Makeover extremo: Edición apocalipsis

by Dan Wells

A new stand-alone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not A Serial Killer, soon to be a feature film.

The satirical new suspense about a health and beauty company that accidentally develops a hand lotion that can overwrite your DNA.

Lyle Fontanelle is the chief scientist for NewYew, a health and beauty company experimenting with a new, anti-aging hand lotion. As more and more anomalies crop up in testing, Lyle realizes that the lotion's formula has somehow gone horribly wrong. It is actively overwriting the DNA of anyone who uses it, turning them into physical clones of someone else. Lyle wants to destroy the formula, but NewYew thinks it might be the greatest beauty product ever designed--and the world's governments think it's the greatest weapon.

New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells brings us a gripping corporate satire about a health and beauty company that could destroy the world.

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Dystopia, Audiobook, Adult

525 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2016

About the author

Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, Isolation, Fragments, and Ruins), the John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want To Kill You), and a few others (The Hollow City, A Night of Blacker Darkness, etc). He was a Campbell nomine for best new writer, and has won a Hugo award for his work on the podcast Writing Excuses; the podcast is also a multiple winner of the Parsec Award.

Reviews

[Graham Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird but compelling

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In a culture where we can be anything we want, only one thing is certain:

Nobody wants to be themselves".

Extreme Makeover by Dan Wells



Well! What a book I just finished.

This book..some words to describe it..crazy. Sick. Insane. Creepy. Horrifying. Wild ride. And soo GOOD! I could not put this thing down.

Extreme Makeover is at once a Syfy, a horror novel of what could be as well as one of the creepiest things I've ever had the pleasure of reading, all the while, keeping me laughing out loud, sometimes hysterically, while simultaneously being chilled to my bones.

This book is about a Big Pharma company called NewYew. The lead scientist, an interesting dude by the name of Lyle, has been developing a new Health and beauty lotion for women.

The only problem is that something went wrong along the way. The lotion works just fine but it does a heck of alot more then it's supposed to.

Due to some type of mutation , this lovely little "supplement" has the power to overide the DNA of any individual who uses it, turning them into a clone of someone else.

So just think about that for a minute. You'd think that the company, upon discovering this, would get rid of the supplement(aptly named "Rebirth").

Only the company does not want to get rid of it. The company wants to profit from it. Because why not? Everyone wants to be someone else. Nobody in society is happy just being who they are. And if they can package it and make people look different..even like super models..what could go wrong right?

This premise, while sounding wholly bizarre, somehow comes alive in the hands of this writer and any absurdity fades away into blanket horror as Rebirth is unleashed. Everyone wants some Rebirth..every..including the United States Government, The United State Military, wanna be celebrities, terrorist organizations, religious groups, cults, underground Rebirth dealers and..the list goes on.

None of this is a spoiler as much of this is revealed early on..including the "countdown to the end of the world" which starts on page one. We, the reader, get to experience the horror this crazy book takes us on, while it simultaneously pokes fun at every one of the above mentioned groups and organizations. It spares nobody. It even makes fun of itself. Combining Plain sheer horror and hysterical biting wit is no small deed so I'd have to give the book a five just for that.

Lyle is the well meaning scientist who unwittingly unleashes Armageddon. He is a very interesting character and there were times I sympathized with him, disliked him, was repulsed by him and felt for him. There are a whole array of colorful characters in this one and it was a joy to read about them all.

So I do not want to say much more. I would recommend this book for..everyone. I had never heard of it before even though it has been out since 2016. What a pity. I have rarely read such a complex and crazy book.

If anyone reading this, reads Extreme Makeover, please post a comment letting me know what you thought. I have to read more by this writer. Five stars for one of my best reads of 2019.

[Lieblingsleseplatz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Buch, das provokant, nervenaufreibend, humorvoll ist und doch nachdenklich stimmt …

Lyle Fontanelle ist ein genialer Wissenschaftler (dessen Nachname mich immer wieder verwirrt hat). Zu seinem Pech arbeitet er bei der Kosmetikfirma NewYew, die seine bahnbrechende Erfindung zur Narben-Regenerierung nicht zum eigentlichen Zwecke vermarkten will, da das Genehmigungsverfahren zu aufwendig und langwierig scheint – sondern lieber das schnelle Geld als Inhaltsstoff einer  Hautcreme sucht. Erschreckend, wie der Konzern Schlupflöcher sucht und findet, um ReBirth so schnell wie möglich auf den Markt zu bringen.

