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The Movement Trilogy #1
The Settlers
Earth is on the brink of ruin. Great storms destroy cities. Rising seas reshape the continents. Afraid for its survival, mankind constructs a fleet of space stations in orbit, and steps off-world.
Among the humans fighting for their future are Micah Sparrow, a widower who uncovers a plot to return mankind to the dark ages; Tasneem Kyoh, who undergoes life-extension treatments and begins the search for humanity's next home; and David Dewbury, a prodigy who believes he knows where that home might be.
But in space, the rules aren't the only things that have changed. Man himself has changed, and with the Earth in tatters behind him, man turns his attention to the one thing left to destroy: himself.
The Settlers is the explosive first book in Jason Gurley's Movement Trilogy, the epic story of man's small step into space, and the great leaps humanity must make to save its own future.
Among the humans fighting for their future are Micah Sparrow, a widower who uncovers a plot to return mankind to the dark ages; Tasneem Kyoh, who undergoes life-extension treatments and begins the search for humanity's next home; and David Dewbury, a prodigy who believes he knows where that home might be.
But in space, the rules aren't the only things that have changed. Man himself has changed, and with the Earth in tatters behind him, man turns his attention to the one thing left to destroy: himself.
The Settlers is the explosive first book in Jason Gurley's Movement Trilogy, the epic story of man's small step into space, and the great leaps humanity must make to save its own future.
315 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 13, 2013
175 people are currently reading
1349 people want to read
About the author
Jason Gurley
38 books431 followersJason Gurley is the author of Awake in the World (Roaring Brook, 2019) and Eleanor (Crown, 2016), and co-author of The Edge of Sleep (St. Martin's, 2023). His short fiction appears in the anthologies Loosed Upon the World (Saga, 2015) and Help Fund My Robot Army!!! (2014). He lives and writes in Scappoose, Oregon. More at www.jasongurley.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
June 13, 2014
This book was quite different to what I was expecting. It is essentially a collection of stories examining the lives of various characters living on several space stations, after the surface of Earth becomes too dangerous for long-term survival. These stories tend to have quite a lot of emotional resonance.
The early part of the book focuses on the idea of immortality, and what might happen if you attempt to create a serum to extend human life. The later part of the book looks at the formation of a dystopian society.
The various parts of the book, while essentially stand-alone stories all tie together reasonably well. It does feel like a cohesive book.
The main thing that bugged me about The Settlers was the lack of quotation marks around dialog. I'm not sure if this was a formatting error or something intentional, but it made the text unnecessarily difficult to follow.
The early part of the book focuses on the idea of immortality, and what might happen if you attempt to create a serum to extend human life. The later part of the book looks at the formation of a dystopian society.
The various parts of the book, while essentially stand-alone stories all tie together reasonably well. It does feel like a cohesive book.
The main thing that bugged me about The Settlers was the lack of quotation marks around dialog. I'm not sure if this was a formatting error or something intentional, but it made the text unnecessarily difficult to follow.
November 27, 2013
The lack of quotation marks really bothered me.
May 28, 2016
WHY ARE THERE NO QUOTATION MARKS FOR DIALOG? THIS ISN'T THE ROAD. UGH. WHOEVER DECIDED THAT THIS IS THE NEW 'STYLISTIC CHOICE' PLEASE GO AWAY.
May 27, 2014
There are no quotation marks in this book. Luckily the conversations are pretty straight forward he said she said. The time line jumps ahead in leaps and bounds leaving unanswered questions about what happened to people in the past. You get to know the characters just long enough to invest in them and then they are gone and you find out they died 100 years ago. This book isn't really about the details of people. It's the details of human society as they transition to off planet life. What happens to the many cultures of earth. Do we progress or regress as a species. Once you get over the lost quotation marks it is an interesting take on space life.
December 31, 2017
3.5 stars...This book needs chapter and time separations. It was confusing to read the way it is now.
March 30, 2016
So, I started reading this book after reading the description. The description however teases a different story than the book provided.
