Review of Matt Browne's "The Future Happens Twice"

Hi all,

The Future Happens Twice is one of the better science-fiction novels I have read. Its originality and Matt’s uncomplicated writing style made it a delight to read. Matt’s extensive research for the novel also shines through as I never found myself thinking an element within the novel was implausible.

It is a hard science-fiction novel. By hard I don’t mean it’s hard to read, far from it. Matt Browne writes in a simple style that doesn’t intrude on the story. His style is reminiscent of the uncomplicated writing of Dean Koontz, Margaret Atwood and Peter Carey. You won’t be re-reading jargon laden and unnecessarily complicated sentences in The Future Happens Twice.

By hard science-fiction I mean that Matt Browne has created a universe true to today’s science and what scientists think will be possible in the future. Some of the hard science-fiction elements in the novel include: cloning, nanotechnology matter-compilers, artificial wombs, believable androids, realistic alien life-forms, and intergenerational space travel.

The best thing about the novel is its originality. I’ve read and watched a lot of science-fiction and I never found myself thinking that Matt’s novel sounded familiar. It is part-thriller and very much an adventure story as Matt explores one possible future for humanity.

It is a story where a group of scientists set out to ensure that the human race survives an end-of-civilisation event. To help ensure our future, scientists conduct a series of ethically questionable experiments on the unsuspecting crew of a spaceship and their relatives on earth. Some of their test subjects become aware of the experiment, jeopardising its continuation and human kind’s future.

His characters are full of human desires and flaws. There are no one-dimensional, chiselled-from-stone characters in this novel.

I would recommend the Future Happens Twice to anyone who likes to read plausible, simple to read, exciting, adventure/thriller novels set in the not too distant future.

Comments

  1. XenacanthusJuly 14, 2008 at 9:08 PM

    The Future Happens Twice is a great hard sci-fi novel! I read it, and I found it to be a fascinating and thought-provoking read. Far too few books add the character development that Matt Browne did in his novel. I recommend The Future Happens Twice to all sci-fans

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