| Title | : | The Lure of Infinity (Bridgers, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 204 |
| Publication | : | Published May 15, 2018 |
Infinity Fowler has been fighting all her life. As a child, she had to fight for survival. Then she fought professionally. But when humans obtained the technology to bridge to alternate versions of Earth, she saw a chance for a new life. She signed up to become a bridger—an elite fighter and survival expert who protects tourists bridging to alternate worlds.
Desmond Weaver is a tourist making a last-ditch effort to complete his PhD in evolutionary biology. He has booked the excursion of a lifetime, a data collection mission to a vastly different version of Earth. If he fails, his career will be over.
Infinity is Desmond’s assigned trainer and bridger. She is one of the best, willing to die protecting tourists. And also willing to kill. When it’s time to bridge, Desmond and his two college roommates feel well prepared.
But they aren’t. Naked and weaponless, on an extraordinary world teeming with lethal predators, the team becomes entangled in a life-and-death struggle more terrifying than anything they could ever have imagined.
The Lure of Infinity (Bridgers, #1) Reviews
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Original and intense!
Bridgers 1 is an intense and exciting sci-fi action series that takes the reader to other times and parallel worlds. Tourist travel with "Bridgers" to keep them save on their 36 hour trip. Lots of creative genius going on to make these books flow so well! I loved this! Great creatures, characters, action, concept, and plot! I have book two ready to go! -
“Heart to blood, muscle to bone, tourist flesh above my own. With self-sacrifice near, my fuel is fear. By bridger means and might, tourists will not fight”, Infinity’s mantra- the heroine- keeps her always on the edge for survival, a demonstration of strength and the determination of the so called “tourists”.
I’m overwhelmed and very impressed with the commence of a superb and magnificent new series! A high octane sci fy action/adventure thriller written with great realism as only Stan knows how! Vivid, unique, creative plot of parallel universes, Earth. A wonderful description of nature and it’s wicked horrors, an imaginative intelligent avian race, and one of the best part is the unsuspecting end!
Every book Stan C. Smith writes is a hit! Impatient already for the next release! A definite recommendation! -
This is a very interesting spin on the parallel worlds theme. Bridgers travel from our present earth to another earth that has diverged from our timeline by a preselected period of time. This is not exactly time-travel – more a ‘what-if’ scenario. The greater the period of divergence, the less predictable the world visited will be.
In the early days of bridging, scientists used the facility for research. Nowadays, those bridging are more likely to be tourists out for the ultimate thrill.
One big catch is, that the Bridgers can take nothing with them – not clothing nor tools, and not even the hair on their heads. Anything they need for their 36-hour trip must be created on the spot, from whatever is available in the target world, including weapons and shelter for survival. Likewise, when they are automatically pulled back to our world, they can bring nothing through.
Each bridging group consists of one or two ‘tourists’ accompanied by 2 professional Bridgers, who are trained to protect the tourists from whatever dangers or difficulties may arise, often at risk of their own lives.
Infinity has been a Bridger for a long time. Trained in martial arts and survival techniques, her status as a prime Bridger is clear from the fact that she is still alive. Bridgers do not tend to live long.
The first bridging episode in the book involves a rather dangerous altercation with Neanderthals, the result of a 100,000-year divergence. Infinity’s next trip is to have a divergence is to be 80 million years, so all bets are off. The three tourists are to be Desmond (a scientist with eidetic memory), Xavier (the financier) and Lenny (a friend along for the ride). What they encounter is beyond their wildest nightmares. This is earth, but not as we know it – or want to know it. Their trip should be exactly 36 hours long – but time is stretched out alarmingly, and hours become eons in their minds. The pace never lets up, and the ending (and anyone’s survival) is never certain.
The invention of the bridging process is kept secret from the public, and its consequences become apparent only near the end of the book (nicely setting up the sequels). It goes to show that all knowledge is a double-edged sword.
This book is not for the squeamish, nor for those who need their Sci-Fi to be realistic, but it is a very exciting and thought-provoking read. I look forward to the next book(s).
I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review -
The author strikes again, this time with a tale of parallel earths, and the people (Bridgers) who risk their lives to keep tourists safe as they travel to these alternate earths, which have diverged from our earth's timeline.
The story focuses mainly on Infinity, a former troubled youth and MMA fighter who jumped at the prospect of excellent pay as a bridger, despite the obvious risks of jumping to an unknown world without even the clothes on your back for protection. The bridger's role is to ensure all the travellers (tourists) make it back alive. Infinity is the best, and she's offered a big payday to take some college students on a trip to a world that diverged 80 million years ago, one she can't say no to.
The author creates interesting worlds (in all his works), believable and similar to ours but also very different. Bridgers rattles along at a breakneck pace, as 36 hours on a hostile alternate earth should, and doesn't let up until the end. There is a greater plot simmering in the background, but we are kept ignorant due to being stranded on the other earth with Infinity and her charges.
