From Publishers Weekly
The newest novel by Laidlaw (Daddy's Nuke) is also the most recent contribution to the burgeoning subgenre of literary adventures based on CD-ROM games. Aside from the author's obvious craftsmanship, that is the novel's only other distinctive feature. Based in the Gadget game universe, the tale unfolds in a United States ruled by the totalitarian Republic. Laidlaw's consummate descriptions evoke a New York City that's a cross between Fritz Lang's Metropolis and contemporary Moscow, all retro in vivid shades of gray, suffused in smothering paranoia. While the evil dictator, Count Orlovsky, forces scientists to develop mind-controlling technology to subjugate any opposition, Elena Hausmann and other members of the underground resistance, known as the Third Force, try to gain control of the government's evil new technology. The plot twists and turns with the same workmanlike precision of the Republic's empty streets but salvation is decidedly deus ex machina?a comet smashes into the Earth, although not before Elena and her cohorts are whisked away by a spaceship piloted by comrades from the future. Fans of the game will no doubt be interested to see what installment arises from these ashes; wiser readers will recognize that all along there was less here than met the eye. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Elena Hausmann, chief librarian at the Imperial Library, is a member of the Third Force, a revolutionary group opposed to Lord Paulo Orlovsky, whose megalomaniacal Empire wrested political control from the Republic. Desiring to return to her aborted science career, Elena discovers the true nature of the mysterious green meteorite ore used as an energy source and potential weapon. Laidlaw's (The 37th Mandala, St. Martin's, 1996) fascinating tale of absolute power corrupting absolutely draws upon, but does not require, the interactive CD-ROM game "Gadget." Recommended for sf and dystopian collections.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Doomsday tale suggested by a CD-ROM game called Gadget, by the author of Kalifornia (1993) and The 37th Mandala, published earlier this year. The reader is set down in the eighth year of the Empire, ruled by a ruthless Emperor who, besides old age, has one weakness: his lust for the heroine, young Elena Hausmann. Elena was befriended by the Emperor in early life, as was her brother, Louis, who has become a soldier and henchman for the Emperor. Elena, however, has become part of the resistance. Gradually, we learn that the Third Force referred to in the title is the intelligence behind the approach of a great comet, hurtling on a collision course toward Elena's planet; its harbingers include the inexplicable actions of certain characters presumably loyal to the Emperor, and the sudden appearance of a malevolent machine that dissolves personalities into something called xenium. Yet there is a benevolent aspect to the Third Force, too, as a path is prepared for Elena, her brother, and certain valued others to escape. Beautifully composed and full of high-level concepts (such as a virtual library and binoculars that allow one to look upon the future), but weighed down, in the end, by a plot that is strictly Buck Rogers. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Elena Haumann arrived in Grand Central Station at precisely 9:37 p.m., September 3, in the Eighth Year of the Empire. Disembarking from an Alpha-type train, she found herself alone on the polished tile walkway at an hour when she would have expected the station to be bustling with citizens....The echoing silence of the station had begun to remind her of the vast archives where she spent her life." So begins Elena's journey into a dark landscape of totalitarian rule and paranoia, a place where time, truth, and memory can be manipulated by men and machines. Once a privileged member of the ruling class, she now belongs to the Underground, a group determined to overthrow the dictatorship of Paolo Orlovsky. But nothing in her experience can prepare her for what will happen when she meets the spectral child, whose silence may hold the answer to many mysteries and, indeed, the future of her world. Set in the fantastic world of the best-selling CD-ROM, Gadget, The Third Force is a compelling story of power, intrigue, and apocalypse, a dark ride through a disturbing vision of reality.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The newest novel by Laidlaw (Daddy's Nuke) is also the most recent contribution to the burgeoning subgenre of literary adventures based on CD-ROM games. Aside from the author's obvious craftsmanship, that is the novel's only other distinctive feature. Based in the Gadget game universe, the tale unfolds in a United States ruled by the totalitarian Republic. Laidlaw's consummate descriptions evoke a New York City that's a cross between Fritz Lang's Metropolis and contemporary Moscow, all retro in vivid shades of gray, suffused in smothering paranoia. While the evil dictator, Count Orlovsky, forces scientists to develop mind-controlling technology to subjugate any opposition, Elena Hausmann and other members of the underground resistance, known as the Third Force, try to gain control of the government's evil new technology. The plot twists and turns with the same workmanlike precision of the Republic's empty streets but salvation is decidedly deus ex machinaa comet smashes into the Earth, although not before Elena and her cohorts are whisked away by a spaceship piloted by comrades from the future. Fans of the game will no doubt be interested to see what installment arises from these ashes; wiser readers will recognize that all along there was less here than met the eye. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Elena Hausmann, chief librarian at the Imperial Library, is a member of the Third Force, a revolutionary group opposed to Lord Paulo Orlovsky, whose megalomaniacal Empire wrested political control from the Republic. Desiring to return to her aborted science career, Elena discovers the true nature of the mysterious green meteorite ore used as an energy source and potential weapon. Laidlaw's (The 37th Mandala, St. Martin's, 1996) fascinating tale of absolute power corrupting absolutely draws upon, but does not require, the interactive CD-ROM game "Gadget." Recommended for sf and dystopian collections.

Kirkus Reviews

Doomsday tale suggested by a CD-ROM game called Gadget, by the author of Kalifornia (1993) and The 37th Mandala, published earlier this year. The reader is set down in the eighth year of the Empire, ruled by a ruthless Emperor who, besides old age, has one weakness: his lust for the heroine, young Elena Hausmann. Elena was befriended by the Emperor in early life, as was her brother, Louis, who has become a soldier and henchman for the Emperor. Elena, however, has become part of the resistance. Gradually, we learn that the Third Force referred to in the title is the intelligence behind the approach of a great comet, hurtling on a collision course toward Elena's planet; its harbingers include the inexplicable actions of certain characters presumably loyal to the Emperor, and the sudden appearance of a malevolent machine that dissolves personalities into something called xenium. Yet there is a benevolent aspect to the Third Force, too, as a path is prepared for Elena, her brother, and certain valued others to escape.

Beautifully composed and full of high-level concepts (such as a virtual library and binoculars that allow one to look upon the future), but weighed down, in the end, by a plot that is strictly Buck Rogers.