Rating: 
Summary: Fine science fiction with an ecological twist
Review: If I was being uncharitable I would label this book "science fiction". Like HG Wells, however, the author effortlessly transcends the boundaries of genre. This is a book about humankind, *now*, and about how we are on the verge of sending our world spiralling into ecological destruction. It is also a moving love story, an ironic elegy for the human race, a brilliant adventure yarn and a rigorous and thoughtful read. I have re-read it several times: every time I return to it I get out of it something fresh and new. The closing quotation from Tennyson embodies the sweetly elegiac tone of the book:The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,/ The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,/ Man comes and tills the fields and lies beneath,/ And after many a summer dies the swan./ Me only cruel immortality / Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,/ Here at the quiet limit of the world. Highly recommended for all eco-warriors, romantics and lovers of excellent modern literature!!
Rating:
Summary: Fine science fiction with an ecological twist
Review: If I was being uncharitable I would label this book "science fiction". Like HG Wells, however, the author effortlessly transcends the boundaries of genre. This is a book about humankind, *now*, and about how we are on the verge of sending our world spiralling into ecological destruction. It is also a moving love story, an ironic elegy for the human race, a brilliant adventure yarn and a rigorous and thoughtful read. I have re-read it several times: every time I return to it I get out of it something fresh and new. The closing quotation from Tennyson embodies the sweetly elegiac tone of the book: The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,/ The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,/ Man comes and tills the fields and lies beneath,/ And after many a summer dies the swan./ Me only cruel immortality / Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,/ Here at the quiet limit of the world. Highly recommended for all eco-warriors, romantics and lovers of excellent modern literature!!
Rating: 
Summary: Too much homage, not enough thrills
Review: It is unfortunate that the word romance has come to connote hearts and flowers in our modern world. Reading some of these reviews, I can tell a few readers never really understood the title is a homage to what H.G. Wells and other early science fiction writers' works were dubbed in the late nineteenth and early portion of this century. Romantic fiction was characterized by a love of the natural world not the love between a man and a woman. The plots centered on the fantastic not the sensual. Although the aspect of a "love story" might be present in a romance it was not guaranteed and often, if there was love, the outcome was not very happy and usual came at an awful price. However, Ronald Wright's attempt to recapture the romantic era of the past falls short of those he obviously honors. Wright's main fault, I feel, is the loquacious, intellectual who narrates the novel and continually interrupts with absurd tangental, elliptical sidestories. Three quarters of the novel has passed before any real action takes place, but the reader has been treated to entire histories of incidental characters who otherwise never appear. And by that time I had lost all interest in the Macbeaths of the 24th century. True, Wright's vision of a Pictish future was inventive and unusual, unfortunately the time travelled in getting to that future seemed like an entire millenium.
Rating:
Summary: Using the future to examine the past
Review: It may seem to be a contradiction in terms, to use a time machine to travel into the future to pour over the details of one's past. But that's exactly what Ronald Wright accomplishes in his marvellous novel A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE. Part futuristic travelogue, part nostalgic reminiscence of the past, ROMANCE is a thinking person's science fiction, a completely enthralling apocalyptic dystopia that reveals more about the present-day human heart than one would expect. Taking a page from H.G. Wells's classic THE TIME MACHINE, Wright has fashioned a fiction based on the 'reality' of a fiction. Wright's protagonist David Lambert, archaeologist and devotee of Victorian machinery, discovers that Wells based his novel upon a factual incident. Lambert subsequently discovers the time machine, intact but riderless, and decides to travel to 2500 A.D.. What he discovers raises more questions than answers about the fate of humanity, but it also raises questions as to what events led Lambert to this point in his life. As he travels the futuristic England countryside, he retraces his past with his friend Bird, and the woman they both love, Anita. The farther Lambert treks through England, the farther his despair over past actions becomes. Not having perused Wells's classic, I am unable to compare his and Wright's styles. I can reveal that there is a deeply pleasing antiquated feel to Wright's tale; something in his style evokes the nostalgic prose style of Jules Verne. The font also seems charmingly old-fashioned (and for anyone who doesn't believe a font can affect a story, please discover Chip Kidd's terrific novel THE CHEESE MONKEYS, which covers just such a format consideration). Wright has penned several travel books, and his knowledge of the mechanics of travel shows through; Lambert is nothing if not prepared for his journey, and his time machine seems plausibly real. It is to Wright's credit that ROMANCE reads not as a tour book, but rather as a full-fledged story. His future England is left appealingly vague; jungle covers the land, manmade flora has taken root in an unexpected manner, and humanity has all but disappeared. Clues are revealed as to what occurred, but that is all they remain, clues. Mankind's ultimate fate is left to the imagination; what Wright reveals is frightening and confusing enough. Wright is not only concerned with a 'what-if' scenario; he also is a curious traveller of the human conscience. His intention is not to simply provide the curious with yet another post-apocalyptic landscape; like the best of the genre (SWAN SONG by Robert McCammon, THE STAND by Stephen King, and THE POSTMAN by David Brin, to name but three), Wright wants to explore the human condition through the genre stereotypes. Lambert, despite his intention to map out the future, is plagued by his past. His love for Anita, his regret over Bird, haunt his every move. Wright may be attempting to show that we are the sum of our past actions, and no matter how far you travel, the past will never fail to judge your present actions. You cannot outrun yourself. A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE is not the novel for the reader who demands fast-paced action. Wright lays out his tale deliberately, with care and precision given to each step. Lambert's journey is highly unlikely, yet completely believable. His ultimate destination is heart-breaking in its simple acceptance of what makes a person happy. Wright's novel, despite the absence of characters, is a very real romance.
