Tomorrow Log [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

What we have is well-written, fast-paced adventure with wonderfully drawn characters. Gem is not a Val Con clone, despite the fact that a casual reading of the short blurbs might make him sound that way. The plot includes, let's see, "haunted" objects to be stolen, an interplanetary Mob (not that dissimilar to the one in the Liaden books), a generation ship that's falling apart, recycled bodies and parts a la Harry Harrison, martial arts, mystical objects that turn out to be alien technology, the Witness (who certainly reminded me somehow of Nelirikk Explorer, I can't figure out why) who follows the object around, interlocking mysterious "prophecies" from several cultures... and lots of hints of the future of the series, as well, since the planet where the object is returned, turns out to have mysterious hints that a Gen ship may have landed there aeons ago.

There is one somewhat intriguing idea- not brand new, but I like the way they do it, and that's "spiders" - small electronic spy devices. More or less. What makes these interesting, besides their powers, is the number of associations they will call up for the fan with varied tastes: since Gem controls them from a wrist computer, sending spiders out from his cuffs, it somehow is reminiscent of Peter Parker shooting webs from his cuffs; the spiders write messages to help save a girl imprisoned, harking back to, of all things, _Charlotte's Web_; the wrist cuff reminded me of the one Dylan Hunt used in the Andromeda episode "Una Salus Victus" to trigger the explosions... I enjoy looking for connections between things like this, and if you do too, I'm sure you'll find even more than I did.

In short- if you're already a fan, you definitely want this; if you like space opera/culture conflict SF and haven't run across these authors before, you'll probably enjoy this; if all you are interested in is techno-war and angst, you might have to settle for the spiders to get your kicks.

[If you haven't read the Liaden books, I recommend starting with the compilation Partners In Necessity.]

What the book is: a space opera -- sort of an Indiana Jones style adventure. By that I mean that we have a male hero (extraordinarily capable but with some flaws), a female sidekick who could easily also be the hero, some evil mobsters, daring breakins, swashbuckling fight scenes, sneaky assasination fight scenes, a romantic relationship based more on battles survived together and mutual respect than instant physical attraction, and some mystical artifacts and prophecies.

What it is not: Liaden. Liaden novels are more like James Clavell merged with Lois Bujold, with cutthroat business and social maneuvering intermixed with military action (and with a healthy dose of telepathic wizardry). Liaden novels are more setup, strategy, and verbal banter. Tomorrow Log is more action, with our heroes bouncing from one scrape to the next and the stakes increasing every time.

In summary, this book has much of the style of the Liaden stories, but with a rather different content. It is not as good as the whole Liaden series (a couple hundred pages versus over a thousand), but it probably is just as good as any of those books considered one-on-one.

The only sour note -- the plot was left unresolved at the end of the book. This is clearly the set-up to a new series, and it introduces the characters and concepts of this new universe very well. Well enough that I wanted more! "The Tomorrow Log" does resolve all the main plot issues raised at the beginning of the novel, but there are many loose threads that still need to be tied off. This book doesn't end so much as stop. If you're the sort who can't stand an unfinished story, you might want to wait until the sequel comes out to start this book. However, if you don't mind being teased, then buy this book in a hurry! What a fantastic, fun novel!