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kurwaczytaj's review
3.0
Čekal jsem od toho mnohem více a ten otevřený konec mne také moc nepotěšil. Prostě jen průměrná sci-fi s prvky postapo a zombíkama. A přitom začátek, kdy poznáváme "reversní stalkery" nebyl vůbec špatný. Prostě kniha na jedno přečtení. nemůže být každý den osvícení.
cathode_ray_jepsen's review against another edition
3.0
Expected slightly campy SciFi adventure. Got sightly campy SciFi adventure.
taque's review against another edition
3.0
Meh, it was OK.
I don't really like books that are planned for sequels so don't have real endings.
I don't really like books that are planned for sequels so don't have real endings.
patremagne's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent. Could not put it down, read most of it in one neck-straining sitting.
http://abitterdraft.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-darwin-elevator-by-jason-m-hough.html
Jason M. Hough's The Darwin Elevator marks my foray back into sci-fi after six or so consecutive fantasy and historical fiction books. It's books like this that make me want to read more of the genre - pure, pulse-pounding action. I really love the recent trend in which a series is finished and is being released in consecutive months - minimal waiting and no chance of an unfinished series.
An alien force humanity dubbed as Builders sent an elevator down to Darwin to help speed up travel into orbit. Cool, right? Problem is, they forgot to mention that with the Elevator comes a plague, later called SUBS, that corrupts the human mind and essentially turns the carriers into mindless, subhuman creatures that are then called subs. The Builders weren't complete bastards though, as the Elevator also came with a sort of aura that protects the city from SUBS.
We've got Skyler Luiken (I could not stop thinking of Skyler from Breaking Bad whenever I heard his name), the new captain of the scavenging crew aboard the Melville, based in the last bastion of humanity, Australia's city of Darwin. Scavengers are the lifeline of Darwin, collecting things everyone needs to survive. Skyler's an immune - one of the incredibly rare humans that are immune to SUBS - and he has a crew composed entirely of immunes. The crew - ops specialist Samantha, pilot Angus, engineer Takai, and sniper Jake - are unique enough in personality and make for a good, crew-based adventure. Being immune makes scavenging significantly easier, as an environment suit isn't needed. Skyler spends much of the story adjusting to being a leader when he really isn't cut out for it. When the Darwin Elevator malfunctions, people - like Neil Platz - in higher places take interest in using this unique crew of immunes for their own ambitions. Neil is the most famous man on what remains of Earth, pretty much the Donald Trump of The Dire Earth Cycle, and is a man of many secrets. The Platz family essentially owns everything worth anything in the area around the Elevator.
Neil is probably the only character that isn't what he seems. There are characters like Russell Blackfield that do everything in pure self-interest, ones like Skyler and his crew who are in over their head, ones like Dr Tania Sharma who you're bound to like, and then there's Neil. Sometimes you want to smack him around and ask him what the hell he's doing and others you want to give him a fist bump. Outside of Blackfield's cookie-cutter and easy to hate characterization, the other characters were fairly well done. A word of warning though, Hough is absolutely ruthless, on par with GRRM, with the lives of his characters.
The plot was packed with suspense. There's something special about being able to create such a large amount of tension in situations where nothing actually happens. While this is frustrating to some, it didn't happen often enough to warrant frustration from me, and it was complemented by electrifying action sequences. Despite some minor choppiness transitioning from the high-octane scenes to the slower aftermath, the pacing was strong.
The cover of the US version makes The Darwin Elevator look very generic - military guy with a mean look and some sort of weapon - so if you like to ignore your mother's advice and judge books by their covers, use the UK one at the head of this review. Jason M. Hough is definitely an author to look out for if you're even mildly interested in sci-fi and look for The Darwin Elevator when it hits shelves on July 30th, 2013.
I'd like to thank Del Rey and NetGalley for the eARC given to me in exchange for an honest review.
http://abitterdraft.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-darwin-elevator-by-jason-m-hough.html
Jason M. Hough's The Darwin Elevator marks my foray back into sci-fi after six or so consecutive fantasy and historical fiction books. It's books like this that make me want to read more of the genre - pure, pulse-pounding action. I really love the recent trend in which a series is finished and is being released in consecutive months - minimal waiting and no chance of an unfinished series.
