Review by sg1gyrl -- Ten Directions by Samuel Winburn

[sg1gyrl]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Ten Directions" by Samuel Winburn.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Ten Directions by Samuel Winburn is a book full of mystery and mysticism. A futuristic look at love, loss, intrigue, and greed, all wrapped up in neatly in a package of sci-fi and adventure. Probably it's most important message is the foreshadowing of where our current trajectory may take us if humanity does not come together to reverse the damage we have done to our home. Though the tale is told with such finesse that you may forget that you are looking at the possibility of a bleak future while being swept up in the story for a time.

The book takes place in the not too distant future where climate change and global warming have ravaged the earth. Humanity is still plagued by the division of the have and the have nots. With a few wealthy on top and the vast majority in a state of abject poverty, it seems as though predictions for the death of the middle class have come to pass. Revs rule the Earth and Coms rule the heavens, but they are in a constant battle for dominance. The Revs want to save the planet we have; the Coms want to terraform and colonize other planets. Nobody is taking a sane or selfless approach to the issue. Currency has been replaced with Ecos, which can be earned by planting trees and other Gaia saving activities. The people struggle to survive in a polluted and barren landscape that seems as though it may be beyond any effort. A philanthropist, a monk, a clone, a hacker, and a scientist all race to save humanity in their own way. The problem is each has a very different idea of how to go about it

Winburn has written beautifully flawed characters, and their flaws influence their choices. Intrigue and secrets abound, and behind it all a mastermind has orchestrated a plan so intricate that I was awestruck at the scope of their ability to manipulate. I constantly found myself yelling at the characters to " just tell someone!" But their selfish nature and paranoia prevent them from being forthcoming, causing problems for them and the planet. There's a wormhole, a mission to Mars, and a distant outpost on Neptune monitoring alien transmissions, but to give you more than that would spoil the journey and the end.

And it is a journey. The writing was pure poetry filled with metaphor. A joy to read in both the quality of the writing, and the excellence in editing. This book definitely deserves it's 4 out of 4 stars rating. One warning, while this book is a rousing sci-fi adventure, it is not for the faint of heart. This author has an extensive vocabulary, and is not afraid to use it. Bibliophiles will love this book, but I wouldn't recommend it to the casual reader.

In fact, the only negative about this book turned out to be a positive. In the beginning, I was somewhat confused by the style the author used to introduce his characters, but I am so glad I stuck with it. Taking seemly unrelated characters, Winburn weaves their back stories and their current predicaments until their connections are revealed. The process creates such detailed and rich characters, with all the contradictions of real people, that I alternately wanted to strangle them and hug them many times. In the end I didn't know who, if anyone, I should root for.

And when it ended, I felt like I wanted desperately to know more. More about the characters and their fate, because I was so caught up in the tale. But even in the ending, it seemed as though the author intended to give us an existential metaphor for the precipice on which we now stand.

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Ten Directions
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