Customer Reviews

The Bridge

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When the pandemic virus struck the earth, no one knew its origin. All everyone understood was death and mutation. The extraterrestrial Kasaran had sent their friendly hello in a microscopic genetic package throughout the universe in search of intelligent life. When the probe reached earth, it took a wicked twist that its creators could not have envisioned: it had murdered billions without rhyme or reason.

When the plague finally ended its devastating run, two humanoid geneses contend for planetary superiority. One group consisted of those former home sapiens that the virus transformed into an alien populace clamoring for contact with the mother species. The other group is the surviving members of Homo Sapiens who somehow contained a natural immunity to the virus and remain human. After the debacle of the first contact, they prefer nothing to with the Kasaran killing machine.

The Bridge is an excellent science fiction thriller that centers on complex actions and reactions. The story line is crisp, fast-paced, and thought provoking as the reader realizes that even in the innocence of knowledge-seeking and friendships, death even holocausts, can occur. Anyone who enjoys classic Star Trek will fully relish Janine Ellen Young's awesome first contact tale and seek her debut novel, Cinderblock.

Harriet Klausner

The Bridge is a strangely powerful and moving literary journey; and, one that may be dificult to accept -- at first. Unlike some other reviewers, I was captivated by this book that doesn't fit the 'normal' mold for science fiction. The author takes a fascinating idea -- a race that communicates through viral means -- and successfully provides multiple viewpoints on a tragic but ultimately moving story.

This novel clearly fits into the 'hopeful' view of alien contact -- whithout minimizing the trauma and upheaval that would be created by such an encounter. And, while I don't know how accurately it was done, the author successfully creates a sense of place for India and its culture, while also capturing a feel for New York.

The book successfully deals with tragedy, anger, hatred, loss and grief while maintaining a positive, life affirming tone. While this book does spend more time dealing with emotion than technology, this choice is consistent with plot and in no way detracts from the reader's experience.

Finally, the book has a strong conlusion that left me with a feeling of proper closure -- something that seems increasingly rare these days. Unlike a lot of other books, the last page did not leave me feeling like the author ran out of ideas and brought the story to an ungainly and untimely end.

If you are looking for a though provoking, enjoyable read -- that will leave thoughts resonating in your head for some time after you are done -- you should read this book.

I was startled to see the bad reviews for this book. I read it six months ago, and the ideas are still with me. Maybe it's because I read a much wider variety of books than sci-fi, but I didn't find the book slow at all. It does focus more on relationships and spiritual matters, but in a very interesting and haunting way. I believe the concept is well explored and the book well written. This is the kind of book I love to pass on to friends.

This is a beautifully written book, well-thought out and developed characters, and beautifully described surroundings - you'll think you actually are in India in a couple of the scenes. The plot is nicely developed, from a pandemnic that wipes out most of the world population, to the rebuilt society. I particularly enjoyed the character development throughout the novel, where the people started, where they were after the pandemic, and where they ended up. Fascinating from a psychological point of view! A nice, satisfying read, and not one that's so complicated you'll need a degree in astronomy or computer sciences to figure out.

Full of rich analogies, metaphors, and deep congruences... a great story, almost-real characters, and a poetic yet unpretentious prose style. Good science fiction, and good literature.

While I found the basic concept of Young's "The Bridge" to be quite interesting, a distant alien race attempting to communicate by sending a message encoded in a virus, I found the story of this attempt to be slow and emotionally unmoving.

The characters are generally unsympathetic and didn't evoke any feelings in me other than the hope that they'd just get on with it. They related as badly to each other as they did to me.

The destruction of most of humanity, and the residual longing generated within the minds of the survivors of the virus for contact with the senders of the virus message, felt like a shakey foundation for a story that meandered to an equally shakey conclusion.

I was not informed, I was not involved, I was not surprised, and I was not particularly happy to have spent the time that I devoted to this book.

Not a keeper.

This is a fine read, a deftly plotted story, and a fresh look at first contact. Young's science is convincing and her hand with technology is sure, but mostly, this is a story about people who matter. A fine novel for anyone who enjoys hard sf and character-based fiction.

Shades of the Wild Card virus here, and of Octavia Butler's
Xenogenesis. A nasty alien bug divides humanity, by altering the minds
and consciouness of those infected. This leaves the normal humans and
the alien-humans at odds, and they have to work out how to deal with
the new society, after the immense upheaval this causes.

I rarely flame a book, because I know what it takes to put one together. However, The Bridge doesn't make sense for so many reasons. The characters are not real. I cannot imagine a mother committing suicide right after giving birth. It is not realistic to believe food would start flowing back to the cities after a pandemic virus wipes out 4 billion people. And who kept the power grid running during this disaster?

Yes, there is a sci-fi premise regarding first contact (sort of), but humanity tends to react a bit differently in the light of megadeath than what was depicted here.

While I found the idea of the book interesting, the execution was boring in the extreme. I'd be reading along and then find myself thinking about something else altogether (like, say housework). I think if the author had stuck to fewer, better developed characters, it would have been much more satisfying. As it is, it reads more like an outline than a book.