An alien force humanity dubbed as Builders sent an elevator down to Darwin to help speed up travel into orbit. Cool, right? Problem is, they forgot to mention that with the Elevator comes a plague, later called SUBS, that corrupts the human mind and essentially turns the carriers into mindless, subhuman creatures that are then called subs. The Builders weren't complete bastards though, as the Elevator also came with a sort of aura that protects the city from SUBS.
We've got Skyler Luiken (I could not stop thinking of Skyler from Breaking Bad whenever I heard his name), the new captain of the scavenging crew aboard the Melville, based in the last bastion of humanity, Australia's city of Darwin. Scavengers are the lifeline of Darwin, collecting things everyone needs to survive. Skyler's an immune - one of the incredibly rare humans that are immune to SUBS - and he has a crew composed entirely of immunes. The crew - ops specialist Samantha, pilot Angus, engineer Takai, and sniper Jake - are unique enough in personality and make for a good, crew-based adventure. Being immune makes scavenging significantly easier, as an environment suit isn't needed. Skyler spends much of the story adjusting to being a leader when he really isn't cut out for it. When the Darwin Elevator malfunctions, people - like Neil Platz - in higher places take interest in using this unique crew of immunes for their own ambitions. Neil is the most famous man on what remains of Earth, pretty much the Donald Trump of The Dire Earth Cycle, and is a man of many secrets. The Platz family essentially owns everything worth anything in the area around the Elevator.
Neil is probably the only character that isn't what he seems. There are characters like Russell Blackfield that do everything in pure self-interest, ones like Skyler and his crew who are in over their head, ones like Dr Tania Sharma who you're bound to like, and then there's Neil. Sometimes you want to smack him around and ask him what the hell he's doing and others you want to give him a fist bump. Outside of Blackfield's cookie-cutter and easy to hate characterization, the other characters were fairly well done. A word of warning though, Hough is absolutely ruthless, on par with GRRM, with the lives of his characters.
The plot was packed with suspense. There's something special about being able to create such a large amount of tension in situations where nothing actually happens. While this is frustrating to some, it didn't happen often enough to warrant frustration from me, and it was complemented by electrifying action sequences. Despite some minor choppiness transitioning from the high-octane scenes to the slower aftermath, the pacing was strong.
The cover of the US version makes The Darwin Elevator look very generic - military guy with a mean look and some sort of weapon - so if you like to ignore your mother's advice and judge books by their covers, use the UK one at the head of this review. Jason M. Hough is definitely an author to look out for if you're even mildly interested in sci-fi and look for The Darwin Elevator when it hits shelves on July 30th, 2013.
I'd like to thank Del Rey and NetGalley for the eARC given to me in exchange for an honest review.
seitenreise's review against another edition
5.0
Ich mochte das Pacing. Ich mochte die Handlung. Ich mochte die Charaktere und Oh mein Gott, die Entwicklungen! Wann kommt bitte Teil 2?
thistlechaser's review against another edition
1.0
(Book received for free for review from Random House Publishing Group.)
Darwin Elevator should have been a great match for me. When I saw a review of it elsewhere, I ran right off to buy it, then had to stop when I found the ebook price was higher than the physical book price. How lucky it was offered to me for review!
The plot takes place in Darwin, Australia. Aliens come and drop a space elevator there, and with the elevator came a plague. It killed most people, and the surviving humans name it SUBS, because it devolves humans into sub-humans/primates. (Notice how the town name ties into the plot. Darwin. Devolution. This was typical of the symbolism in the book -- kind of 'beat you over the head'ish.)
Enter the bad guy. Blackfield. Fittingly named, he's as bad as bad can be. Mustache-twirling, rapist, not a single redeeming feature about him.
So the bad guy wants to take over the world (or what's left of it), and the story goes downhill from there. The bad guy shows his true(r) colors, and did just about every bad thing a person can do. (Including "He chewed a bite of food with his mouth open." and, while watching two girls he's forcing to make out in front of him: "He burped and said, "That's no kiss.".)
