Stephen R. Lawhead Resident Scholar Profiles TOP SCHOLAR: Christopher SCHOLARS:
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Review Summaries
"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 Stephen Lawhead Scholar
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Overall Review
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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
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