Review: Great Introduction to a New World
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2013
I definitely recommend this book if you are into character studies through the eyes of potential future worlds.  Reminds me a bit of Isaac Asimov, but not as dry.My notes as I went along (potential spoilers):Episode 1: Great start to a new series. The concept for the world draws you right in, the political landscape seems scarily possible (republicans and democrats taken to extremes in enterprise and directorate) and an interesting cast of characters I could see myself caring about once we've had a chance to spend more time with them.I hope that Crumb, especially, plays a big role later in the series; his zaniness is pulled off perfectly and definitely makes you want to know what sort of history he has and whether he'll be able to affect the future in the story.---Episode 2: I loved the flashback that lets us know a bit about Nicolai's past. It does a really good job of fleshing him out as a character that wasn't really done yet in episode 1. You worry about whether he'll make it or not despite the knowledge that he's alive in the "present day" of the future and obviously survives.I was less impressed with his later (spoiler-free) situation with 2 other characters and just hope that in future episodes the reason the three are together is revealed and helps move the story along.--Episode 3: This episodes flashback at the start does a good job of helping understand the relationships between some of the characters but wasn't as exciting as the one in episode 2. The incarceration of 3 of the characters in a previous episode now makes a lot more sense and adds to the intrigue about what's really going on. Definitely makes you wonder what's going to happen when they're done and whether any of the characters will ultimately get away to survive. Also...not enough Crumb! :)--Episode 4: We're starting to learn more about Crumb, and that's a good thing.--Episodes 5 & 6: Good resolution to a lot of the open loops created in earlier episodes, I loved the back story with Stephen York and Noah West, it really helped flesh out how this world came to be.  The final "reveal" at the end of the 6th episode was very cool in terms of setting up the next season but wasn't something so earth-shattering that I felt a need to demand the new season right away.  I'll be happy seeing what other people do with this world that's been created.The after notes are also well worth reading; I'm glad that the conventions and gimmicks from the original version were abandoned because while I've seen works that (for example) employ no capital letters (and even published a series like that) it is *really* difficult to pull off and I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first episode.  It's cool to see how the world came about and changed and what was happening behind the scenes just to get this series written.