bobernet

I had a little time over the weekend, so I finished reading this as well as Patriots, which I'll write a little about in another post.

In a nutshell, I think Unintended Consequences is an excellent book for "shooters" and those interested in 2nd amendment issues. While it is classified a novel, the first 400+ pages is really a history of 2nd amendment issues going back to WWI, while it is setting up the main characters for the rest of the book. I would recommend it.

It is a little slow getting going, as there is a LOT of jumping around between different story lines developing different characters. Once you get past the first couple hundred pages, the book is very good with the "action" picking up substantially the last 400 pages or so.

A few nits to pick... There are a lot of times that the dialog comes off strained. One character will make a "leading" comment which gives another character the opportunity to dive into a treatise on government abuses of the 2nd amendment. Most of us here will agree with the "preaching" on that issue, but in terms of the storyline, it comes off a little fake.

There is a decent amount of setup about one of the character's girlfriend being bisexual. The boyfriend (prior to their intimate relationship) actively encourages her to become a stripper to make extra money. Then the bf/gf pick up third parties to have threesomes. There's a scene where the gf and another girl setup one of the bf's male friends to walk in on them having lesbian sex. That whole issue has no real bearing on the premise of the book, and doesn't add anything relevant to the story.

The main character also has an obvious anti-religion bias... going into a discussion with a fellow Alcoholics Anonymous member about how all the "God stuff" is BS, etc etc.

Despite comments on another thread about how this is an adult book intended for adults, I think that with minor revisions it could be a terrific jumping off point with older kids to talk about the Constitution, government and the 2nd amendment.

Final comment... I am a shooter and love all the technical details about the various guns, gunsmithing, accurizing, shooting technique, etc. But, there is so much detail that I think there is little chance that this book would hold the interest of someone who wasn't already into shooting or at least very interested in it.

This is not a book you could likely give to an "anti" friend as a jumping off point for discussion. Well, that and the fact that it's nearly 1000 pages long. :)

Overall, thumbs-up...

Best,
Bob

Pete

John Ross is a great historical writer, the first few hundred pages were solid gold. Not such a fan of his fiction, I don't have any issues with the subject matter but I agree that it was a contrived narrative at times.
I saw him in a TV interview say that he wanted to document the history of gun control but thought that a 400 page historical document wouldn't get read by as many people as a novel. I disagree, but I may be the odd man out.
You could lose a third of the book with no loss of the valuable information.

bobernet

I agree 100%. There was historical information that I didn't know about, and I felt like I was pretty well versed in 2nd A issues. If anything, unless you're already familiar with the facts, there's a chance that people will walk away from the book not knowing which parts were true, which were fiction and which were fictionalized history.

Pete

I would like to see someone take all the factual content and compile it into a separate book.

Then put it on the national curriculum.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

cmidkiff

UC really is two books in one, but the 'fictional' story would need significant work if it were to stand without the first 400 pages, and the history would be much less fun to read without the fictional characters.

Sure, there's things that could have been done differently in the book... but it is the way John wrote it. It's as a wonderful work of fiction, with a huge amount of interesting historical fact. I loved the book, just as it was written.

(Disclaimer: I know John... slightly. Been shooting with him several times over the last few years. He's a great guy. I'm sure he would encourage anyone who thinks they could do better to jump right in and do it!)

Hey JR... How's the sequel coming?

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Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. It's worth it.

Captain Crunch

I agree 100%. This, and Henry Bowman's rape episode, could have been omitted without any loss to the story. I'm no prude, but these were just wholly unnecessary, IMO.

Good review. BTW, you should look up "Bud White's Book Rating Guide".

Also, the bit where Henry kills the rapists with his Model 29 is a bit far-fetched.

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"The maximum effective range of an excuse is 0 meters".

Terry

artz

I think the book would be a great mini-series if done correctly. In order for that to happen, the director would have to be active in the shooting sports and a current carry concealed license holder.
I can't see one of the current crop of directors manhandling this job. It would be just criminal.

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peacefuljeffrey

Wow! Bobernet, your review pretty much nailed each and every point I would have made about Unintended Consequences myself. Very well done.

I agree with you that:
- the book is slow to start off
- the factual/historical stuff is interesting
- the weird stuff with the bisexual girlfriend, while tittilating, seemed forced, gratuitous, and out of place in the book, no matter how intertwined it ended up being with the later events. To me, it had the feel of an author's fantasy kind of thing.
- the book preaches to the choir, and is not a book to recommend to antis you're trying to turn
- some of the dialog is forced, and like you said is more of an invitation to a soliloquy or exposition -- but sometimes that's necessary when an author needs a mechanism for putting a point across.

General Geoff

No book is perfect. But Unintended Consequences is pretty close. I enjoyed the whole thing immensely. Sure, some of the stuff is superfluous and not needed to get the overall message across. But without it, the book wouldn't have been as immersive.

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raysheen

I'm currently reading it so I'm trying not to read any spoilers in here but so far I really like it...I'm still in the first part of the book and have found it to be a very interesting read.