The Practice Effect
{4.5/5} “Deacon Hoss’k had made such a consistent and logical case! The wizard’s people must have used ruthless means to accomplish such wonders… especially to freeze the state of practice in each of these amazing tools. The lives of many of the equivalent of the L’Toff in Dennis Nuel’s homeland must have been sacrificed so these things would remain in unchanged condition. Or must they?”
The Practice Effect by David Brin, published in 1984
Dennis previously worked at the zievatronics lab and now he’s being invited to run the lab. Director Flaster reveals that they have been successful at connecting to another world — but now it doesn’t work anymore. When Dennis looks at the machine he realizes that someone will have to go through to the other side and fix the problem from there. He decides to do it himself.
People who like Hal Clement’s Mission of Gravity will like this one. In other words, there’s lots of science and a world to explore that has different physical properties than ours.
This is the 12th novel I’ve read by Brin. I previously reviewed Existence.