joannethefairy's review against another edition
4.0
Just got done with a reread. Even better the second time around! I didn’t find it at all slow this time through. I now have the sequel so guess what I’m diving into next?!!
——————
I loved this world, it is so unique - unlike anything I have read before.
The prose was BEAUTIFUL. Not as good as THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS by Alden Bell (my benchmark for BEAUTIFUL PROSE - seriously read it. You would never think a zombie novel can be so PRETTY!) but this is a worthy second place.
I found it to be a little slow at times, but I think that was more to do with me reading faster paced books alongside this one and it suffered a little because of it. Saying that, however if I had read this from start to finish without stopping for other books I don’t know if I would have noticed.
Another thing I loved about this book was the way that the author made Ben’s airship into another character. I got choked up when ****** happened and normally a flying blimp doesn’t engender those feelings in me.
So if you are looking for something a little steampunk, and a lot different with some Zombies (Ferals) thrown in, pick this up!
4 Stars - This book was awesome. I loved the way it was written, although I found it a little slow at times. Looking forward to a reread soon.
——————
I loved this world, it is so unique - unlike anything I have read before.
The prose was BEAUTIFUL. Not as good as THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS by Alden Bell (my benchmark for BEAUTIFUL PROSE - seriously read it. You would never think a zombie novel can be so PRETTY!) but this is a worthy second place.
I found it to be a little slow at times, but I think that was more to do with me reading faster paced books alongside this one and it suffered a little because of it. Saying that, however if I had read this from start to finish without stopping for other books I don’t know if I would have noticed.
Another thing I loved about this book was the way that the author made Ben’s airship into another character. I got choked up when ****** happened and normally a flying blimp doesn’t engender those feelings in me.
So if you are looking for something a little steampunk, and a lot different with some Zombies (Ferals) thrown in, pick this up!
4 Stars - This book was awesome. I loved the way it was written, although I found it a little slow at times. Looking forward to a reread soon.
trike's review against another edition
2.0
This book starts off so well and then just fades like a slowly-leaking helium balloon.
The ideas are ones we've all seen before, but Khanna gives them a twist. Instead of zombies, we have people who have become animalistic due to a brain-eating virus, and they're called Ferals. That's cool. Instead of old-timey steampunk airships, we get modern, sleek dirigibles and blimps. So far, so good. Instead of Mad Max's bad guy The Humongus we get the sky pirates called the Vikings... uh-oh.
Then the story moves along by the numbers and becomes kind of rote. Plots are no big deal, really, because even the simplest plot can be gussied up with cool action scenes, witty dialogue and razor-sharp prose. We almost get that. The first few pages are really terrific. Now that I've finished the book, it feels to me like Khanna rewrote and polished those opening two chapters over and over and spent less and less time doing so in the rest of the book.
It makes a good first impression, then becomes less interesting. Characters are constantly expelling their breath because they've forgotten to breathe. Bad guys get taken out with a couple blows to the head but our hero gets shot and beat up and stabbed and beat up some more and can still kick ass, even though he complains he's not really capable of doing much. Ferals get blown away when they are literally on top of main characters, but somehow none of their contaminated blood gets on the heroes. The protagonist is in love with one woman but sleeps with another, despite the whole "avoid exchanging fluids" thing. He's shallow but knows he's shallow, the rogue with a heart of gold. Coincidentally, his name is Ben Gold.
He's also Jewish, which comes up about halfway through the story but then it's abandoned for some reason. It's almost as if Khanna started doing an "Obi-wan Kenobi mentors Han Solo" story but then lost the thread of that. Which is too bad, because some more of that sort of thing would have helped cement Gold's development as he becomes less shallow.
Similarly, there's a scene when Gold is on the run from the Vikings and Ferals and happens to run into a guy with what might very well be the last horse. There is plenty of room for character development here as Gold encounters someone who behaves decently and differently from most people he knows, but the guy mysteriously disappears and Gold never thinks about him again. Might as well just skip over that chapter because it's just pointless if the main character doesn't learn something from it.
