4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining if not memorable, 27 Nov 2001
By Bill Mac "hmcs_kenogami" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Cassandra Complex (Hardcover)
Stableford has set The Cassandra Complex about 40 years in the future with the seeds of the action sown in our time. The novel is a prequel to earlier work but stands solidly on its own.
The Cassandra Complex is really more of a techno-thriller than science fiction novel. The action is more in line with a police thriller than most hard SF. However, there is enough SF to satisfy fans of the genre. Stableford tends to fall in the trap when setting mysteries in SF that the investigator knows information about the times that the reader doesn't. If one likes to solve the mystery based on the clues then the information isn't in The Cassandra Complex to do so.
All in all it was a fast-paced enjoyable read, I read it some time ago, but it hasn't stuck with me. It isn't new or original but it is well constructed.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Memorable and frightening vision, 24 Jan 2002
By D. P. Strunk "ladypearl" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Cassandra Complex (Hardcover)
The time is 40 years in the future -- maybe not our lives, but certainly a reality that could be our children's. A novel of frightening and important ideas and issues: extreme overpopulation, megacorps, and hyperflu wars. The future of humanity hangs in the balance. Who will determine how the scales tilt? The characters are not sharply defined, but the novel is more about the vision than about the people.
14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good future vision, too preachy, 19 April 2001
By booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Cassandra Complex (Hardcover)
THE CASSANDRA EFFECT is set in a near future (mid-twentyfirst century) England. Overpopulation has become a major problem, huge corporations rule as the cabel, and plague wars have replaced the bomb as the great fear. Author Brian Stableford draws out logical consequences from today's biological sciences with discussions of disease, cloning, and population spikes.
Unfortunately, Stableford describes this potentially fascinating world through long blocks of descriptive dialogue, internal dialogue, and description. Rather than have information flow from the story, it is presented to the reader in huge slabs which must be choked down if one is to continue with the story.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I find the premise interesting, the plot was certainly fine, and the one significant character, Lisa, a police officer and biologist, was likable and well motivated.
I found the dense writing to be a fairly stiff price to pay for an intriguing concept.