Wildside

Rating:
Summary: wonderful novel
Review: Charlie and his small group of friends have a secret. In the barn on a farm left to him by his missing and presumed dead uncle is a very special door, a door to another earth, the Wildside. An earth where man never evolved! So what would a group of teenagers do with such a secret? Why go for the gold naturally! After all no there are no men, therefore there's all the gold in them thar hills just waiting to be scooped up. The problem is they're in Texas and the gold is in California so what do you do? Simple, fly!

Wildside is a fun story, although not very believable (forget about the inter-dimensional travel how about two kids, 18 years old, getting certified as airplane mechanics is less that 4 weeks!) But does it have to be believable to a good, enjoyable read? I don't think so. Quell your stunned disbelief and let the story take you for a ride. It is a relatively unique plot with strong, well-developed characters. Explore with them a Texas without man and root for them against a government willing to do just about anything to get the secret of Wildside.

It's one that I have read more than once and have enjoyed it every time. For certain I RECOMMEND it for anyone looking for a relatively quick, uncomplicated but thoroughly enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful novel
Review: I loved this book, I mean normaly when people write about alternate universes and stuff like that, I have no idea what the heck they are talking about because they don't describe it at all. But Steven Gould has written a wonderful, fast paced, UNDERSTANDABLE novel and the descriptions blend perfectly with the plot. This book has it all: sci-fi, action, romance, and thrills. It is beautifuly wriiten and well described, and maybe not entirely bealievable but what the heck, right? The charac ters in this story were very well detailed, but not so much as that it slows down the plot with useless descriptions. All in all this was a great book and you should read it. Oh, by the way if you liked Jumper, (another book by Steven Gould) Steven Gould is writing a sequal to it called Reflex and it will be released Nov. 1, 2004.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous and Fresh
Review: I loved this book. I read it several years ago, and it's made me a permanent Steven Gould fan. Even several years later, I find myself playing "what if" based on the premise in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Charlie finds a door...and it serves as an amazing read!
Review: I read Wildside a few years ago, at the beach, and I could barely take my nose out of this book to go swimming! That may seem a bit "uncool" of me, but once you read this book you will know exactly what I am talking about. But you now have fair warning that if you are going to start this book, don't have anything planned for a day or three (depends on how fast you read).

The book's main character, Charlie Newell, inherits a farm at the age of 18. His Uncle Max has been missing so long that he was feared dead, and as per his last will and testament, the farm that belonged to him was left to his nephew, Charlie. Finally, at the age of 18, Charlie can officially become a land owner. After prom, Charlie takes his friends to the farm and leads them to the barn. Inside are sixteen cages, each with a single passenger pigeon in it, alive and well. It seems that Charlie not only inherited the large farm, but also inherited a door to a parallel Earth, where man never existed and some species that died out years ago on our earth, are still thriving.

From this point on, I was totally hooked, and that was pretty much within the first 20 pages. Charlie and his friends devise a plan to make some money to put them through college, by sending 1 male pigeon to three different wildlife foundations, and then sell each foundation four females for a hefty sum of $25,000 apiece. But that's only the beginning. Trips into the "wildside", as they begin to call it, become more frequent, and they build airplane hangars and different stations out in the wild (for a reason that you need to read the book to find out). The problems begin when the funds are finally traced back to the farm, and the black helicopters arrive (you knew they would come eventually, but the point that they come at startled me a bit, and this would make a great movie moment). Now the five friends are trapped in the "wildside", with a group of commandos wanting in, to lay their claim to this vast new world.

This book is near the top of my favorites list, and is a wonderful adventure, with such varying themes as parallel worlds, extinct life, flying an airplane, and fighting against the government who want to use eminent domain on this parallel earth. I would recommend this book to anyone, not only because I (who live on sci-fi/action/adventure novels) enjoyed it so much, but because people of many varying interests have enjoyed it. When you are finished you will be asking for more, and when you read it the second time for want of that extra bit of action and plot development, you'll ask for a sequel even more heartily. Keep it up Mr. Gould!

Rating:
Summary: a door to another world
Review: I would say that this book is aimed at late teen readers. However, the author writes well enough that it is also entertaining for adults.

When Charlie Newell discovers a door in his barn that leads to another, pristine world, where humans never evolved, he puts a plan together. In order to finance his plan he sells some carrier pigeons (extinct birds) to some zoos. Things get tricky and very risky from there.

The author has created very sensible and intelligent characters in this book. Despite the fact that the major characters are just out of high school they they act in many ways with more sense than many 'grown up' people.

The only thing that ocassionaly lets this book down is the author's love of describing 'gadgets' and processes, which can make the prose a bit dry at times.

Worth a read if you like 'reality' based fantasy-adventure novels.

Rating:
Summary: Journey to an Untamed Parallel Earth
Review: Interesting tale of parallel universes. The premise is not new but it is told in a different way. A universe where man has not developed and nature still controls. Species that are extinct by man in our world, roam freely in the "wildside." A group of young people realize that a fortune can be made by finding a world's full of gold. They finance their venture by selling "extinct" passenger pigeons to zoos. The government eventually learns about their gate to the wildside and a renegade CIA operative tries to wrest control of the gate through an illegal covert action.

Though most of the book seems to slug along, it has a phenomenal ending. The tale is told in "first-person," a style which I am not too crazy about by Charlie Newell. Throughout the book we only learn snitches about Charlie and what makes him tick. Some of his friends (Maria, the Vietnamese girl and Joey particularly) are hardly developed at all.

Gould's book "Jumper" was far superior to this one (I gave that one five stars). In that book as well as this one, the main character has a very poor relationship with his father, which leads me to believe that Gould's childhood may not have been the happiest.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Read
Review: It feels good to just sit down and read a nice simple story without having to wrap your brain around complex ideas or situations. Wildside is a nice simple story, but it is not childish or mundane. Gould builds the story around the characters, and does a good job of weaving a believable story about a doorway to another reality. Gould is a much better writer than I am, so enough with the review, read Wildside and enjoy it for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: A wild ride on the Wild Side!
Review: Once again, Gould doesn't disappoint. If you liked Jumper, you'll love Wildside. If you didn't read Jumper, by all means do so, but don't worry, these are stand-alone stories so you don't need to read them in a particular order.

Gould does fine work here, particularly in describing the details that our young protagonist engages in to conduct his business.

The author certainly has a handle on the young and writes about them very well. Enough people have described what the book is about, so you don't need a rehash from me.

Just read it. You'll be glad that you did.

Rating:
Summary: Smart Fantasy !
Review: This is an intelligently written fantasy with an innovative plot. The characters are well developed and the interplay among them enough to keep me interested in their own stories minus the fantasy aspects. The narrator is a likable hero and come through smarter than his age. The only complaint I have is too much descriptive technical jargon which tends to slow down the pace of the story. A few times I just skiped how a certain object is built or how a plane is flew! More effort could have been invested in the wildside itself and the characters. A pity!