Dome

by Michael Reaves, Steve Perry

(From back cover) They watched in horror as humanity destroyed itself in a nightmare of biological warfare. Now they are trapped in the Dome--an underwater laboratory off the coast of Hawaii.

Scientists. Technicians. Bureaucrats. And the special ones, recipients of an advanced technology--as much machine as human, or more animal than man. They are the citizens of the Dome. Sentenced to the endless night of the ocean floor. Safe from the virus-ravaged surface. They are humanity's last chance...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic

274 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1987

About the author

Michael Reaves is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and screenwriter whose many credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone, Batman: The Animated Series, and Gargoyles. His novels include the New York Times bestseller STAR WARS: Darth Maul- Shadowhunter and STAR WARS: Death Star. He and Neil Gaiman cowrote Interworld. Reaves has also written short fiction, comic books, and background dialogue for a Megadeth video. He lives in California.

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dome was written in 1987 but the authors are smart-they place the action far enough in the future that the novel does not come off as dated. After humanity does its' level best to destroy itself via biological warfare, a vast mobile laboratory off the coast of Hawaii becomes the home of the last men and women on Earth. A variety of internal and external perils have to circumvented if humanity is to survive. This was a good lively story peopled with interesting characters that moved at a fast pace.

[Howard Gibbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dome is an extremely well written, and well plotted out novel. That tells the tale of a massive, mostly completed, mobile underwater city and it's inhabitants. Now while this might not seem too exciting, things do become very interesting early on in the book when a nuclear detonation/test is conducted in Asia that triggers a number of volcanic events throughout the world.

These "natural"" disasters trigger a number of political events that lead to a limited nuclear war between Vietnam and Laos, and when one shot misses its intended target and ends up in Cambodia they retaliate with banned bacteriological weapons, that have mutated and these spread to devastate the surface of the earth.

The characters in this novel are quite memorable, and you really get a feeling that they could be actual people, which at least in my books, is an excellent way of doing characterization.

The action is fast-paced, and the writing style very concise. The story is told from multiple perspectives at one time and this leads the reader to be even more involved in the actual story. Even though it was written 34 years ago the technology is not dated, and the science itself is sound. I was some somewhat sceptical with regard to the genetics / biological part of the science, but it sounded good, and this is not something I have studied my so it may very well be perfectly legitimate but I don't know.

Well worth the read, highly recommended.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on an apocalyptic story. I enjoyed the plot quite a bit and even like most of the characters. I liked the bodybuilder character the most, he was amusing and seemed very well thought out. I really liked the setting as well, the tension of being safe in an underwater city during a plague but at the same time being trapped on the bottom of the ocean brought a great feeling to the book.
The only thing I didn't like about the story was that quite a few people turned into absolute jerks when the world started to end, I found that a little bit unrealistic, but was able to get past it. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Cara · Rating 1 out of 5]

On page 18, the 35 year old professor has sex ("lovemaking") with his 19 year old student to console himself over the death of his other student (the girl's boyfriend). She is described as "strong" and "tender" but I can't make myself read a book where a girl who has lost someone she loves has sex with a man nearly twice her age who is also in a position of power over her to console HIM. The premise was interesting, but that's just not something I can get past.

[James]

They watched in horror as humanity destroyed itself in a nightmare of biological warfare. Now they are trapped in the Dome - a vast underwater laboratory designed to become, one day, a self supporting world. One day but not yet. Scientists and technicians and bureaucrats and the special ones: a man fish whose mutant tissue might hold the future of mankind: Patricia Ishida, able to interface directly with the most advanced computers of the age. These are citizens of Dome, sentenced to the endless night of the ocean floor.

[Oscar Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was going to be a bit daft when I picked it up in search of some good old fashioned sci-fi but I was pleasantly surprised at how well written this book was. Packed full of fantastic ideas with characters that you really start to care about despite the relatively short length, I really enjoyed my time with Dome, I thought the split perspectives really added to the overall pacing of the book!

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the slang and jargon made up for the book, and the writing style is good. However, the end of the book felt abrupt, and the story doesn't compel me to care much about the characters that continue living. It's a decent read once, but not one I feel the need to keep.

[Brian R. Mcdonald]

Go references on pages 52, 91, 145, 184, 200, 203.

[Cupof Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

"sci-fi" was my best one word description of this book in junior high.

[Tymothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, overall. Unfortunately, the characters were pretty straightforward and didn'tchange much throughout the course of the narrative.