Book Review: The Oppenheimer Alternative, by Robert J. Sawyer

After reading Quantum Night back in 2016, I was very disappointed to hear that this would be Mr. Sawyer's last novel.  At some point after that, I learned that, of course, he was writing a new novel.  After that, I was anxiously awaiting his next effort.  Mr. Sawyer's books are among the best novels I've read, and each book seems to get better than the last.  Quantum Night was so good, and so thought provoking, I felt it was his best work to date, and that is saying something.  I've had this feeling with many of his novels.  And now, the wait is over - The Oppenheimer Alternative is here!

The end of the world - either the destruction of the Earth or the end of human life on Earth - is a familiar movie theme, but science fiction authors have been writing about this for many, many decades.  A few examples of such disasters that I've come across over the years include (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to identify the sources):

• Self-replicating machines (many different stories/authors here)
  
• A nano-virus, part life-form and part machine, which literally devours the Earth
• A comet/asteroid hitting the Earth or the moon, causing an extinction level event
• A microscopic black hole falls into the Earth's core
• Alien invasions
• Deadly viruses/diseases
• Zombie apocalypse (practically a sub-genre these days)

The Oppenheimer Alternative has an end of the world scenario I haven't seen before.  I'm familiar with the theory that scientists believe that our sun, as it beings to run low on its hydrogen fuel, will eventually expand and envelop the orbits of the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and even Mars) - but this is projected to be millions of years away (I mean, the sun has a TON of hydrogen to burn).  In this story, it is speculated that the sun will eject its outer layer in less than 100 years (around the year 2030), destroying all the inner planets except for Mars.

Imagine being faced with such a threat at the end of World War II?  Humanity barely has the technology to create an atomic bomb (and this was a multi-year effort costing millions or billions).  High fidelity radio doesn't yet exist, television isn't in public use, a human hasn't been launched into

Remember dialing?

space, and most people would continue to have analog rotary dial phones in their homes for decades to come (granted, those phones seemed to last for decades) - and the Earth will be destroyed in less than 100 years.

What could we possibly do to save ourselves?  It's true that the human race has been on a steep curve of technological advancement for the past 100+ years, but evacuating the entire planet (after a war that was a resource drain for more than four years) or attempting to stop a wave of destructive plasma from the sun both seem to be astronomical long shots.

As you can guess from the historical material, the central character in this tale is Robert J. Oppenheimer - the "father" of the atomic bomb.  Approximately the first third of the book deals with the Manhattan Project, and the team of men who work under Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, New Mexico.  The main focus is around Oppenheimer's life, and his interactions with those around him (which is a large cast of historical figures, from Albert Einstein to Wernher von Braun), with the creation of the bomb mostly occurring in the background - but things keep popping up with ultimately contribute to this alternate history.  Part of the story also focuses on Oppenheimer's perceived connection to Communism, and his publicized hearing in 1954 which lost him his security clearance, and any access to nuclear information.

Once the war is over, and the scientists begin to agree that the Earth is doomed, the real problem starts to get tackled.  As in most disaster scenarios, there is the question of whether to inform the public - there are lots of examples of panic and hysteria from historical events.  And, of course, initial brainstorming produces the only obvious avenues of pursuit - I won't list them here, you can probably determine a few for yourself.  Given the Earth's level of technology at the end of the war, this task is likely akin to a colony of ants trying to stop the foot of a human from crushing their ant hill.

Overall, this novel is a work of alternate history, so the remainder of the story, except for the last couple chapters, follows suit in focusing on the ups and downs of Oppenheimer's life, and his relationships, both good and bad, with those around him, with the search for the way to save Earth in the background.

I have to say that this story was not what I expected.  It is very different from Mr. Sawyer's previous works.  While many previous novels involve a variety of different technologies and first contact elements, the common element in most, if not all, of his other stories is the Human Condition.  That is to say, how the relationships and attitudes of people may change through the course of the story.  In the case of The Oppenheimer Alternative, at least for me, this was the main focus of the story, with the technology mostly in the background.

