2 out of 4 stars
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Superhighway 2 by Alex Fayman is the second installment of the Superhighway Trilogy. This book continues to follow Alex Fine’s life. Alex was born with the ability to transport himself electronically via the internet. In the first book, Alex explores the vast opportunities that such a gift can offer. This second book reveals the repercussions and consequences of Alex’s impulsive decisions that he made in those early years.
The book’s plot was a fantastic and imaginative premise. Transportation via the internet would have many different benefits. While the first book explored the possibility of personal rewards, the second book explored military and espionage applications. I liked that this second book branched out into a wider scope of potential uses for this gift and the possible outcomes.
This book began similarly to the first book. The first few chapters were a premonition of later events. I appreciated the similitude of both books in this manner. The extensive time hop between the ending of the first book and the beginning of the second book befuddled me. Almost two decades had passed between the storylines which was disorienting. The tempo of the plot also was problematic. The story raced through one event to another and covered several years in very few pages. Characters were introduced and discarded in rapid succession. This allowed for very minimal character development. As a result, the reader could not connect with these characters and was challenged to empathize with the protagonist. I felt nothing over the losses that Alex experienced since I was not able to form an attachment to these characters.
The monologue elaboration of events by a secondary character also demonstrated poor plot development. A reader should be able to infer or interpret events as they unfold without an overly detailed explanation. I felt that the author could have further explored specific events, provided clues, or used genuinely intimate character interactions to provide these details.
Sadly, I had to rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the first book so much that I could not wait to read the second installment. The concept of electroportation was appealing to me as a science fiction fan. The technical details would appeal to anyone who is tech-savvy. The human element was sacrificed for the benefit of the theme which made the tale seem superficial and forced. This was the book’s main deficiency, but it had tremendous impact on the quality of the narrative.
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Superhighway 2
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