Special Deliverance - Clifford D. Simak Book Review

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Review Summary

As he's examining a strange talking slot machine in his college's basement, Edward Lansing is suddenly sent to a parallel Earth. He wakes up in the middle of a forest and, after a while, reaches a small hostelry near a river. There, he makes the acquaintance of five other people who have undergone the same transfer than he has. Each one of Lansing's new companions comes from the planet Earth but from Earths that had different social and political evolutions. Thus Mary's Earth is a planet ruled by colonial empires where Great Britain still rules Asia and North America and Sandra's Earth is a planet dedicated to arts.

They are told by the innkeeper that they are not the first travellers who've stopped at his inn and that they must explore the planet in order to find out why they have been reunited. The group leaves the hostelry and starts to journey through a strange desertic landscape. After a few hours, they find a mysterious cube lying on the sand but they don't understand the reason why it's here. Later, the travellers reach a deserted city and one of them disappears during the night.

After Lansing has discovered a map in the basement of one of the buildings, the group heads north to a huge tower. But none of them has the slightest idea why they must play this nerve-racking game and, soon, quarrels start to divide the group.
Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of Special Deliverance

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - on a parallel earth in another dimension
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - teacher
Age: - 40's-50's
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - An "It".
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters

Setting
Terrain - Desert
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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