The Grandfather Paradox [Paperback]

With all the flaws tmm2112 noted, I can't believe he still gave 4 stars! I won't reiterate - check tmm's review! I will add that the digressions tmm cited were provided at the expense of key scenes of the story! He expounded on the theory of time travel, then skipped the whole experience!

Worst of all for me was the hideous overuse of the exclamation point! It was painful at first - now I'm afraid I am inured and that it will take several (edited) books before I will again notice the difference between a statement and an exclamatory!

And was that an ending, or was the author interrupted before completing this tale?!

The Bottom Line: If you like light-hearted SF space travel and time travel stories, read it.

Recommended: Yes

This was my first time to read a book by Steven Burgauer, and it was not a disappointment. Long a fan of science fiction and historical fiction, I found this book to satisfy both desires. Steven clearly has a good grasp of space travel and time travel theories and puts them to good use as his protagonists traverse the galaxy and the time stream to reach their goals.

This is not a cyberpunk novel. You'll find no computer controlled society of people with cybernetic implants. No Matrix and no Terminators. It's more reminiscent of SF from the 60's and 70's, light-hearted with adventure and fun at its core.

The protagonist is Andu, a former Afghan freedom fighter and spaceship propulsion inventor who has a dark family secret; there's a defect in his DNA that has befuddled even modern (25th century) medical science. So his only hope is to travel back in time and retrieve a donor in his family line who does not have the defect. Would you believe he has to travel all the way back to the American Civil War? But wait a minute, even in the 25th century, time travel is only a theory. No one's ever actually done it. But the theory was developed by a rebellious religious faction who migrated away from earth long ago. Who were they? Why, the Mormons, of course. Only, they got lost in space and have never been heard from since, and the secret to time travel was lost with them.

The title is slightly misleading, if you are familiar with the term "the grandfather paradox" as it relates to time travel. It implies that the paradox plays a significant role in the story and it does not. It does not detract from this rousing tale, but I would have recommended a title emphasizing the role of the missing gene or the Tachyon Drive.

Andu is a survivor and encounters obstacles from crew members, aliens, nature and his own heart to complete his mission. We don't meet his main companion until almost halfway through the book, but once we do the chemistry is fantastic. The book strikes a nice balance between characterization and action. The surreal nature of the adventure itself and some of the creatures Andu encounters along the way give the book a feel not unlike the work of Piers Anthony in some of his older SF work (Macroscope, Cthon and Orn). But the detailed discussions of time travel theory and gravity wells (complete with graphs) better resemble the hard science fiction of Isaac Asimov. The juxtaposition of the two styles is curiously entertaining which gave me the feel of wild adventure and a physics lesson in the same book.

One of the two faults the novel has is the extraneous exposition Steven divulges at times. The appearance of a young Sam Clemens is charming, that is until he's told you one too many of his tall tales and expounded on the human condition a little too often. And their ultimate clash with the American Civil War was tastefully handled except for the vast amount of detail Steven indulges in. Most of this exposition was at a birds eye view to the reader and did not directly affect the protagonist. Though it was clear that Steven knows a little about the Civil War, perhaps a better place to demonstrate it would be in a true historical fiction tale based in that era. And I would be glad to give it a try.

Some plot details were strangely missing or glossed over with the wave of a hand. The characters get from point A to point B with the simple turning of a page. These missing plot steps would have been more interesting to read than the many pages of war maneuvers by Union and Rebel troops that I did read. I also found the ending to be particularly abrupt and unsatisfying. There should have been numerous questions raised by their sudden appearance

Overall I enjoyed the book and will probably read another work of his. It was a good SF romp through time and space in the tradition of Isaac Asimov and Piers Anthony.
Mark
Columbus, MS