I also had a few technical issues with the technology, as well. The zeppelins seem to be incredibly fast, when in reality they are pretty slow. Everything that happens must take place in a relatively small area around the ruins of San Diego because it seems to only take a couple hours to get anywhere. Even if these are the fastest blimps ever made and can hit 100 mph, that's not a huge distance to travel. Los Angeles is 125 miles away, for instance. I dunno, it just kept bugging me every time Gold mentioned how fast his ship was. Also, you need a LOT of helium (or hydrogen) to lift a gondola with multiple rooms, engines, furniture, food, water, weapons all the stuff you need in your RV of the sky. So these things would be, at minimum, the size of Goodyear's latest dirigibles, and given the description of what some of these Vikings are carrying, waaaay bigger than the largest Zeppelins we've ever constructed. Plus, there sure seem to be a lot of them.
I could go on, but suffice to say these three stars are more for ideas rather than execution. It certainly doesn't meet the high praise on the cover blurb from Tad Williams of "Hemingway meets the Walking Dead." It's a decent beach read.
Khanna at least has the good sense to end the story at the emotional high point.
The ideas are ones we've all seen before, but Khanna gives them a twist. Instead of zombies, we have people who have become animalistic due to a brain-eating virus, and they're called Ferals. That's cool. Instead of old-timey steampunk airships, we get modern, sleek dirigibles and blimps. So far, so good. Instead of Mad Max's bad guy The Humongus we get the sky pirates called the Vikings... uh-oh.
Then the story moves along by the numbers and becomes kind of rote. Plots are no big deal, really, because even the simplest plot can be gussied up with cool action scenes, witty dialogue and razor-sharp prose. We almost get that. The first few pages are really terrific. Now that I've finished the book, it feels to me like Khanna rewrote and polished those opening two chapters over and over and spent less and less time doing so in the rest of the book.
It makes a good first impression, then becomes less interesting. Characters are constantly expelling their breath because they've forgotten to breathe. Bad guys get taken out with a couple blows to the head but our hero gets shot and beat up and stabbed and beat up some more and can still kick ass, even though he complains he's not really capable of doing much. Ferals get blown away when they are literally on top of main characters, but somehow none of their contaminated blood gets on the heroes. The protagonist is in love with one woman but sleeps with another, despite the whole "avoid exchanging fluids" thing. He's shallow but knows he's shallow, the rogue with a heart of gold. Coincidentally, his name is Ben Gold.
He's also Jewish, which comes up about halfway through the story but then it's abandoned for some reason. It's almost as if Khanna started doing an "Obi-wan Kenobi mentors Han Solo" story but then lost the thread of that. Which is too bad, because some more of that sort of thing would have helped cement Gold's development as he becomes less shallow.
Similarly, there's a scene when Gold is on the run from the Vikings and Ferals and happens to run into a guy with what might very well be the last horse. There is plenty of room for character development here as Gold encounters someone who behaves decently and differently from most people he knows, but the guy mysteriously disappears and Gold never thinks about him again. Might as well just skip over that chapter because it's just pointless if the main character doesn't learn something from it.
I also had a few technical issues with the technology, as well. The zeppelins seem to be incredibly fast, when in reality they are pretty slow. Everything that happens must take place in a relatively small area around the ruins of San Diego because it seems to only take a couple hours to get anywhere. Even if these are the fastest blimps ever made and can hit 100 mph, that's not a huge distance to travel. Los Angeles is 125 miles away, for instance. I dunno, it just kept bugging me every time Gold mentioned how fast his ship was. Also, you need a LOT of helium (or hydrogen) to lift a gondola with multiple rooms, engines, furniture, food, water, weapons all the stuff you need in your RV of the sky. So these things would be, at minimum, the size of Goodyear's latest dirigibles, and given the description of what some of these Vikings are carrying, waaaay bigger than the largest Zeppelins we've ever constructed. Plus, there sure seem to be a lot of them.
