Review: "The Beam"... a new and excellent futuristic Sci-Fi series from Platt and Truant.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2013
"The Beam: Episode 1" is the first in a new Sci-Fi series by authors Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. This Kindle e-book was a 483 Kb download (approx. 95 printed pages) and sold for $0.99 at the time of writing this review.Please Note: the author provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.SpoilersSet in the future, mankind's life has be made invariably easier by the development of add-ons and circulating nanobots... enhancements that take care of every possible physical or emotional concern that could distress ones' pretty head. Oh, don't have a pretty head, well say no more...The trouble is that they vary in quality and price... not everyone is able to afford 'the best' and in fact some are so advanced as to be illegal.Needless to say, areas of contention have begun to emerge leaving a ever widening gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots'.And all this advanced society stuff is controlled by 'The Beam', an omnipresent supercomputer-like structure that controls and makes possible the easy life style of our denizens. Is this a good thing? Guess were about to find out.End SpoilersSome thoughts on "The Beam"...1.) well written with prose and dialogue of professional quality. It had an easy readability and had (as far as I could tell) few, if any, grammatical slip-ups.2.a) this first episode introduced several potential important characters to the readers... giving us brief snippets of info that set up a litany of intriguing possible tangents.2.b) each chapter followed one character and the story is told from his/her point of view... allowing the reader to get a sense of who they are and their purpose within the tale.3.) a ratio of action vs drama that was a little more heavily weighted on the drama side in this installment... there was some time spent introducing characters and giving some background details. I suspect this will change slightly in future episodes.4.) cover art... while not particularly eye-catching, the two brains, (one normal, the other modified with plug-in connectors) does seem to reflect some of the goings on in this tale.Impressions:I really liked this story and the authors' decision to go to what appears to be a straight, futuristic Sci-Fi tale. This first installment in the series has every indication that Platt and Truant will be able to continue the quality, intrigue and new ideas that was found in their very successful, off-beat "Western Unicorn" series that just finished up. Bravo guys!A fun and exciting read.As it is... 5 StarsRay Nicholsonraynicholsonsreviews@hotmail.com@ralannicholson