If one could live forever, what would one do? This has been a source of fiction and philosophy since our own brains first conceived the thought. For many, insanity, or power-hungry corruption seems to be the end results. Basically, to have immortality is a kind of hell no one really wants.

As a reader of Science Fiction and all the subgenre glory of the genre, I am amazed that so little has been written about an immortal that does not go crazy or power hungry.

Migel Sanchez, one of his current names, is one such person. Impact Vector explores what it may be like to be an immortal among mortals. While there are some who are evil, not all of them are. That however does not stop one group of Immortals, some thousands of years old, who tire of the old way mortals do things. It becomes their decision to bring a meteor to Earth, killing billions of humans, and destroying most of Earth in the process. Once done, only they will survive, and reclaim Earth in their own image. Migel and some friends who are let in on his secret must do all they can to stop this devastation.

I enjoyed this book in many ways, and Mr. Wilder's grasp of technical and physics material is fantastic. My primary problem is the characters themselves. His writing style is more of that from the 1950s, where the character is not a living breathing person, but a piece to present a moral or flaw. There is a mention of pregnancy but no children ever come up, in spite of their having been born. 

Character development is sketchy. You know the bad guys and good guys, but beyond that, there is no real personal reason for them to live. Why does an immortal chose to go on and on? The story shows they can be killed (head cut off) which means that technically they are not full immortals. So why do they chose to live? What drives them? What drives Migel? Also, if these immortals can die from being chopped up, how in the world could they survive the devastation of Earth itself? These are the questions that went around and around in my head as I read this. Still, this book is hard science and a rare one at that. So I would be the first to admit some of what I am saying is nit picking.

For those who prefer the hard science, and neat gadgets and their impacts, you would greatly enjoy Impact Vector. For those that wish for characters to live and breathe, you might find the space of them a bit flat. Otherwise, this is a decent book to spend some time with.

Reviewed by: Nancy Louise
© March 2008