BarbsBooks

Typically when I get a book I don’t enjoy or I feel has significant flaws I’m not inclined to publicly list those flaws. A lack of reviews for a book speaks more than one scathing review can, but sometimes I have to speak up. Networked, by Claire Russett, has me speaking up. The premise was good. A classic science-fiction trope with intrepid explorers on a science vessel setting out in teams to meet new species and cultures. They manage to get their hands on some alien technology which wreaks some havoc but also manages to save the day. Yeah, it’s a deus ex machina ending, but should still be a good story. In Networked the piece of alien technology allows the characters to not only read each other’s minds but harness the energy of the mind and use it to power a space station. Okay, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief to allow for mind reading tech. Then things go wildly off the rails.

I’m tempted to go into a long winded description of brain function, but really all I need to say is the climax of the book had the main characters creating something from nothing. I think Claire Russett has the ability to write a decent book, but this is not it. If you’re going to write science-fiction learn science. It’s not the flexible “loosey-goosey” part of the story.

Faye's full review can be found at Live Your Life, Buy The Book