Book ReviewRifts: Sonic Boom
Author: Adam Chilson 406 pp, $7.95
ISBN: unimportant because the only way to get this book is through the Palladium Books website.
Reviewed by:RobPalladium Books first novel is about a war between humanity and a group of widely varied other dimensional aliens and magic using humans on a post-cataclysmic Earth. Sonic Boom is based on Palladium Books' role-playing game, Rifts, and is very much directed toward Rifts players. The initial focus of the story is on the side of humanity, specifically a separatist group, The Coalition States of America, interested in keeping Earth "just for humanity." It is important to note that the Coalition is the largest organized government in the novel's setting. A few others are mentioned, but are never truly seen and are solely in opposition to the Coalition.
Halfway through the book a new main character is introduced, apparently in an attempt to balance the two major ideological sides of the book. Unfortunately for the reader, Mr. Chilson's treatment of these ideologies is stiff at best. In a two page long discourse with the reader, the narrator says, "life for most citizens was free of hardship and adversity. Most would die to protect the life Emperor Prosek had created for them and didn't take for granted the lives already lost to keep it." One major problem with this statement is that the only elements of Coalition society the reader sees are the military (a fine group, but is it free of hardship? Not according to the rest of the book!) and the criminal (surely a biker gang isn't intended to represent the average Coalition citizen! Frankly, they don't seem like the type to die protecting Emporer Prosek). Although it is possible that a character is expressing this Coalition oriented patriotism, nothing directs the reader to a particular character saying or thinking this political diatribe.
In another section, a secondary character, Cara, is attacked apparently for the sole purpose of introducing a mysterious heroic figure who is subsequently never seen again. For that matter, Cara is not seen again either and is barely even discussed.
In all, the most irksome problems are the anemic characters, poor editing and preachy political posturing. If you are already a Rifts fan, you are much more likely to be interested in this novel though hopefully not be so outraged by its poor quality as to discontinue your relationship with Palladium. If you are not a fan already, then Chilson's novel ought not be your first exposure to Rifts. Most of my disappointment comes from the fact that I understand the real potential that Kevin Siembieda's premiere game setting has; Rifts is a place where anything can happen, any sort of creature or entity could be met, and a full range of stories can be told. Some of these stories have a chance at being great tales or even verge on literature, Sonic Boom is not even close.
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