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ehhilary's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
guerki's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
sapphicreads64's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Unique premise, and got entertaining towards the end, but the beginning was somewhat boring, and the Italian main character was such an obvious self insert. Also the whole book was a little cheesy.
horsley123's review against another edition
2.0
The idea of terrorism using computers and the electricity grid is fair enough. The descent in chaos was almost believable but very quickly the combination of the prose style, translation and frankly, daft events made this book read like a bad Dan Brown story.
The translation was truly awful. Who says 'A quarter of seven' - having spoken to my 14 year old daughter apparently that is the very literal translation of the German. There is a scene involving a truck and someone tries to get in/out of the cab. In the next sentence the cab drives off - I reread it a number of times as up to that point there had not been a taxi involved, then realised that somehow the cab of the truck was apparently driving off by itself - really?
The prose is clunky, I appreciate the translation did not help but I laughed aloud when the lady love interest put her arm around the 'thickening waist' of the Italian IT specialist. There were so many moments when I thought 'Come on'. The whole of Europe is in disarray due to terrorist attacks on the power network. One of the main characters works in the EU, she takes two people with her to the EU offices. As the electricity is down the security passes are not working so the security guard lets the three in. Again, really? Two complete strangers into the EU offices which should be on high alert.
Later the EU lady gives a presentation - with pictures, as obviously these top level diplomats and managers would not be able to take it in without pictures - on how it is going to take weeks to get the water purification plant, the sewage systems and even the water pipes working. After her presentation she goes to a luxury hotel and has a hot shower. A few pages later this gaffe is explained away by saying that the luxury hotels have got water as top level people use them. Magic how you can get all that infrastructure to work for selected buildings.
If IP addresses are your sort of excitement then this could be the thriller for you, but please don't expect much.
The translation was truly awful. Who says 'A quarter of seven' - having spoken to my 14 year old daughter apparently that is the very literal translation of the German. There is a scene involving a truck and someone tries to get in/out of the cab. In the next sentence the cab drives off - I reread it a number of times as up to that point there had not been a taxi involved, then realised that somehow the cab of the truck was apparently driving off by itself - really?
The prose is clunky, I appreciate the translation did not help but I laughed aloud when the lady love interest put her arm around the 'thickening waist' of the Italian IT specialist. There were so many moments when I thought 'Come on'. The whole of Europe is in disarray due to terrorist attacks on the power network. One of the main characters works in the EU, she takes two people with her to the EU offices. As the electricity is down the security passes are not working so the security guard lets the three in. Again, really? Two complete strangers into the EU offices which should be on high alert.
Later the EU lady gives a presentation - with pictures, as obviously these top level diplomats and managers would not be able to take it in without pictures - on how it is going to take weeks to get the water purification plant, the sewage systems and even the water pipes working. After her presentation she goes to a luxury hotel and has a hot shower. A few pages later this gaffe is explained away by saying that the luxury hotels have got water as top level people use them. Magic how you can get all that infrastructure to work for selected buildings.
If IP addresses are your sort of excitement then this could be the thriller for you, but please don't expect much.
phantastic_jules's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
tswe's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
jude99's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
3.5
Der Anfang war super aber dann hat es sich sehr gezogen
3rina's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
shelf_love's review against another edition
2.0
A NetGalley e-book in exchange for an honest review.
A modern reality on the end of the world. Blackout is about… a blackout. All of Europe is plunged into the dark. The electric grids collapse and surges in power and technical failures keep everyone in the dark. In our modern world everything relies on electricity, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Take a moment and just go through your morning routine.
*alarm goes off, typically these days that is your phone, the one that you plugged in to charge while you slept *head to the bathroom to get ready. Can your toilet flush more than once? Can your taps turn on? Do you have enough windows to let in natural light to see what you are doing? *breakfast. Can your food last without electricity? Where do you even get your food? Where do they get their food? *jump in the car to head to work. Electric cars, electric trains and other public transports, do those affect your commute? *at work, do you use a computer? Electric equipment? *Gas, how is that pumped to the surface to fill up your gas tank? * and just keep going from there.
What caused the blackout though? How did an entire nation’s grid collapse?
A former hacker starts investigating the situation when he notices some anomalies. Of course he becomes prime suspect in the disaster and the following chaos as millions of people are left without power, food, water and basic sanitation needs.
I wanted to love this book. This is quickly becoming a huge sub genre in the thriller/post-apocalyptic world. The loss of power would not kill people, the symptoms of lost power would though. By the thousands people will die.
I was initially hard to fall into the characters and felt a little disjointed. It was good to see the effects on different groups of people but I felt this part was dragged out way too long and not executed in the best way. This book could have been shorter and still conveyed the same things. I liked the technical and dry side of explaining how the electric grids were connected and what that would mean for the people that are so heavily reliant on them. It definitely makes you take a pause and review your own life. What would happen if you were in a blackout that lasted longer than a few hours?
A modern reality on the end of the world. Blackout is about… a blackout. All of Europe is plunged into the dark. The electric grids collapse and surges in power and technical failures keep everyone in the dark. In our modern world everything relies on electricity, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Take a moment and just go through your morning routine.
*alarm goes off, typically these days that is your phone, the one that you plugged in to charge while you slept *head to the bathroom to get ready. Can your toilet flush more than once? Can your taps turn on? Do you have enough windows to let in natural light to see what you are doing? *breakfast. Can your food last without electricity? Where do you even get your food? Where do they get their food? *jump in the car to head to work. Electric cars, electric trains and other public transports, do those affect your commute? *at work, do you use a computer? Electric equipment? *Gas, how is that pumped to the surface to fill up your gas tank? * and just keep going from there.
What caused the blackout though? How did an entire nation’s grid collapse?
A former hacker starts investigating the situation when he notices some anomalies. Of course he becomes prime suspect in the disaster and the following chaos as millions of people are left without power, food, water and basic sanitation needs.
I wanted to love this book. This is quickly becoming a huge sub genre in the thriller/post-apocalyptic world. The loss of power would not kill people, the symptoms of lost power would though. By the thousands people will die.
I was initially hard to fall into the characters and felt a little disjointed. It was good to see the effects on different groups of people but I felt this part was dragged out way too long and not executed in the best way. This book could have been shorter and still conveyed the same things. I liked the technical and dry side of explaining how the electric grids were connected and what that would mean for the people that are so heavily reliant on them. It definitely makes you take a pause and review your own life. What would happen if you were in a blackout that lasted longer than a few hours?