Moran ( The Long Run ) continues his multivolume 21st-century adventure with a complex but lifeless story. The Manhattan-based Unification government controls the earth, but rebellion brews in Occupied America as the American Revolution's tricentennial approaches. Denice Castanaveras, one of only two genetically engineered telepaths to escape destruction by Unification forces (the other is her missing twin brother, David) enters political life by becoming a bodyguard (and later, lover) of Unification Councilor Douglass Ripper, whose own agenda involves preventing U.N. Secretary General Charles Eddore from grabbing long-term power in this unstable period. However, the Unification rulers do not suspect that a high-ranking rebel called Obodi is actually Gi'Suei'Obodi'Sedon, an alien religious heretic who was banished from his own world thousands of years ago. By detouring through Obodi's past and Denice's "gift" and focusing on colorful details (makeup implants, the computer InfoNet and artificially souped-up soldiers of the Unification forces) instead of character development, Moran effectively prevents tension from building in his tale.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Genre: Science Fiction