Fractured Man (Jacob R. Blacquiere)

This was given to me as a free e-book by the author in exchange for an unbiased review.

Cliché. The first thing I wondered is why one of the main characters had been named Winston. There’s nothing original about that name. It’s extremely Anglo-Saxon. It’s the sort of name you would expect to find in a science-fiction novel. Then there’s Yara, the first woman described in the novel. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes. In my whole life I have encountered only a handful of women with long blonde hair and blue eyes, yet this archetype continues to pop up in novels.

The plot is nothing spectacular, but it is fine. It is exactly what one would expect to find in a dime-store sci-fi novel. It seems that generations before a mass human exodus occurred and those who were left behind learned to survive with the aid of a substance referred to as synthetica (incidentally also the name of an album by Canadian Indie rock band Metric?). The novel opens as Winston and companions go out at night to collect the substance..

The novel reaches a higher note with the introduction of Aleha Sanderson, a scientist on the ship Pioneer-1, in the second chapter. She returns to have a look at the planet her ancestors abandoned 1000 years before. I was less impressed by Marian, who makes her entrance into the novel by playing the part of the weak woman and sobbing in Winston’s arms.

I do give author Jacob R. Blacquiere credit for his portrayal of the culture and the legends in which Winston lives. Like all civilizations, Winston’s people have stories surrounding their methods of existence which they both believe in and doubt at the same time. An interesting parallel can be drawn between real world religions, and institutions.

The novel is available as an e-book on Amazon.