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The Forever Engine (2014)

by Frank Chadwick(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1451639406 (ISBN13: 9781451639407)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Baen

review 1: An Accident throws Jack Fargo, ex-military turned history professor after his wife’s death, from our universe to an alternate 1880 where anti-gravity wood allows giant zeppelins. In this James Bond inspired steam punk universe, Nikola Tesla is the villain and he has used the wood to make The Forever Engine (trade from Baen) deep in Bosnia. He’s using the energy created from this sort of perpetual motion machine that steals momentum from the Earth to penetrate other universes. A French spy provides the fun love interest and the details of problems with that attacking force show Franl Chadwick’s familiarity with real war and the historical period. Lots of fun, though a bit predictable Review Printed in the Philadelphia Weekly Press
review 2: What to say ab... moreout this book... I had a hard time reading this. Unfortunately, since I was not aware that the author was the same Frank Chadwick that in 1989 wrote the game Space: 1889, I went into this book not knowing it's reputation. The story follows Jack Fargo after an explosion of a time machine type technology explodes and sends him into alternate history Victorian London. The details of historical figures and weaponry are fantastic. So fantastic, that I was bored learning about Webleys and Winchesters and other details of machinery and weaponry. I wanted to like this Steampunk Time Travel novel, I really did. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a HUGE fan of time travel stories. With all of the details in this book, I think the author overlooked one important thing...emotion. Dialogue in the book is told in such a way that this might've been successful as a screenplay, to let the various actors determine the emphasis and emotion told in the delivery of the lines. Jack Fargo wants to get back to the present to get back to his daughter Sarah, since he is her only parent now. Other than Jack practically saying he needs to get back, no emotion is shown in the book to demonstrate he really DOES want to get back. The alternative historical figures are so much more well rounded than the protagonist. Tesla seems very real, but Jack and Gabrielle the French spy who has Asperger's Syndrome (WHY??!!??)do not. It was very hard to get up the energy to read through this book. Not knowing Frank Chadwick's prior work, by reading the book I could gather he knew a ton about military systems and weapons and history. I wanted this book to work, I really did. Unfortunately, unless you're a diehard fan of Space: 1889 or a Steampunk fan who loves to read facts instead of feelings, I think you should give this book a pass. less

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