Now, before I go on, I want to mention something which annoyed the crap out of me. I'm not a native English speaker, and this might have made this issue worse for me than it probably is for others, but the author in my opinion deserves a slap in the face for the way he chose to write dialogues. He is not using any quotation marks at all, which makes it hard enough to read, mixing up speech and action, and on top of it, he does things like for 7, 8 lines in a row have "something one of the characters says, said character 1", which makes it cumbersome to read by the repetition alone. It is as if the author, who has written more than this book, still hasn't discovered language as his tool of trade, but solely relies on his fantasy to be transfered somehow.
Now about the content, the storyline covers a huge frame of time, which is split into many smaller stories (I'm even struggling to call 'em that, as it is really more a bunch of frames from each story), which are loosely connected through the main story arch.
And that loose connection is a bit of the problem. Most of those frames don't progress the main storyline, they are just snapshots of people living at specific moments of those storyline, and because they are just snapshots, they aren't developed far enough to be satisfying. The main storyline seems to happen in the background, often without reason, motivation, triggers or explanation. Which is also not satisfactory.
In the end I see a big story, which I would have been interested in reading, I see a lot of those smaller stories, which I would have been very interested in exploring, but the book falls short to deliver on either one.
In my opinion, if the author would have taken this book as his blueprint for a series (and yes I'm aware that it is part of a series), in which he'd explored the little frames episode by episode, but with the detail and completeness they deserve, and more glue to tie it together as a whole, this book could be a 5 star series.
The way it is I'm struggling to give it even 3, which I ultimately will, as in everything it is lacking, it still somehow managed to create a desire to look closer at the universe Gurley is creating there.
Now, before I go on, I want to mention something which annoyed the crap out of me. I'm not a native English speaker, and this might have made this issue worse for me than it probably is for others, but the author in my opinion deserves a slap in the face for the way he chose to write dialogues. He is not using any quotation marks at all, which makes it hard enough to read, mixing up speech and action, and on top of it, he does things like for 7, 8 lines in a row have "something one of the characters says, said character 1", which makes it cumbersome to read by the repetition alone. It is as if the author, who has written more than this book, still hasn't discovered language as his tool of trade, but solely relies on his fantasy to be transfered somehow.
Now about the content, the storyline covers a huge frame of time, which is split into many smaller stories (I'm even struggling to call 'em that, as it is really more a bunch of frames from each story), which are loosely connected through the main story arch.
And that loose connection is a bit of the problem. Most of those frames don't progress the main storyline, they are just snapshots of people living at specific moments of those storyline, and because they are just snapshots, they aren't developed far enough to be satisfying. The main storyline seems to happen in the background, often without reason, motivation, triggers or explanation. Which is also not satisfactory.
In the end I see a big story, which I would have been interested in reading, I see a lot of those smaller stories, which I would have been very interested in exploring, but the book falls short to deliver on either one.
In my opinion, if the author would have taken this book as his blueprint for a series (and yes I'm aware that it is part of a series), in which he'd explored the little frames episode by episode, but with the detail and completeness they deserve, and more glue to tie it together as a whole, this book could be a 5 star series.
The way it is I'm struggling to give it even 3, which I ultimately will, as in everything it is lacking, it still somehow managed to create a desire to look closer at the universe Gurley is creating there.
April 20, 2015
This is the first audiobook I've ever listened to; thanks to the author for providing it for free as part of his email program!
This was an interesting book, not just the storyline, but the way in which it was constructed. The main storyline deals with Tasneem Kyoh and David Dewbury during the time in which mankind is slowly moving off-planet into huge space stations because of the environmental destruction on earth. The author fills the gaps not with simple "this happened, then this happened", but with complex stories of people caught up in history as it happened. The stories of Mae and Micah, Bernard and Angelika, and Eldon were especially poignant. Of course, this is the first volume in a planned trilogy, and Mr. Gurley ends this first book in grand fashion on a wonderful cliffhanger. While this starts out as a simple story, by the end of the book, it looks like the trilogy will be turning into a space opera.
