Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 
So I inherited a bunch of old sci-fi books from my dad. I took them with me during Christmas and they’re now sitting, stacked haphazardly on a shelf in my living room.
Although I attempted to read the first one in January, I lost it somewhere in a movie theater. For my second attempt, I chose Julian May’s “The Surveillance” which is Book One of the Intervention series, evidently. This book was about a small group of people scattered throughout the world in alternate-universe earth. These people have developed telekinetic powers, and as part of the plan for this planet, Rogatien Remillard (Rogi) has been asked by a higher being to ensure the family’s survival, as it will play a vital role in the human race’s ascension to greatness.
Or something.
In between somewhat incomprehensible gibberish up on a spacecraft between apparently higher beings trying to establish that the human race’s survival was at stake, the memoirs of Rogi helping his nephew Denis were probably the most coherent, as there was an actual story behind Denis’ rise to telekinetic greatness.
Maybe I just didn’t connect with the writing style; according to other reviews May writes fluidly with great imagery. But in this book, it seemed completely disconnected from everything else, not easily understandable without having read other books in her different series I suppose.
Well, this book wasn’t for me. And for some reason I don’t have any of the other books in the series, and I have no desire to continue reading in this series. Even though Jean Auel (author of “Clan of the Cave Bear” and the subsequent series) gave it a good review, I still don’t think I will get the others and peruse them. Maybe people who enjoy serial sci-fi books would enjoy this though,who knows.
Verdict?
Buy/Borrow & Read/Skim/Skip
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