Chapter By Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a 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.
In our last chapter we saw Jake go home to find his wife left him and his friends are in jail or dead while he was asleep. Not an easy return home for our hero. I think this shows off the problem with being frozen for four years, nevermind the fifteen he was intended. This is the kind of stuff that turns people BACK to a life of crime. Nice to see the justice system gets worse in the future.
I couldn’t tell you at this point whether or not that was intentional by Shatner and Goulart at this point but that’s the reading I’m getting from it. We’ve learned little about Jake in the past five chapters as the emphasis has been on building out the future world and so far I’m not a fan of this world. Narratively it’s fine and has the makings for good storytelling, but it sure isn’t one I’d want to live in regardless of the cool gadgets (some of which we have without the more science fictiony names–“smart home” aside). However, I’m hoping we eventually start focusing more on our hero and less on where he hangs his hat. Let’s see where chapter six brings us.
Actually, as I read chapter six I just naturally flowed into chapter seven, but managed to stop before chapter eight despite the scene essentially continuing. It’s another example of the odd pacing issue of this book. So, let’s read TWO chapters.
