Mini review for the book, a recent release. Not trying to start a discussion of the author or his other works. Spoiler warning for Beyond the Ranges, though I’ll try to avoid anything excessive.
GOOD: Great high-concept sci-fi start. The world ends with no warning and a select group of people awaken to find themselves gifted a new planet. Fascinating clean-slate story about a large group (millions, iirc) starting out to create something brand new. I was fascinated by the hints of economic strategizing, although that part didn’t go very far.
I love the big problem/big ideas approach to sci fi. Why think small when bigger is better? The building up of the protag’s position from the equal starting point to something quite impressive was fun.
BAD: I wanted exploration and ingenious problem-solving. I was given hunting. And butchering. But a lot of hunting, with a lot of guns. And the magic/sciencey material that was used throughout. Blah.
The planet – terra-formed by aliens just for our human survivors to enjoy – should have been amazing. Should have been its own character, essentially. I was let down by the forgettable scenes and the use of the world.
None of the characters, including the protag, were very strong. The story would have benefited from multiple POVs in fact, and the two provided weren’t different enough. \[They were perfect opposites, in fact.\]
ICK: Age gap romance, and a love interest with exactly zero personality. Seriously, I could say a lot here but I’ll leave it alone. Romance is fine, but it requires two well-drawn characters, and I need to believe they both have reason for the relationship.
And the socio-political fantasizing does get old. I’m happy to explore whatever world an author wants to try out, but limit the lecture, m’kay?
Enough about that. Ranges piqued an interest for something BIG with exploration and mystery. Characters looking at an enormous challenge and asking ‘is that all?’ Tropes could included Cool Shit in Space \[per a recent post\], Ringworld-type Mysterious Object, Martian-type ingenious problem-solving, Humanity Rocks style big successes. Unexpected focus on things other than basic survival are good – the economic gameplay started to be really interesting. What do you love that might satisfy the gap Ranges has left?
by tacey-us