„Dann fangen wir an und verändern die Welt.“

Doch ReBirth macht nicht nur strahlend schön – sondern leider auch manchmal tot. Die Katastrophe nimmt seinen Lauf… und als Lyle plötzlich immer mehr Menschen entdeckt, die wie Zwillinge von ihm aussehen ist es schon zu spät …

Die Kapitel sind ein Countdown – beginnend mit 267 Tagen bis zum Weltuntergang. Und je näher dieser rückt um so tiefer wird der Leser in das Netz aus Intrigen, Korruption und Skrupellosigkeit gezogen.

Ich liebe den Stil von Dan Wells. bereits in Overworld habe ich seine Fähigkeit bewundert, die Zukunft so zu beschreiben, als wäre sie bereits heute Realität. Wells schreibt absolute Pageturner. Hier allerdings hat das Buch etwa ab der Hälfte einen Einbruch. Da finden sich mache Längen und der Protagonist Lyle will mir einfach nicht richtig nahe kommen. Schade. Die erste Hälfte und der Schluss fangen diesen Durchhänger zwar auf, aber trotzdem scheint es, als ob der Autor nicht ganz bei der Sache gewesen wäre zwischendurch. Dennoch fühlte ich mich sehr gut unterhalten.

Ich vergebe daher nur 4 von 5 Lieblingslesesesseln für diesen erschreckend realistischen Wissenschaftsthriller Die Formel von Dan Wells.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leave it to Dan to write a book that is simultaneously laugh-out-loud funny and so terrifying that I almost felt sick when I finished it.

What makes Dan's books so great is that he not only has an amazing gift for writing characters, dialogue, and plot (you know, all the basics) but he comes up with these ideas that are so ridiculous you want to shake your head, and then he meticulously shows you how plausible it all is. Suddenly it's your new worst nightmare, and you have Dan to thank for it.

If you haven't read any of Dan's books, I recommend this one. Not as gory as the I Am Not A Serial Killer books, a standalone, and utterly chilling, this is a great place to start.

[Abe Wolfgang · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, an anecdote. I went to GenCon this year, which some of you may know is the largest tabletop gaming convention in the US. It's crazy. And Huge. And crazy huge. There were something north of 60,000 people in attendance, packing out the Indiana Convention Center, and just generally enjoying being geeks together.

The main reason I wanted to go was to attend the GenCon Writers Symposium, which is held in conjunction with all of the nerd-filled board gaming stuff, just across the street in hotel conference rooms. There were lots of different genre writers there to give talks and speak on panels about writing, craft, story, and everything else that goes with it. I was super excited that I was able to go, and after the initial shock of being there with all of those people and figuring out how to function in that setting, I was able to learn a lot and had a really good time.

Also, I love tabletop gaming, so you know I was enjoying that side of the convention as well.

Anyway, the very first panel that I attended was on the subject of endings, and how to do them well. I was interested in the topic, and one of the authors on the panel was Dan Wells, who also co-hosts the Writing Excuses podcast that I listen to religiously. So I figured it would be a good one, and when I sat down in the conference room Dan collected all of the entrance tickets and drew one out of a hat (spoiler alert, he picked my ticket) to give an ARC of his new book to.

I felt really privileged because I've never received an ARC before. I had read some of his other work, so I was excited to get something new, and also to use it as an object lesson for the panel that I was already on. You see, Dan mentioned something to me when he gave me this book. He said: "This doesn't have a happy ending."

You see, the thing about endings is that they need to be satisfying. The point of and ending is to bring the story to a close, so it needs to fulfill the expectations that the reader had, along with any promises the author made to the reader at the beginning. A lot of people think that endings need to be happy, or at least a lot of people want endings to be happy. I would have generally put myself into that camp, except for if I really think about it I do want the ending to be satisfying.

If you come out of a story and everything is happy and perfect for the main characters, but it doesn't follow logically from what just happened in the story, then it's not satisfying and it's not a good ending. It has to make sense. So when Dan said that this book didn't have a happy ending, I prepared myself for something cruel and gruesome. Now, while the ending to this particular book might be considered gruesome in a way, it is in no way cruel. It makes sense. It's satisfying. It wraps up some lingering thoughts I had while I was reading it and opens up more possibilities beyond the text. It's satisfying and I think he nailed it.

Ok, I should probably stop blathering and actually talk about the book.

Extreme Makeover is about a deeply conflicted scientist named Lyle Fontanelle who works for a cosmetics company called NewYew (and yes the company is fully aware that their name is a pun, it's addressed in the book). He is in the middle of developing a new burn-cream-turned-anti-aging-product that works on the DNA level to get your body to produce more collagen and actually reverse wrinkles instead of just cover them up. The company sees the fortune that they can make from such a product, so they rush it to market, even though Lyle doesn't want to. He gets to do one more trial run with test subjects and finds out something incredible and horrifying.

