Review of
Tom Swift and the Mystery Comet,
by Victor Appleton II
Three out of five stars
One of the weakest of the Tom Swift Jr. books
The plot of
this book is over the top, even for Tom Swift. It involves unidentified flying
objects, a deadly comet on a collision course with Earth, a jealous classmate
of Tom’s, the space aliens that Tom and his father are communicating with and
the adversary country of Brungaria. There is too much going on and none of it
is handled very well.
For example,
Tom’s classmate (among others) manages to penetrate the security of the Swift
compound, something that would never happen in the real world. The Swift
complex has a large security apparatus, yet it rarely seems to do the job. If
this subplot had been left out, the overall story would have been improved.
The final
incredulous event is when Tom and Bud are in their spaceship and it is hijacked
by a Brungarian agent. They manage to regain control of the ship just in time
to change the comet trajectory enough so that it misses Earth. Since they are
not that far from Earth and the mass of even the smallest comets is
considerable, this is a major violation of the laws of physics. Too much, even
for a Tom Swift adventure.
The best science
fiction stories are those that focus on one conflict/adversarial or new
phenomenon event. Put several together and there is not enough story to tell
all the stories.
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