Review: Scifi Novel tackles power, dominance and social issues
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 22, 2012
Children of DestructionI'm going to be honest. I've always loved post apocalyptic novels. Everything from `TheRoad' to `Mad Max' are particularly entertaining to me. With that in mind my review of`Children of Destruction' has to be taken with some predisposition in mind. With that fulldisclosure I have to say the author Al Philipson has taken a very unique approach to hiswork. He vacillates the reader back and forth between two worlds until they collide. Weget tossed back and forth between Buck Mathews exploration into a deterioratingexistence in Spokane Washington and the creature Sek ka's life on a soon to be dyingplanet. There's also a subplot concerning an alien slave named Sessla. This keeps theaction flowing. Philipson's writing style is smooth and descriptive. A lesser authorwould've easily made the cross stories confusing and hard to follow.Early on in the work we're introduced to the first love interest Jean Andrews. There's abit of a contradiction here. She's a strong woman but seems to follow Buck with almostblind obedience. Not that anyone could say how'd they'd react in such an insanesituation.  Still, I found her character to be believable and well thought out.In both worlds Philipson draws silent commentary through the subplots on dominance,slavery, and power. It was obvious a lot of thought went into not just the plot but thedialogue as well. He mixes action with drama well and I found myself hooked within thefirst fifty pages.There's a lot in this novel. Much that I can't reveal without giving away many segmentsof the plot twists within. By the time you get to book two (this I felt moved the fastest)and the characters of Jerry and Theresa I think you'll find a very rewarding readingexperience, I know I did.