I could go on, but suffice to say these three stars are more for ideas rather than execution. It certainly doesn't meet the high praise on the cover blurb from Tad Williams of "Hemingway meets the Walking Dead." It's a decent beach read.
Khanna at least has the good sense to end the story at the emotional high point.
buuboobaby's review
DNF
I gave up at 50%. I could not connect with the characters. I loved the premise, but this just wasn't working for me.
I gave up at 50%. I could not connect with the characters. I loved the premise, but this just wasn't working for me.
openbookpages's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really enjoyable read!
The storyline moved fast and was engaging. I also liked the ending- it was humble and sweet for the world that they live in - with action right up to the end.
The characters within were explained well and not overexplained. I enjoyed following their story.
Great book- and would read more from the author
The storyline moved fast and was engaging. I also liked the ending- it was humble and sweet for the world that they live in - with action right up to the end.
The characters within were explained well and not overexplained. I enjoyed following their story.
Great book- and would read more from the author
colossal's review against another edition
3.0
Science fictional zombie apocalypse via virus with airships.
Ben Gold is the pragmatic action hero that's fallen in with scientists trying to combat the Bug that has left the majority of humanity as animalistic Ferals. Any fluid contact with a Feral will transfer the Bug. A key part of the life of the survivors of the Bug is airship travel, well away from the carriers of it. But the remaining elements of humanity are prey to each other and there's little trust to be had even though trade and barter are required for people to survive. When Ben loses his heirloom ship to raiders that also attack the scientist's settlement the foundation for a much larger battle is laid.
This was ok. It's not the book, it's me. I'm just not into post-apocalyptic stories or zombie stories for that matter. This is quite competent, and the world mostly makes sense (where's the fuel coming from?! Can everyone brew biofuel?!) but it's not really my sort of thing. However, it's quite short and the story setup is interesting. I will be proceeding to the next one.
Ben Gold is the pragmatic action hero that's fallen in with scientists trying to combat the Bug that has left the majority of humanity as animalistic Ferals. Any fluid contact with a Feral will transfer the Bug. A key part of the life of the survivors of the Bug is airship travel, well away from the carriers of it. But the remaining elements of humanity are prey to each other and there's little trust to be had even though trade and barter are required for people to survive. When Ben loses his heirloom ship to raiders that also attack the scientist's settlement the foundation for a much larger battle is laid.
This was ok. It's not the book, it's me. I'm just not into post-apocalyptic stories or zombie stories for that matter. This is quite competent, and the world mostly makes sense (where's the fuel coming from?! Can everyone brew biofuel?!) but it's not really my sort of thing. However, it's quite short and the story setup is interesting. I will be proceeding to the next one.
dtaylorbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the premise sounded interesting, but it turns out the writing is kind of blah. Not necessarily bad, but just rather mediocre. No pizzazz. And because I didn’t find the story to be THAT great it just all ended up rather meh for me.
Ben is this rough and tumble guy who ultimately has a heart of gold, but wants to keep it guarded because of the world he lives in. There isn’t too much of a personality going on there aside from a rather standard bad past so he closed off and keeps to himself kind of dude. Nothing spectacular. I think the characters with more potential are the women, but they’re kind of buried behind Ben. Not necessarily in a sexist kind of way, but it’s Ben’s story and women orbit around him for whatever they need (and no, I don’t mean that in a chick magnet kind of way). I think Miranda and Rosie both have a ton of potential and I would like to see Ben get out of the way so I can see those stories because his is kind of meh.
The world itself is just okay. It doesn’t go into too much detail about what happened and how everything crumbled. Literally what you get in the blurb is all you get. So I’m left with a lot of questions that are left unanswered and I’m just left to trust that this is the way it is and I’m not the biggest fan of that. I like a little more depth in my worlds and it seems like in FALLING SKY what happened was just a means to tell a story. It didn’t feel very substantive to me.
