novel began well, but didn't quite reach the heights I thought it might. Zelazny does have a unique style that I look forward to revisiting.

Good  (7)
 

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ZINDELL, DAVID

This is a long novel at around 680 pages, but every page is a delight.

Mallory Ringess is about to become a Pilot of the Order, based in the city of Neverness on the planet Icefall. These Pilots travel between the stars by using mathematical theorems to guide them through the manifold, a region outside realspace. Mallory is a hotheaded, reckless man who often finds himself in difficult situations of his own making.

Apart from his desire to become Lord Pilot one day, Mallory finds himself travelling a path that leads him into the heart of a sentient, killer nebula and living with a Neanderthal tribe eking out its existence in extremely trying conditions.

A wide range of interesting beings populate the worlds of Neverness.  Mankind long ago determined how to manipulate its genetic makeup. Although this practice is no longer acceptable, there are some alien species that are believed to be ‘carked’ human beings who have altered their DNA so much as to be considered alien. The Scryers are a sect that is able to ‘read’ the future; the warrior-poets are assassins who have an equal love of poetry and death; the Agathanians have ‘carked’ their DNA so that they can live in the ocean of their world; and the Ieldra are the mysterious ‘gods’ who seeded the universe with its DNA eons ago.

I was concerned before beginning this novel that it might wander into the realm of fantasy, but to my relief it remained firmly bound in science fiction. Its central characters were an interesting and certainly not flawless group of individuals. Real characters in sometimes unreal situations.

The sequel, THE BROKEN GOD, is on my bookshelf and I’m looking forward to the continuing saga. Like its predecessor it is about 680 pages long and I’m sure each page is as enjoyable.

Excellent and highly recommended  (10)
 

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