What do you think?
Rate this book
Ocean of Storms
In the near future, political tensions between the United States and China are at an all-time high. Then a catastrophic explosion on the moon cleaves a vast gash in the lunar surface, and the massive electromagnetic pulse it unleashes obliterates Earth's electrical infrastructure. To plumb the depths of the newly created lunar fissure and excavate the source of the power surge, the feuding nations are forced to cooperate on a high-risk mission to return mankind to the moon.
Now, a diverse, highly skilled ensemble of astronauts--and a pair of maverick archaeologists plucked from the Peruvian jungle--will brave conspiracy on Earth and disaster in space to make a shocking discovery.
Ocean of Storms is an epic adventure that spans space and time as its heroes race to fulfill an ancient mission that may change the course of humanity's future.
Now, a diverse, highly skilled ensemble of astronauts--and a pair of maverick archaeologists plucked from the Peruvian jungle--will brave conspiracy on Earth and disaster in space to make a shocking discovery.
Ocean of Storms is an epic adventure that spans space and time as its heroes race to fulfill an ancient mission that may change the course of humanity's future.
410 pages, ebook
First published December 1, 2016
1948 people are currently reading
4851 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Mari
11 books29 followersChristopher Mari is the author of TEN WORLDS AWAY, a short story collection, and THE BEACHHEAD, an Amazon Book of the Month selection. He is also the coauthor of OCEAN OF STORMS, a bestselling sci-fi thriller he wrote with Jeremy K. Brown.
He has edited biographies and history books for students, as well as three volumes on space exploration. His nonfiction has appeared in America, Boing Boing, Current Biography, Dappled Things, The Horn Book and the New York Daily News, among other publications.
For more about his work, visit him at christophermari.com.
He has edited biographies and history books for students, as well as three volumes on space exploration. His nonfiction has appeared in America, Boing Boing, Current Biography, Dappled Things, The Horn Book and the New York Daily News, among other publications.
For more about his work, visit him at christophermari.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 570 reviews
November 20, 2016
I do not normally write negative reviews, since there really is nothing to be gained by this. Ocean of Storms, however, requires comment, mostly because of its build-up as a Kindle monthly give-away.I write successful hard science fiction, and so know what it takes to blend believable science with a good story. The first element is to do the research so that improbable technical details do not jump out to spoil the technical backdrop of the tale. In Ocean of Storms this happened all too often. For example, the Moon has no “dark side.” This comment demonstrates either a deeply flawed understanding of celestial dynamics or some exceedingly sloppy editing. Another example: The Earth’s gravitational field extends outward indefinitely. Certainly, anywhere within the Earth-Moon system, the Earth’s gravity is an important factor. Repeatedly, the authors talk about leaving the influence of the Earth’s gravity. This is just plain silly, and seriously affects the science backdrop of the story.
Here are some more random observations. Nobody with even the slightest training in radio communications would say “Over and out.” The Chinese are said to have brought back tons of film from their Lunar orbital venture – modern space photography is entirely digital, and would have been transmitted to Earth. In our world, there are several private space ventures with a growing ability to launch into LEO. Would NASA not have taken advantage of this expertise? Could NASA really have put together a completely new, functional launch system in only six months? Is it realistic that the Lunar astronauts could somehow have cobbled together a worm-hole transmitter in just a few hours, even with access to the advanced technology of the spaceship? How did the EMP break windows? Actually, it is obvious that the authors have no genuine understanding of EMP. In particular, recovery from a planet-wide EMP event would take years, not hours, since the entire electrical infrastructure would be destroyed – circuits would be fried, chips and ICs would be useless, motor and generator windings would be melted, everything that uses electricity in any way would be useless. This would require starting from the bottom, pulling wire without using electricity and casting generator and motor parts without using electricity, in order to build primitive generators and motors, in order to set up primitive manufacturing facilities, in order to begin a slow and painful climb back to early twentieth century manufacturing. Think about it – nothing that depends on generators or motors would work; water, sewer, food distribution, waste processing, everything that underpins our civilization would not work. (Granted, engineers might be able to salvage generator and motor cores and wire that was not connected to any circuit, and thus short-circuit the recovery process by a year or so.) This is the substance of a novel unto itself, but these authors pass it off with a cavalier lack of understanding about the real effects.
The characters are cartoonish, without depth or genuine personality. Their conversation seems to be plugged in wherever the authors thought it might be time for someone to say something. There is no real understanding that technology progresses rapidly. It took just 66 years to go from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong, yet the future spacecraft employs technology that does not differ very much from present technology. Sure, there is a nod to “gee-whiz” gadgets, but nothing substantive. Do you really believe that a group of astronauts from today would be able to understand anything from 700 years in the future? Could Wilbur Wright have figured out and employed the electronics in an Apollo capsule in a few hours? And this was only 66 years, not 700.
And yet, for all this, Ocean of Storms is still a good tale. That it is poorly thought out and sloppily executed does not detract from the inherent story concept. I give it 3.5 stars for concept, and 2 stars for execution and sloppy science, resulting in 2.5-stars, rounded up to 3-Stars.
Here are some more random observations. Nobody with even the slightest training in radio communications would say “Over and out.” The Chinese are said to have brought back tons of film from their Lunar orbital venture – modern space photography is entirely digital, and would have been transmitted to Earth. In our world, there are several private space ventures with a growing ability to launch into LEO. Would NASA not have taken advantage of this expertise? Could NASA really have put together a completely new, functional launch system in only six months? Is it realistic that the Lunar astronauts could somehow have cobbled together a worm-hole transmitter in just a few hours, even with access to the advanced technology of the spaceship? How did the EMP break windows? Actually, it is obvious that the authors have no genuine understanding of EMP. In particular, recovery from a planet-wide EMP event would take years, not hours, since the entire electrical infrastructure would be destroyed – circuits would be fried, chips and ICs would be useless, motor and generator windings would be melted, everything that uses electricity in any way would be useless. This would require starting from the bottom, pulling wire without using electricity and casting generator and motor parts without using electricity, in order to build primitive generators and motors, in order to set up primitive manufacturing facilities, in order to begin a slow and painful climb back to early twentieth century manufacturing. Think about it – nothing that depends on generators or motors would work; water, sewer, food distribution, waste processing, everything that underpins our civilization would not work. (Granted, engineers might be able to salvage generator and motor cores and wire that was not connected to any circuit, and thus short-circuit the recovery process by a year or so.) This is the substance of a novel unto itself, but these authors pass it off with a cavalier lack of understanding about the real effects.
The characters are cartoonish, without depth or genuine personality. Their conversation seems to be plugged in wherever the authors thought it might be time for someone to say something. There is no real understanding that technology progresses rapidly. It took just 66 years to go from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong, yet the future spacecraft employs technology that does not differ very much from present technology. Sure, there is a nod to “gee-whiz” gadgets, but nothing substantive. Do you really believe that a group of astronauts from today would be able to understand anything from 700 years in the future? Could Wilbur Wright have figured out and employed the electronics in an Apollo capsule in a few hours? And this was only 66 years, not 700.
And yet, for all this, Ocean of Storms is still a good tale. That it is poorly thought out and sloppily executed does not detract from the inherent story concept. I give it 3.5 stars for concept, and 2 stars for execution and sloppy science, resulting in 2.5-stars, rounded up to 3-Stars.
December 20, 2016
3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/12/20/...
Impending apocalypse. A heart-pounding Space Race. Political thrills. Oceans of Storms has all this and more, and it is also a story made up of many different parts. With scenes and situations reminiscent of movies like Independence Day, Armageddon, or Jurassic Park, the book also felt to me a lot like a Hollywood summer blockbuster in prose form. Indeed, looking back at the notes I took while reading, the thing that kept cropping up in my comments and descriptions was the word “cinematic”.
It all began with the moon. But of course, when the massive electromagnetic pulse ripped across Earth, knocking out power globally, no one knew the cause. It wasn’t until later that scientists determined that the EMP originated from our planet’s closest neighbor, where a powerful explosion had exposed something buried deep beneath the lunar surface. Based on early findings and analysis, at the bottom of this newly created fissure is an extremely large and technologically advanced object that has been on the moon for at least two million years. Which means whatever it is, it couldn’t have been placed there by human beings. Moreover, the discovery was accompanied with a message: coordinates to a location somewhere on the vast lunar mare called the Ocean of Storms.
