A new book review: The Fragment

The Fragment by Warren Fahy

This is, unfortunately, going to be a short review. The book starts off really well. It has what I admire most in any book where what we know about science intersects with what we wish we knew, or better yet, what we wish was possible, relative plausibility. Given most reader’s average knowledge of biology, genetics and biochemistry, there is an ease in suspending one’s disbelief. For awhile. And then… not so much. And then… not at all. 2/3 of the way through this book I set it down and wandered off to read something else. It became just that absurd. The dialogue is okay, not good, not bad, but okay. The characterization manages to go from passable to downright ridiculous. The circumstances the characters find themselves in and the situations and creatures that confront them are, well… my recommendation for this book would be to tone down the almost plagiarized scientific explanations, add a few more pages from the “field guide” of weird and wonderful creatures and sell this as a “Jurassic Park meets the Spiderwick Chronicles” series to pre-pubescent boys.

I encourage you to read this book if you enjoy comedic science. I personally found the death of the “evil” scientist (one should apparently check the status of one’s Planter’s peanuts before carelessly opening jars) to be one of the most ludicrously amusing things I’ve read in years. So, for it’s scientific and literary value I give it a 0. For it’s sheer snortingly funny moments I give it a 5. So split the difference and call it a 2 1/2.