The TWO FACES OF TOMORROW

Rating:
Summary: Hard science, flat characters, plot a bit stretched.
Review: This one is a toughie to review. It has Hogan's usual faults (although I should qualify that by saying I'm still working on his older books)--pretty one-dimensional characters as interchangeable with each other as so many cardboard dolls, and a tremendous amount of boring yahda-yahda which I gather is hard science. Even so, it is a tremendously gripping book. No wonder I was infuriated by all of the scientific babblespeak--who could stand to wade through it to get to the end? Obviously, some other readers could. I too had the thought that this book would make an excellent movie--the great part about that is that then all of the intricate computer science gobbledygook would disappear and the premise and characters would come to the fore as they should. Apologies to those who really like this sort of hard science, but I've read Kim Stanley Robinson and Stephen Baxter and they know how to pack novels with hard science and still make them a joy to read. I'm still continuing to read Hogan, but the best SF is more than just intricate details of advanced engineering ideas. "Two Faces" has a fascinating premise, a very suspenseful plot, and a satisfying ending, and with those taken together, it's a worthwhile read.