The Door into Summer by Robert Heinlein

This is my first Heinlein book, and by god is it a cracker! I couldn't stop reading and I was keen to see what 1970 thought 2000 would be. Shame we are not there yet. The story is about Dan Davis a genius and inventor who has, along with his friend, form a small company to sell his inventions all based on making life easier for the housewife (at first) then for engineers, draftsmen and more.

Climbing to success, they hire a secretary but she has plans of her own and when Dan creates a robot (Friendly Frank, I think) she plots her devious plan.

Believing he has lost everything and no longer interested in the business (as he was fired--shares were unevenly stacked), he signs up for cryogenics, only in the book it is called Cold Sleep and Long Sleep.

Waking up in the future he is impressed with the new world, and in love with some of the designs and advances of engineering. This book is heavy on engineering.

Heinlein got a lot about the future wrong but who can blame him, no one can see the future and I remember in the late 80's thinking the future was going to be amazing (like Back to the Future) and I was looking forward to it until science turned from exploration to items to make life easier in the 90's.

This book is un-put-down-able. The writing is crisp, clear and the twists and time paradoxes are awesome. If you haven't read it yet, do so now.

4 stars


  

Project Mimic - (A Sci-Fi Action Thriller Novel) by John Black

I received this copy for a review.

The story line is very interesting, the sort of tale I love. Cryo-soldiers, near future, action packed. And action packed it is, almost from the get-go. But in saying that, I almost put the story down a few times but I promised a review so I kept at it. The main problem is the writing is bland, I felt nothing for any of the scenes or the characters. Every character seemed to lack emotion. The cryo-soldiers are different, they can't remember much, so we get to learn about them as they learn about themselves.

There were some scenes that took me out of the story, i.e. Broc denting a tank with his fists...Johnny Kyoto spreading his arms wide and the holo-girls. Plus they all seem to know how to use their new discovered powers instantly. However, this can be countered by the nanocells injected into them seconds before...no spoilers.

There are a lot of twists in this book and that will keep you reading.

3 stars