labelapeel

** spoiler alert ** This book was recommened by one of my students (I teach high school Physics) along with "Fragment" by Warren Fahy. I approached it with the same open mind, but was not nearly as entertained or impressed by the writing. Excavation did have a mildly interesting premise (gold-like silicon-based nanobiotech), but after that, the whole book was a large cliche'. The token black guy died. The requisite homosexual survived impossible odds, managed to stumble into 'miraculous' discoveries, and was one of the heroes. His homosexuality had no purpose in the book other than to make readers read about homosexuals as a character. The main character, a rough cowboy-type named Sam, gets the girl in the end. And so on. The relationships were predictable. The personality types were two dimensional (e.g. the black Southern Baptist hates the homosexual but has a pivotal event where the homosexual saves his life and now they're bffs). Even the Catholic church is, without surprise, the bad guys (at least the sect represented in the book). I'm not defending or bashing any particular group here, I'm pointing out that nothing was a surprise to me. From the Raider's of the Lost Ark trapped tomb to the Davinci Code Catholicism to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull alien ending, the book was utterly predictable. Even the resurrection of Sam at the end could be seen coming from a mile away, and the potential suspense of Joan's survival or death was wasted. If you are looking for a book to read because you have nothing else, you'll make it through this one alright. But if you have other choices, you might want to start with those.

2022-11-14 18:39