Not surprisingly, the news causes worldwide chaos and panic. In response, the US vows to launch a manned mission to the lunar coordinates to investigate the source of the power surge. Problem is, budget cuts over the years have gutted NASA’s space program, putting them far behind where they need to be to make that possible. Meanwhile, the Chinese are way ahead, sending rockets to survey the moon from orbit, though they lack the lander technology—technology that the US has. To prevent further widespread unrest, the two countries’ space programs have no choice but to team up amidst the burgeoning cold war between their governments because the answers on the moon are too important to let politics get in the way. Knowing as well that they might find the remnants of an ancient civilization, two American archaeologists and a Chinese forensic anthropologist also join the team in the hopes of finding out who or what might have been responsible for the mysterious signal.
Before I begin, I have a confession to make. Archaeology and Anthropology are my pet subjects and my college specializations so as soon as I saw that a couple of “maverick archaeologists” were among the main characters of this book, I knew I had to read it. Relatively speaking though, neither the scientific or technological aspects were really all that weighty here, but there’s certainly enough to tickle readers’ interests. I also found the story easy to get into, and I very much enjoyed the mashup of sci-fi elements together with the thrills and suspense.
I think if the authors had stayed on this course, the book would have been even more compelling. I loved how things started with a bang, and that burst of momentum was continued by the mystery of the discovery on the moon. As I mentioned before, there was also a cinematic quality to the story that I really enjoyed. Sure, the characters might not be all that deep, and the overall premise might be too farfetched or unconvincing, but I have I to say I didn’t mind too much. I picked up this book for the same reason millions flock to see the big-budget, special-effects laden films that dominate the box office every year—to be entertained. And for the most part, I think Ocean of Storms succeeded. Without giving away any spoilers, I would say the book only stumbled in the second half, when the story shifted away from the big action and suspense to focus instead on convoluted government conspiracies, dubious physics, and going a little too overboard with paleoanthropological theory.
To the book’s credit though, I never once found it boring. Suffice to say, I think the authors wanted Ocean of Storms to be the literary equivalent of the “big-budget, special-effects laden blockbuster” and had a boatload of great ideas to make it so, but ultimately they might have taken it a little too far. There’s just not enough room to make all these pieces fit together coherently, so while the end result is certainly captivating, it unfortunately also feels somewhat disjointed.
Still, in spite of my complaints, Ocean of Storms was a damn fun read and I do not regret the time I spent with it. I loved the concept, even if its execution was a bit off and the science was a little flimsy. Let’s just say you aren’t likely to be bowled over by its literary merits, but if you’re simply looking to kick back with an entertaining, high-octane sci-fi thriller, then you’ve come to the right place. Overall a really enjoyable, if at times flawed, read.
Impending apocalypse. A heart-pounding Space Race. Political thrills. Oceans of Storms has all this and more, and it is also a story made up of many different parts. With scenes and situations reminiscent of movies like Independence Day, Armageddon, or Jurassic Park, the book also felt to me a lot like a Hollywood summer blockbuster in prose form. Indeed, looking back at the notes I took while reading, the thing that kept cropping up in my comments and descriptions was the word “cinematic”.
It all began with the moon. But of course, when the massive electromagnetic pulse ripped across Earth, knocking out power globally, no one knew the cause. It wasn’t until later that scientists determined that the EMP originated from our planet’s closest neighbor, where a powerful explosion had exposed something buried deep beneath the lunar surface. Based on early findings and analysis, at the bottom of this newly created fissure is an extremely large and technologically advanced object that has been on the moon for at least two million years. Which means whatever it is, it couldn’t have been placed there by human beings. Moreover, the discovery was accompanied with a message: coordinates to a location somewhere on the vast lunar mare called the Ocean of Storms.
Not surprisingly, the news causes worldwide chaos and panic. In response, the US vows to launch a manned mission to the lunar coordinates to investigate the source of the power surge. Problem is, budget cuts over the years have gutted NASA’s space program, putting them far behind where they need to be to make that possible. Meanwhile, the Chinese are way ahead, sending rockets to survey the moon from orbit, though they lack the lander technology—technology that the US has. To prevent further widespread unrest, the two countries’ space programs have no choice but to team up amidst the burgeoning cold war between their governments because the answers on the moon are too important to let politics get in the way. Knowing as well that they might find the remnants of an ancient civilization, two American archaeologists and a Chinese forensic anthropologist also join the team in the hopes of finding out who or what might have been responsible for the mysterious signal.
Before I begin, I have a confession to make. Archaeology and Anthropology are my pet subjects and my college specializations so as soon as I saw that a couple of “maverick archaeologists” were among the main characters of this book, I knew I had to read it. Relatively speaking though, neither the scientific or technological aspects were really all that weighty here, but there’s certainly enough to tickle readers’ interests. I also found the story easy to get into, and I very much enjoyed the mashup of sci-fi elements together with the thrills and suspense.
I think if the authors had stayed on this course, the book would have been even more compelling. I loved how things started with a bang, and that burst of momentum was continued by the mystery of the discovery on the moon. As I mentioned before, there was also a cinematic quality to the story that I really enjoyed. Sure, the characters might not be all that deep, and the overall premise might be too farfetched or unconvincing, but I have I to say I didn’t mind too much. I picked up this book for the same reason millions flock to see the big-budget, special-effects laden films that dominate the box office every year—to be entertained. And for the most part, I think Ocean of Storms succeeded. Without giving away any spoilers, I would say the book only stumbled in the second half, when the story shifted away from the big action and suspense to focus instead on convoluted government conspiracies, dubious physics, and going a little too overboard with paleoanthropological theory.
To the book’s credit though, I never once found it boring. Suffice to say, I think the authors wanted Ocean of Storms to be the literary equivalent of the “big-budget, special-effects laden blockbuster” and had a boatload of great ideas to make it so, but ultimately they might have taken it a little too far. There’s just not enough room to make all these pieces fit together coherently, so while the end result is certainly captivating, it unfortunately also feels somewhat disjointed.
Still, in spite of my complaints, Ocean of Storms was a damn fun read and I do not regret the time I spent with it. I loved the concept, even if its execution was a bit off and the science was a little flimsy. Let’s just say you aren’t likely to be bowled over by its literary merits, but if you’re simply looking to kick back with an entertaining, high-octane sci-fi thriller, then you’ve come to the right place. Overall a really enjoyable, if at times flawed, read.
March 10, 2019
Bad science predominates in this novel, enough that I almost added a special "terrible science" shelf for it. But if you can overlook the complete mangling of current tech and science, and the vast underestimation of the path of future tech, then it's a pretty readable story. Let's just say "the fiction is strong" with this one.
The Audible version's narrator was who saved it for me. His accents when moving from person to person weren't even that good, but he was so easy to listen to. And the (highly fictional) story flowed well, so together it made for a fun ride.
I do have some questions about the direction the story went, because I feel like there were missed opportunities for some real fun here. Like why did they ask the Astraeus only to replicate parts for their crippled ship? Come on, if they could ask for anything, why didn't they? There are endless possibilities, if they could be ingenious enough to think of them. Literally. At. Their. Beck. And. Call.
In summary, Ocean of Storms is a decently readable story, with a very engaging narrator if you get the audio too. Add the embarrassingly bad science and somehow it equaled a book I'm almost embarrassed to admit I really enjoyed.
The Audible version's narrator was who saved it for me. His accents when moving from person to person weren't even that good, but he was so easy to listen to. And the (highly fictional) story flowed well, so together it made for a fun ride.
I do have some questions about the direction the story went, because I feel like there were missed opportunities for some real fun here. Like why did they ask the Astraeus only to replicate parts for their crippled ship? Come on, if they could ask for anything, why didn't they? There are endless possibilities, if they could be ingenious enough to think of them. Literally. At. Their. Beck. And. Call.
