Review of Flexon Vale via Amazon.com and Goodreads.com:

This book taught me a lot about economics that I, as a busy scientifically-oriented person, never took the time to learn, opened a window to some of the scenes I remember seeing when I was in college, and let me see inside a person who has lived a very different life arc than I have. I didn’t read this book straight through, but set it aside for a day or two a couple of times so that I had time to think about what the author was saying, because there’s a lot of real-world history and prediction behind the story in this novel.

After the book arrived at my house (the author sent me a free copy to review), I found myself a little worried upon reading the first chapter, because I felt like there was too much telling and not enough showing. A lot of background information is introduced, including the current state of the economy and the big players in the current world, and, while it’s all necessary to the rest of the story, I felt like I was being told what the water in the pool was like rather than being able to wade into it myself. That was the only time I had that feeling through the whole book.

My favorite books teach me something new and this book taught me much about ecomonics. I’ve never been interested in the economy, so these details were new to me… what’s more, I found them myself engrossed in them: they were well told. The theory of printing more and more money to “fix” the world, I knew from history, didn’t work well for the French in the pre-franc era. I enjoyed getting a lesson in the current national and global economic situation and, even more, some predictions of what is to come.

I went to a science and technology university where drinking was a huge part of the social scene, because there wasn’t much else to do. For me that was mostly a spectator sport, but the scenes in this book could have been taken right out of what I saw at parties back in the early 90s. My school didn’t really have a football program (actually, I think it did and I just didn’t notice), but I know fans from other universities that are as intense as the Zeno fans: the author captured that excellently.

I don’t want to reveal anything with the plot, but I do want to say that I was very drawn into Chase Vale’s life, even if I didn’t like him much as a person, and I wanted to see what more he would do. I was also really hoping to learn what made him the way he is… and that was revealed and in a very effective and very believable way.

I enjoyed this book and will look forward to more from this author.

RZ: Thank you for such a well-thought objective review!