On The Future Fire Reviews website, Terry Grimwood has reviewed Entanglement by Douglas Thompson. He describes it as “an intelligent, adult science fiction novel that blends the new with the old” and goes on to justify that by pointing out that the technologies are “founded on present day developments and theories” while the story is “imbued with a Golden Age sense of wonder”. He says he is reminded of Wells, Swift and Robert Silverberg – great company!
Although encounters with various alien races on their own planets are the key milestones in the story, this is not a heart-warming tale of savages meeting avaricious ‘civilised’ Terrans, but “is far more complex in its moral stance and particularly in its protagonists’ relationships with the alien races they meet”. He goes on to say that despite there being 17 separate planetary visits, Douglas “works hard to keep each encounter fresh and original”.
Terry goes on to expand on his comparison with Wells, who “was a writer in an age when there was still more than enough wonder and original invention to go round. Thompson manages to convey a similar wonder, prevalent in quite a few of his human-alien encounters. It is an innocence I have not seen in a science fiction novel for a long time. Thompson also captures Wells’ ability to transform the encounter between human and non-human into a mirror of our own intra-human relationships.”
He sums up: “Entanglement is a compelling tour de force, a brave attempt, painted on a vast, interstellar canvas, a novel that manages to maintain a startling imaginative variety as we visit world after world.” Then concludes with a return to his Swiftian comparison, and a finale that I won’t spoil by repeating here – go and read it for yourself!
You can (…should…must) read the full review here.