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Combat-K #2
BioHell
On a corrupt planet used by a global technology corporation to manufacture the Biomod Human Upgrade, hackers break into the company system, stealing its secrets and unleashing them on an unsuspecting populace, forcing the Combat-K squad into a perilous quest into a wasteland of murder and mutations as they investigate the dark heart of the corporation that created the upgrade.
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2008
7 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Andy Remic
50 books183 followersAndy Remic lives in Lincoln, UK, although his heart and viking soul belong to the Scottish mountains. Married with two children, Andy has a variety of esoteric and sometimes contrasting loves, including sword fighting, climbing, mountain biking, kick-boxing, Ducati motorcycles and retro-gaming. He recently wrote the computer version of his novel Biohell for the 48K Spectrum, in which many people are still stuck. He writes in both SF and fantasy fields, and is sometimes accused of literature. Current novels include: Spiral, Quake, Warhead, War Machine, Biohell, Hardcore and the upcoming Cloneworld, Theme Planet and TOX for Solaris Books, and the Kell’s Legend trilogy, Kell’s Legend, Soul Stealers and Vampire Warlords for Angry Robot Books.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 20, 2020
I'm surprised that by the end of the book I had to keep dropping my rating. I really liked the first 3/5ths of the book. I don't have the same problem as other reviewers, I understand British humor having been a Doctor Who, Monty Python, and Games Workshop fan since the 80s. The humor wasn't the problem. The problem was the amount of it used over the course of the book. I'm all for the cheeky one liner and quip but some of the humor was just overdone for a hardcore mil sci-fi book. I also started to have serious issues around page 500 of the US edition where the crazy helicopter chase starts. All the way from there to the end I had issues with the plotting, pacing, physics, amount of insane tech and the final plot reveals. I won't spoil them but 1 I saw coming a mile away, that was fine, the other was just stupid. I think the writer could have cut about 200 pages from the book and created some side story novellas to companion the book. After reading Remic's Games Workshop books, this was a real let down.
March 23, 2017
This book grabs you by the throat and refuses to let you go.
Remic has said that the one thing that readers should be whilst reading a book is bored. There is nothing boring in this book in terms of action and pacing. The plot gets underway straight from the outset and the relevant characters are introduced and the action starts and is unrelenting until the end.
There are a couple of negatives. The characters of Keenan, Pippa and Franco have little in the way of arc, only Franco could be considered of having a story, but most of the characterization is done in the first book, and this book offers nothing new in developing them further. The plot is standard and doesn't offer anything new and drastic to the genre.
It feels like an late 80's early 90's action film, which isn't all that bad of a thing, but if you want something deep and meaningful and more thought provoking like the meaning of life, then this isn't the book for you.
Remic has said that the one thing that readers should be whilst reading a book is bored. There is nothing boring in this book in terms of action and pacing. The plot gets underway straight from the outset and the relevant characters are introduced and the action starts and is unrelenting until the end.
There are a couple of negatives. The characters of Keenan, Pippa and Franco have little in the way of arc, only Franco could be considered of having a story, but most of the characterization is done in the first book, and this book offers nothing new in developing them further. The plot is standard and doesn't offer anything new and drastic to the genre.
It feels like an late 80's early 90's action film, which isn't all that bad of a thing, but if you want something deep and meaningful and more thought provoking like the meaning of life, then this isn't the book for you.
June 3, 2017
Andy Remic gets some bad reviews I feel unfairly. This book moves along with never a dull moment,some good one liners and banter,some good original ideas. Yes maybe the ending was a bit
dodgy but I enjoyed it.
dodgy but I enjoyed it.
April 6, 2020
One of the greatest Sci-fi books I have read. This was an EXTREMELY intense book and I will never forget it. Any remic is a great author with a lot of talent.
March 24, 2025
This story is sort of your typical Pulp Zombie Sci-Fi. I enjoyed the writing and the story was pretty fast paced and not without action.
August 30, 2012
I hate giving this book, or any book really, a one star review. But Andy Remic seems bound and determined to personally make sure I wind up in a loony bin, ranting and raving about terrible plot cliches and great ideas gone horribly, horribly wrong.
That's the crux of it - Biohell is a genuinely good idea for a novel, but it's so completely mishandled as to be darkly hilarious. The basics of the plot for the first three quarters of the novel are fine. A morally corrupt nanotechnology company has engineered a zombie uprising, except that these zombies are sentient, tote guns, and fly helicopters. Returning characters from War Machine must traverse the planet (called only the City, because it's a planet-wide city and... oh, who the f*** cares?) in search of a means to reverse the zombie plague as well as determine the source of an alien takeover on another planet. It's not overly complex, but it sounds mostly entertaining, right? What could go so terribly wrong with such a potentially fun and mindless story?
Well, everything.
If you read my review of War Machine, you'll remember that I knocked it heavily for its overabundance of melodrama. Andy Remic shifts gears in this novel and goes instead for a much lighter, madcap tone directly inspired by the over-the-top propaganda and humor of the film version of Starship Troopers and its like. One thing though - no one apparently had the heart to tell Andy Remic his humor is awful. I feel bad writing that, because God only knows my own sense of humor is pretty screwed. But it's the plain and simple truth - the jokes in this novel are ridiculously painful.
