The Unearthing

by Steve Karmazenuk

A massive alien artifact is discovered beneath the desert outside of Laguna, New Mexico. Before its existence can be concealed, the object unearths itself and news of the discovery is leaked to the international media. As religious leaders strive to reconcile the artifact’s existence with their faiths, and governments wrestle over its many secrets and how to exploit them, ordinary men and women around the world struggle to make sense of a perpetual onslaught of live and unfiltered news broadcasts about the object. When a survey team is sent in to examine and explore it, they discover that not only is the artifact still operational, but it is conscious and has been waiting for tens of millions of years…

Genres: Science Fiction

411 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2006

Reviews

[Hazel Henshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept me up late a few evenings so can't be bad. The time flew by with action, adventure and speculation until about 3/4 of the way through when it seemed to stall a bit. For me, this is where the book should have ended ready for the next one. Instead, it coasted with way too many 'summing up' chapters until the final leaving. Some characters were never fully explored however and I can only assume that the complete disappearance of 2 of them part way through the book with no further mention means that they will re-surface in the sequel.

[Aakash Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous description and painting of the vastness and diversity of the alien ship. I enjoyed the varied event perspectives of the indirect influence of such an event occurring in normal lives. However, the decision to travel to the homeland of the ship seemed a bit too fast to me

[Tina Hsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, for the price, this was a pretty engrossing book. However, there were some slow bits, and spurs of story that seemed to go nowhere and remain unresolved at the conclusion of the book. (Some of them are tied up in the 2nd book.) The entire last half of the book has no real urgency about it, other than the urgency of discovery, which was still very interesting. There were some good sci-fi elements too, and I had to laugh at the answer to the question about the meaning of life.

I'm glad there is a 2nd book out already, as the first book kind of leaves you hanging at the end.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different from other SF discovery books that I have read.

Some cultural reference differences (well written about a location in the soutwestern US by a Canadian author).

Addressed religious issues in a detailed way, and the isolation, the bittersweetness and implications of other-intelligence discovery. Also a fair amount of intrigue and political realism that spanned eons.

Good book--bought 2nd in series immediately upon completion (the teaser made me do it).

[Tbloxham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with this book is that the author has thought big, but not realized what a lot of his revelations truly mean. Many parts of the book focus on how this discovery affects the faiths and beliefs of people on earth, and the prime antagonist latches onto the ship as a key part of his cultist belief. The problem is that it's addressed in such a way that it doesn't have much drama, and keeps talking back to the world of today when the whole time in the background there is this interesting futuristic society and the other information from the ship which is almost forgotten.

The book is interesting, and the setting is bold, but it doesn't quite deliver what it might.

[Doug · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stuck with it until the end, but I couldn't bring my self to do more than skim the last 10% of it, it had so badly lost my interest.

The author seems to have a number of agendas he wishes to advance: cigarette smoking, pot smoking, world government, all paths lead to god, the US is evil, and native American rights.

While the book does have some intriguing aspects, it's generally slow moving, and it's a bit repetitive. There is also this horrible sub-plot about a guy who is afraid of dying. About 1/3 of the way into the book this guy ceases to have anything to do with the story, yet the author returns to this guy over and over and over again.

Try the Area 51 series instead.

[CATHERINE · Rating 1 out of 5]

This seemed like a promising read, an alien spaceship is unearthed and humans attempt to make contact. It was going alright until the religious activists, then there was a confusing and completely unnecessary one to one battle within the ship that was left totally unresolved as though the author simply forgot about it -massive loose end. Throw in post traumatic stress and a drug problem with a feeble love story and it was just a confused mess. There were large sections that were just plain boring. Started off well and then just got weaker and weaker, could hardly wait to finish it to move on to something else. Don't waste your time.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book its a really interesting concept and taps into all sort of thoughts and books, theories that exist all over the internet and I thought it worked really well. The whole concept of a ship having waited millions of years and then finally revealing itself, the shadow pan government agency trying to suppress alien technology and of course the mad religious cult that mount a massive strike against the ship all make for a very good story that flows well and is fast paced. I flew through this in a few days and have just started the 2nd one which looks like it will move the story along nicely.

[Robert Kangas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the plot in this book. The characters were interesting enough and this was an entertaining / engaging read, but it really felt like this book lacked focus. There were some sub stories that I felt really didn't need to be here and it just jumped around a lot. I think this book was probably the author's first published novel. It's a little rough around the edges. There's a lot of potential here and I'll have to take a look at his later works.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure - I stopped at 17% in (according to my Kindle). I just didn't want to waste the time to finish it out - so maybe it got dramatically better . . . . But from what i saw - a potentially interesting Idea - but poorly executed: one dimensional characters, cliche's left and right, choppy story flow, replete with typos, etc. Same overall feeling you get from watching a low budget, B-movie from the '80s. Would give it 1.5 stars if GoodReads allowed half star ratings.

[Hector Sosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a lot of glaring spelling and grammar errors. Made me cringe quite a bit. The gratuitous sex scene was totally uncalled for, and unneeded. I didn't think it added to the story.

The story was actually decent once you get past my objections. I wish that some things would have been fleshed out, like the discovery of a previous advanced civilization on the Earth. This topic has always fascinated me.

[Bill Spears · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was entertaining reading. It has an interesting premise, a spaceship that has lain dormant on Earth of millennia and is uncovered in an archaeological expedition. Both books take you on the journey to find the sources of the ship. The story was more interesting than the ending. As with most science fiction there are wars and fighting but the whole book is not about fighting other races. I am tiring of the wars and fighting.

[Steve Karmazenuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to think that, with The Unearthing, I've created a new spin on the alien artifact genre. This is a character study, about the people on the ground, the people in power, and the people at home, and how the discovery of this gargantuan alien vessel affects them all.

I hope you'll read it and enjoy!

[Iain Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well crafted story that describes the finding of an ancient alien craft on Earth. Focuses on the spiritual and physiological effects that it would have on humanity. Must admit that there begs to be a sequel to bring me further into the well developed main characters and what they will (our won't) find when the ship arrives.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

all in all a decent read. I read the kindle version, and I hope the editing and proof reading was better in the print version. There were so many typos and grammatical errors that I almost quit reading the book. As far as the story itself is concerned, I did enjoy it.

[Janel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did like the premise of this book, but the execution left something to be desired. There were whole parts of the book that went nowhere and somehow I just could relate with the characters like I usually do.

[Sanderson Tattersall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, interesting ideas and alien tech. Can't go wrong when its .99 on the Kindle. Also has an alternate history timeline post WWII.

[Annie Arbuckle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but a bit long winded, an the ending was unsatisfactory.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book