Feedback (First Contact)

Peter Cawdron’s First Contact series continues to amaze me. Feedback is the fifth book in his Science Fiction series devoted to the topic of how Earth’s First Contact with an alien life forms might go. The books in this series are all stand-alones and each looks at the topic with completely different scenarios and perspectives. This is my seventh read in this series (I accidentally read two out of order) and I keep being more and more impressed by Cawdron’s writing. His first book was already good and the writing improves with each subsequent title.Feedback is another action packed book. Like in his earlier book Xenophobia, Cawdron puts you right in the middle of the action from the opening page. In this book you are on a South Korean Search and Rescue helicopter that is flying within North Korean airspace so that they can drop off a US Navy SEAL team. They are flying in a huge storm with North Korea threatening to shoot the chopper out of the sky and with Cawdron’s writing you feel the storm and tension right through the pages.The book flips back and forth between this mission to rescue a young child that was in a UFO that crashed near North Korea and the life of a physics graduate student in New York City twenty years later. Confused? That is exactly what makes this book such an interesting read. Cawdron has written a science fiction mystery story that takes place over many years. In different chapters you are shifted back and forth in time trying to unravel the story.To me, Chapter Six: Professor Lachlan was the most amazing part of this book. In a few pages Cawdron presents both the theory of Times Arrow and a concept based on string theory that like up and down, right and left, there is are two directions to time. The writing here about the concept and theory of time are, by themselves, worth the read. Of course, since this is only a small part of the storyline the adventure gets even better.This book does evolve a time travel theme and, as a rule, I do not like time travel books. For one, there is always the problem of a time paradox and for another I do not believe we could (or should) travel back in time. Despite my dislike of this theme, I have to admit that Cawdron has done an excellent job with the topic. His approach is scientific and he addresses some of my complaints with the time travel idea.Feedback was so engaging that I literally read it from cover to cover in one day.

Wow!! What a fantastic ride. Really enjoyed the journey and looking forward to exploring more of this authors thoughts on time travel and first contacts.

Overall this was a fantastic read for such a new (or just under-appreciated?) author. The characters were developed just enough for believability but not too much to stop the pace of a very fun story. While its beginning is grounded in familiar problems of present day, (North Korea, government overreach, etc) it doesn’t linger on them. Instead, Cawdron finds a way to transcend them and arrive at a bigger message about humanity by the end of the book. That message is uplifting and positive, which is hard to find with sci-fi writers, who I think are often haunted by childhood obsessions with twilight zone endings and eye rolling pseudo-political allegories that are never very encouraging about the future. This story just… unravels a subtle hopefulness. It won’t change the world. It shouldn’t have to. It’s just fun to read. A little bit of tolerance for the insanity of time loops is necessary, but it’s worth the brain struggle.All in all, I’m reading every other book in this series. Thank you Peter for being an upbeat sci-fi writer (at least for this one)

I’m a big fan of Peter Cawdron’s First Contact series. Feedback is a masterful tale of first contact and time travel that captured and captivated my attention and interest from the moment I picked it up.I’ve read almost half of the First Contact books now, and I admire how unique and imaginative each one is - including feedback. Cawdron is one of the authors I’ll read anything and everything they write!

It absolutely amazes me how authors like Peter Cawdron can think up stories like this, write the book, and get them published so people like us can read and enjoy them. An excellent take on time travel! Highly recommend this book and this author. I’ve loved every book I’ve read written by Peter Cawdron.

I enjoyed this time travelling yarn except the awful epilogue. The setting was unusual with a North Korean element. Forget other reviewers nonsense comments about depicting North Koreans in a non-PC way. The crude setting in NK is an intriguing element to the storyline and a nice foil against the casual and free lifestyles shown in New York later.The paradox theories expressed in this tale are always going to be fun or over-whelming depending on how much thought you give it. I also loved the idea of inter-galactic travel being possible not because of speed but time.There were plot holes galore and some really frustrating glaring nonsense. But on balance this was very readable. Except the Epilogue. I wish I had just not bothered reading that. In fact, I'd advise anyone not to read it. It;s as if a different person had written it and hacked the book at the printers and snuck it in. Dreadful.

I found this to be a gripping story right from the start.Once you get used to the back and forth between the past and present events, they add to the tension.Also, just when you think you know where the plot is going, another twist in the tale happens.

I was taken along by the story and didn't want to put it down. I liked the two interleaved stories, however there were some parts that I thought didn't work, and there were some gratuitously violent parts which I didn't like. A big shootup near the end was completely superfluous and far fetched. What was that about bare feet when walking on the creature? He never took off his shoes did he? Very negative depiction of North Koreans! Rather weird idea about the axes and messages. And why the maths expressions? They were a big part of the story and then the plot didn't seem to need them? And how did the helicopter pilot suddenly become a physics professor?Well done! Recommended.

I really enjoyed this, well written with good action and intrigue elements, and yet at heart a true science fiction novel. The characters at some points do seem rather unlikely, as another reviewer pointed out there is a rather extreme career shift in one case, and some of the minor roles are shallow sketches. I think the author could have filled these holes in believably, however the exposition needed would have perhaps spoiled the pace and flow of the story, I think he actually struck a pretty good balance. The changes in perception about what this story is really about continue right up to the rather excellent ending.

What a terrific book! This was a quick purchase after finishing Mars Endeavour. Cawdron is a very intelligent writer and includes a lot of detail in his prose. But the ideas he relates bear scrutiny and his perspective and take on things are well worth reading. Cawdron is an intelligent writer who clearly puts a lot of thought into his work – not overly provocative but well worth of consideration.The only ‘down’ I had reading this book was that I thought it become clichéd at points, which disappointed me, but there was a reason for the clichéd actions and it left me smiling as I got sucked in!Having read Mars Endeavour first and then Feedback with great enjoyment I will be working my way through his other titles in the coming weeks.