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Odysseus: Bound

Name: Odysseus: Bound
Author: Stephen Logsdon
ISBN: 978-0986140211

by Stephen Logsdon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 21, 2015

Initially promising sci-fi laid low by dull stretches and an unsatisfying ending.

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In Logsdon’s sci-fi debut, the last surviving member of a deep-space research crew attempts to find signs of life in the universe.

Lt. Barrett Hannum is the navigator of the United World Space ship the Odysseus, a research vessel whose crew explores the galaxy in search of potential mineral caches, planetary colonization candidates, and, above all else, intelligent life. When a massive derelict spacecraft is found orbiting a backwater planet, the headstrong commander of the Odysseus—who desperately wants to be the first human to find intelligent life—ignores safety precautions and decides to attempt to board the giant craft, which is approximately 71 kilometers long. As Hannum readies himself to board the obviously alien ship, something attacks the Odysseus and Hannum loses consciousness. When he awakes, he is the only crew member left alive on the ship, which has been inexplicably relocated deep inside a cavern. The chamber contains hundreds of alien spacecraft, which have been presumably procured in the same way as Odysseus. With hundreds of robotic “crawlers” swarming over and through the ship, Hannum—with help from the ship’s main artificial intelligence, Aeon, must survive long enough to unravel the mystery surrounding the orbiting derelict and the massive collection of ships. The novel’s first half is fascinating and fast-paced, and the prose is well-written throughout. Once Hannum reaches relative safety, however, the action fizzles. His attempts to communicate with another imprisoned alien ship and to locate potential surviving members of his crew are interesting, but the slow pacing—coupled with the long periods of inactivity from Hannum (he explores virtually through cloaked pods)—drain the novel’s energy.

Initially promising sci-fi laid low by dull stretches and an unsatisfying ending.

Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2015

ISBN: 978-0986140211

Page Count: 300

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2016

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.