Customer Reviews

Threshold

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Threshold is one of those books that you just can't stop reading. By that I mean at least once a year for the last 10 years. David Palmers novel Emergence was excellent, however, its plot & story lead to a limited set of readers, Threshold I felt appealed to a larger number of readers, as it has elements of fantasy, science fiction & a little of the occult with its deliberatly mis-spelled references to witches, wards, familiars, etc. Unfortunatley, there are no sequels to this book, as I have heard (but not confirmed) that the author passed away before completing the 2nd & 3rd books. If it's true, the genre has lost a truly gifted author and I for one will keep on re-reading his material for years to come.

Theshold operates on a number of different levels (and does so very well).

On the surface, it is a very good adventure novel with a main character that is truely the best of the best.

It also stands as a good introduction to a series while not losing it's value as a stand alone book (which is a good thing since we may never see any further books in this series).

On a third level, it is a satire of the Lensman series. It took me a while to catch on but on a reread, the references were there almost from the beginning.

Finally, it continues Palmer's playing with narative style. In Emergence, he had most of the book written in a shorthand style that gave many of the scenes more impact. In Threshold, we are treated to the stream of conciousness of someone who has just had his world turned upside down. Again, that device works really well.

As for followups to this series, I had heard long ago that the second book was at the publisher but that it hadn't been published. As it's been over a decade, I don't have much hope of seeing it. That is truely regretable.

I've read and re-read this book and i still love it. It's gotten a little bit more wear and tear every year. Like the rest of the reviewers, I've tried to find the sequel to this and have so far been unsuccessful. BUT...I did get as far as finding a title for the presumable sequel...TO HALT ARMAGEDDON..if my memory serves me correctly...

Mr.Palmers'first work in what was to be a trilogy is the single most promising "begining" I have read to date. In this journey of self discovery the author launches our "hero" on an incredible romp across a landscape so vast and so hostile that, at first you may think it insurmountable even in three books. The way the author guides us through this land with such humor and dogged intelligence is poetic genius. I laughed aloud with each turn of both page and event. And the smile on my face lasted for days. Excellent read. I search ceaselessly for the sequel "To halt Armaggedon".

After reading David R. Palmer's "Emergence" (a great book), , I was excited to learn that their was a trilogy on its way. The first book of that trilogy was "Threshold". I read this book more than 20 years ago and the promised trilogy never came to be. And 20 years later it makes some sense to me know.

Threshold is the setup book. Peter Cory thought he held the world in his hands due to his hard work and diligence; but, he learns from a beautiful woman, who is actually from a very old alien race that has been guiding him to a "destiny" they have determined. And this truth makes him a very wanted man. On the run, he learns the true nature of his abilities - both mentally and physically.

And that is where it ends as the author has never finished the story. As I understand it, the next book was shelved by the publisher; and that was that.

So...Stop, don't read this book; it will go nowhere.

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A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

A Mind-Blowingly good read. A writer this good comes along very rarely. This guy is easily the equal of Terry Pratchett. He makes you feel like your experiencing the story close-up. It is a great blow to science fiction that has apparrently written "only" the two books.

PS: His books are impossible to find copies of here in Australia, I had to get my copy of Threshold over the net from the US. (Total cost A$17.40)including postal charges

Still haven't got a copy of Emergence, Have to read mum's copy.

As the first book of a planned trilogy, the excellence of Threshold makes me wonder why the two following books have never been published (and why this book is out of print)! David, if you read this (and I hope that you do) *please* write more, lots more. Your work is easily on par with the masters of the genre and should be as extensive as possible. I *highly* recommend Threshold to all as it is an exciting story told in the most entertaining way. David's turn of a phrase is most enjoyable and his characters are loveable to a fault - if often in somewhat over their heads. Threshold and David's previous book Emergence are two of the best books I have ever read in the genre of Science Fiction.

David R. Palmer's first novel was "Emergence". It was phenomenally good, and refreshingly different (see review elsewhere). Threshold followed many years later, and although completely different from Emergence, was also way ahead of much of the SciFi pack. The plot line was hugely imaginative, the characterisation uncommonly fine, and the style of the whole thing marked Palmer as a truly gifted author. This is a book which, should you read it, you will not want it to end. When it does, inevitably, you will go to the ends of the earth to find the sequel, and, like me, not find it after a ten year search. For some reason Palmer just never got around to finishing the sequel (as far as I know), and this man, who by rights should have become a giant in the world of Science Fiction/Fantasy, remains relatively unrecognised and undiscovered to this day. If you find this book, treasure it.

I loved this book! It was playful and serious at the same time (the hero has to stop the destruction of the universe as he knows it -- and has as much trouble believing that as you do). The hero will remind older readers of a slightly doofy version Kimball Kinnison (right down to the breeding program that produced him) but with a much better sense of humor. As he develops throughout this multiphase book, you like him more and more for his resourceful handling of what Palmer throws at him. I'm only sorry that Palmer has disappeared! What a loss to the SF world. His other novel, Emergence, was a real page turner as well. Please, Mr. Palmer, come out of retirement and finish this story!

Threshold was Palmer's second novel (the first being Emergence), and was intended to be the first book of a new series. Alas, it strains at the seams; with an adult superhuman protagonist, much of the charm of Emergence is absent, and the plausibility is stretched even more thin. And, as John W. Campbell noted, it's incredibly challenging to write about the superhuman, much less from a superhuman perspective. There is an increasing element of deus ex machina as the book progresses, that strained my credulity to the limits. The funny punctuations/spelling of "witch" and "magic" didn't help matters.

Rumor of a sequel is persistant, sometimes called "To Halt Armageddon", sometimes "Higher Education" with the former given as the series title. However, at one SF convention I went to, an individual claimed to have worked for Bantam at the time, and read part of the draft manuscript; they further claimed it was bad beyond hope of salvage, and that the publishing house rejected it, hard. The adolescent-wish fulfilment elements that nearly take over Threshold reportedly ran utterly amuck in the draft sequel.

Given that there is no realistic prospect for the sequel, and given the deep weaknesses in the story, I can't seriously recommend it to anyone, except perhaps as a warning to beginning writers. If you acquire it by happenstance (I got my copy in with a mass purchase of 400 other 2nd hand SF titles), it's arguably worth taking the time to read, if only to understand why Palmer became the SF equivalent of a one-hit wonder. However, the time would be better spent rereading his first novel, Emergence, or any of the thousands of better books out there. Two stars is generous, and only because I save one star ratings for books that are actively bad.