The Tranquility Wars [Mass Market Paperback]

This book was dull and uninteresting. There is not much action and even less plot. There are several graphic sex scenes sprinkled throughout the book. I found myself reading the first sentence of paragraph after paragraph waiting for the author to get on with the story. I eventually concluded that he really didn't have much story to get on with. On the positive side, all the words are spelled correctly and the punctuation is fine.

I have just finished this book and found it interesting and will recommend it, although conditionally. If you are into the hard science and straight forward prose similar to his collaborations with Arthur C Clarke than it will work for you. The book appears mistitled though, there is no war, only a corrupt governments attempt to undo the work of the social outcasts- the pirates. The pirates (the good guys) go around the solar system looting and stealing and are for the most part treated like mosquitos on the back of an elephant. Two thirds of the way through the book the government finally decides to swing into action. Perhaps it should have been more accuarately titled the "Tranquilty Disagreement."

Still I found Mr. Lee's vision of the future compelling. There is no star trek like 'Federation' that encompasses all human acheivements. In "Tranquility" there are various different government entities and political interest groups who deny liberty to it's citizens in many ways. And for Hunter Blake, an honest young man from a small asteroid, events seem to propel themselves away from his control at every turn. The author shows Hunter Blake to be a typical 21 year old- somewhat lacking in maturity and decisiveness. I did enjoy this book and do recommend it with the above reservations.

I don't usually review books but this book failed on so many levels and is attached to the Rama series so I think a warning is in order.

First, the writing is horrible. There are few spelling or grammatical mistakes but the wording just isn't compelling. The characters, scenes and atmosphere seem literally paper thin and nothing is described in anything more than a very "functional" fashion. Instead of "It was a dark and dreary night" Gentry Lee would write "It was night time and there wasn't a moon and it was a little cold and wet". The words do not flow and do not evoke a sense of being there (I'm not an author but this book makes me question why not).

Second, the plot doesn't make sense. We have these three competing "groups". The first two are the acronym governments (FISC and UDSC). These are basically carbon copy established competing totalitarian governments that have divided the solar system and control 99.99% of the population. Then there are the "pirates". These are numerous groups of a several hundred individuals scattered throughout the rest of the solar system. The one "pirate" group we get to know seem to be supported by a single "genius" that somehow can compete and excel at numerous scientific disciplines (programming, systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control system engineering, aeronautic engineering, etc...) vastly out inventing and out producing the combined intellectual and economic might of the two acronym governments. I mean, when the pirates need a new electrical outlet they call this guy and when they need to hack into the acronym governments computer system they call the same guy! This "genius" joins the pirates despite the fact that the leader of the band of pirates he has joined (the "Utopians") is a megalomaniac kidnapper and rapist and that the band doesn't even seem to have any overt economic power among the economically powerless pirates. How he accomplishes this feat is explained to the reader by "he is very very smart". Then we have our "protagonist" who's supposedly also "very very smart" (but not as smart as the Utopian geek genius) and yet for all his intelligence and insightful consideration he never seems to notice and/or question that the pirates are basically psychopathic criminals not bent on creating a better society than the two acronym government's totalitarian systems but instead building "cults of power" built around leaders of dubious emotional stability. Finally, we end this book with our "protagonist" abandoning his "first" love to a life of indebtedness, prostitution and sexual liaison (bordering on rape) without so much as a consideration so that he can live in peaceful sexual bliss with his 17 year old pregnant pirate girlfriend. Of course the author presents a world where the protagonist had no choice in the matter, but in a universe where a single impoverished genius can compete with entire societies is it so unreasonable that the protagonist can do better than this?

Thirdly (and last) there is no "science" in this book. The people of this universe flit around the solar system but we have no idea how. We have no idea what sort of acceleration is involved. People live in space but you would barely know it. There are a few vague mentions of some sort of adhesive shoes which allow them to walk around like normal but little else (the author could have spent a second talking about the mechanics of walking around in a weightless environment even with adhesive shoes). People seem to sleep on beds with sheets sans gravity. They have some sort of "domes" to keep them safe but no mention of how those might work or how they regulate temperature, pressure, etc... People eat normal foods in space and drink normal drinks. They have normal sex just about everywhere. There is no attempt to explain how this weightless environment differs from what we are used to every day. People transition within a day or two from complete lifelong weightlessness to planet gravity (Mr. Lee does mention exercise though so it must be OK). There is an entire "VR" game world but we know nothing about it other than the fact that it is enjoyed through some sort of "booth". Is it a 3D visual experience, are there touch and/or sound components? Are other senses involved? Is it by external interface or is there some sort of direct brain interface? We don't know because the author doesn't spend one second trying to provide a picture of how this works. It's typical of the degree of thought that has gone into everything in the book.

This book is a very easy (if intellectually painful) read because nothing is overly complicated and/or explained. You'll breeze through a very formulaic space opera without any depth or embellishment on the central theme. "Good Boy destined for great things suffers trials and lives happily ever after". If you read that sentence then you really don't have to read the book because after almost 500 pages that sums things up and leaves out very little.

P.S. There is no war. The cover of the book shows explosions and space fleets but this is just plain deceptive.