"Lisa is a strong female character that a young girl could look up to." #Kindle #bookreview

Lisa's Way

by Robert Collins

Genre: Science Fiction

Book Synopsis

Teenager Lisa Herbert lives in the small town of Mountain View on the planet Fairfield. The Savage Rain decades earlier shut down the hyperspace gate and isolated her world. A casual remark from her sister gets Lisa to ask a simple question: "If life was better before the Savage Rain, why couldn’t it be better again?"

That question starts Lisa on a journey. She reactivates Fairfield's H-gate and travels to three worlds. Each planet offers her a chance to improve life by hard work, by trade, or by making friends. She relies on her brains, her compassion, and a little sneakiness to solve the problems she faces.

Bec's Rating

Bec's Review

Lisa’s Way is a science fiction story told from the perspective of a young woman who wants more from her life. With the only possibilities on her planet teaching or motherhood, she decides to reactivate the portal, which is reminiscent of the Stargates from the television show of the same name, and travel to other worlds to see how she could make a difference. Each of the worlds is recovering to an event that was hinted to many times, the Savage Rain.

Lisa’s journeys into the other worlds for her are an adventure, though for the reader this book can be a little slow going at times. There are no big action fights or battles (though admittedly there are some small fights), and little of the climatic scenes that some science fiction novels have, as most of the problems in the book are solved by cunning and reasoning. Having read a lot of science fiction there were times when the slow nature of the book proved distracting and I had to take a break. I also wondered at times whether some of the other characters, especially some of the mayors, would realistically put so much trust in a strange young girl from off world, should such a situation really exist, and this question of the plausibility of the action of the characters provided another distraction from the story itself.

However at the same time there is a fair bit to like about this book. It is interesting to read a science fiction book that is set in worlds where the future technology that most of these books have is out of use and instead there is a simple society. The solving of problems in this society can’t be done with some whizz bang gadget but is done by Lisa and her reasoning. While there are supporting characters, Lisa is the main character in this story, it is her brain and reasoning that sort out the problems, which will make this book appeal to young female readers who are often neglected in the science fiction realm. Lisa is a strong female character that a young girl could look up to. Overall this is a good read, though a little slow for one well versed in science fiction, with a strong young female character. For this reason I recommend this book for teenagers as opposed to adults.

Disclaimer: This book is suitable for young adults and children. It contains mild violence.