2019 Dragon Award Finalist, Best Science Fiction Novel: "Europe At Dawn"

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Here's a link to the book on Amazon

For the condensed Goodreads review, click here. The Amazon review will be submitted shortly, and when/if it's approved, I'll post the link in the comments. (OR MAYBE I'LL POST IT HERE!)

Greetings to all my internet friends and neighbors, and for those of you who are are showing up for the Dragon Award reviews, this is the second review, the one I was HOPING to be able to make happen.  And for those family who are checking in on me, I found out that cutting the toe of a sock off, and then cutting it again just above the ankle, gives you TWO tubes you can use to put on your arms! *(See end note!)

This one just might turn out to be really short. How short? So short I don't have to cut much from the blog post to turn it into an Amazon or Goodreads review.

In previous reviews, I've had occasion to talk about a novel in a series, versus a stand-alone, with respect to suitability for a Dragon Award. I'm going to do that again.

In PREVIOUS reviews, though, I have always found it the case that the author has provided enough background material, that the person just entering the world will find their way, no problem. And, in fact, I just went back and looked at my records. I have now read 14 of the 24 finalists for a Dragon Award, and only THREE are stand-alone novels. An additional FOUR are the first novel in a series. That means that there are SEVEN books I've read that rank anywhere from 2nd to 11th in a series. And every single one of those has been a coherent read. I didn't like every one of them, BUT, they were a coherent read.

Until now.

I began reading “Europe at Dawn” with delight. GREAT characters, GREAT telling of the story (as far as it went), and I was ENGAGED, and delighted to be reading something that wasn't utterly repulsive. The stories for each character caught my attention, and kept it, until the scene changed, and the story took up again with a different character.

What's the relationship between these characters? I'd better take some notes. So I did. And I gradually got a sinking feeling, because:

Nothing was happening. Nothing was being tied together. There was NO resolution, or even direction, in sight. And I looked at the page count, and found I was TWICE as far as I'm accustomed to give a book before realizing there is a defect. I think that's because it was written so WELL.

So, I did something I don't think I've done before: I looked to see what others said. I checked out the reviews on Goodreads, and bless their hearts, some of my fellow reviewers were kind enough to have anticipated my issue. As a part of their rave, 5-star reviews, they (more than ONE reviewer, too!) are careful to point out that this installment won't make any sense unless you read volumes 1-3.

And that's the end of THAT.

According to those who are fans of the entire series (quotes from the Goodreads reviews):

It would be a serious error of judgment to jump in any old how.
...definitely needs the prior three to follow it with any kind of authority
...the focus stays on the grand story Hutchinson's been weaving ever since Europe in Autumn.
Hutchinson dives straight in to a continuation of the previous books with little or no explanation of the people or events which have gone before.

I could go on and on with these quotes; they almost all say something like that.

I'm giving this book three stars, because the 62 pages that I read were very, very nice; I wanted more of those characters. It looks like that isn't possible, without reading Books 1-3. And I simply don't have the time.

As for The Question: Is “Europe At Dawn” a worthy contender for the 2019 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction?

It's a very well written INSTALLMENT, so: Nope. No way. One novel, which CANNOT be appreciated on its' own, is not a winner. If you want this to win a Dragon, convince the team to offer a Best Series Award. But until they do, not for this particular book.

Peace be on your household.

* End note: Here's a picture of an arm tube. You can use it to keep medication patches, etc, from falling off.