The Artifact (Daw Book Collectors)

Rating:
Summary: My first exposure to WMG, very strong space SF
Review: I picked this book up in the spring of 1990 while at a Fred Meyer store in Salt Lake City. I had never heard of W. Michael Gear, but the image of the space-suited man on the cover captured my attention, and it looked like a nice thick book, so I bought it.

I was not dissappointed! The Artifact is an interesting mix of deep space war story and political espionage, with alien supertechnology thrown in for good measure. The Brotherhood seem very much like a benevolent Freemasonry seeking to preserve the best parts of human science and history against the tumult of competing human governments that wield massively destructive firepower. Of course, The Artifact itself winds up being an intruiging character, as does Boaz, the female-gendered superstarship under the command of our main hero, Captain Carasco.

I found Carasco to be a sympathetic and engaging main character, not just a little reminiscent of the Thomas Covenant character from S.R. Donaldson's books. Carasco is a tortured soul who has seen too much, made too many terrible decisions, and through much of the book is at war with himself even more than he is at war with the forces around him. I liked Carasco's depth and humanity, and his struggle largely drives the book.

Like most good SF, the key to The Artifact's success lies in the fact that under all the gosh-wow hardware and deep space imagery, there is a very human story taking place here. Carasco, and many of the others, draw us in with recognizable struggles, weaknesses, and strengths.

The Artifact was so good I snapped up the Forbidden Borders trilogy when W.M. Gear released it a few years later. Forbidden Borders is also very well written.

Rating:
Summary: My first exposure to WMG, very strong space SF
Review: I picked this book up in the spring of 1990 while at a Fred Meyer store in Salt Lake City. I had never heard of W. Michael Gear, but the image of the space-suited man on the cover captured my attention, and it looked like a nice thick book, so I bought it.

I was not dissappointed! The Artifact is an interesting mix of deep space war story and political espionage, with alien supertechnology thrown in for good measure. The Brotherhood seem very much like a benevolent Freemasonry seeking to preserve the best parts of human science and history against the tumult of competing human governments that wield massively destructive firepower. Of course, The Artifact itself winds up being an intruiging character, as does Boaz, the female-gendered superstarship under the command of our main hero, Captain Carasco.

I found Carasco to be a sympathetic and engaging main character, not just a little reminiscent of the Thomas Covenant character from S.R. Donaldson's books. Carasco is a tortured soul who has seen too much, made too many terrible decisions, and through much of the book is at war with himself even more than he is at war with the forces around him. I liked Carasco's depth and humanity, and his struggle largely drives the book.

Like most good SF, the key to The Artifact's success lies in the fact that under all the gosh-wow hardware and deep space imagery, there is a very human story taking place here. Carasco, and many of the others, draw us in with recognizable struggles, weaknesses, and strengths.

The Artifact was so good I snapped up the Forbidden Borders trilogy when W.M. Gear released it a few years later. Forbidden Borders is also very well written.

Rating:
Summary: page 187 - nothing has happened yet
Review: Simply put, "The Artifact" is a page-turner. W. Michael Gear has created a fascinating universe filled with powerful governments, first-rate characterization, and enough `who-done-it' mystery to keep the reader on the edge of his seat.

"The Artifact" deals with (obviously) an artifact of alien origin found at the edges of known space. This device is so powerful that anyone who contols it could literally conquer the universe. Unknown to the humans that find the artifact, they weren't the first beings to come across this ultimate weapon, an indeed, those who came first ended up completely destroying their civilations.

Center to the story is Captain Carrasco, the youngest and the best captain to ever fly a starship, and the one selected by the `Brotherhood' to fly the greatest ship ever built, pick up this alien device, and bring it back. The problem is that Carrasco, after losing his third ship, is a jumbled mess of fractured nerves and regret, and here lies my frustration with this otherwise fine novel. While I understand the importance of Carrasco's plight to the plot, one incident after another...after another...after another is drummed into the reader concerning Carrasco fitness to captain a ship. Finally, I wanted to scream out, "Yeah! You told us a hundred times already!!"

However, "The Artifact" has so many endearing qualities that my frustration for this one aspect turns out to be a rather minor complaint. Matter-of-fact, I enjoyed this novel so much, that I would readily read it again, and highly recommend it to any sci-fi fan. Between 1 and 10, I give "The Artifact" a solid 8. Do yourself a favor and purchase this novel now!

Rating:
Summary: Extremely interesting, but sometimes frustrating sci-fi.
Review: Simply put, "The Artifact" is a page-turner. W. Michael Gear has created a fascinating universe filled with powerful governments, first-rate characterization, and enough 'who-done-it' mystery to keep the reader on the edge of his seat.

"The Artifact" deals with (obviously) an artifact of alien origin found at the edges of known space. This device is so powerful that anyone who contols it could literally conquer the universe. Unknown to the humans that find the artifact, they weren't the first beings to come across this ultimate weapon, an indeed, those who came first ended up completely destroying their civilations.

Center to the story is Captain Carrasco, the youngest and the best captain to ever fly a starship, and the one selected by the 'Brotherhood' to fly the greatest ship ever built, pick up this alien device, and bring it back. The problem is that Carrasco, after losing his third ship, is a jumbled mess of fractured nerves and regret, and here lies my frustration with this otherwise fine novel. While I understand the importance of Carrasco's plight to the plot, one incident after another...after another...after another is drummed into the reader concerning Carrasco fitness to captain a ship. Finally, I wanted to scream out, "Yeah! You told us a hundred times already!!"

However, "The Artifact" has so many endearing qualities that my frustration for this one aspect turns out to be a rather minor complaint. Matter-of-fact, I enjoyed this novel so much, that I would readily read it again, and highly recommend it to any sci-fi fan. Between 1 and 10, I give "The Artifact" a solid 8. Do yourself a favor and purchase this novel now!

Rating:
Summary: page 187 - nothing has happened yet
Review: time to stop reading this book..