His lotion actually changes the recipient's DNA into the DNA of whoever first touched the lotion.

All of a sudden there are several Lyle Fontanelles running around New York, and instead of shutting down the project, NewYew sees even more money in it. What if you could literally turn yourself into someone else. You could be anyone. Instead of spending money on beauty products to make you look like the model on the cover of the box, you could just change yourself into them.

Now, the science is a little wonky. I'm not a scientist, and I'm definitely not a geneticist, but it seems to me highly implausible that any of this would actually work. But I've ready plenty of other stories with less plausible things and was able to enjoy them just fine, and he does a good job of explaining the science in a way that makes sense (even if it probably doesn't work), so I think on that front there is enough there for the reader to suspend disbelief and entertain the ideas of "what if you could turn yourself into someone else."

That idea is what kept me plowing through the book. There are activist groups, insurgents that want to take over the presidency, and a LOT of Lyle Fontanelles. Things go wrong and the whole world is impacted.

Another interesting thing about this book is that there is a countdown timer at the start of every chapter. 150 days to the end of the world. I knew what was coming. I knew that the end of the story would be the end of the world and everything that goes with it, but I wanted to know what happened next. I wanted to see how the apocalypse played out and to see if the author thought of all the little details that I was thinking about while reading. Turns out he had, and in a way that was at the same time more complex and more easily communicated than I would have thought. Some details he just breezed past in a few lines, addressed and dismissed, which I appreciate as a reader because I know that he put in the world-building work and didn't dwell too much on stuff that didn't serve the story.

World-building can be a tricky thing. I've seen both sides of it. The stuff that makes me want to pull my hair out is when a book lays out all o the details in the first few pages, or reiterates stuff over and over again just to make sure that I understood what was happening. It drains all of the mystery of things and makes me just want to put the book down. Good world-building is the stuff where the author puts just enough on the page to make you want more, and leaves the rest of it to be revealed over time when it's necessary to the story. You know that the world is totally fleshed out and real because of the little nuggets sprinkled here and there, but you don't get the whole picture until you reach the end, and even then it's good to leave some things unsaid.

Overall it was a good book and though there were a few points that I took issue with, I was able to overlook them in order to enjoy the story that was being told. The ending was not happy, though it wasn't entirely un-happy either, but it was satisfying, and that's the best thing that you can hope for.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways, I applaud this book. It really is a perfect commentary about society and looks. The ending is brave. I do, however, feel that it would have been better if it had been shorter. Parts of it feel a bit padded.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly didn’t have much interest in reading anything else by Dan Wells—not that I consider him a poor writer, but his particular fare holds little interest for me in general. However, the premise of this book is good enough that I decided, since it was on offer as part of a 3 for $10 sale, I’d give it a try. It pretty much met my expectations: Extreme Makeover is a competent, slightly bizarro SF thriller that never really transcends its tropes. Nevertheless, credit to Wells for occasionally attempting to plumb the depths of the human condition, even if he usually bobs right back up to the surface.

Lyle Fontanelle is the chief chemist at NewYew, a cosmetics pharmaceutical company. His latest creation, a burn treatment, turns out to be an anti-aging goldmine. Except that it also transforms people into genetic (and therefore physical) clones of the DNA of the person imprinted on a batch of the lotion. When the supply of this product, ReBirth, makes its way into mainstream society, the world soon begins to crumble. It might be all Lyle’s fault, or the fault of the greedy corporate executives at NewYew, or the fault of lax governmental regulations, or … you know what, maybe humans are just terrible?

First off, I don’t know about the edition you read, but my edition has one of the worst covers I’ve ever seen. Specifically, the front cover is fine. The back cover’s contrast is so awful that I could barely make out the cover copy. Really bad design decision there, and while it has no bearing on the quality of the story within, it almost made me pass up reading this one (3 for $10…).

Each chapter starts with a countdown advising us of the number of days until the world ends. At first I liked the countdown. Then I didn’t like it. Now I just don’t know. It was kind of the reverse of page numbers, I guess? I started getting antsy as we neared the end, because it didn’t actually seem like the end of the world was imminent.

Extreme Makeover suffers from being too tightly constrained to the perspectives of a small number of characters. We seldom get a chance to experience what is happening in the world beyond Lyle’s or Susan’s or a handful of other characters’ experiences. Everything we learn about how other people use ReBirth is related to us secondhand. For a novel that has truly global stakes, that makes it difficult, at least in my opinion, to really understand the stakes.

And Lyle is just … not an interesting person to me. I’ll give Wells some credit for trying to make him a dynamic character. He does get better over the year as he realizes how short-sighted he has been. But the whole “mediocre white man dreams of success while chasing his lab assistant” is an icky origin story for any protagonist. Maybe this is all intentional, all part of the horror of everyone turning into Lyles … but it’s just a little bit sad too.

