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30TH CENTURY

Name: 30TH CENTURY
Author: Mark Kingston Levin
ISBN: 978-0-9989183-0-3

ESCAPE

by Mark Kingston Levin ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017

A repetitious wish-fulfillment fantasy.

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In this first book of debut author Levin’s sci-fi trilogy, a time traveler from the far future starts a new life in the 21st century.

Capt. Jennifer Hero of the 30th century—who’s 44 but looks 21—is leading a mission to the 27th century, using a time machine that was invented by the late professor Zexton Ho, her former lover who was assassinated five years ago. The goal is to correct a genetic flaw in the Syndos—humans whose DNA is highly advanced but who dangerously lack empathy. However, Jennifer later abandons her team to live in 2015, determined to forget the past and her grief over Zexton’s death. In the South Pacific, she scuttles her “trans-time” submarine and eventually gets rescued by Marty Zitonick, who’s a professor of marine science at the University of Hawaii, and his crew. Jennifer feigns amnesia, and her education and experience as a spy helps her to maintain the illusion. A similar-looking girl, Jenny Heros, disappeared years ago, so Jennifer steps into her “trust-fund princess” life. At the University of Hawaii, she works on simultaneous doctorates in archaeology and physics. As she forges new relationships, she wonders whether her bisexual identity will be accepted, and later learns a surprising truth about her similarity to Jenny. The novel offers a potentially appealing mix of science, success, and multiple-partner sex (the “General Audience” of the subtitle doesn’t mean a G-rating). However, some scenes seem overly similar, as rescues serve as a primary plot device. Jennifer’s triumphs sometimes seem implausible, and there’s an overabundance of unnecessary detail, as when Jennifer and another character discuss their travel schedule: “It can take one and a half hours to drive to the hotel….So if we stop for a few photos that will add a half an hour.” The dialogue is sometimes amusing; at one point, for instance, Marty’s friend Alice calls Jennifer “Castaway Barbie.” But it can also be awkward, as when characters use stereotypical Australianisms, such as “crikey” and “fair dinkum.”

A repetitious wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Pub Date: June 13, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-9989183-0-3

Page Count: 328

Publisher: Quantum Group Investments LLC

Review Posted Online: March 1, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.