Review: There Is a Good Story in Here Somewhere.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 20, 2013
Martin/Maritine is the tale of two people finding love in a dystopian society. They live in a future where epidemic disease has reduced world population to a few million, where the last vestiges of American civilization cling in enclaves of the old capital cities: Paris, London, Moscow. "Back to Nature" lovers gone wrong live in bronze-age savagery everywhere else.The real war, however, is carbon versus silicon. The Server, the internet on steroids, provides everything for everyone in the cities, and some people are beginning to suspect that it is going to allow humanity to fritter itself to death so that Silicon can take over.The story starts in this waning evening of humanity, with Martin enjoying his Best Friend, a new mental interface with the Server. The descriptions of the sensuous nature of the experience, surfing in the English Chanel and a fast drive back to Paris in a sports car, are well written and evocative. It is a slow way to start a book, although it does introduce us to the possibilities and dangers of the Server.Then Martin espies the girl of his dreams on the opposite side of the Metro tracks. Once he deduces that she isn't a pornographic ad virus on the Server, he rushes to meet her, and looks back through his interface to see his avatar having a much steamier meeting with hers on the other side of the station. Then he realizes that she is seeing the same show. Reality blurs from then on, as we ride along with Martin as he delves into what is real and what is not, and what should be and what should not.Unfortunately, I feel that this book needs a real "slash and burn" editing. This is a great story idea, with lovely  characters and all sorts of fun chances to play with the nature of reality. However, the story comes to a grinding halt for a 15-page diatribe by a minor character on the nature of our dependence on socio-economic crutches. Or something like that; he does ramble a bit. This distraction takes place in the early part of the book, after a similar detour into backstory and setting that, while interesting, doesn't really entice one into the story.It is only when Martin meets Martine - a fascinating concurrent connection in real life and cyberspace - that our interest gets aroused. Even then, the wonderful scene where the two lovers are at their respective places of work, and at the same time rambling the cyber world for trysts in romantic places, loses power because the point-of-view switches happen so rapidly we can't keep track. It is an old bit of wisdom that you don't demonstrate boredom by boring your reader. In this case, showing confusion by confusing the reader is similarly dangerous.If you are interested in great description and a good deal of philosophical conversation, perhaps you will find it easy to fight your way through to the enjoyable story hidden in this novel. Otherwise wait for an edited version.I was given a free electronic copy of this book in order to write this review