I enjoyed the concept of this story, but it seemed that it was overly concerned with making sure all the many characters were introduced at the beginning. It begins with a ho-hum task by an agent, we later learn of the President of the United States, who is fleeting around looking for an unidentified something. A good part of the rest of the story leads to finding her and her "something", but it meanders through a cast of characters as it details the breakdown of government and modern life in the aftermath of a government funded project gone awry. Aid project somehow manages to undo the laws of physics, causing mutations which for the most part really aren't all that bad, just scary. The missing agent, a search for truth, and purpose, and sanity in the new worldview, all could have been blended into an excellent re-rendition of the story told by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, but instead meanders down a path that clearly heads towards a sequel without really wrapping up the initial story. Disappointing.
I picked up this audio book at the library, mainly because it was read by a man who had played a character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is a typical, "end of the world" novel, but I liked it. I always enjoy stories where characters from various parts of the country end up joining together to fight the "Big Bad". Once again, I was sucked into a story that I did not realize was the first of many parts. (I really have to start checking that before I start reading these stories.) It was not the best novel of the apocolypse I have read, but it was good enough to be entertaining. I'll be looking for the rest of the series.Writing: C+Narration: A-
What do You think about Magic Time (2002)?
Magic Time is the first book of a fantasy trilogy helmed by Marc Scott Zicree. This book is co-written with Barbara Hambly. Each of the subsequent books in the series is written with a different writer. Magic Time was published in 2001, and it is not aging well.I had a difficult time getting through Magic Time. It narrowly missed achieving Did Not Finish status. When I did finish it I realized that all this book did was set up Book Two.Zicree’s book is a post-apocalyptic fantasy in the mode of The Stand and Swan Song, although the cause of the cataclysm that brings magic into our world springs from a covert government experiment gone wrong. With very little warning, ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
—Fantasy Literature
I love the concept of this book, and with recent world events, have been thinking about it a lot lately. What if the lights, batteries, and even guns went out permanently, but people had the power? It was conceived as a 2 hour TV pilot, co-written by a writer / producer of "Sliders" and "Star Trek". It could be a good TV series. BUT... Why can't a WRITER come up with more descriptive words than the all encompassing one that begins like "fudge"? Even if he's painting a scene with miners or white trash dragons. There are other ways to say it. Those scenes wouldn't make it to network television as written. Otherwise, it reads like a tv show with scene changes and reveals. The second one was better
—Natalie
