Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Artificial Absolutes / Mary Fan


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Science Fiction

Approximate word count: 120-125,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Mary Fan lives in New Jersey, where she is currently working in financial marketing. She has also resided in North Carolina, Hong Kong, and Beijing, China. She has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember and especially enjoys the infinite possibilities and out-of-this-world experiences of science fiction and fantasy.

Mary has a B.A. in Music, specializing in composition, from Princeton University and enjoys writing songs as much as writing stories. She also enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and exploring new things—she’ll try almost anything once.”

For more, visit the author’s website.

Description:

“Jane Colt is just another recent college grad working as an Interstellar Confederation office drone—until the day she witnesses her best friend, Adam, kidnapped by a mysterious criminal. An extensive cover-up thwarts her efforts to report the crime, shaking her trust in the authorities. Only her older brother, Devin, believes her account.

Devin hopes to leave behind his violent past and find peace in a marriage to the woman he loves. That hope shatters when he discovers a shocking secret that causes him to be framed for murder.

With little more than a cocky attitude, Jane leaves everything she knows to flee with Devin, racing through the most lawless corners of the galaxy as she searches for Adam and proof of her brother’s innocence. Her journey uncovers truths about both of them, leading her to wonder just how much she doesn’t know about the people she loves.”

Appraisal:

In order for science fiction to work for me the characters and the conflicts the characters have to overcome has to be something I can relate to. Technology that (if it ever really happens) is too far in the future to seem possible does nothing for me. Cities on other planets and space ships traveling through space don’t either. If it feels like that’s the majority of what the book has to offer, I’ll take a pass.

Although Artificial Absolutes has plenty of space travel and the Earth is only a distant memory, it also has some engaging characters and a story with conflicts and struggles that are universal to all humans across time. The characters experience familial clashes and learn lessons about being true to yourself. There are questions about faith, reality, and resolving conflicts between the two. Given the right characters and story, the setting doesn’t matter. That’s the way I felt about Artificial Absolutes.

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

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2 comments:

Walter Knight said...

I always wondered when humanity spread across the galaxy, if Earth would become a distant memory, kind of like Scotland and Wales.

Good review.

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks, Walter.