My review of Prime Directive, a great book by author Davis Bunn

 

I liked this book a lot. I instantly got into the book and finished it in just over a week. I was engaged, interested, drawn in by the characters and the plot.   

I was given a copy of this book on my Kindle for free in order to review it for Davis Bunn. It has been a while since I was on Davis’s review team. I sent messages and emails. He got a new person on his team and she contacted me and asked if I still wanted to get back on his review team. I did and within a week she sent me this book. Within another week I started it. I am so happy to be reviewing books for Davis Bunn again. I like his writing so much. He writes such different books, in completely polar opposite genre's... from Spiritual Historical Fiction to out there Fantasy. I like the whole gambit. In spite of that, this is my honest opinion about the book.  

Amanda Bostick is a low level system coordinator in the Galactic Space Arm and has concerns about some murders on a distant planet that is a scientific outpost. The scientists get transmuted into ferns. Ferns! Changed into a plant and hung in a “special” grove of trees. They were reported the deaths only because they needed replacement scientists. Why? Why was no one more upset? Why didn’t they report the deaths right away? Amanda is assigned to go and investigate and the Commander assigns two men to accompany her, Hamoud and Nasim, that she knows will aide her in her assignment.   

One of the first things Amanda finds out is that the planet is pink... the oceans are pink, the land is pink, the sky and the clouds.  

     “They reached parking orbit above a coral globe. 

     The viewport was filled with a rainbow of pinkish shades, everything from a dark ochre to the lightest pastel.” (location 444)  

I love the way Davis writes and describes the worlds and the stories he creates. I don’t know how he thinks them up, but I like reading them. He is one of my favorite authors.  

I liked the world he created and the characters were stupendous, realistic... even though the story and planet and the creatures the scientists are studying are fantasy. There were people to love and people to despise. There were a few flashbacks that tell some of the details of the character’s past that brought us to the place where they came together as a team for this story. It only made me more invested in the characters lives and the outcome of their mission. Conflict. A mystery to solve. Someone to cheer for. The unexpected. There was plenty of unexpected. There was what felt like real danger. I was afraid for the characters. That makes for a good story. I like the fantasy world. I have grown to love fantasy books. I am reading a lot of fantasy books this year.   

     “'It all comes down to success.' 

     Hamoud hit the auto-pilot switch and turned so as to face Amanda.  

     She said, 'To be successful, we have to define our mission.'" (location 434) 

     "'What would you say was the major difference between the failures and the successes?' 

     'Rickets would approve of that question. And the answer for me has been the same in all three cases'” Hamoud turned in his seat. 'The crisis for which we were sent was not the real problem.”  

     'There was another hidden disaster,' Amanda said. For some reason the direction of their conversation sent her heart into overdrive. As though she had just been whispered a foretelling of her own future. 'A bigger problem below the surface. And if you don’t identify the hidden, or you can’t, or you identify the wrong one...'" (location 554)  

The hidden crisis continues throughout the story. Will they find the hidden problem? Will they have ultimate success? How will things end... read and find out.  

The title... Prime Directives... very fitting.  

     “'We are bound by their Prime Directives. These go much deeper than mere laws. They’ve defined our existence from the very first day.'” (location 1300)  

A very fitting title.  

I have to admit, I was a little confused by the ending. I had to go back and read the next to the last chapter and the last one. Then I got it. I won’t tell you what I thought about the ending. I won't tell you if they succeeded or not. I don’t want to spoil things. But, I really liked this book and if you are a fan of Davis Bunn or of fantasy books or of mysteries then I hope you will give this book a chance. I don’t know if he is going to do a sequel, but if he does I will read it!! Even if it is not offered to me as a review item.

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