Thursday, May 17, 2012

Review| Sight, by Sol Smith

Sight, by Sol Smith, is billed as the story of a psychic struggling with her future. The psychic in question is Tydomin White, who has the rare gift of both seeing the future and feeling the past. Things go ary, however, when she decides to see if she can go against her visions.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion and in various character perspectives. I’ve not nothing against a non-linear narration but with this perspective-shifting, I never feel very close to any character. I never care about them. They’re just never there long enough for anything more than impressions: Tydomin lacking in personality, Derek the puppy, Martin a self righteous prick, Abigail the forgettable. Red, I feel, had the most promise. I wish more time was spent on him and his dealings and less on that Brian mess. (Really, what is that even included for? Abigail and Brain could have been cut out of the story entirely or, at the very least, had less limelight. The book would have been better for it.) Vic’s post-death input was interesting, though perhaps didn’t leave enough to reader interpretation as he spelled so much out for us.

So far it sounds like I’m being harsh, I know, but there are some aspects I liked. The whole concept of cause and effect explored in this book is quite interesting. Do the psychics do things because they really want to, or because they saw themselves doing it? Can they stop an accident, or will their intervention mean they never saw an accident in the first place? What then? Visions within visions within visions and telepaths rummaging through the mind. It’s pretty cool stuff.

Really, that’s who I’d recommend this book for: those interested in stories about psychics. If that’s your cup of tea, then Sight will be a good addition to your shelf. There are typos present, but not very many. The writing overall is solid, it’s just the story that didn’t do much for me.

[Full disclosure: I won this book from Goodreads’ First Reads.]

See this review on: Goodreads | Shelfari

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for reading and for writing such a thoughtful review. It's great to see a book blog like this and to be included within it.

    I would like you and your readers to know that this is not a self-published novel. After years of starts and stops with agents and the bigger houses, I am proud to be included in the growing catalogue of speculative fiction novels from the small press, Brave New Genre.

    And, perhaps, you'd enjoy Abbie's character more if you read my first novel, The Traveler, that features her as the central character. If you would like, I would be happy to send you a copy.

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    1. You're welcome. And thank you for the correction. I've fixed this detail in the review.

      I would like a copy very much. The Traveler sounds very interesting. Please let me know where to email you my address.

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