FALLING SKY is one of those books where I could keep reading in the series, but I’m not sure how much I’d enjoy the story. I found myself glazing over a fair amount, not necessarily bored with the book, but not all that engaged either. I think there are more substantial post-apocalyptic light sci-fi books out there with worlds that are more fleshed out and more substantive characters than what’s here. Like I said, it’s not bad, but it’s not the greatest either. It just doesn’t have a whole lot of oomph to it.
2.5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Ben is this rough and tumble guy who ultimately has a heart of gold, but wants to keep it guarded because of the world he lives in. There isn’t too much of a personality going on there aside from a rather standard bad past so he closed off and keeps to himself kind of dude. Nothing spectacular. I think the characters with more potential are the women, but they’re kind of buried behind Ben. Not necessarily in a sexist kind of way, but it’s Ben’s story and women orbit around him for whatever they need (and no, I don’t mean that in a chick magnet kind of way). I think Miranda and Rosie both have a ton of potential and I would like to see Ben get out of the way so I can see those stories because his is kind of meh.
The world itself is just okay. It doesn’t go into too much detail about what happened and how everything crumbled. Literally what you get in the blurb is all you get. So I’m left with a lot of questions that are left unanswered and I’m just left to trust that this is the way it is and I’m not the biggest fan of that. I like a little more depth in my worlds and it seems like in FALLING SKY what happened was just a means to tell a story. It didn’t feel very substantive to me.
FALLING SKY is one of those books where I could keep reading in the series, but I’m not sure how much I’d enjoy the story. I found myself glazing over a fair amount, not necessarily bored with the book, but not all that engaged either. I think there are more substantial post-apocalyptic light sci-fi books out there with worlds that are more fleshed out and more substantive characters than what’s here. Like I said, it’s not bad, but it’s not the greatest either. It just doesn’t have a whole lot of oomph to it.
2.5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
sirohub's review against another edition
1.0
I spent the majority of this book just rolling my eyes. I just didn't like it. It felt very subpar and I'm kinda sad about that.
docperschon's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: I was sent a review copy of this book.
TLDR: This is a fun, page-turning, action-packed adventure in a post-apocalyptic world of airships and zombies.
I don't understand what Tad Williams means in his blurb that this book is like Ernest Hemingway meets Walking Dead. Does he mean it's full of deep literary significance hidden beneath spare prose? Because that's not what this book is, unless that literary significance is buried really deep. Spare prose? You bet - Rajan Khanna isn't interested in hashed metaphors and purple prose. The language in Falling Sky is punchy and direct, just like the protagonist. That said, it's not the two-fisted fiction of Larry Correia, whose pulpy word choices get tired after a while. Khanna's writing is enjoyable to read, and his story of an airship pilot who has his ship stolen in a world where it's not safe to be on the ground (that's where all the zombies are!) is great summer fun.
I was sent the book because I study steampunk. While there are airships and air-fortresses, readers looking for goggles and gadgets or corsets and cogs are going to be sorely disappointed, because this book has no Victoriana and is hardly retrofuturistic. I think Tad Williams would have been more accurate if he'd said "this is the Walking Dead with airships," because that's more what it feels like. High-flying adventure mixed with shoot first and ask questions later survivalism. Except that Falling Sky isn't as relentlessly brutal as Walking Dead--while the world of Falling Sky is filled with danger at every turn, it's also one with hope on the horizon.
TLDR: This is a fun, page-turning, action-packed adventure in a post-apocalyptic world of airships and zombies.
