BOOK PROJECT: BOOK 2
The Walls of the Universe, Paul Melko. (1/5/10 - 1/6/10)
I'd start with some joke about my preference for members of the Ohio SF/F Cabal, but that notwithstanding, when I picked up my first Paul Melko book, Singularity's Ring last year, I had no idea he was a member.
So when I was at the library Tuesday night and I saw The Walls of the Universe, I snagged it. I remembered that Scalzi had had a Big Idea piece about it, plus I had really liked the other book.
From Booklist, via Amazon:
Ohio farmboy John Rayburn is a high-school senior with relatively mundane concerns when, claiming to be from an alternate universe, his doppelganger, John Prime, shows up. The temptation to try out Prime’s universe-surfing device proves too great to resist, but, unfortunately, John discovers too late what Prime neglected to mention, that the thing works only one-way. Prime moved quite comfortably, into John’s life, with grand plans to market something his universe has and John’s doesn’t, a Rubik’s cube. Meanwhile, John has found a universe remarkably like his home, minus a version of himself, and enrolls at the University of Toledo as a physics major, figuring he’ll eventually be able to reverse-engineer the device. He accidentally invents pinball, which, thanks to his lab partners’ entrepreneurial genius, is a big hit. But unsavory sorts know it didn’t originate in this universe. Thrills ensue, for both John and Prime have attracted dangerous attention from other travellers between universes. Melko handles the struggles of young adulthood and universe-spanning conflict with equal vigor in this wildly entertaining yarn. --Regina Schroeder
I read the first 175 pages of this in one sitting. I was immediately grabbed by the characters and the Many Worlds plotline, and I finally dragged myself to bed. I read it the next day during lunch, then stayed up way too late last night finishing it.
Bits of it that were more specifically involved with the physics and science of how the device worked were hard for me to get through, which is usually my clue I'm up too late and need to stop reading and sleep, but I kept pushing through because I was desperate to know how it all ended. It didn't end up quite as "neatly" as it could have, which was a bonus to me.
I've really enjoyed Paul Melko, and hope he writes many more books for me to devour in 36 hours. :)
I'd start with some joke about my preference for members of the Ohio SF/F Cabal, but that notwithstanding, when I picked up my first Paul Melko book, Singularity's Ring last year, I had no idea he was a member.
So when I was at the library Tuesday night and I saw The Walls of the Universe, I snagged it. I remembered that Scalzi had had a Big Idea piece about it, plus I had really liked the other book.
From Booklist, via Amazon:
Ohio farmboy John Rayburn is a high-school senior with relatively mundane concerns when, claiming to be from an alternate universe, his doppelganger, John Prime, shows up. The temptation to try out Prime’s universe-surfing device proves too great to resist, but, unfortunately, John discovers too late what Prime neglected to mention, that the thing works only one-way. Prime moved quite comfortably, into John’s life, with grand plans to market something his universe has and John’s doesn’t, a Rubik’s cube. Meanwhile, John has found a universe remarkably like his home, minus a version of himself, and enrolls at the University of Toledo as a physics major, figuring he’ll eventually be able to reverse-engineer the device. He accidentally invents pinball, which, thanks to his lab partners’ entrepreneurial genius, is a big hit. But unsavory sorts know it didn’t originate in this universe. Thrills ensue, for both John and Prime have attracted dangerous attention from other travellers between universes. Melko handles the struggles of young adulthood and universe-spanning conflict with equal vigor in this wildly entertaining yarn. --Regina Schroeder
I read the first 175 pages of this in one sitting. I was immediately grabbed by the characters and the Many Worlds plotline, and I finally dragged myself to bed. I read it the next day during lunch, then stayed up way too late last night finishing it.
Bits of it that were more specifically involved with the physics and science of how the device worked were hard for me to get through, which is usually my clue I'm up too late and need to stop reading and sleep, but I kept pushing through because I was desperate to know how it all ended. It didn't end up quite as "neatly" as it could have, which was a bonus to me.
I've really enjoyed Paul Melko, and hope he writes many more books for me to devour in 36 hours. :)