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[starreview]
Classification: Future Reality
I really hesitated whether I would give this novel a chance after reading the frustrating “The Mind Pool” by Charles Sheffield, which started excellent, but ended in such a big mess. But then I figured he deserves another chance…
Tomorrow and Tomorrow started really well: the story is set at the end of the 20th century and follows the tale of Drake Merlin, a musician and a composer. Drake and his wife, Ana, live a happy life. Both do not pursue money or power but instead concentrate on their professions (Ana is a singer), and live in bliss. But this doesn’t last for too long, as Ana contracts a strange and lethal disease, leading to her death in a fairly short period of time. Drake is heartbroken, but decides not to despair. He contacts a company called “Second Chance”, and freezes Ana in a cryotomb – hoping that sometime in the future, the technology would be available to revive her and cure whatever she has.
Drake spends the next few years accumulating knowledge which he figures will be very useful in the future. He also works hard to make a lot of money, so he could afford keeping Ana frozen for a long period of time, and also afford to freeze himself. Drake hopes that in some time in the future, both of them will be revived, Ana be cured, and they can continue their life. His love for Ana is very strong, and he is determined not to give up.
The time comes, and Drake is frozen. When he wakes up, 500 years have passed – and the world is a totally changed place..
Things don’t go as smoothly as Drake had hoped. I won’t spoil the plot, but I will say that this is not the last time Drake is frozen and thawed after sleeping for many years. This occurs, in fact, several more times, each ending in a future even farther away.
What I described so far covered exactly one half of the book, and was absolutely fantastic. The author built a completely believable future (actually, several futures), and the story was very captivating: I totally thought I had misjudged Charles Sheffield, and couldn’t put this book down.
However…
At this point in the novel, Drake wakes up, and the book takes a very strange twist. Apparently in the very, very distant future, Drake (as an “ancient and primitive human”) is needed to save the descendants of the human race, as they are fighting for their survival against a force from outside our galaxy which cannot be fathomed. Drake must take control, find out what is the problem, and then solve it. Although I’ve heard that some people have commended the accuracy of the science in this part, and I agree with this observation, it doesn’t make this part any less boring. For me it was a distraction of the main story, and frankly, I don’t think this shouldn’t have been put in the book at all.
I read the entire second half of the book in one long evening because I really wanted to get to the end. More specifically, I really wanted to see whether Drake and Ana are eventually reunited. Without giving any details, I’ll say that unfortunately, the ending turned out to be not very satisfying.
To summarize: Really two books: one fantastic, one boring. The first part is really good, but the second part might disappoint you. Overall it is still definitely worthy of a read.
Link to the book on Amazon.com
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