Customer Reviews

Calamity's Child: A Novel of the Frontier

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In the interest of full disclosure, I have to state up front that I grew up with author M Keaton, though I have not seen him since we were teenagers. Having said that, Calamity's Child is a very good book. Keaton keeps the pace up and doesn't bog the reader down with details such as how travel from one world to another is achieved. While I realize this has its place, and I'm not downing fans of hard science fiction, there's something to be said, in my opinion, for good old-fashioned space opera that doesn't let the science get in the way of a good story. Keaton achieves that in this book, and if you're a fan of old-school science fiction, you'll like this one. While the characters might feel a little stock, that seems to be the purpose of this book: to take you back to the days of two-fisted heroes while throwing in some two-fisted heroines to help them out. He also manages to throw a couple of nice gadgets your way for a little extra surprise.

If I have any major problem with this book, it is the somewhat stilted feel of its beginning. It's pretty obvious, at least to me, that this book is actually a collection of short stories that have a common theme and constant characters. This tendency smoothes out in the last two-thirds or so of the book, and it's not patently obvious, but it's there nonetheless. Other than this, the book is a joy to read, and I highly recommend it.

Recommendation: Excellent

Originality: 5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Aesthetics: 2/5

Whoo-ee! I love me a good western. And space-westerns are even better! Calamity's Child by M. Keaton features shoot-outs, bounty hunters, aliens, duels, cyborgs, shooting contests, dinosaurs, safaris, government conspiracies, starship battles, feisty senior citizens, and more!

With humorous dialogue, an interesting back-plot, and memorable characters who grow in depth as the story unfolds, this book is sure to satisfy any reader interested in science fiction.

The plot opens with two bounty hunters, human Ivan Steponovich and two-ton alien insect Red Dog, being sent on a mission by their smuggler-turned-crusader employer to rescue a young girl from her own imaginative memories of `the devil'. The devil in this case is master criminal Edgar Casey, and the bounty hunters' mission to rescue this latest victim of his is just one more step in their long war against him, a war that is finally brought to an end at the story's conclusion.

Whereas Calamity's Child is written by a Christian author and published by a Christian company, you will not find much in the way of Christian content in this book, besides a few references to Biblical names and characters. There is, however, a very natural and insightful discussion between two characters regarding the existence of God and the reason for His allowing bad things to happen, which I'm sure any Christian reader will appreciate.

For the more conservatively-minded, the book does contain a lot of death and violence and a good bit of mild cursing. Beware.

The only real complaint I have with this book, however, lies not with the author, but with the cover art. The picture does feature some of the main characters, but the art is simply not as impressive as one would desire. In other words, don't judge this book by its cover!

Again, my recommendation for this book is Excellent and I will certainly look forward to any future novels Mr. Keaton may be willing to offer us.

Steve Wilson, from ([...]author of The Gifted: In the Beginning.