Book Review: PENNSYLVANIA (1-3) by Michael Bunker

Michael Bunker’s fiction is a new fascination of mine. After gobbling up the first three parts of Pennsylvania last week, I had to pick up his novel, Wick – The Omnibus Edition. I also recorded a podcast interview with him last night, which I’ll post for Friday, the release of Pennsylvania 4: Thou Shalt Not.

Here are my reviews of the first three Pennsylvania releases:

Pennsylvania: Book One: Michael writes an easy-to-read science fiction tale about an alternate future America on the brink of war. The worldbuilding is very interesting. An ominous government has turned a crowded civilization into doped-up internet vegetables. The Amish, with their refusal to take government prescribed drugs or install brain chips, are one step ahead to resisting the chaos about to ensue. One of them is our main character, Jed, who is about to leave his family to take a deep-space adventure to New Pennsylvania where he’ll help colonize a new planet similar to Earth. He is an innocent sort with a kind, caring soul that makes him easy to root for. The girl he wins over offers us hope of a love story, and the strong Mexican he meets on the space ship speaks to an adventurous team that could take down whatever the enemy plans to do, if they’re lucky.

I won’t get into spoilers, but there are lots of surprises and conflict. I’m enjoying the characters and the sense of mystery about what has happened since he went to sleep on the spaceship.

Pennsylvania 2: Non-Electric Boogaloo: I like to reserve my five star ratings for top reads of the year, books that really stand out and make me apathetic to reading anything else not in that story’s world or by that author. Pennsylvania 2, while not a stand alone story, obviously, has made me really excited about this series. I just bought the third and pre-ordered the fourth (out on the 28th of Feb.). I don’t want to read anything else, and I’m bummed out that I’ll have to wait a few hours to get wifi so I can start reading part three.

I already discussed in my review of part one the set up to this story. In short, Pennsylvania is a unique world for fans of a quick-read SF book with intrigue, action (both high-tech and not) and strong characters. I really like Jed, the Amish “man” (at 18, he’s no kid anymore), who left home on a space ship to help colonize another world. Credit Mr. Bunker for making this a much more complex and mysterious story than that. The mystery and the wallop at the end of part two really make this story stand out.

Pennsylvania 2 takes some time from the action to lay foundational pieces of the world, and while these sections didn’t blow me away, they were necessary. I now understand the resistance and their efforts against Transport, the government in power. The relationship between Jed and Dawn is developing into a romance in a way that I’m enjoying–nice, gradual pace with a question mark and possible conflict in the future because of Billy’s obvious attraction to her.

Why is Jed’s rescue from Transport hands so important to the resistance? Where and when is he? How they heck is the coffee can from his home on New Pennsylvania, a planet in another galaxy? Why can’t Dawn tell him who she’s working for? All these questions and a few more are making this an addicting, highly entertaining read.

Pennsylvania 3: All Quiet in the Amish Zone: Pennsylvania 3 continues my reading favoritism to this series with strong surprises and developments to amp up an already eager excitement for the concluding two volumes in this story. I am still unsure about the major questions, but have been pleased with the reveals he made in this installment. He didn’t hold anything back in its conclusion. I can’t wait to explore this post-apocalyptic world more and see where Jed and his friends wind up. Part 4 comes out Friday. I’m sure I’ll goggle that up just as quickly. In the meantime, I’ve picked up his novel from 2013, The WICK Omnibus Edition, which I’m also really enjoying. I love discovering authors like Michael, who make reading fun and surprising.

You can pre-order Pennsylvania 4: Thou Shalt Not now.
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Timothy C. Ward
Executive Producer

Timothy C. Ward has been podcasting since 2010, first as AudioTim, and now with AISFP. His first publication, Cornhusker: Demon Gene (A Short Story), is available on Kindle for $.99. His novel in progress, Kaimerus, is described as “Firefly crashes on Avatar and wakes up 28 Days Later.” Sign up to his author newsletter for updates on new releases.

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