In summary, Ocean of Storms is a decently readable story, with a very engaging narrator if you get the audio too. Add the embarrassingly bad science and somehow it equaled a book I'm almost embarrassed to admit I really enjoyed.
February 6, 2017
Actual rating: 2.5 stars.
Kind of an interesting premise, half science fiction and half thriller, but overall a skimpy effort: skimpy characterization, skimpy (and sometimes inaccurate) science, skimpy plotting, skimpy followup on intriguing threads.
But first, let's have a drink. Sorry, that's an inside joke. If you read the book you'll get it.
Fans of serious science fiction will probably find this novel laughable. Newcomers to the genre will enjoy it more. Young adult readers may find it appealing. But if you grew up on science fiction, as I did, you'll find yourself wondering if Ocean of Storms is worth the bother.
And that's a good question: why did I bother to finish it? Because its one redeeming quality, apart from the interesting central idea, is its page-turner format, with mini-climaxes built into each of its short chapters.
Kind of an interesting premise, half science fiction and half thriller, but overall a skimpy effort: skimpy characterization, skimpy (and sometimes inaccurate) science, skimpy plotting, skimpy followup on intriguing threads.
But first, let's have a drink. Sorry, that's an inside joke. If you read the book you'll get it.
Fans of serious science fiction will probably find this novel laughable. Newcomers to the genre will enjoy it more. Young adult readers may find it appealing. But if you grew up on science fiction, as I did, you'll find yourself wondering if Ocean of Storms is worth the bother.
And that's a good question: why did I bother to finish it? Because its one redeeming quality, apart from the interesting central idea, is its page-turner format, with mini-climaxes built into each of its short chapters.
February 4, 2017
Amateurish and lacking in logic, add in the diabolical physics and my most hated of plot elements, and I didn't like this book. In fact, if my internet hadn't been down for three days, leaving me unable to get anything to replace it, I doubt I'd have got to the end of the book. Still, I got this one as part of Amazon's 'one free new book per month' deal under Prime, so I can't complain about the value-for-money.
I don't think I can really say why I dislike this book without going into spoilers, so I'm going to cover some generalities for a while and stick a spoiler marker in. That should hide them after the cut, but if you don't want spoilers, you may be advised to stop reading here.
Okay, the dialogue in this book belongs to plastic people, except for one character: Benny. Benny had dialogue I could cope with and I think it's because whenever he spoke, I could hear Steve Buscemi reading the lines. Buscemi could have made that part his own, which is pretty reasonable, because Ocean of Storms reads like a screenplay for a Hollywood disaster movie, a cross between Armageddon and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. It's got the ragtag bunch of astronauts and mission specialists (in this case, maverick archaeologists, not oil-rig workers) on a desperate mission to stop the aster- uh, to get to the Moon to find out what's going on up there. It's got the Russian- Sorry, that should be the Chinese astronauts who have to go along too. You just know that somehow our plucky heroes will get there, plant the atomic bombs... Sorry, I keep getting the plots confused.
The authors have an annoying tendency to stuff in things they've researched which we really don't need to know about. In one case, I think they gave a character this random thought about turtles because they had heard the anecdote and thought it was just so damn cool... It has absolutely nothing to do with what's going on in the plot at the time (or in any other part of the book). That, and one or two basic errors, suggest that the book needs the talents of a good copy editor. I do not get how this book made it through an actual publishing process with this much prunable material still in it.
AND FROM HERE, SPOILERS ABOUND!
Okay, so the first problem is the event that kicks everything off, in the first couple of pages, so it's not much of a spoiler, but one of the reasons I kept reading this thing was the desperate hope that they'd come up with anything, even a total pseudo-science explanation, for 'the Pulse.' An EMP wipes out electronics and the electrical systems of the entire planet following some sort of explosion on the Moon. This explosion not only manages the electromagnetically impossible (the whole world, through the Earth's mantle, at that distance?), but it also cause a large shockwave which is heard and felt across a wide area through thousands of kilometres of vacuum! Just... no. This (along with the date/location/time tags they put in at random intervals which you can just see being typed out in that stupid, Hollywood teletype style) is one of the reasons I see this as a movie script. You could get away with this BS in a movie. In a book, there should be a reason for a physical shockwave crossing space.
There's some political intrigue in the middle here, but the plot actually starts 35% through the book when they actually get into space. Of course, everyone on the mission has a tragic background. No one is dating Liv Tyler against her hard-nosed father's wishes. In a sabotaged spacecraft, having (heroically) killed off a few random people we didn't need, our crew arrive on the Moon and discover the mysterious source of the Pulse, which is a ship, but...
And here I almost tossed the book away on principle, because nothing in the description says it's a time-travel plot. They find a magic ship from seven or eight hundred years in the future sent to try to stop the end of the human race caused by genetic engineering. (An aside: I couldn't tell whether the authors have an anti-genetic-engineering agenda, or it was simply a useful plot element. It felt a bit like the former.) The ship has been there for 2.5 million years, having got the time jump wormhole thing wrong. (The super-advanced human/clone-insert mumbo-jumbo-people of the future are really bad at physics.) Now, this ship has the ultimate in smart-materials tech: you need a glass of water or a flight-control console, the ship can make it out of energy and vanish it back where it came from. (Star Trek replicators, but the whole ship is a replicator.) Instant mass-energy conversion, but they were ever so lucky to land on the Moon where there are huge Helium-3 reserves to power their cobbled-together fusion reactors. Huh? If they can make energy out of matter, what do they need fusion for? Just vanish a couple of cubic metres of rock and you've got enough energy to power the planet for a year or two. Not logical, let's move on.
Thanks to the awesome future/alien/clone/human ship, they can repair their lander and get back to Earth (without the alien ship, that would have made it all too easy) where the governments of America and China cover everything up and our heroes are forced to run off the Tanzania to find the second ship which also crashed 2.5 million years ago, but on Earth, in Africa. (Yes, the super-people got the wormhole wrong twice, in not exactly the same way, because they are stupid.) Can you see where the Lara Croft references are coming in yet? A bit of Tom Radering later, our gang of misfits are killing special-ops-trained assassins before watching some bits of random ship's log and cracking the ultimate irony of the human/clone/uber-klutz mission: going back to stop the future, the visitors altered some pre-homo hominids with their own DNA, got killed by these apes, and managed to kickstart the genetic line of modern man. (There was an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine?) There is a rather sudden ending where one of the bad guys decides he needs to be honest and the great conspiracy is unmasked... sort of. The hero gets the girl (who had not shown the slightest interest in him until the last twenty pages). Lots of hints dropped that the future has not really been averted, and I suspect that's an attempt to close the time loop and make the plot work...
But this is why I hate time travel stories with a fiery passion. Okay, so there are people who can write them. Very clever authors with a good, usually quite simple, idea and a talent for careful plotting, can build a time travel story that actually makes sense. Generally, if it's possible to change the past, then you're going to end up with a paradox. Paradoxes are actually what we call plot holes. In this particular case, the humanoids from the future go back in time to stop their future from happening and, in so doing, not only cause their future to happen, but also cause the human race to exist. If they had not gone back, there would be no human race to engineer the future. Result: no human race, no superhumans, no ship, no story. You can toss about branching universes to explain this stuff, but the book doesn't and it sort of implies that there wouldn't be humans without the future humans, so there would be no humans in the first branch to create the apparent paradox.
Essentially, this is a bad time travel novel. If it was actually the screenplay for next year's summer blockbuster, this stuff could slide. I have a whole different set of mental faculties that switch in when I'm watching something with Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi in it. (Except I just remembered Looper: sometimes even Bruce Willis can't fix it.) I just let the noise and explosions pour over me and switch off my brain, and maybe later I might think "that was utter hogwash," but even then I don't let it spoil the ride (except for Looper). But a book isn't a movie, and this book doesn't even try to gloss over the lousy science and gaping plot holes with Hollywood gloss.
If they make of film of this, I'll watch it when it comes out on Netflix. I won't recommend the book to anyone with an intellect.