The narration in the audiobook, by Maria Hunter Welles, was very good. Her ability to change her voice for each character throughout the book is simply amazing. At no point did I wonder who was talking; her voice characterizations are that good. Several reviewers have complained that the print version of the book has no quotation marks, making the story somewhat hard to follow. This problem doesn't exist in the audiobook.
Highly recommended!
This was an interesting book, not just the storyline, but the way in which it was constructed. The main storyline deals with Tasneem Kyoh and David Dewbury during the time in which mankind is slowly moving off-planet into huge space stations because of the environmental destruction on earth. The author fills the gaps not with simple "this happened, then this happened", but with complex stories of people caught up in history as it happened. The stories of Mae and Micah, Bernard and Angelika, and Eldon were especially poignant. Of course, this is the first volume in a planned trilogy, and Mr. Gurley ends this first book in grand fashion on a wonderful cliffhanger. While this starts out as a simple story, by the end of the book, it looks like the trilogy will be turning into a space opera.
The narration in the audiobook, by Maria Hunter Welles, was very good. Her ability to change her voice for each character throughout the book is simply amazing. At no point did I wonder who was talking; her voice characterizations are that good. Several reviewers have complained that the print version of the book has no quotation marks, making the story somewhat hard to follow. This problem doesn't exist in the audiobook.
Highly recommended!
January 10, 2019
The Settlers, part 1 of The Movement Trilogy (actually kind of a 4 parter), is an emotional tour de force (but not overly emotional, and not emotionally draining) covering the slowly unfolding events leading up to a revolution across the twelve civilian space stations which now represent the last vestige of hope for the human species continued survival. Gee, that sounds dramatic.
We learn that inhabitants of the space stations fall into two categories, Machine class and Onyx. Onyx class dwellers want for nothing. They have no need of money; no need of employment, unless they really want a job but then only permitted to do something easy; shopping is done for them. You get the picture.
Onyx class can have as many babies as they wish, with anyone they wish. Machine class are, you guessed it, the labourers. They do all the work. All of it. They can't not work. They have to apply to have a relationship and they have to apply to have a baby. Applying to have a baby means you enter a lottery. Not many people 'win'.
You can see what's going to happen here. Uprising.
The uprising unravels slowly, you can tell it's going to happen, though because we spend the story jumping between lives, it can be hard to gauge where we are in the unfolding revolution. We only really get snippets of it when it affects the lives of the characters we follow.
The author, Jason Gurley, has created a dystopian, pre/verge-(Earth)apocalyptic tale but it doesn't at all feel like those genres. We aren't party to all the usual apoc'/dystopian tropes: horror, darkness, starvation, authoritarian overlords hell-bent on ruling us into our grave.
We learn about out new world through the thoughts, feelings, and conversations of the characters, Bernard with his sweaters, Tasneems feelings for David, Zeke and Poppys maintenance rendezvous. And Micah. I feel I experienced most of my education about the space stations from Micah.
The writing has a unique flow to it and it keeps an even keel throughout. Whether an event, a recollection, or a conversation, Gurleys writing has a soft, even, and gentle style to it, flowing like a leaf atop a slow stream of cool water. It feels like the words just relaxingly dripped onto the page from Gurleys pen, arranging themselves according to some unknown rule of emotional interpretation.
I was struck by the realness of all the characters but none moreso than in the desperate brokenness of Micah.
When we meet Micah he is recalling a conversation with his wife:
This is not a sci-fi book. It has sci-fi elements, yet I honestly feel there is so much of 'the human condition' contained in the pages of this book that to only label it a sci-fi, or a dystopian/apoc', is to do it an injustice. That 'said', it's definitely not a drama. It's an analysis of us. It is a mirror.
My Rating: 3.8 lost wives of 5
(one of the links in this review holds the answers to a great mystery: 10-37-5)
As you've probably read in the other reviews, the premise of The Settlers is people are leaving Earth, because Earth is crap, we ruined it. We knew we were ruining it but we didn't listen to science, logic, or reason, and, as is happening right now, we didn't try to help the planet until it was way too late....the future looks bright :)
When construction began in 2047, the world's population was nine billion, down from 10.5 billion just three years before. The Earth's unstable season claimed lives in startling numbers, with incredible speed.The first of the group of space stations, Ganymede, was brought online is 2080. Earth's population was down to 4.2 billion. Ganymede would house just 3 million people. There are twelve stations in total, each subsequent station was able to house a few hundred people more than the one prior. The final station, which is still just a rumour, is said to be able to house a billion.
