The Big Time

At 130 pages, The Big Time by Fritz Leiber is a deceptively short novel, but the concepts delved into were heavy and complicated. That is probably why it took me two weeks to read 130 pages. This was not helped by Mr. Leiber's dialogue. Don't get me wrong this book was very well written, and that was part of the problem. The characters are all ESL or from centuries past and although they all (mostly) speak English, it is written in a stilted way that at times make it hard to understand the character interactions.

The story itself is like a moment in time sliced out and placed exposed for the reader. It was an intimate moment in a larger war, and because of this, there were many questions left unanswered about why the war was being fought and what was the ultimate goal to victory.

I have ambivalent feelings about this book. It was a hard read, and that was unexpected. Written in 1958, I expected more of the pulp soap opera of "Doc" Smith. This is not the fault of the author; I just did not do any research on this book prior to starting it. I guess what I'm going to say is, I loved this book, but was not "in love with it."

2.5 of 5 stars.