Wormhole Review
Knowing that the author spent his previous career in the world of science explains why the science in this book is very solid and well detailed. Everything that happens in this novel comes off as completely believable and if I had not known some of the science covered beforehand, the parts of the book where he jumps from actual science into speculation would have all seemed like fact. He also does a good job with the thriller aspects of this book. The chase for answers and then solutions is interesting and at times pushed me to read faster in order to find out what was going to happen next. There are parts of this book that strongly reminded me of Carl Sagan’s Contact, both in the way the science is approached and in how Meredith dealt with the government and scientific community’s reactions to the main characters and their quest.
The author does an excellent job of showing how amazing acts of nature can destroy and wreck our structured environment. Meredith seemed to have a certain glee when writing the scenes of carnage and devastation.
That might be where the real big fault I have with this book comes from. The book takes a very long time to get going. The story didn’t feel like it really started until almost forty percent through reading it, which might be the longest set up I have ever read in a story. While I can understand the need to set up these wormholes and their destructive power Mr. Meredith seems to be a bit over enamored with this setup. We could have done with just 2 scenes showing us their power, say the opening scene and the destruction of the super-tanker. That would have been enough to get what was going on, give the main characters something to investigate, and set the stage. Unfortunately the author felt the need to write many other instances of wormholes causing havoc. I get that he wanted to show the difference aspects of the wormholes in order to set up later events, but those could of have been condensed into just a couple of examples and the result would have been the same. As it is the reader has to slog through the first half of the book waiting for something interesting to happen.
However, if you can make it through all of the setup, once the story gets going it really moves at a fast pace and is worth reading. Dennis Meredith is a good writer and has the ability to keep the reader engaged when he wants to. While not my favorite sci-fi book it was none the less an enjoyable read and one I would recommend to anyone who likes hard science fictions or books like Contact.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