Rating:
Summary: Time travel for the romantic
Review: It may seem to be a contradiction in terms, to use a time machine to travel into the future to pour over the details of one's past. But that's exactly what Ronald Wright accomplishes in his marvelous novel A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE. Part futuristic travelogue, part nostalgic reminiscences of the past, ROMANCE is a thinking person's science fiction, a completely enthralling apocalyptic dystopia that reveals more about the present-day human heart than one would expect. Taking a page from H.G. Wells's classic THE TIME MACHINE, Wright has fashioned a fiction based on the 'reality' of a fiction. Wright's protagonist David Lambert, archaeologist and devotee of Victorian machinery, discovers that Wells based his novel upon a factual incident. Lambert subsequently discovers the time machine, intact but riderless, and decides to travel to 2500 A.D.. What he discovers raises more questions than answers about the fate of humanity, but it also raises questions as to what events led Lambert to this point in his life. As he travels the futuristic England countryside, he retraces his past with his friend Bird, and the woman they both love, Anita. The farther Lambert treks through England, the farther his despair over past actions becomes. Not having perused Wells's classic, I am unable to compare his and Wright's styles. I can reveal that there is a deeply pleasing antiquated feel to Wright's tale; something in his style evokes the nostalgic prose style of Jules Verne. The font also seems charmingly old-fashioned (and for anyone who doesn't believe a font can affect a story, please discover Chip Kidd's terrific novel THE CHEESE MONKEYS, which covers just such a format consideration). Wright has penned several travel books, and his knowledge of the mechanics of travel shows through; Lambert is nothing if not prepared for his journey, and his time machine seems plausibly real. It is to Wright's credit that ROMANCE reads not as a tour book, but rather as a full-fledged story. His future England is left appealingly vague; jungle covers the land, manmade flora has taken root in an unexpected manner, and humanity has all but disappeared. Clues are revealed as to what occurred, but that is all they remain, clues. Mankind's ultimate fate is left to the imagination; what Wright reveals is frightening and confusing enough. Wright is not only concerned with a 'what-if' scenario; he also is a curious traveller of the human conscience. His intention is not to simply provide the curious with yet another post-apocalyptic landscape; like the best of the genre (SWAN SONG by Robert McCammon, THE STAND by Stephen King, and THE POSTMAN by David Brin, to name but three), Wright wants to explore the human condition through the genre stereotypes. Lambert, despite his intention to map out the future, is plagued by his past. His love for Anita, his regret over Bird, haunt his every move. Wright may be attempting to show that we are the sum of our past actions, and no matter how far you travel, the past will never fail to judge your present actions. You cannot outrun yourself. A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE is not the novel for the reader who demands fast-paced action. Wright lays out his tale deliberately, with care and precision given to each step. Lambert's journey is highly unlikely, yet completely believable. His ultimate destination is heart-breaking in its simple acceptance of what makes a person happy. Wright's novel, despite the absence of characters, is a very real romance.
