“The Weather Vain” is speculative fiction, a genre I have never before read. I was drawn to the book by the back cover blurb. The book is an easy read, and covers a topic which can and should be understood by everyone – how institutionalized technological “progress” and can impact humanity, and if not stopped, can obliterate humanity. This makes the reading uncomfortable, but that’s ok. The book portrays a number of human characters (Preston Grey, Joyce Thurmond, Hokusai) as they come to realize and understand this progress, then take steps to overcome the actual and potential damage this progress causes. Other characters in the book are manipulated humans, either as androids or as unwittingly controlled humans (for purposes of this review, I refer to both as sub-humans). I found the tensions between the humans and the sub-humans to be fairly realistic. The thread of humanity (for example, saving the child Luca from dehumanization) helped create my motivation to read the book. “Art Therapy” is one of the processes in the book – but this is actually brainwashing. I recommend the book to anyone who is interested in technology and its potential for good or bad. I won’t divulge the conclusion to the book. After reading The Weather Vain, I’m looking to reading more speculative fiction. I hope the author, Max Warfield, writes another.
“The Weather Vain” is speculative fiction, a genre I have never before read. I was drawn to the book by the back cover blurb. The book is an easy read, and covers a topic which can and should be understood by everyone – how institutionalized technological “progress” and can impact humanity, and if not stopped, can obliterate humanity. This makes the reading uncomfortable, but that’s ok. The book portrays a number of human characters (Preston Grey, Joyce Thurmond, Hokusai) as they come to realize and understand this progress, then take steps to overcome the actual and potential damage this progress causes. Other characters in the book are manipulated humans, either as androids or as unwittingly controlled humans (for purposes of this review, I refer to both as sub-humans). I found the tensions between the humans and the sub-humans to be fairly realistic. The thread of humanity (for example, saving the child Luca from dehumanization) helped create my motivation to read the book. “Art Therapy” is one of the processes in the book – but this is actually brainwashing. I recommend the book to anyone who is interested in technology and its potential for good or bad. I won’t divulge the conclusion to the book. After reading The Weather Vain, I’m looking to reading more speculative fiction. I hope the author, Max Warfield, writes another.