I don't understand what Tad Williams means in his blurb that this book is like Ernest Hemingway meets Walking Dead. Does he mean it's full of deep literary significance hidden beneath spare prose? Because that's not what this book is, unless that literary significance is buried really deep. Spare prose? You bet - Rajan Khanna isn't interested in hashed metaphors and purple prose. The language in Falling Sky is punchy and direct, just like the protagonist. That said, it's not the two-fisted fiction of Larry Correia, whose pulpy word choices get tired after a while. Khanna's writing is enjoyable to read, and his story of an airship pilot who has his ship stolen in a world where it's not safe to be on the ground (that's where all the zombies are!) is great summer fun.
I was sent the book because I study steampunk. While there are airships and air-fortresses, readers looking for goggles and gadgets or corsets and cogs are going to be sorely disappointed, because this book has no Victoriana and is hardly retrofuturistic. I think Tad Williams would have been more accurate if he'd said "this is the Walking Dead with airships," because that's more what it feels like. High-flying adventure mixed with shoot first and ask questions later survivalism. Except that Falling Sky isn't as relentlessly brutal as Walking Dead--while the world of Falling Sky is filled with danger at every turn, it's also one with hope on the horizon.
carol26388's review
4.0
Cross posted at my blog: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/falling-sky-by-rajan-khanna/
I was zombie free for most of the summer. Once The Walking Dead ended, I mean. And except that one book, [b:The Girl with All the Gifts|17235026|The Girl with All the Gifts|M.R. Carey|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403033579s/17235026.jpg|23753235], which hardly counts, right? Oh, and I started that anthology [b:The Living Dead|3302568|The Living Dead (The Living Dead, #1)|John Joseph Adams|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391343270s/3302568.jpg|3339382], but didn't get very far, so that shouldn't count either. So when I saw a post about Falling Sky, I was both nostalgic and intrigued. Zombies? Check. Dystopia? Check. Airships? --Wait, what?
Yes--Airships.
Basic gist: Ben and his airship Cherub have reluctantly taken a contract to work with the scientists of the small community of Apple Pi. It has been a couple of generations since the Bug appeared, and the group of scientists there are hoping their research will bring a vaccine. Maybe even turn the infected, aggressive Ferals back into people. Ben considers it a pipe dream, and when the scientists want him to transport a Feral in Cherub, he puts his foot down. No matter how much he might admire Miranda, one of the lead scientists, there are some things that can’t be tolerated, and risking exposure to the Bug is one of them. Ben flies off in the Cherub only to discover that the nightmare attack that ruined the last community he was part of is about to start again. He needs to decide quickly if he will continue alone or rejoin a community.
I was most reminded of The Reapers are the Angels in atmosphere and theme. To me, atmosphere is a critical part of apocalypse/zombie books, and Khanna captures those elements beautifully. The setting is an interesting take in the genre; although it is at least a couple of generations post-disaster, there are some significant technological remnants of civilization as well as new cultural communities rising from the remainder of the old. The writing doesn’t quite soar to the Hemingway heights of Reapers, but it is appropriate for Ben. Writing is focused, with a pleasant variety of structure and vocabulary, making it above average in the field. A clever blend of flashback, dialogue and current action keeps the pace snappy while filling in details on character and world history.
Characterization is one of the standout aspects of this book. Khanna uses a single-narrator viewpoint through Ben, but still manages to convey a great deal of complexity to the main characters. It’s worth noting that there is a wide mix of people represented in the story, and neatly avoids the majority of genre tropes. Although I found I didn’t altogether like Ben, I found him far more tolerable than the equally selfish narrator of The Goldfinch, likely because he’s a person in progress.
Plotting is perhaps the weakest section of the story. I was carried along with the various events, noting a significant deus ex machina but not really caring, when the story was pleasantly sidetracked to an existence scenario. It is always interesting to experience the post-apocalypse world on those hardest of terms–the single forager–but the episode ended up resolving quickly and conveniently, moving Ben on to the next and more important section. There is a nice little genre twist, bringing an updated approach to the inhumanity of man. And the ending–whew. The ending was exceptionally brief, both in terms of emotional and plot resolution. While it opens the way to another story, it does end this one. More or less. I anticipate reviewer drama over this one. As an after thought, once I finished reading, a number logistical questions occurred to me. That could be a positive sign, in the sense I was still thinking about it, but it was also a negative one, as I realized a major decision didn’t make logical sense.
