Saturday, December 18, 2010

REVIEW: The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner

Source: Bought-and then couldn't resist reading it
Tane and Rebecca are having a completely ordinary day until Tane comes up with a crazy idea: if it's possible that people in the future have built a transmitter to send messages back to the past, why not build a receiver and see what comes up? Turns out, there are actually messages coming back to them, from themselves. At first it seems like a lucky break, but then it all goes wrong when the messages turn dire. Now, I'm not a science person at all and had never heard of quantum foam, but I liked the whole end-of-the-world spin, so I grabbed a copy, thinking it wouldn't be bad to read a book with more science in it. Boy, I'm glad I did-this book was so much fun to read. I was able to follow along through the science explanations fairly well (it was spelled out simply enough), and then, once the action picked up, I couldn't put the book down.

I mainly liked the plot-it was fast-paced and super interesting. To me, it read like a Michael Crichton novel, like Andromeda Strain, a book I absolutely loved. Figuring out the clues from the future along with the characters was very cool. But I liked the characters, too. Rebecca, Tane, and Fatboy made up a really great team-they all had flaws, but they each also had their strengths, and they each had an opportunity to shine. Another aspect I thought very cool was the way Falkner weaved aspects of Maori culture into the story, especially how it helped Tane and Fatboy develop as characters. This book was very well-written and action-packed. If the science behind the story is absurd (which it might be to someone well-versed in physics, I'm not 100% sure), I thought it was really interesting. Add strong characters and a fantastic plot, and it was a great read.
Grade: 4.7/5

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