We learn that inhabitants of the space stations fall into two categories, Machine class and Onyx. Onyx class dwellers want for nothing. They have no need of money; no need of employment, unless they really want a job but then only permitted to do something easy; shopping is done for them. You get the picture.
Onyx class can have as many babies as they wish, with anyone they wish. Machine class are, you guessed it, the labourers. They do all the work. All of it. They can't not work. They have to apply to have a relationship and they have to apply to have a baby. Applying to have a baby means you enter a lottery. Not many people 'win'.
You can see what's going to happen here. Uprising.
We follow not any series of events per se, but the lives and conversations of a handful of very normal, very real, and incredibly well written people, whilst events play out.Oh, how revolting...
The uprising unravels slowly, you can tell it's going to happen, though because we spend the story jumping between lives, it can be hard to gauge where we are in the unfolding revolution. We only really get snippets of it when it affects the lives of the characters we follow.
The author, Jason Gurley, has created a dystopian, pre/verge-(Earth)apocalyptic tale but it doesn't at all feel like those genres. We aren't party to all the usual apoc'/dystopian tropes: horror, darkness, starvation, authoritarian overlords hell-bent on ruling us into our grave.
We learn about out new world through the thoughts, feelings, and conversations of the characters, Bernard with his sweaters, Tasneems feelings for David, Zeke and Poppys maintenance rendezvous. And Micah. I feel I experienced most of my education about the space stations from Micah.
The writing has a unique flow to it and it keeps an even keel throughout. Whether an event, a recollection, or a conversation, Gurleys writing has a soft, even, and gentle style to it, flowing like a leaf atop a slow stream of cool water. It feels like the words just relaxingly dripped onto the page from Gurleys pen, arranging themselves according to some unknown rule of emotional interpretation.
I was struck by the realness of all the characters but none moreso than in the desperate brokenness of Micah.
When we meet Micah he is recalling a conversation with his wife:
What did you think of me? When you first saw me?As time goes by things change. Micah and Mae fight. A big long lasting falling out. Their fight feels so real, and the drastic change from the love and adoration that came before was just so stark and... like a slap in the face. Mae has laid out her desire for the future, she has a chance to fulfil her life-long dream, and Micah wants no part in it. Her disappointment and upset invades every aspect of their lives together.
Well I thought you were beautiful.
Really?
I thought, She has beautiful hair.
My hair. What about my eyes?
At first I couldn't see them. Not through your hair.
But then you did.
But then I did.
What did you think?
I thought, She has lovely eyes.
Where were you this afternoon?We move forward again. Micah loses Mae. He has lost her in so many different ways. He now sits in a room on a space station that he never ever imagined himself living on. Hundreds of miles from everything he knows, completely alone, with no possessions, talking to the A.I. built in to his room.
Out.
Mae, can we stop being so hostile?
I'm not being hostile. That's where I was. Out
Micah goes back to the bed and wraps himself around the spare pillow again, and presses his face into its softness, and screams the longest scream he can sustain. Eyes red-rimmed and tender, pillow smushed against his cheek, he drifts into a terrible sleep.These feel like real people. And it was a pleasure to meet each and every one of them.
This is not a sci-fi book. It has sci-fi elements, yet I honestly feel there is so much of 'the human condition' contained in the pages of this book that to only label it a sci-fi, or a dystopian/apoc', is to do it an injustice. That 'said', it's definitely not a drama. It's an analysis of us. It is a mirror.
My Rating: 3.8 lost wives of 5
(one of the links in this review holds the answers to a great mystery: 10-37-5)
January 17, 2018
Surprise freebie off of Amazon.
