Wildside MP3 CD – Unabridged, July 19, 2016

Wildside is one of my favorite books. Steven Gould creates a believable world where Charlie and his friends embark on a well-planned mission involving flying a small airplane on a journey in an alternate version of Earth. Gould does a great job combining science fiction, action and adventure, and romance. The romance is sweet and clean and addresses issues such as unrequited love, loving an alcoholic, and trust. Wildside has themes about saving the earth and responsibly managing ecosystems. It covers a range of relationship issues including controlling parents and their teens, accepting your friends for who they are, loyalty, and distrust of the government and those in power. One character is gay and I think that's handled sensitively without becoming the focus of the book. Gould's writing in Wildside is not overly-technical (as in some of his other books), yet the world he creates is believable and realistic. I read Wildside every year, just to check in with Charlie to see how he's doing. I'm impressed with his leadership skills and his ability to keep the peace among various people. I think Wildside would appeal to a wide variety of readers.

It's been 20 years since I first read this book, and it's so much better than I remember. When eighteen-year-old Charlie moves into the house he inherited from his Uncle - who disappeared seven years ago - he discovers a mysterious door that leads to a parallel Earth. With the help of four friends, Charlie embarks on an adventure that jeopardizes their lives, the secret, and possibly the fate of humanity. Amazing.

This book is really close to a 5-star for me. The first 60% of the book definitely was. As usual, I loved the world building and wasn't sure about how the author chose to wrap things up.Charlie Newell inherits his uncle's farm after graduating high school, and discovers a portal to another version of Earth, one where it seems like humans have never evolved. He recruits his friends to explore the world and make themselves rich while learning more about it. At the same time, Charlie is very careful not to expose the world to outsiders, having a healthy fear of what the government would do if they discovered it.It just so happens that Charlie is a pilot, and so after selling a few extinct pigeons to raise some cash (really!) he sets out to explore the new world via airplane. He sets up a base on the other side, the "wild side." I loved the meticulous planning that went into setting up bases and reaching his destination (gold-filled rivers of Colorado) through a series of steps.But of course, something this good can't stay a secret forever, and once they are discovered, things get crazy quickly. Overall a really good book, with a great first half and solid wrap-up, even if it couldn't sustain greatness the whole way through

Just finished this book, I couldn't put it down! I am a huge fan of the Jumper series, but had put off reading this book because it didn't sound particularly good in the description. But I decided to give it a try since I liked Gould's other work, and was not disappointed. It captured my attention from the beginning and kept me enthralled to the end. I kept forgetting that the characters were teenagers, barely out of high school, because of the "know-how" ability inherent in all of their tasks. Not sure when this was originally published/written, but obviously before the internet and cell phones were used. Even so, the noticeable absence of those things didn't detract from the story much. I'm hoping there will be sequels coming in the future.

This book was all right - probably exciting read for teenagers. It reminded me of a lot of books I read when I was younger, like "My Side of the Mountain" and "Sign of the Beaver" where young people do amazing things with hard work and know-how and self-reliance in a harsh and hostile natural environment. Overlaid on that was modern teenage angst with love triangles and clingy parents and disaffected parents and so forth, as well as big government conspiracy. Plot wise it was ok; decent action and suspense although much of it fell into the category of what they would call "mild peril" in the review of a PG-13 movie. I thought the teenage characters were a lot more competent than most 18-year-olds I've met, and thus a little bit hard to believe, but then nobody bothers to write a book about everyday teenagers that just sit around and text their friends and don't know how to fry an egg let alone build a barn or fly a plane. The "big reveal" at the end about the nature of the gate left me scratching my head - rather came out of nowhere.

I enjoy post-cataclysm and "alternate earth" stories, and this is a well-told one. The "kids" discover an version of Earth without people, where they attempt to mine minerals. Their methods of going from "nothing" to "something" are very realistic, much better than in many SF novels in which economics and logistics are assumed away. The characters are well drawn, although the men are somewhat better filled in than the women. There is a low-key story of "coming of age with the opposite sex" handled realistically IMO. (Carnal issues are not explicit; no issues for having kids read it.) There is also a fair amount of "escaping from under the thumb of your parents." Both of these go far beyond what Heinlein did. The last third takes a bit of a detour, with the adversary turning into a secret organization of the US Government. Reading it recently (post Snowden) is a bit more chilling than before. I don't give 5 star reviews due to sock puppet problems. If I did, this one would still be a 4, not a 5.

What if you had an *entire,* virgin world all. to. your. self? What would you do? How would you do it? *WHY* would you do it?What would you do to keep someone from taking it all away?Choices. Consequences. Outcomes.All present, all logical, and very limited amounts of fantasy.

Not read a bad Steven Gould yet - the Jumper series are in my top 100 favourites books, but Wildside I found slightly disappointing. The plot was good, the material was good but I kept expecting more to happen on the Wildside, I expected more of the 'animals' - can't say more, don't want to spoil it for potential readers. I do recommend reading it and if there were to be a sequel - would buy it.

I found the interrelationships described in this book as fascinating as the subject of the story. I am glad to say that the central character has the responsibility to keep the alternate reality safe and pristine. Hurrah for a social conscience!

The adventure and investigation at the start reminds me of "Swallows & Amazons" but with 'planes instead of boats. It's a great adventure and handles teenage to adult themes well. Highly recommended. Well done Mr Gould!

Really fun read. "Parallel universe, what a cliche!" you might think, but it's done so well it just doesn't matter. There's ripe room for a sequel whilst still wrapping the current story up neatly.

Great story, has some flying terms in it which all may not understand, enjoy the idea of 'other worlds' and the reaction it would bring.