I don't think I can really say why I dislike this book without going into spoilers, so I'm going to cover some generalities for a while and stick a spoiler marker in. That should hide them after the cut, but if you don't want spoilers, you may be advised to stop reading here.
Okay, the dialogue in this book belongs to plastic people, except for one character: Benny. Benny had dialogue I could cope with and I think it's because whenever he spoke, I could hear Steve Buscemi reading the lines. Buscemi could have made that part his own, which is pretty reasonable, because Ocean of Storms reads like a screenplay for a Hollywood disaster movie, a cross between Armageddon and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. It's got the ragtag bunch of astronauts and mission specialists (in this case, maverick archaeologists, not oil-rig workers) on a desperate mission to stop the aster- uh, to get to the Moon to find out what's going on up there. It's got the Russian- Sorry, that should be the Chinese astronauts who have to go along too. You just know that somehow our plucky heroes will get there, plant the atomic bombs... Sorry, I keep getting the plots confused.
The authors have an annoying tendency to stuff in things they've researched which we really don't need to know about. In one case, I think they gave a character this random thought about turtles because they had heard the anecdote and thought it was just so damn cool... It has absolutely nothing to do with what's going on in the plot at the time (or in any other part of the book). That, and one or two basic errors, suggest that the book needs the talents of a good copy editor. I do not get how this book made it through an actual publishing process with this much prunable material still in it.
AND FROM HERE, SPOILERS ABOUND!
Okay, so the first problem is the event that kicks everything off, in the first couple of pages, so it's not much of a spoiler, but one of the reasons I kept reading this thing was the desperate hope that they'd come up with anything, even a total pseudo-science explanation, for 'the Pulse.' An EMP wipes out electronics and the electrical systems of the entire planet following some sort of explosion on the Moon. This explosion not only manages the electromagnetically impossible (the whole world, through the Earth's mantle, at that distance?), but it also cause a large shockwave which is heard and felt across a wide area through thousands of kilometres of vacuum! Just... no. This (along with the date/location/time tags they put in at random intervals which you can just see being typed out in that stupid, Hollywood teletype style) is one of the reasons I see this as a movie script. You could get away with this BS in a movie. In a book, there should be a reason for a physical shockwave crossing space.
There's some political intrigue in the middle here, but the plot actually starts 35% through the book when they actually get into space. Of course, everyone on the mission has a tragic background. No one is dating Liv Tyler against her hard-nosed father's wishes. In a sabotaged spacecraft, having (heroically) killed off a few random people we didn't need, our crew arrive on the Moon and discover the mysterious source of the Pulse, which is a ship, but...
And here I almost tossed the book away on principle, because nothing in the description says it's a time-travel plot. They find a magic ship from seven or eight hundred years in the future sent to try to stop the end of the human race caused by genetic engineering. (An aside: I couldn't tell whether the authors have an anti-genetic-engineering agenda, or it was simply a useful plot element. It felt a bit like the former.) The ship has been there for 2.5 million years, having got the time jump wormhole thing wrong. (The super-advanced human/clone-insert mumbo-jumbo-people of the future are really bad at physics.) Now, this ship has the ultimate in smart-materials tech: you need a glass of water or a flight-control console, the ship can make it out of energy and vanish it back where it came from. (Star Trek replicators, but the whole ship is a replicator.) Instant mass-energy conversion, but they were ever so lucky to land on the Moon where there are huge Helium-3 reserves to power their cobbled-together fusion reactors. Huh? If they can make energy out of matter, what do they need fusion for? Just vanish a couple of cubic metres of rock and you've got enough energy to power the planet for a year or two. Not logical, let's move on.
Thanks to the awesome future/alien/clone/human ship, they can repair their lander and get back to Earth (without the alien ship, that would have made it all too easy) where the governments of America and China cover everything up and our heroes are forced to run off the Tanzania to find the second ship which also crashed 2.5 million years ago, but on Earth, in Africa. (Yes, the super-people got the wormhole wrong twice, in not exactly the same way, because they are stupid.) Can you see where the Lara Croft references are coming in yet? A bit of Tom Radering later, our gang of misfits are killing special-ops-trained assassins before watching some bits of random ship's log and cracking the ultimate irony of the human/clone/uber-klutz mission: going back to stop the future, the visitors altered some pre-homo hominids with their own DNA, got killed by these apes, and managed to kickstart the genetic line of modern man. (There was an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine?) There is a rather sudden ending where one of the bad guys decides he needs to be honest and the great conspiracy is unmasked... sort of. The hero gets the girl (who had not shown the slightest interest in him until the last twenty pages). Lots of hints dropped that the future has not really been averted, and I suspect that's an attempt to close the time loop and make the plot work...
But this is why I hate time travel stories with a fiery passion. Okay, so there are people who can write them. Very clever authors with a good, usually quite simple, idea and a talent for careful plotting, can build a time travel story that actually makes sense. Generally, if it's possible to change the past, then you're going to end up with a paradox. Paradoxes are actually what we call plot holes. In this particular case, the humanoids from the future go back in time to stop their future from happening and, in so doing, not only cause their future to happen, but also cause the human race to exist. If they had not gone back, there would be no human race to engineer the future. Result: no human race, no superhumans, no ship, no story. You can toss about branching universes to explain this stuff, but the book doesn't and it sort of implies that there wouldn't be humans without the future humans, so there would be no humans in the first branch to create the apparent paradox.
Essentially, this is a bad time travel novel. If it was actually the screenplay for next year's summer blockbuster, this stuff could slide. I have a whole different set of mental faculties that switch in when I'm watching something with Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi in it. (Except I just remembered Looper: sometimes even Bruce Willis can't fix it.) I just let the noise and explosions pour over me and switch off my brain, and maybe later I might think "that was utter hogwash," but even then I don't let it spoil the ride (except for Looper). But a book isn't a movie, and this book doesn't even try to gloss over the lousy science and gaping plot holes with Hollywood gloss.
If they make of film of this, I'll watch it when it comes out on Netflix. I won't recommend the book to anyone with an intellect.
February 10, 2017
3/5 stars
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Tl;Dr spoiler-free review
I have one question: Where is this book's Netflix mini-series?
Ocean of Storms is chock full of action and more than one surprise twist that left me a little baffled and in need of a moment to collect myself. While there were plenty of aspects about this book that I could have gone without, it was an intensely visual novel that harked back to the 50s and 60s space race between Russians and Americans, sprinkled with a healthy mix of Star Trek optimism and fear of society's downfall. Between the sympathetic characters and the alternating POV that allows the reader to look from multiple angles, Mari and Brown managed to create a political sci-fi novel rife with conspiracy and scientific curiosity.
DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS
I'm relatively new to literary sci-fi, so I don't have a wealth of other books to compare Ocean of Storms by Christopher Mari and Jeremy K. Brown to (which might be a bonus because I can allow it to stand on its own merits). I won't lie, I struggled with the first thirty percent of the book. I was worried that it would turn out to be a political novel with sci-fi underpinnings, which wasn't what I was signing up for. I was happily mistaken after two days of dragging myself through hush hush governmental conversations, astronaut training, an awkwardly forced romantic subplot between one of the Alan Donovan and a woman who the reader learns little about before she's entirely removed from the equation, and only passing remarks about the EM pulse that disabled Earth's power grid and caused civilian unrest in major cities across America. Once all of that peeled away, I hit what I was looking for.
A rocket ambling through space, a crash landing on the moon, the remnants of a technologically advanced space ship buried in the core of the moon. There was suspense. Will they survive on the moon? Can they fix the lander and make it back to the Tai Ping? Who left the ship that sent out the EM pulse? What do they want with Earth? And I was not disappointed. Normally, if you ask me whether I'd prefer aliens or time travel, I wouldn't have to hesitate before answering the former. In Ocean of Storms, I was ecstatic to discover the latter. Not only was it an unexpected plot twist, but it also allowed for an analysis of human ideals. The clones spoke of a dystopian future that was nothing but a repeat of European colonization--enslaving those believed to be lesser and forcing them to endure manual labor, striving for utopia even if it meant standing on the bodies of other humans. It was a sobering look at our past superimposed over the future, and I loved every second of it.
