Fair Coin: Review

Title: Fair Coin

Author: E. C. Myers

Release Date: March 2012

Published By: Pyr

Pages: 285

Goodreads Rating: 3.53 stars

Review: Ephraim Scott is horrified when he comes home to see his mother collapsed from a suicide attempt because she claims she saw his dead body at the hospital. Among his dead double's belongings, he finds a coin. With a single flip, his mother changes from an alcoholic to a model mother, but the more flips he makes, the more things change... and not always the way he wants them to. The coin can give him anything he wants, if he learns to control its power before his luck runs out.

I thought FAIR COIN would be more or less your typical magic wishes novel, where the protagonist learns that his original life situation was better than making so many changes and so on and so forth. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised at the rather unique (and science fiction-esque) explanation behind the "magic wishes". It was well-explained, believable, and very original compared to explanations I've seen in other books.

It was unique not just in its concept but also in its cast of characters. Each character was fully developed and original, particularly the entire scenario concerning one of the characters, Nate. Of course, I won't go into it in order to avoid spoilers, but he was particularly complex in a good way. In general, the characters felt real, as if they are captured personalities stuck on a page and could walk off at any moment.

All in all, FAIR COIN was a suspenseful and intriguing science fiction novel that takes a new spin on an old concept. From the un-put-down-able storyline to the well-developed cast of characters, this is a book for anyone who doesn't usually enjoy science fiction or just wants to read something with an interesting concept behind the plot.