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A review by theonionboy
Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese
3.0
I have read several of this author's books (Starship Grifters, The Chicolini Incident, Mercury Begins, Mercury Swings, Disenchanted, Schrodinger's Gat, 'Into the Dark And Two Other Stories') and enjoyed them all very much. It was finally time to go back and read the book that started it all. I found myself disappointed with this one. It started off slow and bogged down in a story line that I did not enjoy. It took a long time to get going, and did not have as much of the author's signature humor as I was hoping for. That said, I realize that this was his first book, and he was finding his voice (or footing, or whatever you prefer to call it.) It seems just like the first few episodes of a TV series that you enjoy: in retrospect they aren't as good as the rest of the episodes because the writers are figuring out what they are doing. It probably would not have shown so much to me if I hadn't already read so many of his later works.
It is not that I am recommending that you avoid this book. Just the opposite; if you are interested, I encourage you to read this one, with the advice that you bear with it because it will get better. I am on book 2 in the series now, and it is a big improvement over this one. But book 2 completely depends on reading this first to be able to follow the story. I look forward to reading the entire series.
I also found it interesting that you can see the seeds of many of the ideas that became the book Schrodinger's Gat in this book. I would like to find out if the author intentionally wrote that book to further develop some of the concepts in this one.
It is not that I am recommending that you avoid this book. Just the opposite; if you are interested, I encourage you to read this one, with the advice that you bear with it because it will get better. I am on book 2 in the series now, and it is a big improvement over this one. But book 2 completely depends on reading this first to be able to follow the story. I look forward to reading the entire series.
I also found it interesting that you can see the seeds of many of the ideas that became the book Schrodinger's Gat in this book. I would like to find out if the author intentionally wrote that book to further develop some of the concepts in this one.