Chicago 1871: A Science Fiction Thriller
By: James E. Merl / Narrated By: Anthony LeRoy Lovato
Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
A bit of a disappointment, but I do so like the premise!
Chicago 1871 starts all whizzbang-ish, with John Kirk being an old man, telling his children, and their children, his rather bizarre story. You see, it’s the early 20th century, and John was actually born in… 1994!
Then the story whizzbangs to our modern days, with Kirk being a newly-minted structural fireman. He’s wholly accepted by the other fireman of the house, and there are some really good introductions to fire fighting equipment those AWEsome individuals use. Then too, when John and his partner come to a blaze, author James E. Merl tells us, in a most fascinating manner, how fire actually lives and breathes, and how it moves (This along with introducing us to other hazards they face such as smoke and gases).
The twist of the story is that something happens during this particular blaze, John is hurt, and then he wakes up in a rather dingy place, amongst rather dingy people. At first he thinks all these men surrounding him are playing a massive joke on him, but nope: He’s actually in the year 1871, in Chicago, and he’s there just prior to the Great Chicago Fire.
And thaaaaaat’s where things started going south for me. Don’t get me wrong, I loooove that we’ve got a man who knows new methods of firefighting and is suddenly amongst brave men who might be somewhat (Or so John originally believes) backwards and primitive. GREAT premise, especially as I dearly love a good catastrophic event as a dangled carrot.
The problem is that, once John realizes that these guys surrounding him aren’t kidding, and when he steps out of the hospital and finds horses and wagons in the streets, he’s totally okay with it all. The firemen become good chums, he meets a stunning and kindhearted showgirl, and every now and then he drops a line that shows that he knows something before it happens (And don’t EVEN get me started on him teaching this new fire crew “Valley Girl” slang). I mean, shouldn’t there be some tension, a huuuuge measure of disbelief and maybe even feeling trapped by time every now and again? What about his mom stuck in the future? Does he not worry what his absence is doing to her?
Nope. No problems. So I was PLENty annoyed, and very disappointed. I thought there would be tension amidst a sort of culture clash, that there would be a tense dynamic between what John CAN tell the men, and what will perhaps change History far too much.
Nope. No problems.
Still, once I stopped whining to myself, I did enjoy this story of friendship, bravery, and intelligent thinking under the duress of massive fires. That there was just a trifle of romance didn’t turn me off (Tho’ I was taken aback when all of a sudden the narrative switches to her perspective). Mostly I liked Merl’s obvious research into the manner the Chicago fires moved, how they jumped buildings/water, how it became a monster.
I’m a bit split on Anthony LeRoy Lovato: He does care enough to try to vocally distinguish characters, but sometimes I thought he tried toooo hard. Some of the characters sounded like they’d just hopped out of a cartoon. But he did well with the strongest part of the story: The desperation during massive outbreaks of fire and of men struggling, risking their lives to do good.
That said, the ending also kinda sorta did it in for me, but I can’t really hold either Merl or Lovato responsible for that. It’s like this, see. I’ve yet to find ANY travel-back-in-time stories that didn’t have massive time holes in ‘em. Chicago 1871 likewise. Things get jumbled up then jumbled some more then everything twists in on itself for a Happily Ever After.
But what they heck: ALL firemen deserve a Happily Ever After.
Huzzah!
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