Under Fortunate Stars

Overview: In the far future two ships meet in a strange void and discover that that they are from different times. They must work together to escape the void and ensure that history follows its original path.

More detailed thoughts: This sounded like a great set up, in fact it sounded like something Asimov or Clarke would have come up with. Those old “Golden Age” stories really shone in “Escape Room” style puzzles. Put a bunch of people in a seemingly impossible situation and they have to jury-rig and logic their way out of it.

That's what I expected. It didn't go so well in that regard.

Here's the Pros and Cons:

Pro: The Characters
I loved the characters, the older ship felt very much like “Trotter's Independent Traders In Space” - a bunch of charming but dodgy characters way out of their depth. The newer ship was full of a bunch of very normal, well meaning people who had to put up with corporate nonsense and slogans that everyone knows is nonsense - but they grit their teeth because the job aint bad and it pays OK... and now they may have to save the universe. That's fun!

Con: The Flashbacks
I'm a fan of flashbacks - the sort where every other chapter gives extra depth to the character and hints to the plot. Not everyone does, but I like it. Though not this time. Pretty much every flashback was slow and didn't reveal anything much. They seemed to lead up to an exciting moment - then cut back to the present for an off-hand comment “Oh yeah, then X happened.” which was the scene I'd been waiting to see. So they basically skipped the interesting parts.

There was one exception the scene crossing the bridge when the brother dies that was harsh but was real character development.

Con: The Magic Puzzle Solving
In the Golden Age SF stories I mentioned, the fun was trying to figure out the answer before the characters. All the clues were there, you just had to put them together - just like reading a good murder mystery. Here the problem was that everything was immensely contrived - things will appear or happen just because “they had to”. Now the author does justify this in a magical handwavy way - but it still took all the fun out of it.

Con: The Predictability
OK maybe it was just me. I don't think I'm unusually bright, however every darned thing happened exactly as I expected. I assumed there would be red herrings, but all herrings were normal coloured and leaping into the net lemming-style.

Conclusion:
I liked the book. I think mostly it was because the characters were so charming, I wanted to spend more time with them and I wished them well. The plot however was like one of those fireworks that look really exciting, make a pretty flash and a “Whurp” sound. It was pretty, but it left you wanting something with a bit... well...more