Article 94

“Return to Earth,” by Dennis Calloway was a fun read. Foreshadowing in early chapters made certain plot points obvious, but the author still managed a surprise or two. I was able to suspend disbelief all the way until the last pages, where unfortunately, I had to shout out a “Aw, come on!”

The story is well written, and with the exception of one specific chapter that needed an extra proof read, I was fully engrossed in the story. Like a lot of Sci-Fi, this story is plausible, but not probable, especially since the ultimate goal of the band of survivors was to reach Europa instead of Mars, left me scratching my head. In one or two places in the beginning, the non-linear storytelling was confusing, but a quick re-read got me back on track.

Finally, and this could just be a pet peeve of mine as a professional writer, but the third person limited perspective did seem to shift abruptly from one character to another in the middle of a scene without a clear indication that the character perspective was changing and required a reread to make sure I knew what character was the focus. It’s hard to exemplify this issue, and most readers wouldn’t have as much issue with it.

I’d recommend this story to sci-fi fans as well as action/adventure fans. When Mr. Calloway has another book out, I’d be eager to read it. Because of differing star ratings, I’ll give it 4 stars on Goodreads for “really liked it.”