A future we Left Behind by Mike A Lancaster is finally being released in the United States and djinn24 does an advance review on the US edition coming out November 13th.

Has the human race been upgraded, where the Straker tapes real, has all he has known been fake? -The Founding Fields

The story starts when a scientist in the far future discovers a bit of unknown data from way in the past. He takes time to unencrypt and uncorrupt the data, bringing back the story hidden within.  It turns out that it is a diary of a boy named Peter. Peter is the main male character, a very likable person, son of the inventor of the artificial bee that saved the world, but sometimes cursed for not saving the natural bee with his genius. Saying Peter is wealthy is an understatement but that really does not play into this book, it is almost an afterthought. Peter’s brilliance, something he inherited from his father, is what shines with the character in the book. But unlike his father his brilliance is not focused on invention but an overall smarts. You can say it is the difference between book smarts and common sense. The story is also told from his point of view, as it is his diary that is found many years later that this story is based off of. He meets a girl named Alpha just before the events of this story are told. She is a lovely girl with a secret that she is afraid to tell Peter. Until the meeting with Alpha the worst thing Peter had to worry about was telling his father that he has taken a literature class.

When I started this book I did not know if I was going to like it or continue reading it. Without realizing it I had been sucked into this book’s world and when I looked down I was 1/5th of the way into the book and it only got better after that. You really never know when the story takes place other then the far future. Humans are automatically attuned to the Link, their version of the internet. The link is everywhere in this world. This is really a world that I can see us becoming in the future, maybe that is why I found myself drawn into the world.

I really enjoyed this book. The character development was really well done and the characters just have a feeling of realness that is hard to describe. Even though they live in a time where everything is to far advanced and futuristic the author did not rely on this to tell the story. He makes it feel as if you could be Peter or Alpha and play out the events of what is happening, which to me is a victory for a writer. This book is Sci-Fi but could easily be enjoyed who normally are not into this type of book as it does have an action adventure feel as well as suspense.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a solidly done sci-fi, adventure, or mystery book or pretty much anyone who really enjoys reading a solidly written book. I rate this book a 9/10, the only thing that I found hard to get used to was the non traditional chapter breaks that this book uses. Now one thing I did find out when researching is that this book is the second part of a series and has been released in the UK under the title 1.4 while part one is under the title 0.4. The book has been retitled for the United States release.

Print Editions:
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 13, 2012
Pages: 384
Trim Size:
ISBN:
List Price: $16.99 USD