The Universes

Pacific Book Review, January 7, 2010

Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Title: The Universes

From the start Marla A. Martin's book, "The Universes", takes off on an adventure through wormholes of hyperspace. When reading this, I was at first startled given my sci-fi curiosity of what new physics and projected scientific advancements might have taken place with mankind to make a voyage such as this possible. Realizing that no minutia of detail is given, it became apparent to me Martin's here to provide a story about the people and not the technology. So accepting this premise I relaxed and read the book, not looking to critically burst bubbles of technical inconsistencies, but to totally enjoy the adventures of the well developed characters and just going along with the scientific assumptions.

So off to new worlds inhabited by strange humanoid types possessing various technological achievements and alien powers in an effort to find a suitable planet to relocate the population of Earth I went. A nostalgic sci-fi adventure indeed, reminiscent of early Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, mixed with a bunch of Louis L'Amour types of characters, in Frank Herbert's kinds of worlds, without Arthur C. Clarke's attention to detail. Even the size of the book, a 205 page paperback, is printed with an easy reading layout and with a chapter title font bringing up old sci-fi book memories. The cover art depicts angelically winged aliens with antennae capturing an Earthling in front of a uniformly shaped background landscape ~ clearly setting the reader's imagination into a Zen of curiosity.

Martin writes a truly enjoyable and fun book. I gravitated to picking it up as often as I could to savor the storyline, and upon finishing it I felt very impressed with her sense of adventure and creativity. This book is a perfect companion on an airplane, or by a pool, or tucked by a fire at a ski resort. We are not alone!

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THE UNIVERSES by Marla Martin

Sampson Gould is asked to head a voyage into hyperspace to find a habitable planet for Earth's population. Due to shifting poles, Earth's
population must be relocated quickly.
On the first planet he finds habitable, Sampson befriends humanoids, who later introduce him to humans living on the planet. After Sampson and his crew assist the inhabitants of the planet to defend themselves against attack, they agree that Earth's people can settle there. The Universes is a heartwarming story. Sampson and his crew solve countless problems in order to have Earth's people adapt to the laws of the new planet. While subject to the mindpowers of the humans and humanoids on the planet, Earthmen learn to adapt and become "One of them".
Kenzie and Kierra Fischer