Book Review: What Price Paradise, by Jackson and Galt

In "What Price Paradise" the authors, Phillip Ellis Jackson and John William Galt take a novel and interesting approach that diverges from the usual assumptions about time travel. They assume that changing incidents in the past will change the present, but that those changes are not only difficult to effect, when they are changed, most of human history remains the same. The reason things stay the same is the real message of the novel. It is that human beings are essentially fated (whether by their own personalities or by some higher power is not probed in-depth). Fate drives people to make the same choices even when other alternatives are presented to them.

Thus, the novel presuppose that human choices are changed very little by interaction between present and past, however, environmental and technical changes might make a difference.

"What Price Paradise", begins some 500 years in the future in a dim and claustrophobic world where humans have been driven underground by a mysterious silicon ash that has somehow come to life. If breathed this ash will kill any human or animal. Meanwhile humans have developed a technology first for viewing the past and ultimately travelling to the past. The preliminary exposition for this development in the novel is well done, yet it can be viewed in detail by reading the first two novels of the TimeShift trilogy.

The whole conflict about whether time travel should be undertaken at all is distilled down to the goals and aspirations of the two major characters, Keith Maravich and Carson Gilmore. They are young men who were once friends who must do battle in the past in order to change or save the future, depending on their perspectives. This scenario has been played out before in science-fiction, but it has not been quite so interestingly handled and the outcome was never so much in doubt.

All the major characters are endowed with fascinating personalities, and plot development makes their emotional ups and downs believable within the context of the story. "What Price Paradise" is a page turner, and it really takes off once the two antagonists reach the 1990s. They do not so much work against each other (until the end) as cope with their new situations. This gives the authors the opportunity to create humor, human interest, conflict and action. Arriving at slightly different places, they become enmeshed in two very different worlds. Keith Maravich is drawn into the slimy side of Chicago, while Carson Gilmore becomes part of the University system.

It seems that Keith Maravich has been assigned to save the life of a famous scientist who, had she survived a murder, might possibly have found a solution that would eradicate the deadly ash that drives humans underground in the future. Carson Gilmore is assigned to stop Keith, and thus allow the female scientist to die. The friendship and antagonisms between the two men play a large part in their final struggle, and their fundamental beliefs about time and destiny ultimately bring their conflict to a higher level.

This is an action packed book, with interesting ideas. There are a few unnecessary uses of foul language, but on the whole the book remains clean, clear cut and a fun read.

This book is available at Amazon.com.