...The novel contains so man impossibilities and absurdities that the only way for it to work is for the satire to grab the reader. For me it didn't. I got the impression that Herbert was aiming at something of a cross between Kafka and the kind of humour his father employed in his short story the Tactful Saboteur. Maybe with a little Douglas Adams thrown in for good measure. Fact is, that most of the book isn't funny enough to pull this off. For most of the novel the exaggeration and ridicule is there alright but the comical element that would have turned it into a good satire failed. Maybe Herbert was shooting at too many targets. Religion, capitalism, consumerism, government, democracy... he takes on quite a lot. Sidney's Comet is an ambitious debut, I have to give him that, but in the end I didn't think it was a very good read.Full Random Comments review
Good first novel from the son of Dune author. Sometimes a bit derivative of his fathers work, complete with chapter heading paragraphs, an emphasis on ecological disaster stemming from human error, and the "in the character's head" points of view. Not bad by a long-stretch, but Brian definitly got better as time went on. My only criticism of the actual story is that a few plot lines don't get wrapped up, and certain characters seem to get forgotten by the end of the book. However, this book has a sequel titled "Garbage Planet" that most likely picks up the threads.
