Customer Reviews

Secret Passages

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

 

 

Troubled Anne-Marie Brand has a secret that she has held inside of herself for her entire adolescent and adult life. Now this secret may be the leverage she needs to get her son out of the legal grasp of her vindictive ex-husband. She needs only to acquire a bit of archaeological treasure to set her trap and quantum physicist Manolis Minakis seems to hold the key to the very treasure trove she seeks.
There is one unknown that challenges her scheme: it seems that Manolis himself has masterminded the entire game from the very start. He has lured Anne-Marie's new husband to a symposium on quantum physics, manupulated the man whom Anne-Marie desperately needs to aid her in her quest for her son and enticed Anne-Marie herself to his homeland on Crete where he enfolds his own strange personal history.
The outcome is a pleasing story of two people of different generations with the identical need to salvage the good from their past in order to face the future in a positive manner.
I enjoyed this story immensely---I did not buy it because it was supposedly a Sci-Fi tale; it has little science fiction. Rather I found the characterizations and descriptions of Greek village life vivid and fulfilling, especially when set against the foil of such archaeological greats like Sir Arthur Evans and John Pendlebury.
A most satisfying story!

Preuss does an excelent job developing characters, and bringing us in to the lives and history of the people of isolated island of Crete.

When I started the book, I was expecting more physics. I was not prepared for the 100 page biography of Minakis, and did not enjoy the interlude as much as I would have if I was expecting it.

The writing style was fantastic. I loved the characters. This book about the lives of scientists. It is a welcome relief to all the quirky sci-fi books filling the bookstore shelves. A previous reviwer made a good point labelling "Secret Passages" as fiction about science instead of science fiction.

The characters and writing style are fantastic. Preuss does an excellent job weaving together anthropology, the history of Crete, philosphy and physics. On the downside, many of the transitions in the book were weak and the plot a little disjoint. This was truly a refreshing book, but I gave the book a 4 instead of a 5.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a very deep and thoughtful work on the lives of scientists. I admit, I wish I had a map of Crete at hand while reading it. I expect it would be better on the second read.

This was the first book by Preuss that I have read, and I will be looking for his others. The story is a remarkable work of fiction with enough speculative physics thrown in only where needed to advance the tale. A pleasure to read, engrossing, intelligent and thoughtfully written. Highly Recommended

If you're looking for hard science fiction, this book did not have it. Yes, it was ostensibly about quantum physics, but that was barely a back drop for the real plot. The story was actually about one character's desperate attempt to get rid of a sordid skeleton in her closet without telling her husband about it (it read like a soap opera), but the book mostly recounted the biography of a Greek physicist. While the biography was the most interesting part of the book, the completely lame plot relating to quantum physics probably only served to allow this book to be labeled "science fiction".

Preuss manages to skillfully mix a hard SF novel (with elaborate yet non-intimidating descriptions of quantum mechanics research) with a historical novel. Add totally realistic characters, and you have an offbeat winner. Not quirky, this one comes from the heart, and will keep you captivated. And the physics rocks!

This book contains a beautifully delineated novella about a brilliant shepard boy growing up in Pre-WWII Crete. Preuss found a setting that fascinated him, as evidenced by the story's emotional resonance. Bracketing this is a good novel involving a trio of contemporary characters (including the shepard as an elderly physicist) who seem less saturated with life. Secret Passages is a meditation on desire and memory with particle physics thrown in to keep the plot moving along. I enjoyed Preuss's unconventional resolutions and his ambivilant, mercurial charaters. A novel well worth reading.

I really enjoy reading the book because of my long affair with the Greek language and culture in it's different historical incarnations. Anyone interested in traditional life, travel, or history should find this book captivating. When I'm next in Greece I want to visit Crete, and this book was the inspiration. The hard sci-fi part is quite good as well, creative and well-researched. It has a little something for everybody.