Chafe, Paul C.
GENESIS
Paul Chafe
BAEN 2007
Hb 416 pgs
ISBN-10:
1-4165-5509-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5509-4
From the author of DESTINY’S FORGE we get a new storyline with the same intense prose. GENESIS is based on the premise that by not expanding into space, humans are “keeping all their eggs in one basket,” a premise considered by many people of our day to be frightfully catastrophic. What if…? Any number of things could bring about an early extinction of mankind, but even without that, there will come a day when our sun will get too hot for life to continue on this planet. Yet most people consider their own immediate needs as more pressing than the ultimate continuation of our species.
GENESIS begins by showing one man who places this premise at the top of his
priority list. Josh Crewe leaves a lucrative university position as a teacher
and researcher in engineering so he can become the Secretary-General of the U.N.
It is quite a battle to get his Ark project off the ground, and the battle is
carried beyond his lifetime by friends and descendants of friends. GENESIS is
the story of this project and the generations of people involved with it. Within
these pages, the reader gets well into space and discovers new problems
associated with life on a very long voyage. [This appears to be a book one that
will continue to other volumes.] Throughout the action of lives in jeopardy, the
bottom line keeps coming down to: Power and greed do not care about the future
of our species. Idealism is beyond the scope of daily survival, much to the
detriment of all. Political problems and physical setbacks are the order of the
day. GENESIS has reflections from the Bible in contrast with pure science and
generates conflicts therein, not unlike what we encounter in our own daily
lives. Religion and science don’t mix well, but if we are going to survive as a
species they must learn how.
Like DESTINY’S FORGE, GENESIS is all show and very little tell--it’s science
fiction of the highest caliber, full of action that works for the reader,
characterization that captures the attention, and world-building that’s clearly
defined and plausible with description that feels real. Almost. I did have
trouble imagining the Size of the Ark. An interior with several villages, much
countryside in-between…and even an ocean? Wow. It makes for a good story, but
that much mass traveling through space? I did enjoy the read anyway. GENESIS has
wisdom and love, and a plot based on The Enemy is Whoever Takes Your Freedom
Away--which is a fundamental truth that will always generate good
story-telling.
Highly recommended for readers of futuristic science fiction.
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