Regardless, it was a lot of fun, generally entertaining and worth the time. As a first novel, this was exceptional. But the $10.99 Kindle price? Now that, I’m no so sure–I’m glad this one was a library read. Overall, I recommend this for genre fans. As for myself, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more from Khanna.
I was zombie free for most of the summer. Once The Walking Dead ended, I mean. And except that one book, [b:The Girl with All the Gifts|17235026|The Girl with All the Gifts|M.R. Carey|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403033579s/17235026.jpg|23753235], which hardly counts, right? Oh, and I started that anthology [b:The Living Dead|3302568|The Living Dead (The Living Dead, #1)|John Joseph Adams|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391343270s/3302568.jpg|3339382], but didn't get very far, so that shouldn't count either. So when I saw a post about Falling Sky, I was both nostalgic and intrigued. Zombies? Check. Dystopia? Check. Airships? --Wait, what?
Yes--Airships.
Basic gist: Ben and his airship Cherub have reluctantly taken a contract to work with the scientists of the small community of Apple Pi. It has been a couple of generations since the Bug appeared, and the group of scientists there are hoping their research will bring a vaccine. Maybe even turn the infected, aggressive Ferals back into people. Ben considers it a pipe dream, and when the scientists want him to transport a Feral in Cherub, he puts his foot down. No matter how much he might admire Miranda, one of the lead scientists, there are some things that can’t be tolerated, and risking exposure to the Bug is one of them. Ben flies off in the Cherub only to discover that the nightmare attack that ruined the last community he was part of is about to start again. He needs to decide quickly if he will continue alone or rejoin a community.
I was most reminded of The Reapers are the Angels in atmosphere and theme. To me, atmosphere is a critical part of apocalypse/zombie books, and Khanna captures those elements beautifully. The setting is an interesting take in the genre; although it is at least a couple of generations post-disaster, there are some significant technological remnants of civilization as well as new cultural communities rising from the remainder of the old. The writing doesn’t quite soar to the Hemingway heights of Reapers, but it is appropriate for Ben. Writing is focused, with a pleasant variety of structure and vocabulary, making it above average in the field. A clever blend of flashback, dialogue and current action keeps the pace snappy while filling in details on character and world history.
Characterization is one of the standout aspects of this book. Khanna uses a single-narrator viewpoint through Ben, but still manages to convey a great deal of complexity to the main characters. It’s worth noting that there is a wide mix of people represented in the story, and neatly avoids the majority of genre tropes. Although I found I didn’t altogether like Ben, I found him far more tolerable than the equally selfish narrator of The Goldfinch, likely because he’s a person in progress.
Plotting is perhaps the weakest section of the story. I was carried along with the various events, noting a significant deus ex machina but not really caring, when the story was pleasantly sidetracked to an existence scenario. It is always interesting to experience the post-apocalypse world on those hardest of terms–the single forager–but the episode ended up resolving quickly and conveniently, moving Ben on to the next and more important section. There is a nice little genre twist, bringing an updated approach to the inhumanity of man. And the ending–whew. The ending was exceptionally brief, both in terms of emotional and plot resolution. While it opens the way to another story, it does end this one. More or less. I anticipate reviewer drama over this one. As an after thought, once I finished reading, a number logistical questions occurred to me. That could be a positive sign, in the sense I was still thinking about it, but it was also a negative one, as I realized a major decision didn’t make logical sense.
Regardless, it was a lot of fun, generally entertaining and worth the time. As a first novel, this was exceptional. But the $10.99 Kindle price? Now that, I’m no so sure–I’m glad this one was a library read. Overall, I recommend this for genre fans. As for myself, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more from Khanna.