Rating:
Summary: Using the future to examine the past
Review: It may seem to be a contradiction in terms, to use a time machine to travel into the future to pour over the details of one's past. But that's exactly what Ronald Wright accomplishes in his marvellous novel A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE. Part futuristic travelogue, part nostalgic reminiscence of the past, ROMANCE is a thinking person's science fiction, a completely enthralling apocalyptic dystopia that reveals more about the present-day human heart than one would expect. Taking a page from H.G. Wells's classic THE TIME MACHINE, Wright has fashioned a fiction based on the 'reality' of a fiction. Wright's protagonist David Lambert, archaeologist and devotee of Victorian machinery, discovers that Wells based his novel upon a factual incident. Lambert subsequently discovers the time machine, intact but riderless, and decides to travel to 2500 A.D.. What he discovers raises more questions than answers about the fate of humanity, but it also raises questions as to what events led Lambert to this point in his life. As he travels the futuristic England countryside, he retraces his past with his friend Bird, and the woman they both love, Anita. The farther Lambert treks through England, the farther his despair over past actions becomes. Not having perused Wells's classic, I am unable to compare his and Wright's styles. I can reveal that there is a deeply pleasing antiquated feel to Wright's tale; something in his style evokes the nostalgic prose style of Jules Verne. The font also seems charmingly old-fashioned (and for anyone who doesn't believe a font can affect a story, please discover Chip Kidd's terrific novel THE CHEESE MONKEYS, which covers just such a format consideration). Wright has penned several travel books, and his knowledge of the mechanics of travel shows through; Lambert is nothing if not prepared for his journey, and his time machine seems plausibly real. It is to Wright's credit that ROMANCE reads not as a tour book, but rather as a full-fledged story. His future England is left appealingly vague; jungle covers the land, manmade flora has taken root in an unexpected manner, and humanity has all but disappeared. Clues are revealed as to what occurred, but that is all they remain, clues. Mankind's ultimate fate is left to the imagination; what Wright reveals is frightening and confusing enough. Wright is not only concerned with a 'what-if' scenario; he also is a curious traveller of the human conscience. His intention is not to simply provide the curious with yet another post-apocalyptic landscape; like the best of the genre (SWAN SONG by Robert McCammon, THE STAND by Stephen King, and THE POSTMAN by David Brin, to name but three), Wright wants to explore the human condition through the genre stereotypes. Lambert, despite his intention to map out the future, is plagued by his past. His love for Anita, his regret over Bird, haunt his every move. Wright may be attempting to show that we are the sum of our past actions, and no matter how far you travel, the past will never fail to judge your present actions. You cannot outrun yourself. A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE is not the novel for the reader who demands fast-paced action. Wright lays out his tale deliberately, with care and precision given to each step. Lambert's journey is highly unlikely, yet completely believable. His ultimate destination is heart-breaking in its simple acceptance of what makes a person happy. Wright's novel, despite the absence of characters, is a very real romance.
Rating:
Summary: A.D. 2500: The Earth has a fever.
Review: Ronald Wright's first work of fiction tells the story of David Lambert, a London museum curator who has a terminal illness. Fortunately, he has a time machine (described by H.G. Wells) which he can use to seek a cure. Unfortunately, the London of A.D. 2500 is a steaming wreck, with crocodiles in the Thames and strangler figs on most of the landmarks. David explores the ruins and concludes that no one has lived in London since the early 21st century. He goes to Scotland, where he finds a group of dark-skinned people, and becomes their 'guest'. "A Scientific Romance" is a very eloquent eco-catastrophe novel. Wright's prose is florid but never pompous; his characters, although stereotypical, are sensibly developed. David Lambert is a flawed, tragic, completely engrossing hero who must deal with the knowledge that he and the Earth are victims of unchecked "Industrial Man". This book deservedly appeared on best-seller lists in Canada and should be sold in other parts of the world without delay.
Rating:
Summary: Great premise but falls down on the follow-through.
Review: Since a synopsis of the plot is already printed, I won't bore you running through it here. Unfortunately, I was bored running through the book. What a great premise -- H.G Wells' Time Machine exists and an archeologist is going to take a ride into the future! What a let-down. There's no denying that this is a well-written book, but I like books that are plot and character driven. This book is a great idea. There is little "story" and the characters are poorly developed. Such interesting people and I never got to find out more about them! It's a great hook, but when I expected the book to really take off, it just ran out of gas.
Rating: 
Summary: A highly enjoyable diversion.
Review: The book is a first-person account of a ruined intellectual's attempt to reconcile his past personal life while making a trip into a future England of post-industrial ruin. It's an eloquent statement about "modern" man's wrecking of the earth, and about the vanity of scientific progress. The story is at once personal, chatty, high-handed, self-aware, wistful, and heavily ironic. If we could go back and change our lives what would we do? If we could go back and change the world, how would we change it? I found myself pausing for thought often while reading this book, thinking that this glimpse into the future could be all too true.
Rating: 
Summary: Great idea, but too much time spent on the romance of it all
Review: The space wasted with the romance angle would have been better used as room for more imaginative writing. I enjoyed the creative effort towards the outlook of the future, but found myself dreading the romance. It seemed to go on and on and on. I know the title should have warned me; I was expecting a smaller portion than I received and was full before I finished.
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