A futuristic novel with insufficient worldbuilding.
A man who lives in a future peaceful world ruled by a religious government finds himself questioning his circumstances in Sims's second book of a planned trilogy.
Paul Watanabe lives in a post-Armageddon world that has been without war for hundreds of years. A Jerusalem-based, Big Brother-esque government headed by Christ-figure Lord Emmanuel rules the planet. People live to be hundreds of years old, famine is unknown and there are rules for everything, from how to get married to how to choose a career. Everything’s fine as long as one follows the rules, but Watanabe is vaguely unhappy. Middle portions of trilogies often wind up as placeholders, setting up events for the final installment while not providing much in the way of significance, and this is the fate here. The novel, which is essentially one of conversations, sees little action. Characters have long discussions with each other, but unfortunately these heart-to-hearts don’t generally advance the plot. Chapters begin and end with insignificant actions, providing little incentive to read further. While the future world is unusual—none of that typical scene of humans fighting machines on a blasted landscape here—there’s not enough description of it. Occasionally, the author opens the curtain to reveal a bit of the realm, and the book comes to life, such as when an archeological find prompts the characters to discuss the rationale behind a store being called Best Buy. But then the curtains shut again, and yet more conversations ensue, ending any momentum gained. Author Sims nimbly moves around his large cast of characters, but the reader never gets to understand the motivation for any except Watanabe.
A futuristic novel with insufficient worldbuilding.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1478314646
Page Count: 344
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Unanswerable questions wrapped inside a thought-provoking yarn.
An inspirational novel about a disaster and an answered prayer by the author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003).
What if you call out for the Lord and he actually appears before you? Days after billionaire Jason Lambert’s luxury yacht Galaxy suddenly sinks in the North Atlantic with many illustrious passengers aboard, a few survivors float in a life raft. Among them is Benji, a deckhand who narrates the ordeal in a notebook while they desperately hope for rescue. Lambert is a caricature of a greedy capitalist pig who thinks only of himself and his lost ship and mocks Benji as “scribble boy,” but the main character is a young stranger pulled out of the water. “Well, thank the Lord we found you,” a woman tells him. “I am the Lord,” he whispers in reply. Imagine the others’ skepticism: If you’re not lying, then why won’t you save us? Why don’t you answer our prayers? I always answer people’s prayers, he replies, “but sometimes the answer is no.” Meanwhile, the ship’s disappearance is big news as searchers scour the vast ocean in vain. The lost survivors are surrounded by water and dying of thirst, “a grim reminder of how little the natural world cares for our plans.” Out of desperation, one person succumbs to temptation and drinks ocean water—always a bad mistake. Another becomes shark food. The Lord says that for him to help, everyone must accept him first, and Lambert, for one, is having none of it. The storyline and characters aren’t deep, but they’re still entertaining. A disaffected crew member might or might not have sunk the ship with limpet mines. And whether the raft’s occupants survive seems beside the point—does a higher power exist that may pluck believers like Benji safely from the sea? Or is faith a sucker’s bet? Lord knows.
Unanswerable questions wrapped inside a thought-provoking yarn.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-288834-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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