I blazed through this book and plan on picking up the next in the series. :)
I blazed through this book and plan on picking up the next in the series. :)
January 4, 2014
The story is interesting if a little slow at times and it skips around a lot. I read these two books one after the other as neither is very long and they have kind of joined together in my mind as they could easily have been one book with Parts 1 and 2. So I'm just going to review them in that manner as well. Tasneem Kyoh and David Dewbury are the characters that tie this story together through all the skipping around as they are the only two around for the 500 years covered in these two stories.
The writing style was peculiar in that the author chose not to use quotation marks for dialogue in either book. I don't know if he was trying to save ink on his printer or what, but I found it somewhat annoying while reading. I can't think of any reason to choose to write dialogue without proper punctuation unless perhaps quotation marks have committed some horrible crime in the future and have been outlawed. On the whole it was distracting to me as a reader. I would have given it a 4 if this had not been so.
Nevertheless, once I got past the grammar the story was really pretty well done and I found it interesting. In the first part, The Settlers, humans are fleeing Earth to live in orbital space stations constructed to save the population from the greed and lack of foresight humankind has shown which has resulted in the planet's weather, volcanoes, etc. being destabilized to such a point that it's becoming unsafe to live on the planet. Having just been saved from certain death on the planet below that has been destroyed at their hands they are more willing to pull together to try to make a go of continuing the species.
By the time we move to the second part of the story, The Colonists, humankind is once again suffering under greed and corruption from those who feel obligated to try to control others in a totalitarian state where the Onyx class lords over the Machine class. People are mad and revolution is in the wind (or the air filtration systems as the case may be). I just watched Elysium the other day so it is difficult not to draw a comparison between the two story lines.
All in all the story itself was good and I was pretty interested. As I mentioned above, I would have given these a 4 if not for the distraction of the improper punctuation or lack thereof.
The writing style was peculiar in that the author chose not to use quotation marks for dialogue in either book. I don't know if he was trying to save ink on his printer or what, but I found it somewhat annoying while reading. I can't think of any reason to choose to write dialogue without proper punctuation unless perhaps quotation marks have committed some horrible crime in the future and have been outlawed. On the whole it was distracting to me as a reader. I would have given it a 4 if this had not been so.
Nevertheless, once I got past the grammar the story was really pretty well done and I found it interesting. In the first part, The Settlers, humans are fleeing Earth to live in orbital space stations constructed to save the population from the greed and lack of foresight humankind has shown which has resulted in the planet's weather, volcanoes, etc. being destabilized to such a point that it's becoming unsafe to live on the planet. Having just been saved from certain death on the planet below that has been destroyed at their hands they are more willing to pull together to try to make a go of continuing the species.
By the time we move to the second part of the story, The Colonists, humankind is once again suffering under greed and corruption from those who feel obligated to try to control others in a totalitarian state where the Onyx class lords over the Machine class. People are mad and revolution is in the wind (or the air filtration systems as the case may be). I just watched Elysium the other day so it is difficult not to draw a comparison between the two story lines.
All in all the story itself was good and I was pretty interested. As I mentioned above, I would have given these a 4 if not for the distraction of the improper punctuation or lack thereof.
August 26, 2016
I did enjoy this book, the premise intrigued me and it had a good storyline, but I did have some issues which detracted from what it could have been.
Firstly, I'm not a fan of the writing style. The narrative didn't feel like it flowed smoothly, and I found myself re-reading paragraphs repeatedly because I couldn't tell who was speaking, if they were speaking at all, or making an observation or just the author describing what they were feeling.
My other main issue with the story as a whole was the fact that there were a lot of events that were alluded to, had the story built up to them, and then suddenly moved on to a point during or after the event without actually going into the event itself.
Overall, I felt the story jumped around too much, it almost seemed to stutter along with what I feel should have been key points being skipped over with the briefest of attention. There also seemed to be too many characters with only small roles, many appearing for only one chapter or less then never mentioned again.
I did enjoy it as I've said, and I'm currently reading the follow up (The Colonists), but I did feel at times I had to consciously focus on reading it rather than allow myself to get swept along by the story.
