MINDBRIDGE - Joe Haldeman

CLASSIC SCI-FI WEEK


 In the course of interstellar colonization, humans discover the L'Vrai - another race rapidly expanding their own presence in the galaxy. It's important to make contact and hopefully prevent a costly war or even genocide. There are 'tamers' - the front line soldiers sent to meet the L'Vrai head on; but it seems that the best way to reach the other race is via telepathy.  However, the telepathic worm that is used, kills the host.  Except for Jacque Lefavre, who is now the only person able to communicate with the enemy, creating the bridge between minds.

I remember reading this, age 15, when it was first released through the Science Fiction Book Club (I may even still have that copy somewhere, signed by the author at a convention). I read it in one sitting and was blown away. My how times have changed.

Reading it now, I was mostly bored.  It felt as though we would have the teams try something. Something dangerous happens. Try again. Repeat.

What once seemed like clever storytelling to the 15 year old me - 'official' documents from military operations, communiques, etc - now feels like a cheap method of info-dumping.

This is a book I was really looking forward to rereading - my memory of it being so positive - but it doesn't live up to my memory or expectations. Some of this could be simply that the book hasn't aged well.  What was unique in the 70's, has been done again and again in the past 50 years. And done better, perhaps. That shouldn't take away from what it did in '76, taking the sci-fi reading world by storm (the book was awarded a Nebula [more impressive than the Hugo, in my mind]). If one can bear some of this in mind when reading, it would help.  

As a work of classic sci-fi, it's worth a look. The story is, today, somewhat common - almost generic. The storytelling is disjointed.

Looking for a good book? There are classics that hold their own through time, and there are classics, like Nebula-winning Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman, that don't hold up quite so well.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Mindbridge

author: Joe Haldeman

publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy

ISBN: 9781497695610

Kindle Edition, 265 pages

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