The excellent combat scenes in the first novel, its saving grace, are dead. There are still lots of combat scenes, but in place of that nifty, bro-tastic adrenaline found throughout War Machine, Biohell is saturated with limp and outlandish moments. While the idea of zombies with firepower is a great idea, it stays just that - an idea. It doesn't help matters much that the last quarter of the novel falls into a nasty quicksand of cliches and bad plot devices. Like the first novel, heroes face "impossible" odds at the end of nearly every chapter, only to survive through miracles and eye-rolling moments of luck.
That last quarter of the book really was the final nail in the coffin. Characters betray one another left and right, "shocking" villain turns are revealed, and in a moment of bizarre stupidity, Remic reverses the very best plot twist of the first novel (admittedly, that's crowning a single turd among millions). Writers, let me make this absolutely clear - the sheer number of twists you throw at your readers does not equate to great writing. In the case of Biohell, the simple, cheesy premise would have made for a passable sci-fi action novel. As it is, though, the weight of Remic's mistakes ultimately strip this novel of any joy it might have imparted.
That's the crux of it - Biohell is a genuinely good idea for a novel, but it's so completely mishandled as to be darkly hilarious. The basics of the plot for the first three quarters of the novel are fine. A morally corrupt nanotechnology company has engineered a zombie uprising, except that these zombies are sentient, tote guns, and fly helicopters. Returning characters from War Machine must traverse the planet (called only the City, because it's a planet-wide city and... oh, who the f*** cares?) in search of a means to reverse the zombie plague as well as determine the source of an alien takeover on another planet. It's not overly complex, but it sounds mostly entertaining, right? What could go so terribly wrong with such a potentially fun and mindless story?
Well, everything.
If you read my review of War Machine, you'll remember that I knocked it heavily for its overabundance of melodrama. Andy Remic shifts gears in this novel and goes instead for a much lighter, madcap tone directly inspired by the over-the-top propaganda and humor of the film version of Starship Troopers and its like. One thing though - no one apparently had the heart to tell Andy Remic his humor is awful. I feel bad writing that, because God only knows my own sense of humor is pretty screwed. But it's the plain and simple truth - the jokes in this novel are ridiculously painful.
The excellent combat scenes in the first novel, its saving grace, are dead. There are still lots of combat scenes, but in place of that nifty, bro-tastic adrenaline found throughout War Machine, Biohell is saturated with limp and outlandish moments. While the idea of zombies with firepower is a great idea, it stays just that - an idea. It doesn't help matters much that the last quarter of the novel falls into a nasty quicksand of cliches and bad plot devices. Like the first novel, heroes face "impossible" odds at the end of nearly every chapter, only to survive through miracles and eye-rolling moments of luck.
That last quarter of the book really was the final nail in the coffin. Characters betray one another left and right, "shocking" villain turns are revealed, and in a moment of bizarre stupidity, Remic reverses the very best plot twist of the first novel (admittedly, that's crowning a single turd among millions). Writers, let me make this absolutely clear - the sheer number of twists you throw at your readers does not equate to great writing. In the case of Biohell, the simple, cheesy premise would have made for a passable sci-fi action novel. As it is, though, the weight of Remic's mistakes ultimately strip this novel of any joy it might have imparted.
August 3, 2016
Paid a buck for this book at a used book store (whee, Strand!), and I feel ripped off.
A sequel (possibly skipping a few books, he doesn't actually number them) to War Machine, which in itself was book 3 or 4 of the series. (I've reviewed that previously)
The back cover lays out the basic plot, and then proceeds to hail War Machine as an awesome book.
Which should tell you something.
This thing has some interesting points, but in general it's a massive failure at an attempt to shock by being disgusting. Yes, pus-covered zombies are nasty, so what?
Very base humor, and in general very inferior to its predecessor.
A sequel (possibly skipping a few books, he doesn't actually number them) to War Machine, which in itself was book 3 or 4 of the series. (I've reviewed that previously)
The back cover lays out the basic plot, and then proceeds to hail War Machine as an awesome book.
Which should tell you something.
This thing has some interesting points, but in general it's a massive failure at an attempt to shock by being disgusting. Yes, pus-covered zombies are nasty, so what?
Very base humor, and in general very inferior to its predecessor.
January 10, 2009
An ok but not more follow up to War Machine. The action is there but the large scale epic setting is not. This could have been any near future mil sf thriller with some bells and whistles and I usually avoid such. Still kept my interest for the next book in the series, but I hope it will get to the large scale picture, exotic planets, spaceships, not urban combat against pseudo-zombies.
July 14, 2010
This book vacillates between hard sci-fi and some kind of space comedy. Page after page is filled with bad cliches and broken plot devices that are held loosely together with deus ex machina. The author has some kind of weird obsession with the word 'slam' which is used roughly once a page, if not more.
August 26, 2011
It started out real strong then kind of died off, the ending was really not great. For being such a big ass book I think some more grandiose could have transpired.
August 18, 2012
Just bad bad bad, couldn't even force myself to finish reading it. Won't be reading the rest of the series. There's a reason this one was hard to find and never went Mass Market.
March 30, 2017
Even though I finished it, this is the book that convinced me it's okay to have a DNF pile.
I thought the basic concept had a lot of potential, but between tired tropes, transphobia, sexism, etc. I cannot recommend this one.
I thought the basic concept had a lot of potential, but between tired tropes, transphobia, sexism, etc. I cannot recommend this one.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews