I held back a fifth star 'cause I'm a huge jerk, but 7th Sigma probably deserves it. I was suitably wowed by the premise (an industrial accident releases metal-eating bugs that send the American Southwest back to the 1800s) and enjoyed the characters and plotting, but I feel like the entire book is way too compressed and could've been spread out over a series. One (apparently major) part of Kimble's growth happens between chapters and we only get bits and pieces of it as time goes on.

So, I guess that the worst thing I can say about this book is "I wish there was more of it", which isn't a bad thing to say at all. Go buy it. ( )

I suspect if you favor John Wayne westerns over Clint Eastwood ones, you will like this book. What stands out in this book is the main character who, despite his flaws, is a decent, whole person. None of the post modern smirking or boomer confliction that you see in other books, he simply knows what is decent and right and tries very hard to do that. This is a striking accomplishment nearly half a century after The Duke's heyday.

The underlying setting is quite inventive and since its described in other reviews, I'll not go into that here other than to say part of the appeal is that clearly the author has some in depth knowledge of the areas and atmosphere. It reminds me of the Tony Hillerman series. By removing all metals, it actually creates a world that is both pre- and post- wild west. Of course the parallel with Serenity has to be mentioned so consider that done. Although I add that while the idea of a sci fi western is not new, this incarnation rises above any other I've read.

So we have a great character and a great setting, but that will be nothing without a story that engages and here is where the author made a very smart choice indeed. The books is really a series of short tales describing important events and transitions in our hero's life. This is very much in the tradition of westerns which I've read over the years, tending toward collections of campfire tales more than epic novels. I've seen quibbles about the ending of the book but I thought it was a good idea to let the book taper off instead of trying to put a "happily ever after" coda on there. It reminds me of the way the film "Jeremiah Johnson" ended- and some folks say he is out there still...

Don't look in the story for an arch villan to act as foil for the hero. This is another distinction that I really enjoy. Rather than creating the Batman-Joker duality, the story assumes that regular people create enough conflict for the hero to deal with. People in hard circumstances can become very hard indeed. Someone has to look out for the weak and our hero chooses that path no matter how hard it is. In a way, its the day after day, thankless grinding of that effort that creates my sympathy because it is mirrored in my own life.

I've not read everything that Steven Gould has written. I really liked Jumper and really disliked the sequel. This book caused me to realize what I liked about Jumper- it was another story of a relatively straightforward hero trying to do the right thing in a complex world. The sequel introduced bad guys and I lost interest. Hopefully, we'll get more and more of these types of stories.

What I would like to see with this book is (1) it to become a best seller, (2) become a series as the Territory s explored in depth with multiple characters, and (3) ScyFY (pronounced si-fee, I mean who are we kidding here?), to make a series of it. This material is rich enough to mine for quite a while - its not a book so much as a baby franchise.
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Young boy lives in the territory where "bugs" live. Bugs are self-replicating robots that fly and eat metal. Any metal anywhere. They go right through people to get to the metal, so they are dangerous. Story is a series of vignettes of his life, from

I loved a short story by Steven Gould about the main character in 7th Sigma long before I read the novel. It was very cool to see how that character developed, as well as his origins. This is a good, fast read, with a lot of thought-provocation. The setting for the story is as much a character in the novel as its people are, and as well developed. ( )

I was pretty sure this was going to be great but it was only good. It makes me realize that great stories have great characters who are pursuing a clearly defined goal (as is the case in "Ready Player One" and "11/23/63"). This one was more or less a series of adventures but I never knew exactly what the point was. ( )