From Publishers Weekly
The newest novel by Laidlaw (Daddy's Nuke) is also the most recent contribution to the burgeoning subgenre of literary adventures based on CD-ROM games. Aside from the author's obvious craftsmanship, that is the novel's only other distinctive feature. Based in the Gadget game universe, the tale unfolds in a United States ruled by the totalitarian Republic. Laidlaw's consummate descriptions evoke a New York City that's a cross between Fritz Lang's Metropolis and contemporary Moscow, all retro in vivid shades of gray, suffused in smothering paranoia. While the evil dictator, Count Orlovsky, forces scientists to develop mind-controlling technology to subjugate any opposition, Elena Hausmann and other members of the underground resistance, known as the Third Force, try to gain control of the government's evil new technology. The plot twists and turns with the same workmanlike precision of the Republic's empty streets but salvation is decidedly deus ex machina?a comet smashes into the Earth, although not before Elena and her cohorts are whisked away by a spaceship piloted by comrades from the future. Fans of the game will no doubt be interested to see what installment arises from these ashes; wiser readers will recognize that all along there was less here than met the eye.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Elena Hausmann, chief librarian at the Imperial Library, is a member of the Third Force, a revolutionary group opposed to Lord Paulo Orlovsky, whose megalomaniacal Empire wrested political control from the Republic. Desiring to return to her aborted science career, Elena discovers the true nature of the mysterious green meteorite ore used as an energy source and potential weapon. Laidlaw's (The 37th Mandala, St. Martin's, 1996) fascinating tale of absolute power corrupting absolutely draws upon, but does not require, the interactive CD-ROM game "Gadget." Recommended for sf and dystopian collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
