What do You think about The Practice Effect (1995)?
Later on in his career, Brin will learn how to fashion together a plot, to make characters that have depth and to understand how to blend science in with a believable world. This novel was written in 1984 and does not have any of those elements.There is one intriguing plot twist and I will reveal it right here: What happens if we reverse the Second Law of Thermodynamics? This book is a lame attempt at trying to explain what would take place if nothing falls apart but actually improves over time (except people). This is obviously the work of a young David Brin. The dialogue is contrived. No one talks this way. The two primary characters fall in love but there is no explanation of why. The girl is good looking and this is the extent of the attraction between them. Yet, they are willing to be in a relationship with an alien based on a few passing glances and an improbable ride on a glider turned single-engine aircraft. The battles have no drama in them. The main character knows all about all of science and almost never follows a wrong hunch. The primary foil character is almost as likeable as the main guy and the evil villain gets thwarted way too easily. There is no quest, no self-discovery and very little suspense to hold the story together. To top all of that off, the ending makes no sense at all. Even if it did make sense, it has no point to it. The only point I could conjure was wondering if the hero becomes his own ancestor. There is so much Deus Ex Machina that I wonder if Brin himself believed his book would improve over time. All this book proves is that the second Law of Thermodynamics applies to this novel. It looks very weak, even after all these years.
—Mike
I've managed to pick up the odd David Brin book here and there at used book sales and this was one of them. I was a little shocked to find that the book had been signed by the author. Anyway, I needed a fairly quick read to pass the time and I decided that it was time to give this one a shot.It turned out to be nothing like what I was expecting. With Brin, you expect to find yourself immersed into a fairly hard SF story. And this book begins that way, but then you are thrust into a primitive world where the concept of entropy is seemingly reversed. Then the story takes a turn into fantasy tinged with some basic science as Dennis attempts to figure out this new world he's found.It was a fun read and I enjoyed it. Though I'm not entirely convinced by the scientific explanation of the world that is given at the very end of the book. It seemed a little bit too contrived and convoluted for them to have guessed such a possibility.So, it wasn't near the same level as the Uplift Trilogy, but entertaining nonetheless.
—Cliff
I read this book as research, since I’m currently writing a novel about a scientist who finds himself transported to a fantasy world. I was soon caught up in the story and couldn’t put it down. David Brin has long been one of my favorite science fiction authors, and here he brings his trademark with, humor and insight into the planetary romance/sword and planet genre where the main character finds himself in a world where the laws of Thermodynamics have an odd wrinkle, and practice literally does make perfect.There’s action, adventure, romance and swashbuckling derring-do and a large cast of characters exploring a world where slightly altered laws of physics have led to some intriguing social developments. One of the more enjoyable moments from my point of view was seeing the service-probe robot and how it is affected by the odd qualities of the world and becomes a mechanical sidekick to rival R2D2. Other interesting winks at sci fi and fantasy pulp tropes abound in this fun excursion by a master of the craft.
—Robert Defrank
