Harbinger of Books

This is a funny quick read with some interesting philosophical questions.

I am not sure how to tell talk about the book without giving it away so here is what is I think is safe. Ensign Andrew Dahl is a new crew member onboard the Intrepid. At first there is excitement over being on a star class spaceship but then things turn weird very fast. Things like the crew disappearing at odd times, officers surviving the most horrific injuries while other crew members seems to die. When Dahl finds out why this is happening it is a bit of a shock.

The book is clearly a nod to Star Trek, hence the red shirts, and since I am a fan it made the book even more delightful. It is often very funny and at times rather thought provoking. I thought it was rather impressive that the book does not make fun of sci-fi tv but has more of a what if feel.

The challenge with the book is about midway through it gets a little weird and the book kind of shifts. For me it was not in a good way. After finishing the book I think part of the problem is while the initial characters are interesting they don’t have enough depth so when the plot shifts it is kind of hard to keep them straight and to really care about them. Which makes the second half less enjoyable then the first half. Now to confuse things even more is at the end of the book we get three short stories or codas which are the best part of the second half.

I listened to the book on audio with Wil Wheaton who I simply adore. In the end I really enjoyed the book especially while I was listening to it but then the end came and it fell flat, there were still a few loose ends for me.

Still a decent read and I would encourage you to try the audio version of this book.