Customer Reviews

Aftermath

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This isn't a great book, for a great book by a Trek author check out _A Stitch in Time_ by Andrew Robinson, but it is one I am glad I read. I hope Burton continues to write, he has some cool ideas in this book. I heard about this book in _Dark Matter_ an anthology of amazing sf by African-Americans.

So, this book is not racist as other reviewers say, though if you are, you may not like the book. It's not a book written only for Black folks as other reviewers also say. It's a quest book in a dystopian near-future. The dystopia Burton presents seems very real to me: there *will be* a major earthquake on the New Madrid fault which would mess up everything from New Orleans to Chicago. It may happen this year or it may happen in 100 years, but it's going to happen. I hope we're going to have an African-American president soon. If he were assassinated, I could imagine cities exploding in racial violence.

While the characters are somewhat flat and one is pretty non-existant, it's worth a few bucks or to borrow from the library. It definately adds to the body of African-Americans writing sf.
(And it's dedicated to his wife, children and mother, not Octavia Butler. Who writes her own near-future dystopias.)

I read AFTERMATH by LEVAR BURTON and although he gives it a good try I found my mind wandering while I was reading the book and here's why. I felt that the charachters were just too uninteresting they didn't grab my attention like they should to make a good story although I was intrigued by some of the book's points such as the earthquake and the civil war I felt that it could'nt compensate for the above. So all in all I can not recommend AFTERMATH.

Let me preface by saying that I really like Levar Burton. His work on Star Trek and Reading Rainbow is great. I love to watch him act.

BUT! Levar should spend some more time practicing before he publishes any more books.

Levar has an *excellent* idea with this book. He is a very creative individual, but his writing is too choppy and plain. I was unable to relate to the characters, and topics were introduced to quickly.

If this book had been several hundred pages longer, I would have been able to read the whole thing, as it would have necessitated more descriptive language and more attention to detail.

Burton should not give up hope. His ideas are fascinating, just presented without enough detail and character development.

I will buy one of Burton's books in a few years, because I believe that writing experience will improve his style. Possibly you will see a rave review from me for a future Levar Burton novel.

Let's deal with the obvious issue first, yes, this is a book by LeVar Burton. Yes, the same LeVar Burton that played Kunta Kinte in roots, Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: TNG and hosted Reading Rainbow on PBS. Yes, like most Star Trek alums this book is classified as Sci-Fi, yet there are no Klingons, nor warp driven space cruisers and while people are going places quite boldly at times, they are not places in which no man has gone before.

There were two reasons I wanted to read this book. Firstly, one of my favorite genre's of books in Post Apocalyptic novels, and while this book doesn't fit neatly into this category, it offers some of the same themes. In reality this book has more of a dystrophic theme to it. Societal breakdown, not to to a cataclysmic event, like plague or nuclear war, but in a more gradual breakdown of civility due to economic, environmental and socio-political influences. Oh, and there was an earthquake.

The second reason I wanted to read the book was that came packed with a bit of controversy. Many reviews have basically called this a racist novel. That all African American character were heroic and all the white characters evil. Many reviewers have accused Mr. Burton of vilifying whites while excusing riotous and murderous behavior of African Americans within the book.

The novel takes place in the near future. After the assassination of Lawrence Everette, the first African American elected president, riots brake out in many major cities. Adding to this situation, a huge earthquake along the New Madrid fault leaves the Mid West devastated and millions homeless. In response to the riots and increasing unrest the Army is dispatched in an attempt to restore order. Many African America soldiers refused to fire upon the rioters and desert. Eventually, an African American General attempts to seize control of the army. After his attempt fails a full fledge race war breaks out.

All this is info dumped to the reader in the first four pages of the novel.

