science fiction

Dream Thief - Stephen R. Lawhead Book Review

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Review Summary
This a cracking good sci-fi story which with the right special effects would make a blockbuster movie. Rather unusually, it has a psychologist cast in the lead role, and our hero is aboard earth's latest and most sophisticated geostationary space station researching the psychophysiology of sleep in space. The villain has acquired some Martian alien technology, and has a keen interest in combining the alien gizmo with the sleep research to create the ultimate mind control weapon.

The story is fairly complex but well paced, and the many and varied characters are very real. Mr Lawhead has a considerable talent for dialogue, which is generally crisp even though the characters sometimes go quite deeply into the technology and philosophy of the issues. Along the way they pop over to Mars and revive a dormant Guardian-alien, and they acquire a gizmo or two of their own from the not-entirely-extinct Martian civilisation. They zip back to earth to track the villain down and then chase him back to the space station where he is forced launch his masterplan for world domination, just a tad too early. The programmers (on the side of the good guys) have to hide in the air conditioning and hack into the space station systems to get control back. And the hero gets the girl, of course.

Michael JR Jose, Resident Scholar


Detailed literary breakdown of Dream Thief
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%




Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - unraveling a conspiracy
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying - method of control
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - scientist
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 60's-90's
Profession/status: - scientist
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed - deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - missing body parts/abilities

Setting
Terrain - Mountains - Planet surface, need spacesuit - Domed/Underground City
Which planet? - Mars
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Spaceship setting: - a space station
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes
Not Earth, in Solar System? 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? - significantly more descript than dialog
Most similar books to Dream Thief
Infiltrator by Steven Gordon
Master of the World by Jules Verne
World of Ptavvs by Larry Niven
Area 51 by Robert Doherty
Time Stand Still by John Misak




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