Review: A Good Side Story in the Wandering Engineer Series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 9, 2013
I like it when a sci-fi author sets up a "universe" and develops a saga like story over multiple books -- David Weber's "Honorverse" is a prime example, as is "The Lost Fleet".Chris Hecht has done this with the "Wandering Engineer" series and on the whole I am enjoying it and looking forward to the next two promised books. BUT, to enjoy these books one has to shut one's mind to the multiple flaws -- typos and various infelicities. Hecht writes well enough, his style is to hit the reader with a succession of small incidents as the big story is slowly teased out. I think it is this which has led to my addiction to the series, but there are so many errors and oddities!The typos in "Jethro" are greatly reduced from the first book in the series but we start getting narrative in the present tense. Not necessarily bad but when mixed in willy nilly with the author's usual past tense it becomes IRRITATING!I think these books will repel many readers as the low star ratings indicate. But the low price makes it worth while to at least try one and see how it fits your tastes.