Firstly, I'm not a fan of the writing style. The narrative didn't feel like it flowed smoothly, and I found myself re-reading paragraphs repeatedly because I couldn't tell who was speaking, if they were speaking at all, or making an observation or just the author describing what they were feeling.
My other main issue with the story as a whole was the fact that there were a lot of events that were alluded to, had the story built up to them, and then suddenly moved on to a point during or after the event without actually going into the event itself.
Overall, I felt the story jumped around too much, it almost seemed to stutter along with what I feel should have been key points being skipped over with the briefest of attention. There also seemed to be too many characters with only small roles, many appearing for only one chapter or less then never mentioned again.
I did enjoy it as I've said, and I'm currently reading the follow up (The Colonists), but I did feel at times I had to consciously focus on reading it rather than allow myself to get swept along by the story.
March 26, 2015
This novel is less science fiction than it is a study of human tragedy. The story could have been plunked down in the middle of any world ending scenario (the fall of the Roman empire, the end of Mayan civilization, etc.) and it would have worked just as well. As other reviews have pointed out the choice to jump around between times and characters is a detriment to the tale, and the author's unique dialogue choices are likewise irksome (he chooses not to use quotation marks).
Overall while the novel was successful in eliciting an emotional response from its vignettes, it failed utterly in sustaining and building upon it as the novel progressed. At the end of the novel the author makes a comment that they love Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, and that The Settlers is a homage to that science fiction masterpiece, but while Bradbury, and Asimov in the Foundation series, adopted a similar style due to those novels' serial roots, Settlers lacks the succinctness that infuses those works because they had to be great short stories first, and novels second. Also both Bradbury and Asimov were able to heighten the telling of their tales through characters that expressed the abject fear and concern associated with the dangers of nuclear annihilation and world destroying warfare that afflicted the authors' time. I didn't have the same feeling of creeping doom / immediate need to change events that were on the wrong track, as you do in works by those two science fiction masters.
Had the author approached Settlers as Bradbury and Asimov did, writing short stories that told the tale of a future historical movement, and steeping every scene with an urgent sense of foreboding from the failing Earth, I think the novel would have been a success. As it is, I don't think I'll be picking up the second book in this author's trilogy.
Overall while the novel was successful in eliciting an emotional response from its vignettes, it failed utterly in sustaining and building upon it as the novel progressed. At the end of the novel the author makes a comment that they love Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, and that The Settlers is a homage to that science fiction masterpiece, but while Bradbury, and Asimov in the Foundation series, adopted a similar style due to those novels' serial roots, Settlers lacks the succinctness that infuses those works because they had to be great short stories first, and novels second. Also both Bradbury and Asimov were able to heighten the telling of their tales through characters that expressed the abject fear and concern associated with the dangers of nuclear annihilation and world destroying warfare that afflicted the authors' time. I didn't have the same feeling of creeping doom / immediate need to change events that were on the wrong track, as you do in works by those two science fiction masters.
Had the author approached Settlers as Bradbury and Asimov did, writing short stories that told the tale of a future historical movement, and steeping every scene with an urgent sense of foreboding from the failing Earth, I think the novel would have been a success. As it is, I don't think I'll be picking up the second book in this author's trilogy.
September 11, 2016
I give it 2 stars, 1 for effort and 1 for the ideas. However, the book is unreadable, the plot jumps years between chapters, the location and context and society wildly changes without any indication, the reader is left wondering what's going on, dialogues are incomprehensible due to missing punctuation,.... It all feels like running around in a bad and confusing dream. This story has a lot of potential to be epic but would need to be written across many books with a lot more meat on it's bones.
July 18, 2017
Standard grammar rules need not apply
I don't know why anyone publishes a book without following the basic tenants of grammar. When two people have a conversation use quotations. I hoped it was only the introductory chapters, but no it was not. I cannot abide poor editing and grammar, regardless of the story.
I don't know why anyone publishes a book without following the basic tenants of grammar. When two people have a conversation use quotations. I hoped it was only the introductory chapters, but no it was not. I cannot abide poor editing and grammar, regardless of the story.