Unfortunately, in addition to the characters being black and white, their actions often make no sense just because the plot needed X to happen so it could advanced. For example: The main male good guy character, Luke Skyw-- Er, Skyler Luiken, a pilot, got himself into a situation. Stuck on the ground, armed with a rifle and multiple clips of ammo, he ran into a sub (the subhumans). She started to chase him. He's badly injured (broken ribs and more). He decides not to shoot her to save his bullets. (For what? What worse situation could he be in than wounded and having a sub right on his tail?) Over a chain-link fence he climbs, and thinks she won't be able to follow him. This subhuman, devolved so she's closer to an ape than a human, might have a harder time getting over it than a human with broken ribs? Into a building he goes, thinking he's now safe. Down some stairs and into a basement. He hears noises at the door upstairs, but writes it off as his imagination. In a room on lowest floor, he leaves his gun by the door and crosses the large room to do work on the other side. Because the primate can't climb a chain-link fence and because it was his imagination that something came into the building after him. Sigh. But the plot needed to get a sub into this basement, so the character had to be bogglingly stupid to make that happen.
The book had a few enjoyable moments in the beginning, but as it went on, those became few and far between. Unfortunately I cannot recommend this book.
Darwin Elevator should have been a great match for me. When I saw a review of it elsewhere, I ran right off to buy it, then had to stop when I found the ebook price was higher than the physical book price. How lucky it was offered to me for review!
The plot takes place in Darwin, Australia. Aliens come and drop a space elevator there, and with the elevator came a plague. It killed most people, and the surviving humans name it SUBS, because it devolves humans into sub-humans/primates. (Notice how the town name ties into the plot. Darwin. Devolution. This was typical of the symbolism in the book -- kind of 'beat you over the head'ish.)
Enter the bad guy. Blackfield. Fittingly named, he's as bad as bad can be. Mustache-twirling, rapist, not a single redeeming feature about him.
So the bad guy wants to take over the world (or what's left of it), and the story goes downhill from there. The bad guy shows his true(r) colors, and did just about every bad thing a person can do. (Including "He chewed a bite of food with his mouth open." and, while watching two girls he's forcing to make out in front of him: "He burped and said, "That's no kiss.".)
Unfortunately, in addition to the characters being black and white, their actions often make no sense just because the plot needed X to happen so it could advanced. For example: The main male good guy character, Luke Skyw-- Er, Skyler Luiken, a pilot, got himself into a situation. Stuck on the ground, armed with a rifle and multiple clips of ammo, he ran into a sub (the subhumans). She started to chase him. He's badly injured (broken ribs and more). He decides not to shoot her to save his bullets. (For what? What worse situation could he be in than wounded and having a sub right on his tail?) Over a chain-link fence he climbs, and thinks she won't be able to follow him. This subhuman, devolved so she's closer to an ape than a human, might have a harder time getting over it than a human with broken ribs? Into a building he goes, thinking he's now safe. Down some stairs and into a basement. He hears noises at the door upstairs, but writes it off as his imagination. In a room on lowest floor, he leaves his gun by the door and crosses the large room to do work on the other side. Because the primate can't climb a chain-link fence and because it was his imagination that something came into the building after him. Sigh. But the plot needed to get a sub into this basement, so the character had to be bogglingly stupid to make that happen.
The book had a few enjoyable moments in the beginning, but as it went on, those became few and far between. Unfortunately I cannot recommend this book.
mactammonty's review against another edition
5.0
Loving the strong female characters. They are scientists, and warriors. They are well developed and the men are too. He does not stick to stereotypes to bring this story to life.
The second book is already downloaded and in queue.
The second book is already downloaded and in queue.
rouver's review against another edition
2.0
Ugh, this was terrible. I hated the main character who was weirdly whiny & insecure. The 'bad guy' was cartoonishly bad, and a dude who was presented as a martyr/hero was actually the bad guy, in my mind. He specifically hoarded vital information from the entire world in order to make a profit and caused his business partner to commit suicide (which he then hid from the guy's daughter so she'd keep working for him). I think the most egregious part of the whole book was that the author had NO IDEA HOW SPACE ELEVATORS WORK. You can wave your tech-the-tech wand at *some* stuff when you want to write about science that we don't have the technology to accomplish, but if you don't understand that there are very good reasons why a space ladder HAS to be placed at the equator, and subsequently place yours on the southeastern coast of Australia, then you have no business writing a sci-fi book where the entire story is centered around a space elevator. There was other nonsensical "science" in this that made me want to throw the book, but that was the worst by far.