Then they went back to Earth and things were less enjoyable. The novel turned from exciting sci-fi into more of a political thriller with Donovan and the rest of his crew searching desperately for the sister ship and fighting against the American government to find it. There was a weird explanation of the missing link in human evolution and some murders that were too easily wrapped up and put behind everyone. We seemed to be climbing ever higher on a roller coaster that just didn't want to go down. And when it went down, it was a slow descent smashed into two chapters. While I enjoyed the excitement of the foray into Tanzania, it almost read like someone had grafted together a dog and a cat--two pieces that didn't really go together.
While my background in sci-fi doesn't extend far beyond Star Trek and Star Wars, I'm not unfamiliar with political themes in fiction. This book took a common and particularly relevant theme--international unrest--and carried it into the not so distant future. I always appreciate when books are tethered to current world events, so I was pleased with this addition of a second source of tension, particularly when the authors chose to humanize China with three sympathetic characters. Yeoh, Soong, and Yuen allowed me to look at the conflict as a multi-dimensional matter that would clearly affect more than America.
Style-wise, this book took on the monumental task of looking at a massive plot from not only the astronauts' point of view but the American government as well, and I think it was mostly successful. The story had a careful flow and the long chapters were broken up by shifts between the Phoenix crew, those who remained at the Johnson Space Center, and the President (and her trusted confidantes).
The crew of the Phoenix were all well-written and interesting characters. I appreciated Donovan's past with NASA, and Zell's Tony-Stark-esque personality. As I'd grown rather fond of Bruce over the course of the book, I was disappointed when he wasn't included except sparingly in the final adventure, but I can reconcile it if only because my love for Benny was even greater. I think my only hang-up in characterization was the woefully under-explored mind of Cal Walker. He was a flat antagonist, motivated by nothing more than money, and I would have appreciated greater dimension.
In all, I think my review comes off as a little harsh considering I really did enjoy this book. It kept me reading long past when I had planned to stop, and there was rarely a dull moment (once I made it past the first part). I related to the characters, hurt when they hurt and smiled when they were happy. There were some moments where I struggled with little details, but no author can write a book where every sentence is perfect for every reader. Mari and Brown wrote an exciting novel, that I would certainly recommend to fans of political and science fiction novels.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Tl;Dr spoiler-free review
I have one question: Where is this book's Netflix mini-series?
Ocean of Storms is chock full of action and more than one surprise twist that left me a little baffled and in need of a moment to collect myself. While there were plenty of aspects about this book that I could have gone without, it was an intensely visual novel that harked back to the 50s and 60s space race between Russians and Americans, sprinkled with a healthy mix of Star Trek optimism and fear of society's downfall. Between the sympathetic characters and the alternating POV that allows the reader to look from multiple angles, Mari and Brown managed to create a political sci-fi novel rife with conspiracy and scientific curiosity.
DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS
I'm relatively new to literary sci-fi, so I don't have a wealth of other books to compare Ocean of Storms by Christopher Mari and Jeremy K. Brown to (which might be a bonus because I can allow it to stand on its own merits). I won't lie, I struggled with the first thirty percent of the book. I was worried that it would turn out to be a political novel with sci-fi underpinnings, which wasn't what I was signing up for. I was happily mistaken after two days of dragging myself through hush hush governmental conversations, astronaut training, an awkwardly forced romantic subplot between one of the Alan Donovan and a woman who the reader learns little about before she's entirely removed from the equation, and only passing remarks about the EM pulse that disabled Earth's power grid and caused civilian unrest in major cities across America. Once all of that peeled away, I hit what I was looking for.
A rocket ambling through space, a crash landing on the moon, the remnants of a technologically advanced space ship buried in the core of the moon. There was suspense. Will they survive on the moon? Can they fix the lander and make it back to the Tai Ping? Who left the ship that sent out the EM pulse? What do they want with Earth? And I was not disappointed. Normally, if you ask me whether I'd prefer aliens or time travel, I wouldn't have to hesitate before answering the former. In Ocean of Storms, I was ecstatic to discover the latter. Not only was it an unexpected plot twist, but it also allowed for an analysis of human ideals. The clones spoke of a dystopian future that was nothing but a repeat of European colonization--enslaving those believed to be lesser and forcing them to endure manual labor, striving for utopia even if it meant standing on the bodies of other humans. It was a sobering look at our past superimposed over the future, and I loved every second of it.
Then they went back to Earth and things were less enjoyable. The novel turned from exciting sci-fi into more of a political thriller with Donovan and the rest of his crew searching desperately for the sister ship and fighting against the American government to find it. There was a weird explanation of the missing link in human evolution and some murders that were too easily wrapped up and put behind everyone. We seemed to be climbing ever higher on a roller coaster that just didn't want to go down. And when it went down, it was a slow descent smashed into two chapters. While I enjoyed the excitement of the foray into Tanzania, it almost read like someone had grafted together a dog and a cat--two pieces that didn't really go together.
While my background in sci-fi doesn't extend far beyond Star Trek and Star Wars, I'm not unfamiliar with political themes in fiction. This book took a common and particularly relevant theme--international unrest--and carried it into the not so distant future. I always appreciate when books are tethered to current world events, so I was pleased with this addition of a second source of tension, particularly when the authors chose to humanize China with three sympathetic characters. Yeoh, Soong, and Yuen allowed me to look at the conflict as a multi-dimensional matter that would clearly affect more than America.
Style-wise, this book took on the monumental task of looking at a massive plot from not only the astronauts' point of view but the American government as well, and I think it was mostly successful. The story had a careful flow and the long chapters were broken up by shifts between the Phoenix crew, those who remained at the Johnson Space Center, and the President (and her trusted confidantes).
The crew of the Phoenix were all well-written and interesting characters. I appreciated Donovan's past with NASA, and Zell's Tony-Stark-esque personality. As I'd grown rather fond of Bruce over the course of the book, I was disappointed when he wasn't included except sparingly in the final adventure, but I can reconcile it if only because my love for Benny was even greater. I think my only hang-up in characterization was the woefully under-explored mind of Cal Walker. He was a flat antagonist, motivated by nothing more than money, and I would have appreciated greater dimension.
In all, I think my review comes off as a little harsh considering I really did enjoy this book. It kept me reading long past when I had planned to stop, and there was rarely a dull moment (once I made it past the first part). I related to the characters, hurt when they hurt and smiled when they were happy. There were some moments where I struggled with little details, but no author can write a book where every sentence is perfect for every reader. Mari and Brown wrote an exciting novel, that I would certainly recommend to fans of political and science fiction novels.
November 13, 2016
Cumbersome...
This was one of the Amazon Prime First choices for November. I have started reading it and put it down several times now. It's ponderous.
A new mission to the moon, possible aliens, and archeologists. I thought it would be great. Alas, no.
The NASA mission is wrecked by sabotage, and we end up hitching a ride with the Chinese, with whom we are at the brink of war. One archeologist has daddy issues, the other is an overgrown child. The alien presence isn't alien, and the villainous saboteur is obvious from the start.
Results: it's slow. It lacks excitement, and it's predictable.
This was one of the Amazon Prime First choices for November. I have started reading it and put it down several times now. It's ponderous.
A new mission to the moon, possible aliens, and archeologists. I thought it would be great. Alas, no.
The NASA mission is wrecked by sabotage, and we end up hitching a ride with the Chinese, with whom we are at the brink of war. One archeologist has daddy issues, the other is an overgrown child. The alien presence isn't alien, and the villainous saboteur is obvious from the start.
Results: it's slow. It lacks excitement, and it's predictable.
January 3, 2018
A mixed read with an intriguing science fiction first half turning into a less satisfactory and implausible thriller for the second.
November 8, 2020
A fissure appears on the moon's surface and blasts the entire Earth with an EMP. The US and China then enter a new space race to the moon to investigate the cause; meanwhile, the two countries are on the brink of war over politics in Taiwan. The team chosen to go to the moon include two archeologists, Zell and Donovan. What they find may affect the future of the entire planet and how it views the past.