November 16, 2020
Good start but with some flaws
This was a decent read but it has flaws. It seems to jump about without reason especially the dialogue with his dead wife which I found distracting. Will try a sample of volume 2 and see how it goes.
This was a decent read but it has flaws. It seems to jump about without reason especially the dialogue with his dead wife which I found distracting. Will try a sample of volume 2 and see how it goes.
July 22, 2015
Wow! Once again I am amazed by Jason Gurley's writing, he really is one of the best.
The Settlers had me hooked from page one, right through until the very end. Loved this series.
The Settlers had me hooked from page one, right through until the very end. Loved this series.
April 19, 2020
I didn't get very far, which is disappointing because the story had potential. I'm all for creative liberties, but you have to use basic punctuation. Without quotes, it's simply too hard to follow.
July 7, 2020
Jumped around
It wasn't a bad book and it held my attention. It just just jumped around a lot and sometimes didn't seem to have a point.
It wasn't a bad book and it held my attention. It just just jumped around a lot and sometimes didn't seem to have a point.
September 9, 2018
This book takes place over the course of approximately 100 years. The story is about people migrating from a dying Earth to space stations. One space station becomes a sociological experiment (and not in a good way).
I have read more sci-fi books for this reading challenge than I have in my entire life combined. I took on the challenge to expand my horizons in different genres. I will say, though, it is books like this one, that are turning me off from the genre. While I did enjoy the story, the lack of quotation marks for dialogue was extremely annoying and distracting. I do not see the purpose of leaving them out. I would have given this book a 4 because I really did enjoy the story itself.
Unfortunately, this is not the first sci-fi book I have read this year to have a distracting writing style. It's just another straw that is about to break the camel's back. I might have to give up on sci-fi soon.
I read this book as part of the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2018 - A cyberpunk book.
I have read more sci-fi books for this reading challenge than I have in my entire life combined. I took on the challenge to expand my horizons in different genres. I will say, though, it is books like this one, that are turning me off from the genre. While I did enjoy the story, the lack of quotation marks for dialogue was extremely annoying and distracting. I do not see the purpose of leaving them out. I would have given this book a 4 because I really did enjoy the story itself.
Unfortunately, this is not the first sci-fi book I have read this year to have a distracting writing style. It's just another straw that is about to break the camel's back. I might have to give up on sci-fi soon.
I read this book as part of the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2018 - A cyberpunk book.
December 31, 2022
This had such a cool premise of people leaving the earth due to global climate change and then in space creating pils that could possibly let humans "live forever". I was super invested in the first 40-50% as we stick with a character called Tasneem. I wanted to know about her story and her friend's story. But, due to timeskips and such, then next 20-40% is basically an anthology of lots of different people's stories. They're very quick and short.
I enjoyed them all HOWEVER, I would've preferred a whole story explain how Tasneem and David at the beginning ends up as Tasneem and David at the end, in detail. The leap of where they are at the 50% mark and where they are at the 90% mark is very much skipped without much explanation? I would've loved to know the details and been shown the full development of it.
I would've liked much longer enteries and development into the many characters we get between the 50-80% mark too, not just one or two chapters of what feels like short stories from them. I wanted so much more.
I enjoyed them all HOWEVER, I would've preferred a whole story explain how Tasneem and David at the beginning ends up as Tasneem and David at the end, in detail. The leap of where they are at the 50% mark and where they are at the 90% mark is very much skipped without much explanation? I would've loved to know the details and been shown the full development of it.
I would've liked much longer enteries and development into the many characters we get between the 50-80% mark too, not just one or two chapters of what feels like short stories from them. I wanted so much more.
September 20, 2021
cookiereads The Settlers by Jason Gurley 🌎
Earth is underwater. In order for humans to survive they must live off planet, Tasneem Kyoh is given a treatment that extend her life forever. First she must grieve the loss of her friend David Dewberry who went through back channels to get an illegal treatment. What Tasneem finds out will change her world forever. 🌍
Now furiends this book is not Greatfall.
I really can’t tell you what this book is about. Too many characters with no plot.
