Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating, entertaining and mind expanding hard SF
Review: "Divine Intervention" is one of the most fascinating novels I have read in the past few months. It successfully takes a hard science fiction story and incorporates unique ideas on physics, interstellar colinization, religion and politics into an entertaining blend. The tension between the "Burnout Kingdoms" and the mainstream society of Mandala really makes the story work well. And the twist of Drew Randall, a young deaf-mute, communicating with "God" is quite intriguing.
Very original and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great "Real" Science Fiction
Review: A great book! Dr. Wharton's scrupulous adherance to the real laws of physics as we currently understand them make this a very realistic and believable story. I loved it!
Rating: 
Summary: yeuch
Review: horrible, I'm afraid. I picked this up at my local drugstore, the concept looked interesting. The concept is interesting, but the execution was very poor. The characters are poorly sketched, some of the concepts seem to be just thrown in without much thought (the whole fana thing?), the conflict between the city dwellers and the 'burnouts' is never developed ... I could go on, but the book isn't worth the effort. The book might be a little interesting to someone who has never read decent SF, but you have you can see how far short it falls
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive!
Review: How is it that the Star Trek series can spend $2 million an episode, and only come up with a halfway decent script about 10% of the time? Meanwhile, writers like Ken Wharton, working all alone, can come up with a fast, action-filled, provocative book like this one, and do it for probably less than a $10,000 advance. I don't particularly like "hard" science fiction, and I am sooo bored with authors pontificating about God, the universe, and everything. But Wharton has some genuinely fresh ideas, they're clearly written, and he's got a sizzling story to boot. I only gave it 4 stars (because I'm against grade-inflation!), but it's one of the best books I've read this year!
Rating:
Summary: Impressive!
Review: How is it that the Star Trek series can spend $2 million an episode, and only come up with a halfway decent script about 10% of the time? Meanwhile, writers like Ken Wharton, working all alone, can come up with a fast, action-filled, provocative book like this one, and do it for probably less than a $10,000 advance. I don't particularly like "hard" science fiction, and I am sooo bored with authors pontificating about God, the universe, and everything. But Wharton has some genuinely fresh ideas, they're clearly written, and he's got a sizzling story to boot. I only gave it 4 stars (because I'm against grade-inflation!), but it's one of the best books I've read this year!
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I had never heard of Wharton or this book when I picked it up in the bookstore, so I considered it a ...shoot, but I liked the premise. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I really enjoyed it. I think some of the characters were a little thin, and I would have liked to learn more about the society it was set in. But I thought it was interesting how the history was presented alongside of the story and how it came together at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I had never heard of Wharton or this book when I picked it up in the bookstore, so I considered it a ...shoot, but I liked the premise. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I really enjoyed it. I think some of the characters were a little thin, and I would have liked to learn more about the society it was set in. But I thought it was interesting how the history was presented alongside of the story and how it came together at the end.
Rating:
Summary: This sf novel is very cleverly designed
Review: The mission of the Walt Disney Spaceship is to find a habitable planet and colonize it, reporting back to Earth periodically on their failures and their final success. They land on the planet they name Mandala in galaxy light years from Earth and in the one hundred and fifty years they have lived on it; they have put their mark on the planet. Even their religion is based on the writings of the captain of the spaceship, a combination of science and theology.
Earth has been notified of the colonizing of Mandala and with the new technology that has been developed 33,000 colonists who have been cryogenically sleeping are about to orbit the planet. The Prime Minister of Mandala fears that the colonists will be a threat to his regime. He goes to the spaceship with a few of his allies and kills off all but one of the crew. He plans to murder all the new colonists with only nine year old deaf mute Drew Randall, who has a direct pipeline to someone or something calling himself God, in his way.
Fans of space opera, political intrigue and precocious little heroes will thoroughly enjoy reading DIVINE INTERVENTION. It's fascinating to read about a group of people who colonized a world according to their own collective needs and beliefs. Readers will believe that author Ken Wharton actually visited his planet and has written about events he witnessed. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: This sf novel is very cleverly designed
Review: The mission of the Walt Disney Spaceship is to find a habitable planet and colonize it, reporting back to Earth periodically on their failures and their final success. They land on the planet they name Mandala in galaxy light years from Earth and in the one hundred and fifty years they have lived on it; they have put their mark on the planet. Even their religion is based on the writings of the captain of the spaceship, a combination of science and theology.
Earth has been notified of the colonizing of Mandala and with the new technology that has been developed 33,000 colonists who have been cryogenically sleeping are about to orbit the planet. The Prime Minister of Mandala fears that the colonists will be a threat to his regime. He goes to the spaceship with a few of his allies and kills off all but one of the crew. He plans to murder all the new colonists with only nine year old deaf mute Drew Randall, who has a direct pipeline to someone or something calling himself God, in his way.
Fans of space opera, political intrigue and precocious little heroes will thoroughly enjoy reading DIVINE INTERVENTION. It's fascinating to read about a group of people who colonized a world according to their own collective needs and beliefs. Readers will believe that author Ken Wharton actually visited his planet and has written about events he witnessed. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Divine Intervention - a great book by a new author
Review: This is an exciting book by a new author who very successfully blends interstellar colonization, religion, physics, and politics into a sci-fi novel with great characters and a rip-roaring ending. The author carefully familiarizes the reader with his new world, then turns on the excitement. I would definitely recommend this book, and am looking forward to more by this author.
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