This was more like a 2.5 star for me. It is somewhere between "Ok" and "I liked it". My main issue with the story was that it got a little "soapbox" there for a while when the team discovered the why behind the EMP and it dragged on a little too long. I did like how the author ended up manipulating that reason into a plot paradox. I also liked how initially the Chinese were enemy #1, yet Oh, and one final dislike were several loose ends at the finale. I accept that not everything can always be tied up, but there were numerous loose ends.
This was more like a 2.5 star for me. It is somewhere between "Ok" and "I liked it". My main issue with the story was that it got a little "soapbox" there for a while when the team discovered the why behind the EMP and it dragged on a little too long. I did like how the author ended up manipulating that reason into a plot paradox. I also liked how initially the Chinese were enemy #1, yet Oh, and one final dislike were several loose ends at the finale. I accept that not everything can always be tied up, but there were numerous loose ends.
April 12, 2017
This was one of the Kindle first read selections that sounded like it might be worth the price (nothing). It's a 2.5 rounded to a 3.0 because it was fun, not good mind you, but fun. It was all rather superficial and unbelievable, but still fun.
The US and China are about to go to war over Taiwan (not so unbelievable). Then an explosion on the moon send manages to take down the world's power grid. And what came along with the explosion was a message from what is believed to be an alien culture providing coordinates for a landing on the moon. Both the US and China get to work to get there first, but both keep having things blow up. So the US President calls the Chinese President and they agree to a joint mission to the moon to find out what's there. The mission is plagued with disasters. As readers we know that someone is sabotaging things. But the mission crew is smart and determined and they accomplish what they set out to do, even though it is not what they expected. But, things are not yet over and the suspense, mystery, discoveries continue when back on Earth.
The political piece is pretty naïve. The characters are pretty superficial, although some are quite likeable. The baddest guy is despicable. There is a lot of action. Sometimes, the story just jumps forward, never explaining how the situation that existed was resolved to get to that forward point.
In short, this book has a lot of flaws but despite that, it was fun, although you do have to suspend disbelief and just roll with it.
The US and China are about to go to war over Taiwan (not so unbelievable). Then an explosion on the moon send manages to take down the world's power grid. And what came along with the explosion was a message from what is believed to be an alien culture providing coordinates for a landing on the moon. Both the US and China get to work to get there first, but both keep having things blow up. So the US President calls the Chinese President and they agree to a joint mission to the moon to find out what's there. The mission is plagued with disasters. As readers we know that someone is sabotaging things. But the mission crew is smart and determined and they accomplish what they set out to do, even though it is not what they expected. But, things are not yet over and the suspense, mystery, discoveries continue when back on Earth.
The political piece is pretty naïve. The characters are pretty superficial, although some are quite likeable. The baddest guy is despicable. There is a lot of action. Sometimes, the story just jumps forward, never explaining how the situation that existed was resolved to get to that forward point.
In short, this book has a lot of flaws but despite that, it was fun, although you do have to suspend disbelief and just roll with it.
December 10, 2016
I bought this book as a Kindle First read.
The plot was good. EMP orginated from the moon opens a fissure, the USA enters a spcace race to see who can get there first to investigate. The beginning of the book was slow for me and very technically detailed. The authors didn't spend enough time fleshing out the characters, and instead focused more on the plot of the book. In comparison to the beginning of the book, the end was action packed and rushed.
The plot was good. EMP orginated from the moon opens a fissure, the USA enters a spcace race to see who can get there first to investigate. The beginning of the book was slow for me and very technically detailed. The authors didn't spend enough time fleshing out the characters, and instead focused more on the plot of the book. In comparison to the beginning of the book, the end was action packed and rushed.
January 5, 2017
I got to 85% of the Audible version. Great narrator. He does exceptional and varied voices.
This is a political thriller wrapped in a thin layer of science fiction. Unfortunately, political thrillers are not really my "thing". I still enjoyed it and can't really say there's anything wrong with it other than it didn't have enough sci-fi in it for my tastes.
This is a political thriller wrapped in a thin layer of science fiction. Unfortunately, political thrillers are not really my "thing". I still enjoyed it and can't really say there's anything wrong with it other than it didn't have enough sci-fi in it for my tastes.
November 3, 2016
Time travel and genetic engineering meet Indiana Jones.
We all want to.know and understand the past and the future. This book is one explanation. It is very entertaining.
We all want to.know and understand the past and the future. This book is one explanation. It is very entertaining.
July 31, 2017
I loved This book. Had Never read nothing by him.
May 2, 2017
If you like your sci-fi mashed up - and I mean mashed up - with conspiracy theory, this one's for you. As sci-fi mash-ups go, there's plenty of balls in the air - EMP (electromagnetic pulse), black holes and time travel, genetic soup making, re-visiting the moon, etc. But it all holds together pretty nicely. Throw in plenty of action, a little global conflict, a broad array of characters (maybe a few too many) and story-lines, and, well, you've got some pretty darn entertaining (for me) airplane reading. There's no reason why a sequel shouldn't be forthcoming....
I might have liked the book a little more with some tighter editing and, in more than a handful of places, a little more show and a little less tell. But one should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It was a fun book, and it kept me turning pages.
Non-spoiler nit pick: if you're a fan of William R. Forstchen's One Second After (the EMP re-make of Pat Frank's 1959 nuclear holocaust/dystopia classic, Alas, Babylon), you'll see a very different post-EMP world. (Sorry, but I'm not qualified to opine on whether a (very) large-scale EMP (nuclear or non-nuclear) will temporarily disrupt or permanently damage mechanical devices (and whether those devices need to be operating during the EMP or not).) But, hey, it's sci-fi, so pick your dystopian poison.
Hyper-nit: There's a(t least one) gruesome typo in the Kindle version - a word missing in a critical sentence - in a pretty important passage towards the end. But, hey, given that it was (at least for me) a Kindle First freebie, it's hard to get too wrapped around the axle about that.
I've burnt my Kindle First selection on far worse books. For the price (something in the free-to-cheap range), this should be a best-seller!
I might have liked the book a little more with some tighter editing and, in more than a handful of places, a little more show and a little less tell. But one should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It was a fun book, and it kept me turning pages.
Non-spoiler nit pick: if you're a fan of William R. Forstchen's One Second After (the EMP re-make of Pat Frank's 1959 nuclear holocaust/dystopia classic, Alas, Babylon), you'll see a very different post-EMP world. (Sorry, but I'm not qualified to opine on whether a (very) large-scale EMP (nuclear or non-nuclear) will temporarily disrupt or permanently damage mechanical devices (and whether those devices need to be operating during the EMP or not).) But, hey, it's sci-fi, so pick your dystopian poison.
Hyper-nit: There's a(t least one) gruesome typo in the Kindle version - a word missing in a critical sentence - in a pretty important passage towards the end. But, hey, given that it was (at least for me) a Kindle First freebie, it's hard to get too wrapped around the axle about that.
I've burnt my Kindle First selection on far worse books. For the price (something in the free-to-cheap range), this should be a best-seller!
September 22, 2017
Ocean of Storms centers on a mysterious EMP that briefly knocks out power across the earth. It's discovered that the pulse originated from a device buried beneath the surface of the moon. This spurs a space race between the United States and China to get to the source.
The story started out feeling very much like the movie Armageddon to me. Things got a little more interesting about midway through the story when we begin to learn about how the EMP source got on the moon and why the pulse was emitted. The speculative science fiction was too few and far between to carry a story that didn't have much else going on. The characters were not interesting or well developed. One character, in particular, Elias Zell, was completely comical. The premise of the story was very good but executed poorly.
The story started out feeling very much like the movie Armageddon to me. Things got a little more interesting about midway through the story when we begin to learn about how the EMP source got on the moon and why the pulse was emitted. The speculative science fiction was too few and far between to carry a story that didn't have much else going on. The characters were not interesting or well developed. One character, in particular, Elias Zell, was completely comical. The premise of the story was very good but executed poorly.
August 16, 2017
This book started with a bang and ended with a whimper. The story was quite a bit different than one would expect from the opening scene. Nevertheless, it was a solid story with an interesting premise. I'd call it a solid sci-fi story with a bit of a warning for humanity. It was not hard to follow and had a good mix of plot and action.