Given the title, my expectation was that somewhere around the halfway point, Oppenheimer would realize that none of the ideas being explored to save the Earth would actually work, and he would come up with an "alternative" solution, which would then be implemented - but, that's not what the title means.  With the end of the book fast approaching, and with no real tangible solution realized, I was very surprised with how things actually turned out.  It was a real curve ball for me, and in hindsight, I feel like I should have been able to determine what was going to happen, if I gave it enough thought.

This was a very different kind of read for me.  I'm not a huge fan of alternate history.  I tried reading the first book of Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series, In the Balance, but it fell flat for me within 150 pages (this is the series where aliens decide to invade the Earth, and by the time they arrive, World War II is under way and they are shocked at the level of progress humanity has made in such a short time).  The Oppenheimer Alternative was a much more successful story for me - it kept me interested all the way through.  I certainly learned more tidbits about the Manhattan Project than I knew before, and it was nice to see Albert Einstein participating in events after the war.  I couldn't help thinking of Walter Matthau playing Einstein in the film I.Q. from 1994.

As always, I'm interested in hearing from my readers.  If you've read this book, what was/is your interpretation of the title before/after reading it?

Book Review: The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time #3), by Robert Jordan

The Dragon returns!  This is the third book of The Wheel of Time series.  My impression is that this story picks up several months after The Great Hunt, as the winter season has passed.  Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne are on their way back to Tar Valon with Mat so that he can be separated from the dagger he picked up in Shador Logoth in The Eye of the World.  This was supposed to have been done in The Great Hunt - before the dagger was stolen with the Horn of Valere.

The rest of the group is gathering news from travelers of what is happening in Toman Head and the Almoth Plain after Rand declared himself The Dragon, and many witnesses saw him battling the Dark One in the sky.  Now that Rand has declared himself, no more false Dragons are appearing.

This title of this book is somewhat misleading.  In book one, Moraine realizes that Rand is the Dragon.  In book two, he declares himself.  So, in this book, with a title like The Dragon Reborn, you would expect the main focus to be on, well, The Dragon.  But, that isn't the case.  Aside from a little time at the beginning, where Rand decides to set off on his own, he is mostly absent from this story.  Oh, he appears briefly from time to time throughout the story, but the main focus is on all the other characters.  This reminded me of one of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality books - I think it was Being A Green Mother - where the individual the story is about doesn't even become the incarnation until the final chapter of the book (how then, is the book about that Incarnation?).

With this book, I've noticed a pattern in the storytelling which is consistent across all three books.  The group is together, they get separated into two or three groups that have separate journeys, and yet, whether or not they realize it, end up in the same place.

Throughout the story, we gradually learn more about what is going on.  We get more details on the Black Ajah, and what they have been responsible for in Tar Valon while the three Aes Sedai in training have been away (enslaved by the Seanchan on Toman Head).  The story becomes complicated for Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne - there's a lot going on in the background.  Many Aiel characters make an appearance as well, and we start to learn a bit more of their history, and why they are starting to appear.

Rand, Perrin, and Mat, the three young men from Emond's Field, all continue to have their own individual struggles.  Sure, they all have trust issues with Moraine - after all, they were raised to distrust Aes Sedai, which all relates to the Breaking of the World by the men who could channel who were driven mad by the taint the Dark One placed on saidin.  Despite all they have seen so far, they are all suspicious of being manipulated or controlled by the Aes Sedai.

Rand struggles with coming to terms that he is really the Dragon, and continues to have bad dreams, and wants to prove once and for all whether or not he is the Dragon, or if it is just dreams.

Perrin struggles with his ability to communicate with wolves.  He tries to close them out as much as possible, but finds that there are times where he simply MUST interact with them, and the interaction in this story was very surprising.

Mat seems in an odd place during this adventure.  In the past, he has been somewhat of a trouble maker, and has had distrust of Aes Sedai, and he definitely thinks mostly of himself (this is how he got in trouble with the dagger to start off with).  In this story, after being healed, he seems more angry and belligerent than before, and he has a huge distrust of the Aes Seda, and wants nothing other than to be left alone to go his own way.  But, he does what is right when necessary, and when asked.