Within this setting a brilliant scientist has discovered a way to tap into the human brain, and use it to cure various diseases, specifically Parkinson's and all forms of cancer. A certain unscrupulous scientist sees this as a bad thing, which will drastically cut into his bottom line. He attempts to steal this device, and kidnap the scientist who invented it. During the attempt, the scientist. Rene Reynolds, manages to slip a vital piece to a homeless man named Leon Crane, a disgraced former physicist who lost his family. Rene, now being held hostage by the evil Dr. Sinclair, is able to tap into another byproduct of her new device, an increased psychic ability. She sends out a telepathic call for help that is picked up by Leon, as well as three other characters, who now attempt to cross a dangerous country to rescue a women they never met, and quite possibly the world.

Now, onto the controversy. Some reviewers claim that all the white characters are evil and all the minorities characters are heros. This is an extreme stretch at best. Of the named characters in the book, there is only truly one evil character who happened to be white. There were also two positive white male characters that assist the main characters on the way. While the nameless evil characters are also for the most part white, these are all men who work for the evil Dr. Sinclair. Dr. Sinclair is more portrayed as evil rich guy, than evil white guy.

The second complaint is that Burton explains away the bad behavior of the rioters in this novel. This is also a stretch, for the most part, the narration of this novel is values neutral. The few times when value judgments are made, they are through the filter of a characters perspective. Burton describes riots and war time acts by the rebels (the Black Army) including an incident where a ship containing American soldiers are firebombed. It's pretty simplistic to except a writer to talk about riots and acts of war, then require him to tell you these things are bad. I think it's pretty easy to figure out on your own.

Objections have also been made to the "skinners" in the novel. Due to a depletion of the ozone layer, incidents of skin cancer in whites have greatly increased. The evil Dr. Sinclair discovered a method of grafting skin from African Americans onto whites to increase tolerance to the sun. This discovery lead to black market skinners who would enslave and slaughter African Americans for their skins. This plot point, is simply that, a story device. It didn't seem, to me at least, that this was an attempt to show what whites are truly like, as some suggested, but display the dark side of human nature who will exploit anything for a profit, and do anything to survive. You see a similarly dark theme in Niven and Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer with the cannibal armies, many of whom where African American.

All in all, it is obvious what Burton is trying to do. He is creating a piece of fiction with positive African American characters. He is attempting to show that the world is better if people work together. The final scenes contain a multiethnic group, a white girl, an African American male, an elder Native American and a Philipino attempting to rescue Dr. Reynolds. This book is rife with racial overtones, but for the most part handled well. If I had any complaint about his racial themes, it is mostly a stylistic one. Burton felt the need to tell you each characters race in the simple terms as soon as you met them. There are other ways to let the reader know a character is white, black, Asian or Native American without simply telling us straight out.

The book itself was entertaining and a quick read. At points it was compared to the Stand, and called epic. This is a bit of a stretch. I have trouble considering any book that is less than 300 pages epic. Books like The Stand or Swan Song and other post apocalyptic epics create a world which then defines the story, this story didn't need to the world that Burton created to exist. The plot could have taken place within a modern, non dystrophic setting and still ring true. At points, Burton's characters are a bit clichéd especially the old Native American Medicine man Jacob Fire Cloud. The action scenes seemed a bit as the plot races towards it conclusion. Yet, in the end, the book left me with a positive feeling. While I won't call this an instant classic, it was an enjoyable read and raised a lot of intriguing issues. For someone who is not a writer by trade, Burton does a decent job with this tale.

Okay. When I first saw this book I was intrigued. It was by Levar Burton, so that had something to do with it. The premise of the story also sounded pretty good. And let's face it, the only reason I bought the thing is because it was in the bargain section for five bucks. After reading this book, though, I went and got my five dollars back.

