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gbdill's review against another edition
4.0
Another great Robinson novel that doesn't disappoint. I was surprised that the story carried with it a Christian theme. I applaud Robinson for portraying the Christian faith in a positive light when many secular books these days tend to bash Christians. I've always been intrigued by the mysterious history of the Nephilim and enjoyed Robinson's various theories about them. This is a great story full of adventure, conspiracy, and mystery. Definitely a bit far fetched, but it wouldn't be a classic Robinson novel if it weren't.
dancpharmd's review against another edition
4.0
The sixth book of 2012 was a free Kindle book a while back – Jeremy Robinson’s Antarktos Rising. Robinson also publishes horror fiction under the name Jeremy Bishop and I read both Torment and The Sentinel last year and enjoyed them enough to give this a try as well. While this book was not horror, I would classify it as sci-fi/horror and so it sounded right up my alley.
The basic set up of Antarktos Rising is that the planet has undergone a cataclysmic crustal realignment, moving most of the habitable land ends up as ice a mile thick and Antarctica, now positioned in the tropics, becomes a lush paradise. Naturally, the better part of 50% of the population of the planet was killed off during this, but those that are left want to stake a claim to the new continent by engaging in a race to the center of the continent. What they don’t realize is there’s more to the thawed out Antarctica than they can even imagine.
Robinson sets the story up very well and does an admirable job of juggling a large cast of characters that somehow and rather inexplicably includes Dr. Merrill Clark, a creationist scientist who believes the Bible to be a literal history. This was hard for me to get my head around as I look at those things as being pretty much mutually exclusive – either you believe the Bible is a history text or you’re a scientist, not both. I was really nervous that I would be beaten over the head with Christian morality a la the Left Behind series, so much so that for the first 50-60 pages, I had my guard up higher than the Antarctic wall that Clark discovers once the ice of the continent melts.
I needn’t have worried, as Robinson handled the religious content much more deftly than lesser writers would have. I have to admit that a part of me enjoys stories steeped in some sort of religion, especially fiction like this. If this book had just been a race for the center of Antarctica with a bunch of military types fighting each other, it would have been a bore. Add in man-eating dinosaurs that somehow survived being frozen for 12,000 years and Biblical characters that should have been wiped out by the Great Flood (which, according to Clark, was the time of the last crustal displacement) and you have a much more engaging story.
I’d recommend giving Antarktos Rising a whirl, even if you’re normally put off by books that seem religious in nature. This is not the Left Behind series. Robinson is a better author than both of those guys combined.
The basic set up of Antarktos Rising is that the planet has undergone a cataclysmic crustal realignment, moving most of the habitable land ends up as ice a mile thick and Antarctica, now positioned in the tropics, becomes a lush paradise. Naturally, the better part of 50% of the population of the planet was killed off during this, but those that are left want to stake a claim to the new continent by engaging in a race to the center of the continent. What they don’t realize is there’s more to the thawed out Antarctica than they can even imagine.
Robinson sets the story up very well and does an admirable job of juggling a large cast of characters that somehow and rather inexplicably includes Dr. Merrill Clark, a creationist scientist who believes the Bible to be a literal history. This was hard for me to get my head around as I look at those things as being pretty much mutually exclusive – either you believe the Bible is a history text or you’re a scientist, not both. I was really nervous that I would be beaten over the head with Christian morality a la the Left Behind series, so much so that for the first 50-60 pages, I had my guard up higher than the Antarctic wall that Clark discovers once the ice of the continent melts.
I needn’t have worried, as Robinson handled the religious content much more deftly than lesser writers would have. I have to admit that a part of me enjoys stories steeped in some sort of religion, especially fiction like this. If this book had just been a race for the center of Antarctica with a bunch of military types fighting each other, it would have been a bore. Add in man-eating dinosaurs that somehow survived being frozen for 12,000 years and Biblical characters that should have been wiped out by the Great Flood (which, according to Clark, was the time of the last crustal displacement) and you have a much more engaging story.
