Book Review of The Eternal Enemy by Christopher Pike
Author: Christopher Pike
ISBN: 0-671-74509-3
Publisher: Archway paperback
Type of book: time travel, 1990s, origin of the universe, robots, future, sacrifice
Year it was published: May 1993
Summary:
A VCR that could tape tommorrow's news.
Rela has just bought herself a new VCR. She sets the machine to tape a movie she plans to show at a party she is throwing. But instead of the movie she gets the news -- tomorrow's news.
Soon Rela is regularly recording next week's news, even what is to happen in the far future. It's fun, at first, until she sees herself on the news. And learns that there is no future for her.
But can she change destiny?
Can Rela survive what is meant to be?
Characters:
There's is something endearing and sweet about Rela, something that caused me to like her strongly. I think of all the Pike's female heroines, she is the strongest and the most vulnerable. Rela lives in Pasadena with her adopted father, Rev. Lindquist and seems to have a sense of wonderment about her. I think I'll describe her as an intense character as well, but quiet intensity rather than flashy one, as her boyfriend Christopher possesses. Christopher is best described as ambitious and he has a very soft spot for Rela. In a way as well he loses the sight of an important goal that might or might not cost him his own humanity.
Theme:
There does exist a soul, and it doesn't die but can survive. Being human means to suffer.
Plot:
This is in first person narrative. Basically Rela tells the story of what happened. I don't think there will be any confusion in reading this novel and a lot of things will become clear. There are things that won't ring true for the readers, but in general I think the author does clear up confusion and with one exception answers and covers the questions he has been toying with. It is up to each reader to determine how ultimately the novel will end but that will be another book, if ever. (Hoping for no sequels because the book is perfect the way it is.)
Author Information:
Christopher Pike wrote 30+ novels mainly for young adults, the most famous or well known one is The Last Vampire Saga, Final Friends and Remember Me, and his real name is Kevin McFadden. One of his books, Fall Into Darkness was created into a movie. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a website, but there is a fan club that is devoted to him. (http://www.christopherpikefanclub.com/ )
Opinion:
This is one of the Pike's strongest novels such as Whisper of Death, Fall Into Darkness and so forth, and its also heavily science fiction, as in there are robots or cyborgs, time travel, origin of universe and so forth. There are a lot of philosophical implications such as no God but only space, and the idea of killing an ancestor and repetition as well. There are also spiritual elements of whether or not souls exist. Although the beginning to the middle tends to be kind of boring, middle to the ending picks up and hurtles one through space into the questions that won't be easily answered.
4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
Comments
Post a Comment