Another Space in Time

This is the first Stebbins I have read; it is unlikely to be the last. The story is very much visionary, speculative and philosophical science fiction. The writing is all in first person narrative form being an episodic interior monologue. In other words, the mental voice, the mind, of Ambra Dawn talks directly to us through the book. I really enjoy this sort of inventive philosophical science fiction. Condemn me, not Stebbins, if I paint too enthusiastically. The stories structure is pure dystopia, but dark though the story is it leaves a strong glimmer of hope for humanity and the victory of good over evil. To be victorious we will come to realize that we need Ambra Dawn to be heroic. We must also learn to trust and follow where ever she guides us. Every being in the known galaxy appears to blindly accept a false premise, this being that there are many Orbs, portals, between places in Space and Time. All civilizations in this creation are as seduced by what they observe of the port...

This social drama is set in a small satellite town of Frankfurt, which could be in the domain of just about any western city. The small town is mainly one of middle class streets. There is though, an area called the Park which is made up of low cost, high-rise apartments. This neighbourhood is full of foreign and first generation German citizens, many of Turkish extraction. The Park is an estate labelled by high unemployment and crime. The story is written in a pacey way, without any excess of information or irrelevant detail. Biessmann has a very modern style of writing that keeps the plot boiling along. The descriptions are always crystal clear. The ending rather faded, as though a next episode was soon due, despite this my interest was sustained to the very end. That isn't to say there wasn't a crescendo, just not one quite as sustained at a peak as the plot was set to allow. Quite possibly Biessmann deliberately undercooked the end in order to maintain a strong sense of ...

Great stuff! I would suggest reading Lethal Inheritance first, though it is certainly not essential. This really is a pure fantasy book, written with an older teenager as the target audience. I'm 57, and don't really believe that I would have enjoyed it any more or less at 17. I didn't like it quite as much as the first book. This is mainly because I'm eager to reach the end of the quest, thus find the middle somewhat of a frustration. The books overall quality is top draw, with a good pace and easy style. Unsurprisingly, some of the fantasy elements are very familiar to anyone that has read any of the genre but that doesn't mean there isn't a good deal of originality as well. We can see all the classical elements of the moral quest, the long road searching for the magic that will allow evil to be defeated. The dark forces are embedded in the suffocating, black serpentine. Ariel, the heroine is growing in skill, becoming immersed in the magic of her inheritan...