I’d recommend giving Antarktos Rising a whirl, even if you’re normally put off by books that seem religious in nature. This is not the Left Behind series. Robinson is a better author than both of those guys combined.
sabrosa's review against another edition
2.0
Entretenido y atrapante, tiene momentos de tensión que son muy llamativos y descripciones muy buenas que amé porque podía imaginarme todo con detalle, hasta sentí frío
aturtlesnestbookreviews's review against another edition
5.0
Different type of book than I usually read but I loved this book. The action, adventure, and certain myths from the bible keep you riveted. I enjoyed it, definitely made my favorites list.
mermaidx's review against another edition
3.0
Was enjoying until I discovered it was going to take a creationist/biblical turn... decided to save myself the frustration.
kate_farber's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at about...1/3rd through? I stopped before the official start of the race.
I have a fairly high tolerance for ridiculous sci-fi thriller beach novels, especially those of the explore-dangerous-new-worlds variety. But I just couldn't. It's too stupid. I could not suspend enough disbelief to deal with how bad the "science" is. It's not even internally consistent! Okay, fine, you want us to buy that it's possible to flash-freeze human beings in seconds (hahaha), but then you expect me to believe that only ONE person on the east coast survives because what, she alone has a generator and an electric heater? And as a photographer, she is crucial to the future of America because she's the only person who can...talk to her father? Clearly without her they'd have no way to...well...hmmm....
Even so, that might have been okay if the other aspects were redeeming, but nope. The characters are all generic cliches: the macho Latino! The hardass sniper woman! The absent-but-redeemed father! There's also a strange amount of Christianity going on and I started worrying that it would eventually lead to a cloying proselytizing moral about faith (but as a DNF, I could be wrong about that). This is a story in which four billion people die and strange creatures start spontaneously generating in a freaky giant-filled jungle, but I found myself bored.
What ultimately made me put it down though was the bounty of casual racism. The Latino man can't stop saying "chica"! Of course everyone else hates the Arab Alliance, their countries were so bad! Look how regimented and evil the communist Chinese are! If it's only concerned with preserving the light and justice of democracy, etc, why does the US ally with the European kingdom? I CAN'T.
I have a fairly high tolerance for ridiculous sci-fi thriller beach novels, especially those of the explore-dangerous-new-worlds variety. But I just couldn't. It's too stupid. I could not suspend enough disbelief to deal with how bad the "science" is. It's not even internally consistent! Okay, fine, you want us to buy that it's possible to flash-freeze human beings in seconds (hahaha), but then you expect me to believe that only ONE person on the east coast survives because what, she alone has a generator and an electric heater? And as a photographer, she is crucial to the future of America because she's the only person who can...talk to her father? Clearly without her they'd have no way to...well...hmmm....
Even so, that might have been okay if the other aspects were redeeming, but nope. The characters are all generic cliches: the macho Latino! The hardass sniper woman! The absent-but-redeemed father! There's also a strange amount of Christianity going on and I started worrying that it would eventually lead to a cloying proselytizing moral about faith (but as a DNF, I could be wrong about that). This is a story in which four billion people die and strange creatures start spontaneously generating in a freaky giant-filled jungle, but I found myself bored.
What ultimately made me put it down though was the bounty of casual racism. The Latino man can't stop saying "chica"! Of course everyone else hates the Arab Alliance, their countries were so bad! Look how regimented and evil the communist Chinese are! If it's only concerned with preserving the light and justice of democracy, etc, why does the US ally with the European kingdom? I CAN'T.
lilyn_g's review against another edition
2.0
I don't mind books with a religious bent. I generally like books from Jeremy Robinson.
...Antarktos Rising is annoying.
I wanted to read a thriller, not be preached at.
I managed to finish the book, but it was sheer stubbornness. I rolled my eyes a ridiculous amount. He would go from preachy to just enough action to draw me back in, to preachy again.
Ugh. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.
...Antarktos Rising is annoying.
I wanted to read a thriller, not be preached at.
I managed to finish the book, but it was sheer stubbornness. I rolled my eyes a ridiculous amount. He would go from preachy to just enough action to draw me back in, to preachy again.
Ugh. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.
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