Cover Image: 2079

2079

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The biggest issue I had with 2079 was that it was a continuation of another story (even though it's listed as being a standalone novel). The problem you have there is that you have characters with history and characters that have been described and understood in other book(s) that you're kind of jumping into here. Sometimes an author does a good job mitigating this issue (especially in long-running thrillers) but unfortunately, Robin does not do a great job with it here.

The book itself was something I would probably call "easy-reading" or maybe light Sci-Fi. It was an okay story and there wasn't anything really good or bad about it. The book was just okay.

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Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to enjoy this book. The premise seemed clichéd and underdeveloped. The setting felt like a milquetoast sci fi dystopia, and the characters were uninspired and didn't have any emotional depth to them.

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A tiny nation is created by an exceptionally educated group, a sort of silicon valley elite. Having created an ideal society it finds that it continually needs to defend itself against the forces of the world's least enlightened, in this case represented by a violent Islamic theocracy. It is difficult not to cheer as this relatively small community, which represents the best of humanity uses its wits and technology to overcome a much larger and deeply malicious enemy. This a modern parable of good and evil and a rattling good yarn.

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This book is a future-set tale of an advanced race of humans and their dealings with the rest of humanity. As their enhancements are coveted by other humans, their society and population come under threat.
Quite a good story but told in a writing style that didn't flow for me and so reduced my enjoyment. I found their ingenuity in dealing with their opponents interesting but was uneasy regarding the singling out of a particular region and religion as that enemy.
Overall a good read.

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The book’s blurb describes the story as a “…fast-paced thriller set in the year 2079.” The book is a stand-alone, though it is the second book from Donald P. Robin and reintroduces characters from his first book, “Libator.” While the description intrigued me, the book did not live up to its billing.

The plot idea has promise, revolving around a new country that possesses brain enhancement technology. Another country desires to obtain the technology and decides to use force, kidnapping 50 Libator children. The main story details Libator’s efforts to rescue the children without allowing the situation to develop into a full-blown war.

Other than some descriptions of the wonderful things the citizens can do, the sci-fi aspect of this story is marginal. The great majority of technology in 2079 has not progressed past 2018, and much of the science that is spoken of as “new” has already been discovered. The political setting (aside from Libator) seems to be nothing more than a rehash of current day situations. A sci-fi story set in the future needs the author to take greater leaps, and that effort is not present in this book.

There is also much flab in the writing, unnecessary dialogue and description that grind the story flow to a halt. In addition to the hi-how-are-you-I-am-fine-how-are-you padding, there are numerous times when a description of the action is repeated in the next chapter as one character describes it to another.

The dialogue is stilted in many passages, and I constantly found myself questioning why the author would make his characters talk as they did. Because they all talked similarly, it affected the characterizations, and people became more homogenized than distinctive. Stories set in the future allow authors to invent words, something to make readers feel like they are somewhere else but the present. The constant use of everyday speech was another missed opportunity to make the book unique.

All of the above slowed the pace, and the excitement of the climax was not strong enough to force me to forget the predictability of the entire novel as it limped to the end. A good editor would probably been able to raise this story a level or two, but in its current state, it is a two-star offering.

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Imagine that you have discovered how to enhance someone’s brain so that a person may become more intelligent in a certain area or areas? Imagine that you live under a dome in a small country and some Iranian militants invade your dome, blackmail other Muslims with the death of their family members if they do not help you in kidnapping some of the brain-enhanced children as hostages for your brain enhancement?
This is the story of that small brain-enhanced nation and their children. You will be enthralled as you read about these people and their struggle to get their children back.
Find out how the brain enhanced people struggle with Iran and try to get their children back!

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