How far will governments go when you have something they want? All Waylon Eckermann wanted to do was to go to college and figure out the rest of his life. It wasn't going to be that easy, not even with a little extragalactic help.
Size: 879 KB (156,034 words)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Sex Contents: No Sex
Tags: Science Fiction, Military
Review by bill9900 [other reviews by bill9900]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
EDITED REVIEW: There was an error in my original version of this review where I said that I thought 'Refusenik' was "deceased" rather than "inactive". Apparently that was incorrect.
My apologies for the misunderstanding. And, Refusenik, if you're reading this, I hope you write more stories for SOL. "Island Mine" and your other stories are real favorites of mine.
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Just finished re-reading "Island Mine" by 'Refusenik', an author with extraordinary imagination, who is unfortunately now inactive.
This was originally published in 2013, and is worth a strong recommendation to anyone on SOL who has not read it yet. The author has created a science fiction story that interweaves technical aspects with a very human story.
The human protagonist is an individual who simply wants to be left alone to live his life, but is confronted with escalating challenges all along the way.
But it's not just about the conflicts. It's mostly about a very decent human being and the others who become part of his life, and how they all interact. To me, Waylon Eckermann is a very appealing character who continues to develop throughout the story, and his relationships with those others who become close to him, human and otherwise, seem very believable. Even the peripheral characters are well-developed and essential to the tale.
You should be aware that this is a VERY LONG story, but I have totally enjoyed this and his other two stories, "Human Phoenix" and "Human Man" very enjoyable. I hope you will, too.
Review by Threesheets [other reviews by Threesheets]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
Island Mine, is a great Sci-Fi everyman type of story. In a galaxy far far away, a war is fought and lost. This tells you how and then goes on to follow the "survivors".
Shift gears and then you have Everyman. He has his own failures and success'. He has momments of being a hero and then hammered by a buracracy that has no common sense.
Shift gears again and our hero starts to come into his own, with a little help from his friends. In steps the buracracy again. Not the same one though.
Follow our hero as he thrives, overcomes, and faces loss and redemption.
It's a great story, well written and well edited. The characters are also well written and developed. You have to like the hero since he could be anyone. He just happens to be a college student/Vet trying to get by and succeding.
I highly recommend this even if you aren't a fan of Sci-Fi fan. It doesn't shove it down you throat but it does have fun with it.
Read it, you'll like it.
Review by Ivan_Ronical [other reviews by Ivan_Ronical]
Reviewed:
"Refusenik: Endings Guaranteed" would be the slogan that I used to market the author of Island Mine. Two stories in six months, both unique on SOL and both complete; I'm not sure which of these attributes is more unusual or interesting.
I usually wait a little and gather my thoughts before writing a review, but it seems that IM will join its predecessor in forcing me to write a review immediately following its conclusion. Where to even start with this bundle of excitement?
First, I suppose it's worth mentioning that readers looking for something similar to Human: Phoenix will likely be disappointed. I don't mean this as a bad thing, just that everything about this story is very different, excepting some stylistic influence from the author. H:P was the story of a troubled young boy as he grew into a slightly older boy, whereas IM is about a young man who is mostly settled on who he is but continually runs into trouble in the course of his plans for not dominating the world.
On the topic of those plans, this story's base premise reminded me of any number of other stories that I've seen on SOL. The difference, however, is that Refusenik put some work into crafting a background for it, and, as a result, it didn't just devolve into a series of mind-numbing orgies. For this, I am massively thankful, and I hope that some other authors can take note of the use of "plot" and "events" here for use in their own works.
Character-wise, I think Refusenik has improved tremendously in the course of writing this story. Waylon is still a little clumsy and robotic at times, but his personality shines through for most of the story. Other characters, however, feel fleshed-out and realistic.
My favorite parts of this story, without a doubt, were the Crystal City scenes. Refusenik managed to create a very entertaining portrayal of military and governmental bureaucracy, and I found myself looking forward to each one. The downside is that towards the end I found myself enjoying and anticipating them more than the main story. Perhaps this is a case of too much success?
Technically this was one of the best-written stories I've ever read here. An incredibly impressive effort here, and the time spent was well worth it.
One thing that I've noticed in reading the author's blog, and in the way that the story is set up, is that readers seem to be demanding that this story either go on infinitely or have a large number of sequels. Regardless of whether the author intends to write a sequel, I'm going to go on record here: Island Mine should end here. Some stories SHOULD continue, some stories CAN continue, and other stories are complete. This is one of the latter kinds. The proper response is to acknowledge your enjoyment, thank the author, and then reflect on what you've read.
This is a good, well-written story by an up-and-coming author who I hope to continue seeing more of. It has a satisfactory resolution, and I'm grateful for the chance to have read it.
