The novel “Al Clark” by Jonathan G. Meyer was published for the first time in 2014. It’s the first book in the Al Clark series.
Al Clark wakes up with no memory, to the point that he reads his name when he looks around to try to understand his situation. Exploring the pod in which he was in suspended animation, he meets a boy who has already been awake for a while and discovers he’s on a spaceship traveling to a planet to be colonized. Together, they start awakening other people, including the captain.
With at least a part of the crew awakened, it becomes possible to start seriously assessing the situation of their mission. The aspiring colonists realize that their journey has ended and the spaceship is orbiting Avalon, the planet that’s supposed to become their new home. Their problems, however, are not over because the planet is inhabited, and the investigation into the reasons why the crew wasn’t awakened in the scheduled way indicates that there was a sabotage.
“Al Clark” is set in a future in which the Earth has been devastated by climate change and wars but has some very classic premises since it starts on a spaceship that transports a thousand people in suspended animation to another planet with the aim of establishing a colony and the protagonist wakes up in a pod without memory. The confusion that marks that beginning is at least partially mitigated by the meeting with Christopher, a boy who had awakened before him.
The first part of the novel tells about the awakening of the crew by Al and Christopher, their assessment of the situation, their attempts to put the spaceship systems back into operation, and the planning of the various steps they need to proceed with the colonization. In this part, the situation is tense because things didn’t go according to plan, and the investigation leads to the discovery that there was a sabotage. Al Clark also has the problem of having to try to recover his memory and his personal story is one of the important elements of the novel with various twists.
The development of the story has a very classic styleas well, in the sense that “Al Clark” is above all an adventurous novel with a linear plot and a lot of action told with a fast pace. The characters are quite well developed, and the important ones have defined personality traits but without much depth. For example, the problem of Al’s memory and his discoveries about his identity don’t lead to particular introspections. However, the problem of sabotage with the consequences that emerge during the novel offer some ideas to address some ethical and moral questions.
The part of the novel that concerns the colonization of the planet Avalon is the most adventurous one because among the native inhabitants there are also carnivorous dinosaurs, and humans are more preys for them. In this case the tension is created by the fact that humans are well armed, but stopping large ferocious beasts, and avoiding being torn to pieces isn’t easy despite their weapons. This part is developed in a somewhat simplistic way, so for example the dinosaurs seem to be the only danger while there seem to be no problems with microorganisms or substances that might be toxic to humans present in the ecosystem.
The combination of these elements forms a novel that in my opinion is enjoyable even if it’s not exactly original. “Al Clark” has an ending, although the story of Avalon’s colonization remains open for its sequels, so you can read this novel and decide if you want to continue with the series. Some ideas are very modern such as the terrorism that led to the sabotage of the spaceship but overall it’s very classic adventurous science fiction I recommend to readers who appreciate this type of story.
