Review: A Worthwhile Journey
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2013
Sorry about the ambiguous nature of the review; "spoiler alert" is the war cry of the modern age, and I simply don't want to enter that battle.I found Pinhole to rather akin to an extended race; a jumbled mass of characters that eventually thin to a few coherent participants towards the resolution.  Occasionally, the author seemed to focus more on the finish line than on what a character was currently engaged in,  resulting in odd duplications of text or narrative.  Also, while I understand that the initial confusion factor was actually intended, it did seem at times needlessly contrived and is a substantial detriment to continuity (some may feel this prompts re-reading, but I've always felt comprehension should be a given, and subtlety and nuance are what truly justify multiple reads).  Essentially, however, this race only pays off to any extent if you finish it... even though it can at times seem a marathon.On the positive side, the characters (for the most part) are distinct enough to remember, especially given the limited capacity given to each.  Every decent read has those personalities you would rather explore further, and this was no exception.  There are also a multitude of interesting sci-fi concepts; I would venture saying there are too many, as none but the title concept is explored to any real extent. Some of these alone could serve as premise for additional works, and not necessarily in the Pinhole universe.  Also, the science is brought down to layman's enough to make it palatable to anyone (I would have preferred more technical portrayals, but I'm a life-long fan of Asimov and Bradbury).One final note about the scene delineator used throughout the novel.  It is a graphical representation of a circuit board... and it is immense; a full six lines of text is lost, and it's used rather frequently.  Two black holes, likely intended to depict the boundaries of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, are represented in this circuit as an embedding diagram full of crossing grid points.  In the `About the Author' section, he mentions `detonating a linear accelerator' in college.  The circuitry depicted in the diagram would short the instant current was applied (given all the crossing circuits), possibly creating the damage indicated.  I know, a lot of work for an esoteric electronics witticism, but the thing was superbly annoying throughout the read.