3 out of 4 stars
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Tara Basi has chosen an exceptional title for his book, The Orb. Simple and short, but it brings forth into my imagination mysterious silhouettes formed from the light of the mysterious but elegant moon. The book, however, is not a mysterious story about the moon, but just an equally imaginative science fiction story.
With two global war events, a mysterious object appearing in the sky, people living on the surface of the earth and underneath, and an attempted mutiny from intelligent machines, world power was balanced between two groups: the Church and Orb Industries. Dr. Peter Morris, a professor working for Orb Industries, following the instructions of his reanimated dead daughter asked an investigator to look into her death. This led finally to the triggering of two cyber-weapons that held the two factions to stand still, allowing the passage of a predicted event without immediate disastrous consequences and reactions from the people. Along the way, mysteries, deceptions, and murders were unraveled. And with the predicted event, whether a thing revered should be revered was eventually put to test.
The science-fiction wonders in the story are really unbelievable and almost impossible. The most intuitive and imaginative science wonders of today would pale in comparison with that of the story: bringing consciousness resembling life to those who have passed away, internet facilities with neuroscience capabilities and aptly connected to the human brain, whole-body transplant, possible alien existence, and artificial intelligence that has learned to emulate the emotions of mankind. It also includes those already in most science fiction stories: holograms, cyborgs, force-field protecting the bearer from outside elements, personal remote surveillance gadgets, bot transports, pulse guns, and what-have-you. The transformation from one physical form to another instantaneously and without losing the attributes and the original personality of a human or a part-machine creature defies current physical logic. And lastly, out of all the possibilities, I wondered why the main character is the only human character explicitly cited as having a tail. I found myself asking in amusement if there would be any difference now between science fiction and fantasy with all of these.
Just like most science fiction books, the story includes another genre. Holding the interest of the reader, it started as a detective and murder/mystery story that goes on and became more complicated as the story unfolds.
It also has the component of spy and counterspy scenarios in that the main protagonists in the story know what the other side is doing, making the reader initially wary of the characters being presented and later caught between disbelief and acceptance or indifference.
In addition to these, the story has political and religious overtones. It points out sources of corruption both in the church and a governing organization. It talks of the exploitation of the people from both sides and the various clandestine operations of both to protect itself from each other and from losing power and influence.
While reading the story, the reader would be tempted to compare the situation to the US -Russian Cold War. I somehow disagree with the justifying argument for the conflict in the story for so many reasons. To me, this makes the story plot less credible, not in line with contemporary logic and world views, and makes the story a bit confusing. Likewise, I have found a detail that would be questionable and could be subject to a logical test by a reader's standards.
The development of the character of the most fickle creature in the story took a little bit too long to be exposed and explained finally. I almost came to conclude that the development of the character is disconnected or distorted. In fact, because of the complexity of the character and the bombardment of additional mysteries, I often find myself stopping to reevaluate the connections in the story. Despite this, I could still say that the story raises expectations since I would always immediately resume, contrary to my usual reaction of trying to cover everything as fast as I can to enjoy the whole story all at once.
With too many questions unanswered and even up to the end, the story still cast doubts on the possible conclusions. The story can be in some instances annoying. There was even a part when a character was portrayed to be confused and annoyed, unable to understand what was happening and unable to get answers. And just like the character, I was also confused and annoyed. Yes, the whole process of reading entails that the reader would take the place of the character. But I think this might be too much. I was prompted literally to be annoyed. The only consolation is that it is at the same time challenging. As I have mentioned before, I have to read again certain parts of the story.
Erotic scenes are present. One erotic topic almost suggests of incest. While the erotic parts may perhaps add to the intensity of flavor and color to some readers, and while it seems that it contributes to showing the unpredictability of the character and the complexity of the science fiction, the story would have to be limited to a mature reader, and would perhaps have a negative appeal to some.
Profane language is present but this can be allowed to pass since its use is only as a normal part of the conversation and are mostly just idiomatic swearing. A few were said to denote the actual activity but it is part of the story. The use of profane language may add to the "naturalness" and the intensity of the idea behind the conversations. But if one would take the position that books can influence the thoughts and ways of a society, then this will not be appropriate. Needless to say, the book should be limited to mature readers.
The book could cater to mature science fiction lovers as well as detective, mystery/murder readers or both. But I will not endorse it to detective/mystery readers who take satisfaction in dwelling in the story and identifying the murderers and motives as the story reaches its completion. I do not think that such a reader would be able to attain that satisfaction with the complexity of the story. I would not also endorse it to people who are impatient and would like to proceed smoothly when reading a book and would not care to read even a part of the story, a second time.
I found too many cases of words spelled as “s” instead of “z” as in recognise instead of recognize, but these were reported to be the British version of the same words. Likewise, I found many instances of hyphenated words that may not be hyphenated really as in co-ordinate instead of coordinate. These were also reported to be variations of the same words. Also, abbreviations should be identified before being used now and then. I found the abbreviation VR so many times. The meaning did not come to me right away as a video record. Likewise, the abbreviation M. A. D. has many meanings: Mutually Assured Destruction, Mean Absolute Deviation, Make a Difference. It is best to assume that the reader is not familiar with abbreviations that are in some places or instances commonly familiar.
I would like to give the book a rating above a “3”. It has the most fantastic science-fiction wonders. It has, in its subtle way, attacked politics and religion in their possible exploitation of the people. I did enjoy the book. But since the book may be too complicated for some and may test a reader's patience, I would give it a rating of 3 out 4.
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The Orb
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