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mass market paperback
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1984
About the author
Mike Conner
16 booksMichael "Mike" Conner (1951) lives in Oakland, California. He is also a musician and a member of the Bay Area Band, the Naked Barbie Dolls.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 31, 2015
I read this in a sci-fi magazine a while ago. I remember being completely blown away by the writing. Besides the twisted and clever story, this book is awesome in conveying the most vivid and striking images and feelings. You'll be surprised by the author's take on the humans' proneness to panic.
September 12, 2011
I read this one a while ago. I remember liking it a lot. If you see it in a used books bookstore get it. I still have my copy.
September 12, 2022
There is something unusually good about this (somewhat obscure) sci-fi paperback. I am a big fan of random 70's/80's genre fiction paperback fair - but of course, on average, the stuff does not absolutely scream quality in the way that great literature does. Sometimes it's just "dumb fun", and there's nothing wrong with that.
I have to applaud Conner here - he did not say "I will just write 'dumb fun'" - he has a very ambitious ~250 pages here. He has multiple perspectives, an evocative world, time travel (sort of), ESP and telekinesis, alien races, coming-of-age, political commentary, and many more such topics all packed in here, and in an adventure with a sheen not unlike Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. This book is definitely "outside of the norm" as random paperbacks go - Conner was swinging for the fences.
In some ways he succeeded - the characters you actually come to care about (not a given in this kind of book... if you've ever read Foundation or Dune...). The world is evocative.
In other ways - and this is where the three stars rating comes in - he did not so much succeed. The pacing of the novel is all off. There are some "jumps" that are necessary because he is trying to cover SO much ground, SO quickly. The antagonist is not particularly well-realized (the least developed character in the novel, by far). The climax is sort of anticlimactic (compared to what it could be/maybe should have been). There is a lot of unrealized potential in the book, all told. I still enjoyed reading it on this premise - it does things differently than other novels of it's ilk.
I have to applaud Conner here - he did not say "I will just write 'dumb fun'" - he has a very ambitious ~250 pages here. He has multiple perspectives, an evocative world, time travel (sort of), ESP and telekinesis, alien races, coming-of-age, political commentary, and many more such topics all packed in here, and in an adventure with a sheen not unlike Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. This book is definitely "outside of the norm" as random paperbacks go - Conner was swinging for the fences.
In some ways he succeeded - the characters you actually come to care about (not a given in this kind of book... if you've ever read Foundation or Dune...). The world is evocative.
In other ways - and this is where the three stars rating comes in - he did not so much succeed. The pacing of the novel is all off. There are some "jumps" that are necessary because he is trying to cover SO much ground, SO quickly. The antagonist is not particularly well-realized (the least developed character in the novel, by far). The climax is sort of anticlimactic (compared to what it could be/maybe should have been). There is a lot of unrealized potential in the book, all told. I still enjoyed reading it on this premise - it does things differently than other novels of it's ilk.
November 27, 2020
2.5 stars
Bangin' John Berkey cover.
Bangin' John Berkey cover.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews