Paradox, A.J. Paquette

Paradox, AJ Paquette.  ISBN:  9780375869624
August 1, 2013

YA.  Dystopian planetary exploration.  Ana has amnesia, and she's on a different planet than Earth - that much is completely obvious, what with the rocketship, the two suns, the pink and peach sky, and the notes in her strangely limited mission briefing.  WHY she is on another planet, and without her memories, that's the real question.   

I really liked this.  Of course it was pretty obvious where things were headed, and I would like to say that if this wasn't a direct homage to Invitation to the Game, it bloody well should be.  I think that the two of them would go very well together as a reading assignment, actually.

Normally I'm all about very deep and indepth treatments of background and history and the world of the story, but with this set-up, I was very happy to have things just trundle along as mysteries, knowing that the pay-off would come at the end.  I think that the setup very much contributed to Paquette's ability to craft a tight little short YA read, and I have to give props for that.  

The only quibble I have is with the mechanism of the ending - there is a lot of damage to deal with, and the optimistic tone there seems to be just a little bit unwarranted.  Perhaps I'm simply a cynic. 

Previously Published Review: Living Off the Land in Space, Gregory L. Matloff

Living off the Land in Space. It conjures biodomes, algae-growing, 'clean' fuels, and a 1970s Original Star Trek view of the infinately hospitable worlds out in the black yonder for us to exploit - er, I meant explore...

Really, how often did you see Kirk in an enviro-suit and oxygen mask whilst cannodling on the surface of Virgos V?

Now, back to the book -

To my slight disappointment, however, there is much more technological discussion, and much less fantastical futuristic musings. Oh well.

Strangely, despite my lack of techie impulses, once I resigned myself to a bit of a slog through the 'hard' side, I did find myself intrigued by the reasoned discussion of various propulsion systems (chem-fuel, ramjets, magnetic-electric tethers, solar sails, ion! drives and more), an explication of the really really really unimaginably vast distances of SPACE (as in roughly 7,000 years - years! worth of travel (at our best modern rates) to reach Alpha Centauri - our nearest stellar neighbor), and a strange little inserted list explaining the levels that ideas, theories, and prototypes all go through before floating off towards our planetary neighbors, handily illustrated by even more interesting types of hardware that most people don't know we're developing.

The book (freely admitted both at beginning and end) is a bit dated, which is both good and bad. Good, because that means that our current levels of space interest are high enough to make this book outdated by the time it hits the presses; bad in that even the casual reader can smile sadly when he comments on the Japanese mission probe "which will return with asteroid samples in June of 2007" ... or not.

Lastly, the neo-hippy vibe of the title does not carry through the book. The exact idea - utilizing resources from space or from our various destinations - is the focus of the book. But - the reason for that focus seems more economic than environmental. There are myriad explanations throughout on the relative efficiency of newer (or less explored) travel options, but not many comments on the lessened environmental impact. And, in a staggering sense of cross-purpose, please note the many casual suggestions about mining the moon and Mars - although not, he does allow, if there is native life.

This juxtaposition was the only real sour note in the book, which was ultimately an entertaining romp through the technologies and theories which will get us into space.