I gave it 2 stars because it managed to make me hate-read it to the end, as opposed to just giving up.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS TRASH
I gave it 2 stars because it managed to make me hate-read it to the end, as opposed to just giving up.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS TRASH
travelgirlut's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the combo of alien sci-fi with zombie apocalypse. Not something I've read before. The characters are a tiny bit cliche. They sort of reminded me of the crew from Firefly. I really didn't like the bad guy. He was a little too raunchy for my tastes. I'll definitely pick up the next one to see what happens!
preiman790's review against another edition
4.0
The year is 2283 and humanity is an endangered species. When mysterious alien visitors dropped a space elevator down square in the middle of Darwin Australia many considered it a gift to humanity. But when several years later those same aliens unleashed a plague on humanity degenerating most of the population down to the level of animals and the only safe place left on the planet is Darwin Australia perceptions changed. No one is sure why these aliens gave humanity either the gift or the curse, but finding out might be mankind’s only chance for survival when the aliens return again. Skyler Luiken is an immune. He is one of a very few people for whom the plague has no effect. His job along with a crew of other immunes is to travel outside the safe zone around the elevator to find and gather the supplies Darwin desperately needs to survive. But when the elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler and a brilliant scientist, Dr. Tania Sharma— to find out what is going wrong before the elevator stops working completely and the last humans fall to the same plague that doomed their planet several years before. I like to start off my reviews with the things I liked. The reason for this is simple, most people will only skim through a review anyway and stop when it’s half finished, staying just long enough to get the feel that this is or isn’t the book for them. So knowing that, I would prefer they make their determination based on the positive rather than the negative. So let’s get to the good stuff. While both an alien plague and a space elevator are nothing new to Science Fiction, Mr. Hough manages to put unique spins on both those things. The plague victims at first glance resemble zombies, but that’s just first glance. A fairer comparison would actually be to wild animals. They still suffer the same injuries that anyone else would and they still have thought and emotion, though in their case each suffers from a single overpowering emotion instead of the range that we baseline humans enjoy. And the elevator, never before have I seen them used to reinforce the mystery or even the tension of a book. But again that’s where Mr. Hough shines. He has not given into the temptation to just let the elevator be a piece of sciencey magic that’s always in the background. He has made it both a reminder to humanity of the aliens who are responsible for humanity’s damnation while at the same time being indispensable to humanity as the only thing keeping the plague away by providing transport to and from the large orbital farms that are the only source of food they have left. That concept of a mixed blessing is one we see over and over again in the Darwin Elevator; from the relatively comfortable lives of the orbital farmers and scientists to the treatment of immunes. But beyond the fun Science Fiction McGuffins, the Darwin Elevator is a great look into a society fresh from one apocalypse that has just found out they may be facing another one. The political intrigue was entertaining and realistic and the characters were all well rounded, especially Skyler. Perhaps Skyler, as Captain of his little ship and crew it would have been very easy to make him a great Captain. The kind we see in our beloved Star Trek, Battlestar or dare I say it Firefly. But instead he is adequate, not a terrible commander but by no means a great one. One of the biggest problems he has is that he may very well be too nice for the job, and Skyler is aware of it> He is constantly comparing himself to his predecessor and coming up short. For me, this made him the perfect protagonist, you know throughout the story that he is not the best man for the job; he’s just the only one capable. So now that we’ve gone over what worked, let’s just for a sec talk about what didn’t. Or at least what didn’t work for me. While the characters and overall story were very well done, I did feel myself left a bit cold by the action scenes, I always felt a bit disconnected from them and found myself wishing we could just get back to the story. Fortunately, it seems Mr. Hough felt the same way, as for the most part action sequences are short and to the point, relying on a minimum of description to get the point across. My only other issue is one I am sure will get better with practice; that’s pacing. At parts of the story, things kind of blew past with little time to digest while at others the pace slowed down to a crawl. All flaws aside I really did like this book, and genuinely look forward to the sequel All in all I give the Darwin Elevator a four out of five. With the note that if those minor issues are improved upon the next book will have no trouble getting a perfect score.