This book was a mess. 🌏
1.5 paws out of four paws #jasongurleyauthor #bookstagrammer #scifibooks #dogsreadingbooks #corgiofinstagram #corgilife #bluemerlecorgi
Earth is underwater. In order for humans to survive they must live off planet, Tasneem Kyoh is given a treatment that extend her life forever. First she must grieve the loss of her friend David Dewberry who went through back channels to get an illegal treatment. What Tasneem finds out will change her world forever. 🌍
Now furiends this book is not Greatfall.
I really can’t tell you what this book is about. Too many characters with no plot.
This book was a mess. 🌏
1.5 paws out of four paws #jasongurleyauthor #bookstagrammer #scifibooks #dogsreadingbooks #corgiofinstagram #corgilife #bluemerlecorgi
October 22, 2021
I read it in one day. So it was intriguing enough to hold my attention. I've read books by this author before and had forgotten how irritating the lack of quotations is. Sometimes I had to go back to figure out who was doing the talking. The time jumps were wonky but it did build the world. This book could have been a lot longer to flesh out more information. I really want to know what the cure for the immortal drug was! 2.5 to 3 stars. Good for some entertainment but not the best in this genre.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2021
The book took an average 3 hours to read through my kindle app. I highly enjoyed the story’s plot and characters, but mostly found the time skips to be unnecessary and very disruptive to what had just happened. The writing style was very easy to comprehend but it felt lacking and reminded me a bit of Wattpad fanfics. I really am looking forward to the rest of the series because I feel like the author has the ability to grow and change.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2018
Enjoyed the book
The way the stories were told and the main plot is still in the background, I enjoyed it. Though there was a lack of quotation marks, I was able to follow it just fine. I'm not sure if the author intended it or not, I haven't seen any evidence of it. Hope he sees all these reviews and give us an answer.
The way the stories were told and the main plot is still in the background, I enjoyed it. Though there was a lack of quotation marks, I was able to follow it just fine. I'm not sure if the author intended it or not, I haven't seen any evidence of it. Hope he sees all these reviews and give us an answer.
July 27, 2023
Clunky
I really liked the premise of this book, but the execution was super clunky and the lack of quotation marks and indicators showing the passage of time made things super confusing.
I liked the idea of humanity adapting to life in space and struggling to not fall back into their earthly ways, but things were just too clunky for me to enjoy.
I really liked the premise of this book, but the execution was super clunky and the lack of quotation marks and indicators showing the passage of time made things super confusing.
I liked the idea of humanity adapting to life in space and struggling to not fall back into their earthly ways, but things were just too clunky for me to enjoy.
August 19, 2023
The audiobook was the best way to enjoy this book, the person reading did an excellent job she did different voices and accents for all characters. This book actually reminded me of how high you go into the dark, several short stories that connect through characters or situations. Yeah it was a book that I enjoyed.
September 16, 2017
Just Ok
Sadly, the book failed to capture and hold my attention. Hard to explain why, but i didn't care about the characters, and there is no coherent plot. I liked the world setup though
Sadly, the book failed to capture and hold my attention. Hard to explain why, but i didn't care about the characters, and there is no coherent plot. I liked the world setup though
January 3, 2018
Such a good book, looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy and following this world.
Jason Gurley has created an immersive world that draws you in and makes you invested in a character in a very short period of time. So good, I can't believe I had never read anything by him before.
Jason Gurley has created an immersive world that draws you in and makes you invested in a character in a very short period of time. So good, I can't believe I had never read anything by him before.
December 3, 2017
Thought provoking
I enjoyed the style of the story. How we found out about the world around the characters by what was happening to others and not necessarily directly to them. Yet other times it was direct action. A very different method of story telling.
I enjoyed the style of the story. How we found out about the world around the characters by what was happening to others and not necessarily directly to them. Yet other times it was direct action. A very different method of story telling.
June 27, 2020
While seemingly a little disjointed to me, this book nevertheless kept me hooked until the end. The scope of the story and the world it takes place in is satisfyingly large scale without sacrificing the characters dimensionality. Overall, a good read.
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