nicky2910's book reviews

Bart Faulwell, Carol Abramowicz and Soloman are sent to help a planet's population with installing their just bought planetwide computer system. The manual is quite incomprehensible - and the computer itself seems to have an agenda of its own.

This is an interesting tale that puts the until now little used Bart and Carol in the spotlight, trying to decipher the computer's instruction manual and its cultural background (and that of the planet that tries to use it). The inhabitants are, while scientifically advanced, very childlike and literal minded with no sense of subtext or imagination. Which is why they fail the computer's tests.

I'd have wished for a more in-depth exploration of the characters (why only hint at Carol's childhood?) instead of lots of technobabble. And the ending, again, was rushed. There's lots of potential in the characters and the SCE in general, but I still have to see it come to fruition.