Review of “The Box” by Fred Falcon

Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)

We're going to preface this review by saying that The Box stands out as a valiant and ambitious first attempt at a novel by Fred Falcon. This book is loaded with rich ideas, multi-layered characters, twists, and turns. This is above and beyond what you'd typically expect from a sci-fi or thriller novel.

The writing is eloquent and detailed. Definitely, a lot of time, effort, and energy went into writing, editing, and rewriting this book. It shows!

This book takes the reader on a slowly-unraveling mystery box adventure that spans multiple continents and timelines. It reminded us of something like Lost, Heroes, or 4400 in a sense.

Fred Falcon is clearly an extremely intelligent and creative person with a lot of great ideas. However, they might want to reign that in a little bit.

The main issue with this book is that there are just far too many characters and far too many things going on. At times, it's chaotic. At other times, it's almost incomprehensible. It reads and feels like ten different shorter books in a shared literary universe that got shoved into a blender that was then set to puree.

The following quote from novel perfectly encapsulates that sentiment:

“Sullivan sighed heavily. He wondered how a box, an equation, a missing boy, a dead grandpa, a burned down house, one of the largest companies in the world, an organization (or the Organization, as Holly was apt to remind him) all lead to Las Vegas. Still, too many pieces not aligning. He felt discombobulated, unconnected.”

We read this near 600-page book three times just to get an idea of what was even going on in it. That's like 20-30 cumulative hours of reading, even more than we put into reading the Jaralii Chronicles books, which were also often complicated.

Look at this list of character names and entities we gathered:

Hopper Nielsen
Cassie
Teddy/Theodore Roosevelt McCorkle
Raiden
Vandra
Charles
Veronica
Smokey
Kellen
Amber
Ryan
Aubrey Garcia
Anthony Pollard
Leonard Hastings
Frank
Clete
Crittendon
Jore Kennedy
The Priest
Weebanks
Sullivan
Joe Freeman
Connor
Reginald
Illena
Wilkerson
Wilbur
Orville
Katharine
O'Brien
All the sisters
All the random skateboarders who got mentioned for some reason
All the teachers
All the coaches
All the neighbors
The First Inhabitants
The Protectors
The Organization
The Eight

How on earth is any normal human being going to be able to keep track of all of these characters, all of their personal intricacies, and what relationship they have with the others (or the plot)?

There were times when the author would casually mention a character having died or having done something, and we would literally be like, “Who?!” It was, quite frankly, very frustrating to keep track of all of these people. Perhaps you're one of those people that loves to unravel extremely complex, intricate, convoluted plots, like trying to decipher who the heck is feuding with who and over what in the Mahabharata, but that just seems like a lot to ask of the typical reader.

Every major or semi-major character is given some kind of multi-page backstory similar to Lost, but some of these backstories and characters don't really seem to have enough pull on the main story to warrant their placement or the time spent learning about them.

Let's unravel what we comprehended:

A long time ago, on some other planet or in some parallel dimension/realm, there were a bunch of aliens who were viewed as “Protectors” of time and the knowledge that comes with existing for a long time. They had a super scientific yet somewhat magical box called “the box of enlightenment” which was basically like a TARDIS from Doctor Who. With it, a person could travel to various timelines, acquiring and spreading knowledge from different points in time that would lead to innovations and inventions like dams, weapons, and stuff. Ok, weapons weren't part of the original, benevolent plan, but it was a result of human corruption and drive for power and wealth.

The Protector we're introduced to initially is named Vandra. She's taxed with taking the box to Earth and passing it down to the next protector, who is probably Hopper. We thought Vandra was the main character, but apparently she isn't.

Hopper, having been exposed to the box and having solved a math equation, is transported to different timelines at different ages when/where he's often perceived as a homeless, lost, or foster kid. Hopper meets a Priest (aptly just named “the Priest”) who raises him. Then he disappears and reappears in modern times as an older teenager, befriending some kid named Connor and lying to him about being from a family of marathon runners. This matters for some reason.

Meanwhile, there's this precog/oneiromancer/prophecy-having-character named Cassie who keeps having the same dream about a boy (obviously Hopper) being chased by bad guys and needing her help. In fact, a woman's voice (possibly Vandra's) keeps telling her to help him. Cassie is a teacher. She's also African-American. We thought Cassie was going to be the main character, but apparently she isn't.

Meanwhile, there's this 15-year-old kid named Teddy (Theodore Roosevelt McCorkle III) whose dad, a megalomaniacal billionaire who owns a sketchy company called IDEA and is one of “the Eight”--the leading members of a secret organization called “the Organization”--wants to capture Hopper and misuse the powers of the box for personal gain. Teddy and his dad pretty much have the exact same name (minus the III), which isn't confusing at all in a novel with like 100 major characters. Anyway, Teddy overhears his dad talking to a mysterious figure named Raiden about the box and its powers. Teddy gets the bright idea of getting it and using it himself, becoming corrupted by it like it's the Infinity Gauntlet.

Apparently, the Organization captures, interrogates, tortures, and kills time travelers they believe have knowledge of the box.

Reginald is some very dedicated mercenary they hired to capture Hopper.

Weebanks is some tech person the other characters call when they need a convenient techy solution like that one nerdy, weird lady in that one cop show we're forgetting the name of, or Otacon. For some reason, we only remembered them because of their funny name.

Sullivan is some kind of detective or agent from an intelligence organization who is trying to solve what the hell is going on because no one but the author knows.

Wilkerson is McCorkle's second-in-command and a ruthless enforcer of his will.

Ultimately, this loaded cast of characters are in two separate, competing camps: 1. those who want to save Hopper—the new Protector—and, thus, the box in order to use them for good, 2. those who want to capture Hopper and the box in order to use them for self-serving reasons (like to “rule the world” ...cause of course...). Ok, there's a third camp: the characters who are just there to make the main characters seem like real people with actual family/friends/relationships--people who do little more than stand around forwarding the plot like NPCs.

We greatly commend the author on their ambition, creativity, and effort. That's why we're giving this a rather high 9.1+/10!

If you want to unravel this Gordian Knot of a plot and cast of characters, check it out on Amazon!