With regard to Moraine and Lan, for the most part they fit their typical behavior pattern.  Moraine continues to reveal things only when necessary, which has a tendency to seed more mistrust - but, she has a lifetime of information which cannot be easily divulged, so it is a difficult balance.  This story is the first time we see real fear in her, which is sensed by Perrin through his extended wolf perception.

The pattern of slowness and extensive description continues.  I'm sure the pace and detail could certainly have been edited down, just as could have been done for the previous two novels.  I expected this installment, being the end of the first "trilogy" in the series, to have a much bigger climax, but it seemed about the same level as the previous two books.

The series continues to hold my interest, and I intend to keep reading, but my concerns about the pending slowdown which will be coming in a handful of books continues to grow.  We'll see what happens when I get there.

As always, I like hearing from my readers.  Have you read this series?  What do you think of it?

Book review: Culture Shock by M.G. Herron

I believe I saw this book pop up in one of my social media feeds - perhaps facebook, but I can't really remember.  The artwork was immediately appealing, and the story sounded kind of neat.  Advertised as "A First Contact Mystery Thriller".  I believe I've seen that combination of words put together like that before.  It's also recommended for fans of Men in Black and The X-Files.  This book was on sale for $0.99 on Amazon, so I took a chance on it.

The story kept me interested - there's lots to like here.  I don't know about The X-Files - I wasn't a major fan, and only saw a handful of episodes - but there are definitely elements of Men in Black here.  In this case, rather than a cop, we have a bounty hunter chasing an alien wearing the skin of a human.  Sound familiar?  And, the alien jumps off a building at some point to escape.  This story also shares some elements in common with The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher - rather than a down-on-his luck wizard, struggling to make enough money to pay rent for home/office, we have a down-on-his luck bounty hunter who has gotten himself in a deep hole of debt.

Anyway, just like in Men in Black, there are aliens on Earth.  They live right among us, and we have no idea they are there.  But, this story isn't about an organization that monitors and polices aliens that are on Earth.  Not that there isn't an organization that maintains galactic order, but said organization is not here, active in everyday life.  Most of the aliens are nice enough, and just want to be left alone - man are here for a better life than where they originated - but there are some who have become a criminal element, and some of them play a part in this story.

The main character, Anderson Gunn, finds his debt spiraling out of control and  he does what he must to try an dig himself out and make his situation better.  As he goes along, he learns more an more about what's really going on in the world, and who this alien is that he's been unknowingly tracking down.

There are some interesting twists and turns.  Unlike Men in Black, the aliens in this story have more than weapons.  Some of them have various mental abilities, or physical abilities that would make them seem like they belong on Professor Xavier's team of X-Men.

While there are many concepts that are borrowed from other sources, for the most part the author places a new skin on it.  The protagonist finds himself in a situation that he doesn't like, and will only involve himself far enough to help his situation - nothing crazy, like actually getting on the payroll of an organization that could loosely be referred to as a galactic police force.  That being said, there are echos of DC's Green Lantern Core here, and perhaps a "buddy system" reminiscent of R.I.P.D. and the TV show Heroes from 2006.

While Culture Shock doesn't break a large amount of new ground, this is a series introduction to take note of, and I'm interested in what the future volumes may bring (from what I can see, volumes 2 and 3 are more highly rated than the first one).  I'm a huge fan of The Dresden Files, which in my opinion, started off in a similar way.  The original story, while not one of the greatest first novels I've read, did lead to a series continued to improve and get more exciting and interesting as the volumes kept coming.  Essentially, the first volume introduced the main character, and some of his problems, while on a fairly short case.  I don't want to give away much of the new ground that is broken, as it takes away from the enjoyment of the story.  Although, I will hint that one of my favorite moments involves pizza

At the current price on Amazon, Culture Shock is definitely worth a look, and it's an easy, quick read, so check it out.

As always, I like to hear from my readers.  If you've read this book/series, I'm interested in what you thought about it.