Customer Reviews

Second Coming

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wouldn't have reviewed this one at all, but I see the other two reviews were both 5-star ratings, and had to add that not everyone loves this book. It's an impressive accomplishment, but have a look at the publisher's web site and you'll probably know what you need to in order to decide if this one's for you. It reads like a very competent try by a writer who, if he keeps at it, will be good someday. Not today, though. Sorry.

Two worlds. Two brothers. An ancient book of prophecies, a mystery-shrouded priesthood, and a time of cosmic reckoning bearing down on an unsuspecting populace. Samuel Dalton takes these ingredients, and uses them to weave a tale so original (despite its initially familiar sound) that I don't know when I've enjoyed one this much...Then I started reading, and discovered that this"Second Coming" doesn't take place in my own star system. I found myself pulled by my shirt-front into a Dalton-created universe, caught up in an age-old conspiracy, and not sure until the final chapter how the archaeologist protagonist could save his (presumably human?) species from extinction.

No, 500-plus pages is not too long for this one. "Second Coming" features strong, yet realistically flawed characters of both genders, completely believable world building on its author's part, and a satisfying yet surprising conclusion. My only criticisms are an occasional pacing problem (rather hard to avoid when writing at this length), and a cast so large that when I had to leave the story and come back to it I sometimes had trouble sorting them all out.

BUY THIS BOOK, if you're a hard SF fan who nevertheless demands a character-driven tale. The old masters, writers like Heinlein and Clarke and Anderson, never did it better.

Imagine if you will, two worlds at war; one advanced civilization, encroaching upon the other, a place of nomads, of underground cities now desolate, and in ruins. A dark secret lies within the artifacts found in this treacherous place, and reveals both the origins and fates of these two civilizations at war. In order to uncover the mystery and the truth, an archaeologist, in pursuit to justify his father's unfinished work, brings an unlikely group of experts together to help him recover the truth of their existence, and the cataclysmic event that may destroy them. On this quest wrought with peril, they discover from the military, and the dark, powerful lunar monastary, that in order to escape certain anihilation, they must unite these estranged worlds.

The characterization is impeccable, and Mr. Dalton's use of the religious history, the Vesanic verses, a triumph. I highly recommend this sci-fi thriller.