The Icarus Files by Laurie Grove
Description
An Earthbound science fiction adventure that weaves a tale over five
thousand years in the making.
Across the galaxy, and through the millennia, a secret is kept that would
shake the very foundations of humanity. On another sweeping tendril of the
Milky Way, a race of advanced telepaths imprisoned on a space station uncover
The Icarus Files and the key to their salvation: a tiny rift in time and space,
which unlocks the past, as well as the future, of two worlds.
When James Beckum, our hero from SETI, gets wind of a mysterious craft,
and a secluded landing site, he can hear his destiny calling. Determined to
make his mark in history, Beckum escapes his ordered life as a desk jockey, and
sets out on his greatest adventure.
Review
I found The Icarus Files to be an enjoyable
read. In a good way, I was a bit caught off guard that life as depicted in a
"period piece" from as recently as the early 90s could have changed
so much in so short a time (for instance characters communicating with pen and
paper and only using land lines and pay phones). I found that a source of
constant light amusement. The novel was well written and the pages and chapters
seemed, for the most part, to fly by.
The main focus of
the plot is about extraterrestrials. Yet, it was not overly formulaic, and in
spite of numerous related topics which have in recent years become cliché, the author
handled them in a refreshing way and largely avoided the worst offenses of so
many of the genre.
This novel is a
mixture of a number of interesting concurrent subplots, each of which evolved
seemingly independently until they all came together towards the stories
climax. (The way this was handled commendably avoided being choppy). The book
is filled with characters which seem ripe for further development, and I would
love to find out more about them. Could this be the first part of an eventual
trilogy? Given the high quality of Ms. Grove's first effort, I would encourage
her to continue, and welcome her as a delightful new sci-fi author. (By
M. Sodos)
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