The book isn't out for another month or so, but if you like Sci-Fi with action, do yourself a favour and check this one out. -
Stan C. Smith's gripping sci-fi novel, Bridgers 1: The Lure of Infinity explorers the "existence of infinite parallel universes” as Bridger Infinity Fowler and her partner help tourists navigate thirty-six-hour bridging experiences. The lead character, Infinity, immediately pulled me in with her no-nonsense attitude and tough exterior. Because she considers “every minute of life to be sacred,” Infinity doesn't waste words, time, or energy as she struggles to help three tourists survive in an environment that diverged from ours eighty million years ago. Each tension-filled scene evokes the reader's senses and creates an ebb and flow pulling the reader along. As soon as one problem is solved or a question is answered, another emerges. Will they all return alive at bridge-back, and what impact will this have on their future?
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Los "Bridgers" traducido a nuestro idioma podría ser "puenteros" son personas entrenadas en la supervivencia, un grupo selecto de personas encargadas de acompañar y proteger a los "turistas". Pero no se trata de viajar a la playa o al bosque, sino nada más y nada menos que a universos paralelos. El libro se basa en la premisa de la existencia de los universo paralelos, y de que gracias a una máquina pueden saltar de un universo a otro en cualquier punto de la historia y ver en qué se diferencia. Y como se pueden imaginar, las cosas no siempre salen como lo esperado. En esta ocasión, Infinity, Nuestra protagonista viajará al pasado acompañando a tres turistas, en un viaje que les llevará a los tiempos de los grandes dinosaurios.
Con criaturas inesperadas, mucha acción y aventuras, Bridgers es un comienzo intenso para esta saga que augura mucha más acción y momentos de gran tensión.
El único pero, es a gusto personal, que faltaron más criaturas, más dinosaurios, que le vamos a hacer, los dinos son mi debilidad. -
I read
Infinity: A Bridger's Origin first and then this one and....well, Infinity: A Bridger's Origin was really interesting and I really liked Passerina a.k.a. Infinity. She was intelligent and vicious in the way that she was intended to be to get into this program. The Infinity in this book is...not the woman I met in that one. I understand that Infinity: A Bridger's Origin was written after The Lure of Infinity and I am hoping that we recapture the person Infinity was in that book. I liked her a lot more than this....brainwashed shell of a person. What happened to the intelligent, steel backboned woman who told off Doyle and listed all the things that Bridgers needed to know and all the things that Clients needed to learn BEFORE bridging? That Infinity would have put the "Tourists" through boot camp, trained them how to fight and how to make weapons from basic materials before they stepped in and stomped down on the idea of going to the carnivore heavy world. Anyway, again, I know I'm looking at a solidified character in Infinity: A Bridger's Origin verses the rough outline she started out with in this book....I just felt I should explain why this one got such a HARD rating after Infinity: A Bridger's Origin got a 5 star. -
que dire sans trop dévoiler ? des univers parallèles terrestres mais à l'évolution différente à explorer
Une héroïne sympathique et forte qui mérite le respect du lecteur , quelques personnages annexes qui ne demandent qu'à être développés
mon reproche est que l'auteur est tombé dans le piège de la "série" en proposant des suites à 200 pages (je suis déjà allé voir ... ) alors que, à mon humble avis, il aurait été plus judicieux de moins délayer et de se concentrer, non sur une répétition des actions (combats décès /survies) mais plus sur le fond (développement sans l'être humain, risque technologique, univers parallèle sujets passionnants ici évoqués mais peu développés)
En résumé, c'est une lecture plutôt agréable, sans difficulté, pour qui aime les histoires d' aventures et d'actions mais qui risque de lasser si l'auteur "traîne" en longueur en explorant des possibilités infinies mais au schémas trop semblables et donc répétitifs... -
Stan Smith continues to come up with original and fascinating sci-fi adventures and Bridgers is no exception. In this, he imagines a device that allows you to travel to an alternate universe of our world, one that had somehow diverged from the current evolutionary path where, perhaps, humans are not the apex creature on the planet. This mode of travel is called bridging and believe me once the characters "bridge" you won't be able to put the book down! Additionally, Stan's character perspective is written with a masterful ability so that the reader is weaving in and out of multiple perspectives yet in never confusing. The story is riveting and action-packed and I can't wait to see what happens next!
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Original story premise, action a mile a minute, I love Stan's stories!
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Very interesting science and characters.
I think I'm hooked. -
Well that escalated fast! I hadn't expected the twist in the end that raised the stakes to monumental proportions. Let's see if the author can pull it off in the next book.
