Customer Reviews

Qualiens: The Prolusion I

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This novel begins as a retelling of Shakespeare's <i>The Tempest</i>. I can honestly say that I identified with the main character in that part of the story very much. The other two parts of the story have female protagonists, and I didn't identify with them as much. As an amateur computer programmer, my imagination was captured by the idea that a putterer with a fresh approach might be the first human to contact aliens.

I very much agree with the reviewer who used words like "loopy" and "quirky"; however, I enjoyed the parts about theoretical physics. All in all, I love this book. I think anyone who enjoys the works of Thomas Berger, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Portis, or for that matter Shakespeare would probably enjoy this book. The book is also accessorized by a jewel-like website, qualiens.com.

I loved this book! To categorize it as science fiction is to define it too narrowly. Though it is about aliens -the quirky and inscrutable Qua- it's also about real life and love and Big Boggle and books and lots of entertaining stuff. You might want to take the author's advice and skip pages 13 through 16, unless you're the kind of person who reads physics textbooks for fun. But after that it's all snappy dialogue, wit, word play, and a cast of loopy characters who are all heading toward some, as yet unrealized, collision with each other. I can hardly wait for part II to be published. In the meantime, those who like part I can communicate with the author on his website.