Review: Disappointed
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 23, 2013
Mindscape is a fairly short novel in great need of being fleshed out into a real story. It is told through a mix of flashbacks from one character and then current-period unfolding story from the other (currently in a coma). Unfortunately, nothing gels in the story and we have very little reason to care for any of the characters - much in part due to the choppiness of the intermingled flashbacks and the passivity of the storytelling.  Lack of world building or story beyond two boys meeting also contributed.The book starts with Shawn arriving at a mental hospital to visit his lover, Mark.  Mark is in a catatonic coma due to PTSD (there are a LOT of acronyms in this book) after he was recovered from an enemy prison. As Shawn works with a caregiver male nurse to use a psychic link Shawn has with Mark, Mark's story of meeting Shawn unfolds.Switching POVs so frequently for me (as well as alternating between past and present) could have worked but really didn't here.  For one thing, each transition lasts a few pages - it felt a lot like someone giving you dinner plate with five items on it and then requiring you to go watch 10 minutes of a sitcom between each type of food.  There simply wasn't enough time to get into one POV or situation before suddenly being thrust into the other POV.  After about 30% through the book, I just gave up on the story and found I didn't even want to read further.The science fiction elements were only half of the story - the rest was the mental hospital and that whole present tense POV was incredibly boring as a result.  The military, world building, everything else also fell to the wayside into what felt like a generic attempt at a sci fi novel without really needing any of the trappings of one.  This could have been an Iraqi war veteran setting or a WW1 setting - it just didn't matter.The writing was very simplistic - felt almost like one of those community college adult education writing courses where two students make a story with two characters and shoot off emails once a week with a new bit they wrote to their mutually agreed upon story.  Neither spent the time to actually write the world into existence - just the characters and very broadly.I don't give a lot of one star reviews - the book would have to miss on a) story; b) writing; c) plot.  This unfortunately failed on all accounts for me.