Galaxy Series: Book 2. A science fiction book review by Elliot Jackman
BY MICHAEL L. LEWIS
Independent Author / Publisher
The Twisted Galaxy; Galaxy Series: Book Two is part two of the Galaxy series that begins with The Orthogonal Galaxy and is written by Michael L. Lewis.
The story directly continues with the adventures of Paol Joonter and Blade Slater on Earth2, after having landed there at the end of the first novel. They are very surprised when the locals look and speak just like they do on Earth1, which is an interesting set to the story. I felt this was somewhat expected, as the first book’s theory was that this was a sister solar system, being that its make-up appeared to be identical to ours.
The two find out that there is more in common than just the people and clothing, the area that they landed in, which is Kansas on Earth1, is also Kansas on Earth2. The country is also called the United States of America. Even though they learn that the U.S.A. is a moneyless “communist” type economy, having the names of places be identical was a little over the top for me.
There’s quite a bit of discussion about how the economy could work, as Paol wants to know how they deal with people that don’t want to work. The Brainer’s, who’s farm they landed on, insist this isn’t an issue due to the way they have things structured. Since there was so much banter about this, I felt there was some point trying to be made by the author. I feel that concerns about whether everyone would pull their own weight is only one popular blue-collar worker concern. The arguments never address the human nature of wanting to better their own situation and feel unique in the world. I think the high rate of alcoholism and suicide in communist countries points out this other failing. They also never address how a citizen of this country would ever be able to travel to another country, if they don’t have any money.
Nevertheless, the two astronauts, often referred to as extraterrestrials are finally granted an audience with the president of the United States. This also strikes a little odd, as if they don’t know the capabilities of the “extraterrestrials”, bringing them to the White House would probably not be the first step.
The President immediately is suspicious of their intentions and locks them away in the Area 57 secret air base. Turns out, the farmer, Mr. Brainer, works at the base during his “White Collar” stint. Every person in the U.S.A. is required to have a White- and Blue-collar career and switches between them every year.
Because Brainer believes that the two astronauts are just regular guys, he agrees to help them to get out of Area 57. Mainly due to overhearing that there are military types that would like to just kill the two and be done with the problem.
Paol and Blade manage to escape Area 57 with their ship and, through a stroke of luck, managed to have a device that was being tested at Area 57 that cloaks their ship and makes it invisible. Once they figure out the device, they use it to complete their six-year mission of studying the different cultures on the planet.
I found myself disappointed that the six year study of the planet seemed to occur in a “* * *” section of the book, there was no stories about any adventures. The books also has many areas where people are reminiscing about previous events, or watching videos that are old. This cause me much confusion on what period we were in, as some of these musings are quite lengthy and it caused some misunderstandings for me about whether they were in the now, six years ago or what. The last part of the book shows the astronomers on Earth1 expecting the two back in a few days, but then we’re put back to Paol and Joonter who are starting their journey six years prior.
Even with the timing confusion, I was entertained by the story. Paol and Blade are just as lovable as they were in the first book. You can’t help but envy the way they work together and let each other take the lead when it’s appropriate.
I will definitely be looking out for book three of the series, as I’d love to see the outcome of Earth1’s dilemma. I didn’t mention the dilemma in the review, as I feel it would be a spoiler!
ASIN: B071CSTRL9
Print Length: 384 pages
ISBN: ISBN-10: 1544205961, ISBN-13: 978-1544205960