It wasn't rabidly political or religious and there wasn't much in the way of harsh language. I purchased this as an ebook and was not compensated in any way for the review.
It wasn't rabidly political or religious and there wasn't much in the way of harsh language. I purchased this as an ebook and was not compensated in any way for the review.
February 26, 2018
I just didn’t like this book. Characters lacked depth, writing was boring, events with action were quick and over before they started. The EMP happens at the beginning of the book and nothing much happens until about 1/2 way in. Events didn’t have much believability about them. Ending “meh”.
March 7, 2018
This book seemed mostly boring and filled with too many tedious, unnecessary facts. There were a few sections that had some adventure but I won't read a book by this author again.
November 19, 2017
A fun, one-day distraction
Bad science, bad fiction (oh, lord, the dialogue!), but a fun page-turner...you just want to see what’s going to happen next.
Bad science, bad fiction (oh, lord, the dialogue!), but a fun page-turner...you just want to see what’s going to happen next.
December 6, 2017
This book has a very interesting premise and ultimately becomes a story with cool ideas about humanity. That being said, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers about the terrible character development and ridiculous technological situations. The characters were almost laughable stereotypes at times and there were numerous conversations in the first half of the book that made me cringe. Couple that with the not very believable premise that China was our only option to get to the moon and I almost stopped reading. The story does pick up once they get to the moon so it was worth finishing, if you can get through the terrible first half.
November 21, 2017
3 Stars
I read this one in fits and starts over a period of several weeks and between other things. Not sure why. The story held my interest while reading, but as it was easy to come back to and not feel as if I'd lost the storyline, I guess I wasn't too worried about putting it aside at times. It does pose one of those interesting future-influencing-the-past-influencing-the-future type theories, but like most time paradoxes, thinking about it too hard is likely to result in head spinning. You will have to make up your own mind about this one.
I read this one in fits and starts over a period of several weeks and between other things. Not sure why. The story held my interest while reading, but as it was easy to come back to and not feel as if I'd lost the storyline, I guess I wasn't too worried about putting it aside at times. It does pose one of those interesting future-influencing-the-past-influencing-the-future type theories, but like most time paradoxes, thinking about it too hard is likely to result in head spinning. You will have to make up your own mind about this one.
February 4, 2017
This book starts off with an intriguing premise, then has a long build-up, in that it takes about a third of the book before the main characters take off for the moon to investigate the mysterious crack in its surface. There are some exciting moments when their space shuttle's explosion places the mission in jeopardy, but after that, the rest of the story was increasingly a let-down. The whole time-travel paradox and genetic engineering plot felt forced and unsatisfying, and the ending was distinctly anti-climactic. I'd have preferred some fights with aliens, or more sabotage, or something to up the drama. The Tanzania plot in the last third of the book felt like it was floundering, trying to increase the tension, but not going anywhere.
Also, the two "main" characters (Donovan and Zell), who are supposed to be archaeologists, do almost nothing that is even remotely archaeologist-like (I say this as someone with an archaeology minor, who has worked on archaeology digs and is close friends with several archaeologists). As such, I found the whole premise for their participation in the expedition to be completely contrived and unbelievable (and that's saying something for a spaceship-on-the-moon adventure story). Nor did I really care much about any of the characters, who all felt pretty formulaic. Plus, there were only three main female characters, of whom one was unnamed ("The President"), one died, and two (incl. the dead one) were love interests for Donovan, one of the distinctly non-archaeologist archaeologists.
Also, the two "main" characters (Donovan and Zell), who are supposed to be archaeologists, do almost nothing that is even remotely archaeologist-like (I say this as someone with an archaeology minor, who has worked on archaeology digs and is close friends with several archaeologists). As such, I found the whole premise for their participation in the expedition to be completely contrived and unbelievable (and that's saying something for a spaceship-on-the-moon adventure story). Nor did I really care much about any of the characters, who all felt pretty formulaic. Plus, there were only three main female characters, of whom one was unnamed ("The President"), one died, and two (incl. the dead one) were love interests for Donovan, one of the distinctly non-archaeologist archaeologists.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2017
Ocean of Storms (Paperback) by Christopher Mari
Meh. Seems like the authors spent some time reading everyone else's books, and decided to mash them together really? Actually, this reads like a made of tv movie from the last decade.
Everything, and everyone is more or less your stock in trade present day SciFi. The characters are all flat, and no one shows any real change or growth. The plot is rather predictable as well.
That said, it had at least enough action to hold my interest to get too the end. Which by the way was even more predictable and less fulfilling that the rest of the plot.
I gave it three stars, but that was being generous.
Meh. Seems like the authors spent some time reading everyone else's books, and decided to mash them together really? Actually, this reads like a made of tv movie from the last decade.
Everything, and everyone is more or less your stock in trade present day SciFi. The characters are all flat, and no one shows any real change or growth. The plot is rather predictable as well.
That said, it had at least enough action to hold my interest to get too the end. Which by the way was even more predictable and less fulfilling that the rest of the plot.
I gave it three stars, but that was being generous.
March 23, 2017
First half - 4*
Second half - 3*
Ending - 2*
Overall it was an ok read. I enjoyed the beginning section far more than the rest of the book, but I still enjoyed the majority of the story and the characters. But, I thought the ending was a bit boring and the story just petered out instead of ending with a bang.
Second half - 3*
Ending - 2*
Overall it was an ok read. I enjoyed the beginning section far more than the rest of the book, but I still enjoyed the majority of the story and the characters. But, I thought the ending was a bit boring and the story just petered out instead of ending with a bang.
November 5, 2016
Good
This reads like a t.v./film tie in book. A good adventure with spaceships from the future, genetic engineering and a motley crew who have to save the world. It seems bang up to date with a madam president and lady p.m and will appeal to anyone who likes an easy going read.
This reads like a t.v./film tie in book. A good adventure with spaceships from the future, genetic engineering and a motley crew who have to save the world. It seems bang up to date with a madam president and lady p.m and will appeal to anyone who likes an easy going read.
December 3, 2025
Technical errors and bad character development? Let me count the ways.
Rating : 1.5 stars.
Rating : 1.5 stars.
September 29, 2017
I am a fan of old-fashioned early and mid-twentieth century science fiction. In fact, I also love the science fiction that was generated in the nineteenth century as well; I believe this is called Steampunk today. While I was growing up, it was simply considered a classic genre of literature. The reason I hark back to that time era is because science didn't overwhelm the plot and the characterization of the protagonists and antagonists. Subplots and supporting characters were not overtaken by the glitz and glitter of modern technology. They were simply an element of good story telling.
I have since lost interest in the current run of sci fi trends. I rarely read any book of that genre. Technological glitz tends to become outdated too quickly for readers not to get distracted by what's considered old news. I empathize with authors of that genre trying to please all schools of thought. It's difficult to hold a reader's interest. Maintaining a good balance is key. Only once in a rare while does a book appear that manages to hold up to the ideals of literature with science at it's core. I believe Ocean of Storms has successfully crossed this invisible barrier.
In my opinion, Ocean of Storms is an instant classic. It has everything it needs to qualify it as an adventure: solid storytelling, development of suspense, a twist on a classic theme, drama with well developed characters, international intrigue, traitors, greed, mystery and more. It is a fast-paced complex tale that does not get so overly tangled that the reader gets lost in too many heads.
The story begins when an EM pulse knocks out communications over the entire planet, setting governments scrambling to gain control over panicking and perturbed citizens. When the source of the pulse was pinpointed to the moon, an immediate second space race ensues. Which country would arrive on the moon first? What the mission discovers in the deep cavern becomes an unexpected twist to a classic theme. For me, the conclusions are memorable. I would love to see a movie made based on this book.
If you are a fan of fast-paced adventure with a touch of drama and intrigue without the cruelty, darkness and gore often dogging the modern genre, I highly recommend this book to you. It even improves on multiple subsequent readings. That's something I don't find very often in any genre.