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This book was a fun romp. It’s an edge of your seat, primordial fight for your life that makes you think about how well you would do in a prehistoric and helpless situation.
Review:
https://youtu.be/xJDjAtFGa8g
Premise +1
Flow/Pacing +1
Character Development +.5
World Building +.5
Conclusion +1
Bonus point: Outstanding concepts +1
=⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Style: Light read.
Why I liked it…
Imagine you are shipped off to caveman times without a stitch of clothing on your body nor an ounce of food in your belly. How long you could last when fighting the beasties of that time with clumsy rocks and hastily crafted spears? That is this book. What a fun freaking concept. That’s it. It’s just a neat trip to a place I never thought my brain would go, and I’m totally going to read the next one.
Where it struggled…
This isn’t a deep read, but I’m kind of glad it wasn’t. However, the beautiful surroundings and scientific data provided in relation to the bridging experience could have been fleshed out a bit more. Additionally, some of the side characters lacked distinction.
Summary…
An unnerving yet thrilling story of naked helplessness in the face of prehistoric threats. I had a great time reading it and would recommend it to anyone who likes action adventure books. -
Stan Smith is my drug dealer!
Although I am not a drug user. I can only imagine drug addicts feel for drugs the way I feel for Stan Smith books. Once I start I could not stop. When I am not reading them I am thinking about them.
In book one of The Bridger series , Infenity is a Bridger. She accompanies Taurus to parallel universes as their bodyguard and protector. She has very little respect for tourist, she only does it because the paycheck is good and she is good at it. Then Desmond becomes a terrorist, not only will he prove that he is her equal who will also open up her heart to something she was on expecting. After his dangerous trek into his chosen parallel universe, he to becomes a bridger and they both find out it’s not just parallel universes that are dangerous. I know I say this about every Stan Smith book, but I love this book. Besides violence, there is nothing else the reader needs to be warned about. I suggest anyone who can deal with the violence issue should definitely read this book.
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Short story, to the point.
It's a refreshingly shorter story than most, and goes straight to the point. The title is a double entendre over the infinity of parallel universes that is the core of the scifi aspect of the book, and the main character's nickname. The idea behind Bridgers is that you can go to parallel timelines. You pick the divergence point and then you get a random universe that branched from then. Travel naked, stay 36h, be yanked back.
Of course, rather than exploring known history, our characters decide to explore a divergent evolution, and we get the usual "what if the dinosaurs survived" story, because the expedition sponsor wanted a more original PhD. But the premise of people dropping naked on intelligent dinosaurs, and having to survive until recall makes a more original story than you'd expect.
Plus, we get a massive turning of the tables at the end to prepare the next book. Interesting. -
I was given an Advanced Readers Copy of this book and have volunteered to post a review. I absolutely loved the book. It is a terrific start to a new series by Stan Smith. Bridgers 1 is a genuine thriller as all Smith's books promise to be. Infinity Fowler is a great heroine you will want to follow on all her exceptional adventures. Smith has a very creative mind and bases his stories on scientific facts and possibilities. Book 1 presents fertile ground for unknown and unexpected adventures to come. The characters are well developed and the environments are colorful and authentic.
Be prepared at the end of Book 1 of Bridgers: The Lure of Infinity to have an overwhelming desire for more, much more! -
This book was intriguing, with a fascinating plot involving travel between parallel Earths. As an additional plus the characters were well-defined and the action was almost non-stop. I've already purchased books 2 and 3 of this series and have begun reading the second.
Stan C. Smith delivers a fast moving plot that reveals highly imaginative world building coupled with a sinister alien plan. His characters come alive and entertain us in memorable fashion.
The book was well edited, so there were no misspellings, grammatical or formatting mistakes to disrupt the flow and pleasure of the reading experience.
Highly recommended to anyone who likes action or science fiction. -
I'm glad I read the prequel first, as it sets up the concept of bridging better than this book does. I find the writing easy to read and enjoyed the story and the characters.
However, I still have issues with the rules of bridging. If hair can't go through because it's not alive, why do teeth go through? Besides teeth themselves, what about non-living adjustments like fillings and crowns? And certainly some living weapons could be sent through. For example, something as simple as scored bamboo plants, that could easily be broken up by hand into solid, sharp spears.
In any case, I'm very intrigued to see where the story goes from here. So it's on to the next book for me... -
Very Good Heinlein-esque Series
Think of Robert A. Heinlein’s “Tunnel in the Sky.” Only as a series with a couple of plot twists.
Main character is really well-drawn. Other characters are also well done, no matter how quickly they leave the story.
Sci-fi with real science and great perspectives and possibilities.
This is not a series with convenient safety or escape options. Dangers are clearly imagined and described, as are the character’s options and responses.
Fighting and survival skills and tactics are skillfully done.
I look forward to the rest of the series.
