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A review by northeastbookworm
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt, Mike Resnick
3.0
It is not unusual for an author to take a short story and turn it into a novel. Daniel Keyes did so with "Flowers for Algernon". The real question is whether the core idea of the story can be successfully transferred and re-told in the novel. Jack McDevitt, in June 2010, published in Lightspeed magazine, an online SF&F magazine, a what-if story of the discovery of an alien landing
site on the Moon during the Apollo program. It is a firecracker of a story. I was delight to find out earlier this year that "The Cassandra Project" was going to be expanded into a novel.
Let me first say that I enjoyed the book. It is a good story. I was expect something that followed the short story a little more closely. The novel takes certain threads from the short story to weave this new tale. However, it is not a novel that blows your socks off in the first reading. I found myself thinking about the plot after I finished. McDevitt, and is co-author Mike Resnick, attempt to
explain recent history in the context of the First Contact plot. This more or less works. Unfortunately a couple of the main characters, especially the current President of the United States,
come off as two dimensional. Also there is the question of reaction. What would the press say, or for that matter, what would be the reaction of the public to a story telling of First Contact? Given
the anti-science, bread-and-circus, eye-for-an-eye, mentality of the present day age I really wonder if we, the people of Earth,could comprehend and deal with this idea. Certainly the question of this idea is one that is being explored by a number of SF writers. Perhaps the best thing about "The Cassandra Project" is that it leaves the reader with more questions than answers.
site on the Moon during the Apollo program. It is a firecracker of a story. I was delight to find out earlier this year that "The Cassandra Project" was going to be expanded into a novel.
Let me first say that I enjoyed the book. It is a good story. I was expect something that followed the short story a little more closely. The novel takes certain threads from the short story to weave this new tale. However, it is not a novel that blows your socks off in the first reading. I found myself thinking about the plot after I finished. McDevitt, and is co-author Mike Resnick, attempt to
explain recent history in the context of the First Contact plot. This more or less works. Unfortunately a couple of the main characters, especially the current President of the United States,
come off as two dimensional. Also there is the question of reaction. What would the press say, or for that matter, what would be the reaction of the public to a story telling of First Contact? Given
the anti-science, bread-and-circus, eye-for-an-eye, mentality of the present day age I really wonder if we, the people of Earth,could comprehend and deal with this idea. Certainly the question of this idea is one that is being explored by a number of SF writers. Perhaps the best thing about "The Cassandra Project" is that it leaves the reader with more questions than answers.