Review: An exciting post-nuclear Earth!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2013
An exciting trek to a post-nuclear Earth!Tightly composed and never off tangent in its delivery, "The Contaminants" by Devin K. Smyth packs many punches.While reading it, I felt there were components of Skull Island and its fantastic creatures in the movie "King Kong," as well as overtones of another movie (and television series), "Land of the Lost."Although it took some time to do so at first, I got used to the narration of the story through two main characters.One thing I really liked about the book was its depiction of Captain Monumba. Finally, a starship captain that jogs every morning! That humanized her, as well as brought out her caring image as "captain of the people." While she had a small role, it was a very interesting and original character for a science fiction story.While it is hard to explain the story without giving away the plot, suffice it to say that there are plenty of ethical dilemmas in this story with no easy resolution. This book left me thinking what I would do if I were a leader or advisor in that situation and how I would make decisions that was best fitted for the future. Preserving what we have now at all costs, or sacrifice for an unknown future? Believe in a lost but so much more promising cause, or accept reality and move on? If your family is involved in a position contrary to yours, do you go with your heart or with your head, even as you're not sure what the ultimate facts are?