book review -- Reflex, by Stephen Gould
Dec. 9th, 2004 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI meant to get work done today, really I did. But a package arrived and it contained Reflex, Stephen Gould's (the writer, not the scientist!) sequel to Jumper, which is one of my favorite books ever. (Okay, so I probably have at least a hundred favorite books ever. So sue me. I have childhood affection for this one as well as general love for a good story and a brilliantly executed first person narrative.)
Basically, I holed up and read all afternoon.
And it's a good book. Not quite as good as Jumper, but few sequels are ever as good as the original. The plot was well thought-out, he came up with a couple new twists on teleportation, and the operant conditioning scenes were very well written. The attempted sex was kind of gratuitous, though, and the ending perhaps a bit too inconclusive.
The weirdest part was getting used to reading about Davy in third person instead of first person. I understand why Gould chose that POV -- he had to split the action between Davy and Millie, and it would be odd to write one in first person and the other in third -- but I can't help wondering how the book might have read if he'd decided to do both characters in first person.
Eh. Guess I'll never know. And it doesn't particularly matter.
Basically, I holed up and read all afternoon.
And it's a good book. Not quite as good as Jumper, but few sequels are ever as good as the original. The plot was well thought-out, he came up with a couple new twists on teleportation, and the operant conditioning scenes were very well written. The attempted sex was kind of gratuitous, though, and the ending perhaps a bit too inconclusive.
The weirdest part was getting used to reading about Davy in third person instead of first person. I understand why Gould chose that POV -- he had to split the action between Davy and Millie, and it would be odd to write one in first person and the other in third -- but I can't help wondering how the book might have read if he'd decided to do both characters in first person.
Eh. Guess I'll never know. And it doesn't particularly matter.
