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A review by ryanpfw
Fata Morgana by Ken Mitchroney, Steven R. Boyett
4.0
Three stars feels about right for this one, but I’m giving an extra star for effort. I’ve been reading less this year than past years due to more distractions, so books I’d power through in three days are taking a couple of weeks at times and that can make it more difficult for a book to hold my attention. I’m working to separate when it’s the book’s fault, and when it’s my own. This one feels a bit more like the former.
This is the story of the Fata Morgana, a WW2 flying fortress, and her crew, who travel through a time vortex into the the relatively distant future. I’m not going to give away spoilers or the ending, and there was one twist towards the end I very much appreciated with the identity of a pilot. The prominent romance here that didn’t land for me. It’s sold as an epic “beyond space and time” fated-to-be situation and it felt relatively shallow. There was also a “I must sacrifice my happiness to make the world a better place” plot that seems to have been wasted by the ending.
As for the ending, it sparked an intriguing question, was deeply moving, but didn’t really go anywhere. It commented on a situation, tugged on the heartstrings, but continued unimpeded to its natural conclusion. Part of me wanted something to change as a result, for the characters to force a change, but that didn’t happen.
All in all, we got tons of description and characterization of our crew, our plane, and of our settings, but the bad guys and the future plot seemed shallow and paint by the numbers. Still, it aimed high.
This is the story of the Fata Morgana, a WW2 flying fortress, and her crew, who travel through a time vortex into the the relatively distant future. I’m not going to give away spoilers or the ending, and there was one twist towards the end I very much appreciated with the identity of a pilot. The prominent romance here that didn’t land for me. It’s sold as an epic “beyond space and time” fated-to-be situation and it felt relatively shallow. There was also a “I must sacrifice my happiness to make the world a better place” plot that seems to have been wasted by the ending.
As for the ending, it sparked an intriguing question, was deeply moving, but didn’t really go anywhere. It commented on a situation, tugged on the heartstrings, but continued unimpeded to its natural conclusion. Part of me wanted something to change as a result, for the characters to force a change, but that didn’t happen.
All in all, we got tons of description and characterization of our crew, our plane, and of our settings, but the bad guys and the future plot seemed shallow and paint by the numbers. Still, it aimed high.