Review of “Wildside” by Steven Gould

Synopsis

What would you do if you had access to a gate to an alternate world? To what extent could that gate be used and abused? You’d have some wonderful (and literal) escapist literature. You’d have Wildside, by Steven Gould.

Featured Technology

It’s great when the writer has taken the time to really think about their technology. In this book, it shows. It shows in the way the main characters find, use and protect the gate, and the way the others find their own way to “break in”. The book answers many questions: What would you do if you had access to unique technology, allowing you to move between alternate universes? Would you abuse it? Would you think it’s worth protecting? Why? What ingenious ways could you develop to use the gate? Are the inevitable problems due to “man versus technology”, or “man versus man”?

Opinion

The gate was a fun concept, and a great part was the attention to detail in describing it’s various uses, how it could be changed and used in ways not originally intended.

Often when when I read adventures and action stories, you’ll have a character with personal problems of some sort, like emotional, drug or family troubles. And they always feel tacked on in an attempt to make the character more sympathetic. While problems like these are included in this story, it didn’t feal tacked on. It’s written well and honestly, and everyone was realistic with truly believable issues. Nothing felt forced.

The main characters seemed a little too smart for high school graduates, but that was also part of the fun of the story. At the very least, it’s much better than the movies and stories that present main characters as super-lucky-despite-bad-decisions. Here, our heroes (and villians) are smart and prepared. And that’s a very good thing.