https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/an-additional-book-set-in-2023-the-free-lunch-by...

The setting is an American theme park in 2023, where our twelve-year-old protagonist decides to establish himself as a runaway from desperate circumstances. He befriends a woman who has been living undercover in the park since before he was born, and then both need to deal with the ongoing threat posed to them by park security, and also incidentally the time travellers from a doomed future who have started appearing in the park’s midst.

The future technology here is entirely to do with surveillance systems and how to evade them, and the weapons used by the various goons. It’s not very exciting, really, and misses the key point that could have been made about the political dominance of the entertainment induistry. The story offensively romanticises homelessness and disability. Too much of the plot depends on just happening to be in the right place at the right time for it to be believable even on its own terms. It’s difficult also to see who the intended audience are – the protagonist is twelve, as mentioned above, but the violence is pretty squicky for a YA book. ( )

I think one of the reasons I like Spider Robinson is because he reminds me so much of Robert Heinlein. And, in this book, we have an entire novel set around Heinlein's axiom "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL for short)." Although the premise of this book is that there is a free lunch or at least could be.

Mike is a young boy who, for reasons we don't know until the near the end of the book, decides to try to live in Dreamworld. Dreamworld is a theme park where nothing bad ever happens. Mike has figured out a number of things about how to stay in Dreamworld and escape notice but he would have been caught almost immediately if he hadn't been rescued by Annie, the Mother Elf. Annie has been living in Dreamworld almost from the time it opened and she has an encyclopedic knowledge of how it works. But even Annie is stumped when she realizes that more employee trolls are leaving the park at the end of shift than the number that clocked in. Can Annie and Mike figure it out in time and save Dreamworld? Read the book to find out.

The tantalizing details that Robinson gives about Dreamworld makes it sound like one theme park I would like to visit. There's a whole section devoted to Heinlein's universes including Podkayne's Mars (one of my favourite Heinlein books). There are areas from Beatle songs like Strawberry Fields. Truly a place for baby boomer sf fans. Wish it was real. ( )

I think one of the reasons I like Spider Robinson is because he reminds me so much of Robert Heinlein. And, in this book, we have an entire novel set around Heinlein's axiom "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL for short)." Although the premise of this book is that there is a free lunch or at least could be.

Mike is a young boy who, for reasons we don't know until the near the end of the book, decides to try to live in Dreamworld. Dreamworld is a theme park where nothing bad ever happens. Mike has figured out a number of things about how to stay in Dreamworld and escape notice but he would have been caught almost immediately if he hadn't been rescued by Annie, the Mother Elf. Annie has been living in Dreamworld almost from the time it opened and she has an encyclopedic knowledge of how it works. But even Annie is stumped when she realizes that more employee trolls are leaving the park at the end of shift than the number that clocked in. Can Annie and Mike figure it out in time and save Dreamworld? Read the book to find out.

The tantalizing details that Robinson gives about Dreamworld makes it sound like one theme park I would like to visit. There's a whole section devoted to Heinlein's universes including Podkayne's Mars (one of my favourite Heinlein books). There are areas from Beatle songs like Strawberry Fields. Truly a place for baby boomer sf fans. Wish it was real. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R33... ( )