Nightwatch: Dimension's Gate by Jeff Williams

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kailhofer
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Nightwatch: Dimension's Gate by Jeff Williams

Post by kailhofer »

Jeff is probably in knots wondering how his story has been received by now, so I'll just tell him.<br><br>This a pretty good story. Take a breath. ;)<br><br><br>Simon & crew once again search dark recesses of the earth to thwart bad guys who are about to destroy the world as we know it in a highly technical, but poorly-thought-out, plan to create a device that will change history. Good guys prevail & bad guys meet a bitter end. (Hopefully that doesn't spoil the story for any who haven't read it yet.)<br><br>Plus points on setting. I don't know if you're a climber, Jeff, but you know more about it than I do. The caves are a neat place to introduce characters.<br><br>On characterization, we see a few insights into Stephanie's personality, and the frustration in Simon's soul when he can't prevent bad things from happening.<br><br>The plot was a lot harder to follow once the deja vu sequences kicked in, but there was no missing that things were moving to an explosive conclusion. I can't say that there was that golden moment of recognition where the main character figures everything out with new realization, but I can't shake a stick at it, either.<br><br><br>On to nitpicking!<br><br>What's a banjo in climbing? It wasn't in my dictionary, and the web kept pointing me at Banjo-Kazooie of Nintendo fame.<br><br>Simon as he is first met seems a little "off" his normal self, but this could be because he's seen through Max's unfamiliar eyes.<br><br>The 'Til Tuesday' reference seems confusing. Is there a part missing there?<br><br>I had to keep a web window open so I could google references, such as the hacker, Kevin Mitnick, or "collecting mongo". Which Gary Keel was it supposed to be? The night-shift supervisor at JPL? The insurance guru? Who?<br><br>What was the significance of the glowing meteorites?<br><br>I know Star Trek made Deja vu in time loops popular, but objectively, would someone really have foreknowledge if they were stuck in a temporal causality loop? I personally don't think so.<br><br>Did Tom manage to turn off the power, and that's why they actually got out, or did they finally progress far enough in the loop to destroy the machine? <br><br>If people were caught in loops over the passage of one night, would they really be so tired that they'd collapse and fall asleep at the end of it? One could argue that it was mental fatigue after experiencing so many loops. I suppose in the bigger picture, Jeff wrote it that way, so it's now an established side effect of temporal/dimensional distortion in the Nightwatch universe.<br><br>So, all in all, thumbs up, Jeff.<br><br>Nate
Last edited by kailhofer on September 11, 2004, 12:13:53 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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