Review: One of the best-written sci-fi novels I've read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2013
While `Going Home is science fiction, set in a distant future/alternate reality where fascinating contraptions exist, at its heart it is as familiar as today's tragedies. For some reason, Lyrissa reminds me a lot of Tom Hanks's character in `Saving Private Ryan'--you know, getting the job done just so they can all go home. For Lyrissa's part, damaged as she is by her dysfunctional past and haunted by the painful memories of her abusive father, "getting the job done" can mean retirement to a life of ease and convenience and, possibly, peace.But the "job" is getting Peggy and her artifact, and here, Lyrissa realizes, arises conflicts of interest that may have repercussions larger than their own lives. In the end, Lyrissa faces a choice that's so tough that finally making it is more or less a blind decision--yet she chooses what her guts and her heart say. That's where you hold on to the edge of your seat.Welsman writes with style and flair--the way she paints dystopia is so vivid sometimes you can just squint from the brightness. You can actually "see" the world as Welsman describes it, and it's not an easy feat--it takes a talented writer like Welsman to conjure an imagined world peopled with real, throbbing, dynamic and flawed characters. And of course, Lyrissa, Peggy, and even Mitchell, are not cardboards on a wall--they move about the story so palpably that you'll feel the gravity of their individual fates.`Going Home' is a hugely entertaining read, and one that I'm sure young adult fans of science fiction will love. The good news: it's only book one in Welsman's `Alien Encounters' series, so know that there's more where this comes from. Five stars.