Assessment:

In this cleverly conceived novel, “gateways” that permit instantaneous travel to anywhere in the universe and replication software that creates an inexhaustible supply of free commodities threaten the current world order. Despite this promising premise, the novel is long on talk and short on incident. Although the book pits a band of rebels hiding out on a planet they’ve named New Earth against governments clinging to the status quo, there is little tension as the rebels’ success at creating the utopia they envision and forcing the old order to succumb seems an almost foregone conclusion. The characters discuss the science behind their technology with great eloquence, but in info dumps that push character development and plot complications to the margins of the story.

Date Submitted: June 01, 2016