Review of Seeking a friend…

I’m a sucker for apocalyptic stories and so went to Chester’s only cinema (soon to be closed) to watch Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Premise has an asteroid on course for Earth but this time there’s Bruce Willis to save us. 3 weeks notice and not as much chaos as I’d expect – in fact the film dragged dreadfully in spite of the delightful acting efforts of Keira Knightley and Steve Carell. Long before half way I was urging the asteroid to accelerate and you know what? It did or the astronomers got it wrong and brought impact day forwards a week. Sorry, but this time I was glad the asteroid hit Earth. Well deserved wipe out. It was directed and written by Lorene Scafaria. To be fair it’s intended as a comical romance. A much better science fiction book along the lines of an inevitable end of world scenario is Sam Smith’s The End of Science Fiction published by BeWrite Books, in which a detective hunts down a murderer who thinks he’s escaped just because of the oncoming doom.

Sam Smith’s Science fiction

Towards the unmaking of Heaven

Balant: A Beginning

By Sam Smith

Paperback: 212 pages

Publisher: The EBookSale Publishing (1 May 2009)

Language English

ISBN-13: 978-1906806996

Reviewed by Geoff Nelder

I can never tire of visiting alien planets, their populations, and wondering if they are doing me good or evil. While many contemporary science fiction hide from planetary exploration and delve instead into quantum introspection, Smith delights us with this tale of discovery and survival. Yet for those intent on intellectual contemplation there are opportunities to engage with Pi when he approaches each conundrum with delightful logic and consequence prediction. As Smith declares, this is a Boys Own adventure – perhaps too literally as I believe the lack of a female main character disenfranchises many female readers. I know a young woman is a protagonist in Happiness, the next in the series, so women readers stay on course!

The adventure is told through the eyes of Pi Pandy, who’s had a sheltered life but made to grow up real fast surviving the jibes of his two friends, insect bites, space criminals, savages and a series of mechanical breakdowns he is clever enough to repair. This is more than hard scifi, Pi has to learn quickly the wiles of a spectrum of humanity. He has integrity in bucketfuls but wise enough to  develop discretion then use his knowledge at the right time – not just for his own survival but for friends and other needy people. 

The wide scale of ideas, space and human emotions, even though for young adult takes this novel into a Robert Heinlein-for-teens sub-genre. Sam’s poetry background shines through the exquisite narrative. A page turner fit for any imaginative young adult’s bookshelf.