Warning: There is some language that seems inevitable; However, I am pleased that it doesn't contain the evil presence of venom and lack of value for human life we see often in current books
I have since lost interest in the current run of sci fi trends. I rarely read any book of that genre. Technological glitz tends to become outdated too quickly for readers not to get distracted by what's considered old news. I empathize with authors of that genre trying to please all schools of thought. It's difficult to hold a reader's interest. Maintaining a good balance is key. Only once in a rare while does a book appear that manages to hold up to the ideals of literature with science at it's core. I believe Ocean of Storms has successfully crossed this invisible barrier.
In my opinion, Ocean of Storms is an instant classic. It has everything it needs to qualify it as an adventure: solid storytelling, development of suspense, a twist on a classic theme, drama with well developed characters, international intrigue, traitors, greed, mystery and more. It is a fast-paced complex tale that does not get so overly tangled that the reader gets lost in too many heads.
The story begins when an EM pulse knocks out communications over the entire planet, setting governments scrambling to gain control over panicking and perturbed citizens. When the source of the pulse was pinpointed to the moon, an immediate second space race ensues. Which country would arrive on the moon first? What the mission discovers in the deep cavern becomes an unexpected twist to a classic theme. For me, the conclusions are memorable. I would love to see a movie made based on this book.
If you are a fan of fast-paced adventure with a touch of drama and intrigue without the cruelty, darkness and gore often dogging the modern genre, I highly recommend this book to you. It even improves on multiple subsequent readings. That's something I don't find very often in any genre.
Warning: There is some language that seems inevitable; However, I am pleased that it doesn't contain the evil presence of venom and lack of value for human life we see often in current books
December 5, 2016
Ocean of Storms by Christopher Mari and Jeremy K. Brown is a so-so science fiction novel.
An explosion on the moon causes an EMP that affects all of the earth. A deep fissure is now on the Moon's Ocean of Storms and it is believed that an alien ship long buried on the moon has caused the event. The effort to get a team who can explore the suspected anomaly on the moon requires cooperation between the USA and China. Tensions are at an all-time high globally, so hopefully some answers will calm down the human race.
This is an interesting mix of sci-fi and thriller. It starts out slow, so be prepared for a long, slow build up before they actually get to the moon. After that the novel jolts forward like it is a race to make sure they have as many varied events occurring as they possibly can in one novel. This has the novel heading more in the direction of a thriller.
I'm in a quandary over the rating of this one. There are numerous examples of poor science/no science here. Research would have helped enormously, especially since many sci-fi readers like real science in their science fiction. This lack became problematic for me as the errors mounted. For example, a world-wide EMP (electromagnetic pulse) would not be an event that we would recover from as easily and quickly as depicted in Ocean of Storms. Certainly Mari and Brown could have written this as some other world-wide occurrence and skip calling it an EMP. As the errors began to add up, I was ready to stop reading. Then the novel takes this leap and starts running off in a new direction, which made me realize that Mari and Brown weren't actually writing a sci-fi novel, they were writing a thriller that needed the sci-fi elements. This realization lessened my harsh judgement of Ocean of Storms.
It is entertaining. The writing is okay; there are numerous errors in the science. There was one huge, glaring plot mistake where a character wasn't in the scene and then suddenly was. I re-read the previous pages thinking I missed something, but, no, I didn't. All the characters are caricatures of various standard types. The thriller element tackles more popular hot topics and a conspiracy. In the final analysis it is an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink plot peopled with standard characters.
Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
An explosion on the moon causes an EMP that affects all of the earth. A deep fissure is now on the Moon's Ocean of Storms and it is believed that an alien ship long buried on the moon has caused the event. The effort to get a team who can explore the suspected anomaly on the moon requires cooperation between the USA and China. Tensions are at an all-time high globally, so hopefully some answers will calm down the human race.
This is an interesting mix of sci-fi and thriller. It starts out slow, so be prepared for a long, slow build up before they actually get to the moon. After that the novel jolts forward like it is a race to make sure they have as many varied events occurring as they possibly can in one novel. This has the novel heading more in the direction of a thriller.
I'm in a quandary over the rating of this one. There are numerous examples of poor science/no science here. Research would have helped enormously, especially since many sci-fi readers like real science in their science fiction. This lack became problematic for me as the errors mounted. For example, a world-wide EMP (electromagnetic pulse) would not be an event that we would recover from as easily and quickly as depicted in Ocean of Storms. Certainly Mari and Brown could have written this as some other world-wide occurrence and skip calling it an EMP. As the errors began to add up, I was ready to stop reading. Then the novel takes this leap and starts running off in a new direction, which made me realize that Mari and Brown weren't actually writing a sci-fi novel, they were writing a thriller that needed the sci-fi elements. This realization lessened my harsh judgement of Ocean of Storms.
It is entertaining. The writing is okay; there are numerous errors in the science. There was one huge, glaring plot mistake where a character wasn't in the scene and then suddenly was. I re-read the previous pages thinking I missed something, but, no, I didn't. All the characters are caricatures of various standard types. The thriller element tackles more popular hot topics and a conspiracy. In the final analysis it is an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink plot peopled with standard characters.
Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
March 22, 2017
“Ocean of Storms” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by Christopher Mari and Jeremy K. Brown. Mr. Mari has published 8 books and Mr. Brown 7.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story takes place in contemporary times at locations around the US, Tanzania and in space. There are several major characters, but the primary one is Archaeologist Dr. Alan Donovan.
Tension between the US and China are on the rise. China is sword rattling with a fleet around Taiwan threatening invasion. The US fleet is near by to defend the independence of Taiwan. From out of nowhere an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) sweeps the Earth causing extensive damage and death.
Scientists soon identify the source as coming from the Moon and a newly opened 10 mile long rift in its surface. The only viable space powers, the US and China, ramp up programs to return to the Moon to investigate. The most common thought is that the EMP was alien in origin.
Because of what they expect to find, an Archeologist is wanted for the mission. The first choice is Donovan. Both Moon shot programs are plagues by failures and it looks like neither will get to the Moon quickly. World tension is on the rise with many conspiracy theories. In an effort to more quickly get to the Moon and discover the truth, China and the US join forces.
After this a lot happens, but without disclosing spoilers I can’t really say too much. The joint crew starts out at odds with one another, but gradually becomes a team. The effort encounters many ‘accidents’ along the road to reaching the Moon and you soon realize that there is a secret effort to stop their mission.
I really enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 412 page Science fiction novel. I enjoyed the characters in the story and I liked the plot. That said, I was a little disappointed with the end. I think that the novel could have had a better conclusion. I also think that this could easily have been stretched a little and could have become two novels instead of just one. The story followed the team on two separate but related missions. I thought that the cover art was a reasonable choice. I give this novel a 4.7 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story takes place in contemporary times at locations around the US, Tanzania and in space. There are several major characters, but the primary one is Archaeologist Dr. Alan Donovan.
Tension between the US and China are on the rise. China is sword rattling with a fleet around Taiwan threatening invasion. The US fleet is near by to defend the independence of Taiwan. From out of nowhere an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) sweeps the Earth causing extensive damage and death.
Scientists soon identify the source as coming from the Moon and a newly opened 10 mile long rift in its surface. The only viable space powers, the US and China, ramp up programs to return to the Moon to investigate. The most common thought is that the EMP was alien in origin.
Because of what they expect to find, an Archeologist is wanted for the mission. The first choice is Donovan. Both Moon shot programs are plagues by failures and it looks like neither will get to the Moon quickly. World tension is on the rise with many conspiracy theories. In an effort to more quickly get to the Moon and discover the truth, China and the US join forces.
After this a lot happens, but without disclosing spoilers I can’t really say too much. The joint crew starts out at odds with one another, but gradually becomes a team. The effort encounters many ‘accidents’ along the road to reaching the Moon and you soon realize that there is a secret effort to stop their mission.
I really enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 412 page Science fiction novel. I enjoyed the characters in the story and I liked the plot. That said, I was a little disappointed with the end. I think that the novel could have had a better conclusion. I also think that this could easily have been stretched a little and could have become two novels instead of just one. The story followed the team on two separate but related missions. I thought that the cover art was a reasonable choice. I give this novel a 4.7 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 570 reviews