Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1.0 out of 5 stars
Junior High School SF, 18 Aug 1999
By A Customer
This book is at the top of my list of the worst SF I have read in the last 10 years. If you like really simple SF then maybe it is for you. This proves my theory that whenever you see "Story By Someone" in big letters and then in little letters you see "Novel by Someone Else" it is a waste of time. I'm mad at my self for buying it.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
bad screen play, worse book, 9 Aug 1999
By A Customer
What a disaster. Take a screenplay that was never produced because (I assume) it is formulaic and all of the humor is based on racial stereotypes. Then give it to an author who can't write prose and has no idea what character development is. Net result: "A very strange trip" is a very bad book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
adventure with a twist, 14 July 1999
By A Customer
A VERY STRANGE TRIP By L. Ron Hubbard & Dave Wolverton. This is a most unusual book, a work that could fit into several different genres or else fall in the cracks between. Though it features time travel, it's not exactly science fiction. It's often funny, but it's not purely a comedy. Though it has sociological overtones, it is by no means a textbook guide to past civilizations. It's actually exactly what the title says, a very strange trip. The book was written by Dave Wolverton, based on a short story by L. Ron Hubbard. Wolverton has written eleven science fiction and fantasy novels, including a couple of Star Wars books, and can always be counted on for solid, all-inviting prose. Hubbard should need no introduction to even casual readers, as he is famous for such works as Battlefield Earth, Final Blackout, and the Mission: Earth series, as well as his works on Scientology. The story opens with the hero, Dumphee, transporting secret military equipment across the country. The all-terrain vehicle he is driving gets bumped and Dumphee finds himself several hundred years in America's past, at a time just before the French and Indian War. There, he meets up with three Native American women, and takes them along as he continues his bounce into the past. The group makes stops along the way in the days of the Mayans, a time when mastodon and sabertooth tigers roamed what are now the Great Plains, and then farther back. At one point, the group even goes on a Tyrannosaurus Rex hunt, using rocket launchers and other modern weapons. During the time-spanning, Dumphee continues his trek toward his original destination of Denver, even though the Denver of the past is not the military base it was in "his" time. Along the way, he learns about love and life from his companions. Then the group bounces back toward the present, with a layover in the early days of the westward sweep and the European push of Native Americans from their homes. Dumphee finally makes it to his base, both in time and space, where he learns that he is in jeopardy because of his knowledge. This book is great fun to read. It's an adventure story of the type that was common in the era when Hubbard learned his chops, a style that mostly died out with the advent of the motion picture industry. Happily, Wolverton recaptures that sense of innocent wonder and delight in a book that will keep you turning the pages.
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