Dead Forever: Resonance

Title: Resonance
Author:William Campell
Series: Dead Forever Trilogy (Book Three)
Preceeded By: Apotheosis


Ratings

Score: 9/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: There isn't any :-(

Review
If I'm honest, I would have to say I wasn't expecting a lot from this book. Not because I doubted the author's talents, but because of where the last book left things. Essentially what had been a story set in the vast expanse of the galaxy has been reduced to the story of someone on a single planet, Earth.

I'm happy to report that actually, Campbell pulls this off really well. I mainly expected the story to be for a large part stand-alone, but it integrates with the previous books quite impressively. It's difficult to explain how well it does work without just simply copying the first few chapters, but from the start, it does work well. So, alleviated of my fears, I could allow myself to simply enjoy the book.


And I did enjoy it. Quite a lot. I won't say it's my favourite in the trilogy, I really did like "Apotheosis", but it's close. It is of course, quite different in some ways, as the main character begins as a child. And to be honest, this is when I like him most. Not because of the character himself, although he is a pretty good one, but because of the way Campbell has others react to him. The kid is far too adult for a normal child, and too many times I've read books where the adults just accept that. In this we see how adults find it a bit creepy, and don't really know how to deal with him, which I think is a fantastic touch. For me, it's one of the highlights of the book, because it wasn't needed, but just adds that something.

The second thing I enjoyed about this book that wasn't required was the technical aspects it discusses. For some people this should be taken for a word of warning, although I believe that the average sci-fi reader enjoys this kind of thing to some degree. An example is a discussion about spacetime, and the laws of physics in general which goes into quite a bit of detail, but requires very little prior knowledge or mental skill-sets for understanding the conversation. It's easy to read, without sounding as if it's directed at a child, which often a danger in scientific discussions.

Similarly with Religion. Gods and beliefs are discussed in a similar way. And it's interesting. It's the kind of stuff that makes you think. Perhaps not as much as Apotheosis, in which Religion was a much more major subject, but If you like thought-provoking books then this is for you.

And I could go on. There is lots of things right with this book. The characters are great. The writing is great. The Humour is great. Actually, sometimes the Humor is absolutely terrible, but in the best possible way. The bad jokes are the best, in a way.

But if every cloud has a silver lining, then every silver lining has a cloud. Resonance is no different. But it's only a small cloud. And it's that one aspect of the story is quite confusing. Time. It's the only technical aspect I found a bit hard to follow. Even the main character got confused, but he got it in the end. I'm pretty sure I did too, but it took a bit of thought. Basically, it's a similar problem to the time-travel paradox. Similar because there's no ACTUAL time-travel, but there are overlaps. So if you enjoy time-problems, then this would be a great one for you to read. If you don't, then it's not the end of the world, I'd still recommend it.

Overall, I thought that this was a very good trilogy, which while I found it slow to start, was unputdownable from roughly half-way through the first book. I don't expect it to become one of the benchmarks of science-fiction, it contains too many controversial statements about both religion and science for that, but it will be for quite some time one of the standards against which I measure other science fiction books. As I've said throughout this, and previous reviews, If you are a Science-Fiction fan, I would recommend this book to you.

More Information

Main Protagonist(s): 1 (+2) male(s)
Main Antagonist(s): 1 male
Main Relationships: Heterosexual
Genre: Science Fiction
Brief Synopsis:
Sentence: Life on Earth. Sequel to Apotheosis, a boy recalls a past beyond his birth, but adults dismiss the fantasy as the overactive imagination of a child in need of therapy and medication. As an adult, his notions prove true when he encounters friends and foes from a distant past, also reincarnated on Earth. But who is friend, and who is foe?

- Glyd-Evans Press

ISBN: 978-0971796089
Website: Dead Forever Site
Amazon Link: UK | US
Pages: 324
First Published: 1 March 2011
Publisher: Glyd-Evans Press