Sunday, February 10, 2013

Loss by Ronald Franklin

About a year ago, I read Ronald Franklin's first book Obin (at least, it was the first one I stumbled upon in the iBooks store). As I pointed out in my previous post, I enjoyed that one quite a bit - so it was only natural that I tried a sample of his second book Loss. Finishing the prologue, I immediately bought the ebook and read it from cover to cover the next few days (I'm not a fast reader mind you!).

Quite different from the first science fiction story of this author, Loss takes you (as the title might suggest) on a much more personal and emotional journey. As dramatic and tense as the chapters are, the main characters still manage to utter the occasional catchy phrase that make you smile or at times even laugh.
Especially the antagonist, a somewhat typical 70s or 80s spy movie villain I'd say, is portrayed in a way that you have no choice but to hate him from the very beginning until the exciting end.

After finishing the book, I realised some kind of underlying message that I found to be intricately woven into the story. Unfortunately, I think that people who aren't regularly confronted with loss (like I am due to my occupation) might miss this so very delicate part of the novel. It's a shame, really, for it adds so much depth to the story.

Verdict: in my opinion, Loss is quite an enjoyable little science fiction novel. I'm eagerly awaiting another book from Franklin, hoping there's actually going to be one...

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