Drifting Away (Inglese) Copertina flessibile – 18 mag 2013

Very good imagination. Made it easy for me to almost visualise the things, alhough it is very intangibel. After reading each page I was curious what would happen next. It did not take me too long to finish it because i wanted to know how the story ends. Good work!

A great read. I finished it in less than twenty four hours. Some thought provoking ideas and a twist in the tail of the tale.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

Drifting Away was an insightful book that raised several realistic questions about how both Earth and Martian societies would function and cooperate several generations after Mars had been colonized by humans.

There were several things the author did very well. Firstly, his depiction of the future was fantastic. The issues facing both Earth and Mars echoed the colonisation of America and its need for independence. The introduction of smallpox into the Native American population also had its echos in the future, although in this case it was the Martians sensitive immune system and their inability to cope with measles.

The layout of the book was also well done. The narration follows several major characters with the occasional Interlude in between. These Interludes were written in italics and told the story of an Earth woman and a Martian man and their initial love and finally the disintegration of their relationship. As a plot device, this worked well and the Interludes were one of my favourite story lines.

Dialogue and thoughts were written with dashes (-) instead of quotation marks ("). Initially this was a little disorienting, but you quickly get used to it.

There were a few things that - for me anyway - weakened the overall impact The foreshadowing of the measles epidemic was mentioned fairly early on so that when it actually happened, I wasn't at all surprised. Making this come as more of a shock in the story, rather an an inevitable reality, may have helped build momentum.

The ending, too, was a little disappointing for me, particularly because I was enjoying the beginning so much. Many questions that arise in the plot were not answered and the ones that were I wasn't satisfied with. I would have liked a better idea about how the deaths were achieved, who was the mastermind behind it all and, perhaps most importantly, why. Whilst these questions were answered to varying degrees, the story ended without any resolution.

Still, I did enjoy this story. It was beautifully written with intriguing characters and it's depiction of the future was entirely believable, not to mention chilling.

Rating: 7.0/10.0

Review: Stefano Constantini's Drifting Away had a mind bending tale. As humans, we've always wanted to reach the stars, inhabit other planets, and go beyond our means of survival to test our limits. Drifting Away allows you to take yourself on a ride to do all of these and more. The story line was fantastic once you got past all the information. However, the information in the beginning was required to go through because the rest wouldn't have made sense. I wish the information wasn't as much as hinderance to the story. This is why I gave it a 7 instead of an 8 or 9. The story (past the back story) was absolutely thrilling. The way the characters got in your head and the major twist at the end left you yearning for more. Props to Stefano on his first book, and a beautifully simplistic cover. I love it!

Review by IABookReviews.com