I have nothing against Mr. Burton as a person, but as an author, well, let's just say that I don't see how on God's green earth this book got published. I couldn't even finish it, even though I tried. His descriptions of the characters were just too cut-and-dry, and the whole deal with the Indian magic and stuff was just so overdone. Some of his visual imagery was too cliched (a little girl running through a sunny field flying a kite, when suddenly the sky grows dark and her childhood world comes crashing down around her). The writing was really unimaginative, and he needed a bigger vocabulary of metaphors; I can't count the number of times he used the term "ground to a screeching halt," and in one case he used it several times on the same page.

I just had to take this book back to the store. It wasn't worth my time or money, and the reading was simply beneath my intelligence. Sorry, Mr. Burton, it was a decent effort on your part, but come back after you've had a few writing workshops.

I have been a fan of Sci-Fi most of my life. When I was scanning the collection of my local library, I ran across this book and was thrilled to see that Mr. Burton had written his first effort!

Upon opening the book late that afternoon, I found it hard to put down. It was addictive. I finished it the next day (which is odd - I almost never read a book this size in less than 24 hours). Even though some of the story line had a bit of cheese to it (such as Dr. Reynolds not knowing if 200,000 volts would kill a person and the rather late reception of the phychic voice by little Amy Ladue), the plot was good enough to overlook some of the minor knocks and pings that rattle any first effort.

Overall, Mr. Burton's view of the future was insightful and racially fair. Although I feared that it might be a novel only for African Americans, I did not set the book down at the end and walk away feeling as if it was unduly prejudicial toward any race. I do look forward to seeing Mr. Burton's next book.

I would definately recommend this book to anyone looking for a science fiction novel without the typical shoot 'em up space battles that plague the genre.

Bravo Levar!

SF has always been about the ideas more than the prose. Many authors have built solid reputations while neglecting character development or using the sort of sentence structure that makes Hemingway look like a romantic poet. _Aftermath_ is not great literature, but it's decent SF and an admirable first novel, one of the few by known "stars" which seems *not* to have a ghost or co-writer. The background is presented rather quickly (and would lend itself well to revisiting in future novels), and Burton tries to flesh out his characters. He doesn't always succeed, but he *has* paid attention to providing personal histories which contribute motivation for the actions he constructs, and if the characters fail to come alive, they are at the very least acceptable companions for the duration of the novel. Burton's optimism is tempered by realism about human nature and the lessons of history, and he has come up with a plausible and horrifying idea about how years of civil rights struggles could all disappear in the name of a market economy. Anyone who thinks race problems have been solved in the US is probably a white male who doesn't care to think too deeply and anyone who thinks what's once been won is won forever hasn't been watching the Taliban. Philip K. Dick once said "if it is good SF the idea is new, it is stimulating, and it sets off a chain-reaction of ramifications in the mind of the reader". At least one of the ideas Burton presents here does that -- and from a beginning writer, that's a pretty good record.

Award-winning actor Levar Burton's first novel is a worthwhile voyage into the near future, a bleak time of savagery, mistrust, and fear. Although it shares some similiarities with Stephen King's "The Stand," the book is original in its presentation of strong-willed African-American characters who make great sacrifices to insure the continuance of humanity in a seemingly doomed world.

A unique turn on the typical "doomsday thriller," Burton writes in a simplistic yet thought-provoking style. He should win many new fans who only know him as an actor and host of the excellent children's series "Reading Rainbow."

Get the transporter ready, Lt. LaForge! I am ready to take the next adventure!

Although LeVar Burton is best known for his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roots, and Reading Rainbow, I have a feeling he'll also make a name for himself in the genre of science fiction...Although it has quite a few kinks, Aftermath is a thought-provoking what-if that reads easily and engagingly...

Burton notes that he wants to leave his own mark on the sci-fi genre, and he does so here...Though not a blow-you-away novel, he does get the point across with an up-tempo plot and believable characters...For a first novel, this isn't bad...

When I read this book a year ago, I considered it not much more than a good try. HOWEVER, a year later I still find myself thinking about Levar Burton's vision of our future. So here's to you, Mr. Burton, for having written what has ultimately proven for me to be an influential book.