Review: The Postman

The Postman by David Brin

Yes, this is the book that the movie "The Postman" staring Kevin Costner was based on. Everyone who saw me reading this asked that. Most laughed when I said yes. But I don't care, I thought the movie was ok (great idea, but kinda long). And as it turns out the book is actually waaaay better than the movie.

The book basically takes place in the pacific northwest of the US about 15 years after a series of tragedies (famine, a limited nuclear attack). The central character Gordon, is a drifter who is looking for a place to settle down. Gordon is an unusual person to be a drifter; he is thinker and an idealist. In a world that has gone backward several centuries to a more primal way of life, he definitely stands out. One day he discovers an old mail truck. From it he gets a postal uniform and a mailbag. He decides to use these to help scam his way into the xenophobic villages that are the last semblance of human civilization. Little does he realize that his actions will spark the hopes of the people and lead the region into a unity that they desperately want and need...

I read this book with an open mind. I'm a fan of the post apocalyptic, and I considered this story to be research for that game I want to make (More details here). And I have to say I really liked the book. In fact while reading the book I found my saying "Why didn't they put this in the movie, its great!” The movie was true to the core of the book, but it definitely diverged in some areas.

Which is not to say the movie is bad. In fact there are some things from the movie that would have been better in the book (I don't want to give away the ending to either, but let’s just say that the movie was more realistic at its climax than the book was). In fact if I could merge the two together... well its a fun thought.

I give this book a 8 out of 10 and recommend you read it without prejudice (don't let the movie keep you from reading this).

Review: Day of the Cheetah

Day of the Cheetah by Dale Brown

This book is one of those that makes me feel on one hand surprised that it hasn't been made into a movie, and on the other hand afraid that if they did turn it into a movie they would mess it up beyond belief.

The story of the book is about a deep cover Soviet spy (during the cold war) who has infiltrated the US Air Force as a pilot. He picked to be a test pilot and his new assignment is to help test a thought-controlled fighter jet. As in "the ultimate fighter plane". When he steals the plane, its a mad scramble to try and stop this seemingly invincible airplane.

For me, this is one of the best novels I have ever read. I read it many, many years ago, and I still enjoy picking it up every so often and reading it again. The action, the story, the characters, the details, the locations, everything just came together perfect in this book. It served (and still does) as inspiration to me about what is possible with technology and the important lesson that no matter how advanced the technology becomes, it all boils down to the person who controls it.

I give this book a 10 out of 10 and recommend you read it as soon as you can. It rocks.

-Nick

Review: Moonfall

Moonfall by Jack McDevitt

Recently I've been reading a lot of disaster/post apocalyptic novels as a sort of inspiration for a game I'm hoping to make someday. (Check out my blog for more details about that.)

While looking through Amazon's recommendations page that it had
made for me, I came across the novel Moonfall. I liked the description so I went ahead and got it to see what it was all about. The basic plot of the book is that in the not-too-distant future, mankind has begun to move out in the solar system. There's a base on the moon that is being officially opened and in a few days a manned mission to Mars will be begin. All in all, it seems like humanity is doing pretty good. But during a solar eclipse, a new comet is discovered. This comet is big, and it is moving very fast. The good news is that it will miss the earth. The bad news it will hit the moon. Because of its size and enormous velocity, the scientists believe it could literally smash the moon into oblivion.

The novel then follows the events of the next several days from the point of view of several different characters. I thought the author did a pretty good job of showing a large cross section of the reaction to the comet by including people like the Vice President of the US (who is on the moon to help officially open the moonbase), the scientists working to prevent tragedies from the collision, and even people who don't believe the threat from the comet is real.

I have to admit that while reading the book I was struck a few times by the "stupidity" of some of the characters in the book; I mean if you heard the moon was going to get struck by comet that was big enough to destroy it, you'd probably take notice wouldn't you? There's a lot of characters in the book who don't really seem to believe it. It seemed unrealistic at first, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that's probably what would happen in real life, because there is certainly a lot of people out there who don't seem to have a good enough grip on
reality to listen to when someone tells them they are in danger.

Overall I really liked the book. The story was great and the pacing of the book was perfect. It was like the movie "Armageddon" but with better science. In fact my only complaint about the book is the same one I hade with "Armageddon", the timeline in both seems waaaay to compressed. I know that in emergency situations time seems to slow down, but wow, in the book the people get a lot done in a very short period of time.

Overall I give it a score of 8 out of 10