Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
So far the padding has been a mixed bag. On the one hand there’s been some good character development, but it’s been at the cost of the sense of urgency the movie had. Benes is dying and he’s the most important person in the world right now but it feels like everyone is dragging their feet. Yes, they need to plan their actions but the planning was pretty much done before Grant got there and there’s more evidence that they’ve practiced with at least the fundamentals of what they’re planning and they’re still going to be in over their heads.
And then there’s Peterson. No, I’m not going to call her by her first name. She wants to be treated as well as the males yet she’s the only character who is referred to by their first name. The rest are Grant, Michaels, Owens, Duval, etc. I’m also worried we’re getting the “warm a cold heart and start a romance” thing the movie avoided. I mean, she was played by Rachel Welch, one of Hollywood’s biggest sex symbols at the time, but at no point is she anything other than a competent assistant and the tension with Grant was not there. I’m really hoping I’m wrong about the path we’re taking.
The previous chapter was all about preparing the ship for miniaturization and what I’m hoping is final character development even though the movie waited for a necessary quiet time to do so. My big worry is that the miniaturizing process in the movie took time and it made sense to do so since there was a multi-step process to shrink the Proteus and get everyone safely into the saline solution for injection. I’m hoping this chapter doesn’t feel like it’s dragging and that it ends with the injection. Let’s find out.
