Beyond the Pale, November 22, 2010

Rating: 4.8 out of 5Diving into an excellent work of science fiction can be like swimming through a sea of red tape; it's muddled, sometimes it can tie you down and be more than a little confusing, and yet, once you put everything together, you finally know the answer and the effort it took to get through becomes worth it.This was my experience reading "Pale Boundaries" by Scott Cleveland.In truth, this is the first science fiction novel I've read since my high-school love of the Cyberpunk micro-genre. At times I found it difficult to keep everything in order - the technical terms tripped me up occasionally and I found myself backtracking constantly, trying to stay the course and understand all that was going on - and because of this, a book whose length I can usually complete in four days took me a little over a week. Now this is not a complaint, mind you; in fact, the act of staying with a book longer than usual struck me as a cathartic...

I have very simple rules for gauging the success or failure of a novel. I'm not a literary genius or genre-Nazi and I certainly hold little faith in corporate jingle peddlers who do their best to "sing the praises" of an undeserving author. I've never felt bad about walking away from a book that didn't hold my attention or fell into absurd convolution. So when I say that first-time author Cleveland delivers on his end of the bargain - intelligently fabricating a world worth your attention - you'll understand the value of my recommendation.Since others have already done a fine job of summarizing the key points and character of the story I'll limit my review to the mechanics involved. Pale Boundaries is a story of intrigue, mystery, loss, redemption, discovery, cultural procedure, social maneuvering, and the power of the human spirit when everything else is ripped away. The characters are engaging without being prototypical with just enough development to make you care...

Pale Boundaries is a great example of how a creative author and strong writing can bring realism to a literally out-of-this-world concept. Realistic characters live in a world of realistic technology-Cleveland's description of Terson Reilly's hydrojet made me feel I knew its propulsion systems inside and out, and I don't even drive a car.In fact, I don't know that I'm even comfortable calling the novel science fiction: the adventure, detail, and high-seas action puts me more in mind of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt than any literary spaceman.Reading time: One week at a leisurely summer pace (though maintaining that gets hard about halfway in, when the real action starts to build)Recommendation: For general fiction readers, not just SF fans