Review: The Orffyreus Wheel




Title: The Orffyreus Wheel

Author: David Niall Wilson

Format: E-book (epub format)

Summary: The Orffyreus Wheel is written around the historical figure Johann Bessler (1680-1745), or as he called himself, Orffyreus. Bessler was known for allegedly creating a perpetual motion machine in the form of a wheel. The story intersperses glimpses of Bessler’s life with the main plot surrounding his descendants and their recreation of his work and the consequences thereof.

The Good: The Orffyreus Wheel utilizes historic fact and intrigue a la The Da Vinci Code while maintaining a secular point of view. The plot alternates between action packed spy scenes and moral contemplation.

The Bad: The book uses almost every fact listed on the Wikipedia page for Bessler – perhaps not much more about his life is known, but it would have been nice to learn even more about him in the context of the story. The plot about his descendants seemed to end rather abruptly.

In Conclusion: A thoroughly entertaining read. I want a sequel.

Rating: 4.5/5 Pulsars

Where to buy: Macabre Ink (5.99) (Available as  pdf, prc, epub, or kindle format) **Special! From now until 3.30.2010 get 30% off using the coupon code: SciFiSat **

One Response to “Review: The Orffyreus Wheel”

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