Earth was a ghost that haunted me. She was the single greatest thing that set us space-born apart from the older generation, the five hundred members of the original mission team. Though Heinlein Station was the only home I had ever known, I soon learned that Earth, a world I had never seen except in pictures and videos, was where I was truly from.
Sometimes I hedge my recommendations a bit. I mention that the writing is a bit rough, but the story is so good you won't mind.
Not this time. Joe Vasicek can write. I don't mean self-indulgent literary navel-gazing. I mean you're right there, on a space station, seventeen years old, watching the stars slide by under your feet. Every sentence, every paragraph, could be held up in an English class as an example of how to do it right. It's really good storytelling and it is a pleasure to read. From the first paragraph you know you're in the hands of a writer who really knows what he's doing.
Micheal Anderson was born on a space station making its way from Earth to a distant asteroid, far enough from Earth to safely conduct the most daring scientific experiment of all time - the opening of an artificial wormhole. He is a teenager when the wormhole opens. Already a highly-trained scientist, he is also young enough to survive cronic freezing. Micheal and a troubled girl named Terra are selected to be the first ones through the wormhole. They will spend decades frozen. They will leave everything behind. And that is just the beginning.
This is space opera of the highest caliber. There are grand, sweeping ideas, the discovery of a new world, first contact with an alien species, an examination of the nature of humanity, the nature of the human mind. Yet it's always a personal story. No matter how epic the backdrop, you are always reading about engaging, fully-realized characters.
It certainly qualifies as an adventure story, and keeps you wondering what will happen next. Yet it's also much more. Genesis Earth will broaden your mind even as it delights your inner ten-year-old. It has a kick-ass premise, executed with enviable skill, full of thought-provoking ideas couched in a thoroughly-entertaining story that's just plain fun to read.
Read Genesis Earth
No comments:
Post a Comment