Beyond its summer blockbuster thriller-esque premise, Extreme Makeover has very little going for it. There are moments when it seems like Wells is about to go some place deeper, whether it’s the fruitless quibbling between UN representatives, or the concentration camp commentary with the Lyles. Yet the novel never really seems willing to go that far, instead shrinking back into its comfortable cocoon of horror-thriller clichés, including the ragtag survivors holing up on an island, so to speak. Throw in the truly bizarre jump-cut ending, and … well … no satisfaction here.

I kind of expected this going in. It was a pleasant enough way to pass the time; if you like SF thrillers more than me then you might like this a lot more. I figured the worst that might happen is I shrug, and I am, but that’s about it.

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody wants to be beautiful.

This was a sci-fi recommendation from Nocturnal Readers and that just makes me even more excited for my first box. This was damn good and I had never even heard of it.

Lyle Fontanelle has invented a hand lotion that can overwrite DNA. Now that's definitely a bioweapon but, like botulism, they would rather market it as a beauty product. What followed was a fast paced, irreverent, humorous tale that reminded me of Being John Malkovich, Zoo, and Oryx & Crake. Damn good.

This is the best example of the light humor apocalypse genre. Five stars.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always love a Dan Wells story.
And after reading the process, I love it even more!
Kept me guessing - Good ending for some characters. Nope, bad ending for some characters. Nope, good ending for some characters. Nope, bad ending for some characters. Nope...
Twists and turns at every corner.
Bravo, Mr. Wells!!! Bravo!

see also this...https://futurism.com/the-end-of-scars...

[Esmay Rosalyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Imagine you just want to try the newest, hottest anti-aging hand lotion, only to discover that it overwrites your DNA and turns you into someone else... cue the chaos, drama, and horror!

From the very first page, Extreme Makeover is just completely unhinged in a disturbingly dark yet tragically funny way. On the surface, it's quite a fun and thrilling romp, yet Dan Wells also cleverly weaves in some very thought-provoking themes on the beauty industry, corporate greed, religious zealotry, morality, gender identity, and international politics.

It was so unsettling to see how quickly the entire world turned into a dystopian hellscape as the lotion got into the hands of the wrong people, but even more scary was the fact that I almost found myself becoming slightly tempted by the idea of using this lotion myself (both for serious and more vain purposes). Dan Wells really does quite a spectacular job of examining both the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to this lotion, leaving the reader with a lot of food for thought.

Now, I do have to say that the character work left me a bit wanting here, and Lyle was honestly just a bit of an unpleasant protagonist to me. Which... kinda sucks considering that he gets cloned into oblivion, joke's on me. As the story progressed and escalated, I found myself becoming more and more frustrated with how the characters reacted to the insanity going on, and the ending fell completely flat for me. Like, we are informed at the start of each chapter that it's "X days until the end of the world", but when that promised armageddon actually arrived, I found myself utterly unsatisfied and befuddled.

Overall, I think Extreme Makeover is a really fun fast-paced suspense story that you won't soon forget, for better or worse. I mean, I certainly won't look at lotion the same way again.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyle Fontanelle is working at cosmetics company NewYew when he accidentally creates a hand lotion that rewrites your DNA. He doesn't realize he's in a book where the chapter headings include a countdown to the end of the world, so...sucks for him. And humanity.

Dan Wells's Extreme Makeover (aka Extreme Makeover: Apocalypse Edition) has a ridiculous premise but it's rooted in enough handwavey science and cynical views of humanity that it's not hard to go along with. Of course a cosmetics company would decide to make money off a lotion that could literally turn you into a supermodel. And of course this would go horribly, horribly wrong. Because that lotion has many uses, some of them commercial, some of them charitable, and some of them...not so charitable.

The early chapters of the book make you wait for Lyle, our hapless protagonist, to realize what the premise of the book is, but Wells still keeps the exposition and the lead-up to exposition fun and intriguing, as Lyle tries to put together the clues. Even though we know the destination, the journey's still entertaining. What's great is that once we get to Lyle's revelation, we know the next destination—the end of the world—and that journey is immensely entertaining. This book is like Michael Crichton meets John Scalzi.

The first chapter declares that there are 267 days to the end of the world, which means that things devolve fairly rapidly, and I don't even want to hint at the many disastrous repercussions of a hand lotion that rewrites your DNA. Things get out of hand, people are horrible, good intentions go awry, it's a goddamn shit show, okay. There are so many post-apocalyptic books, but it's rarer to get an entire book where you watch the apocalypse happen. Early on, you may think that they can stop things, but at a certain point—not a specific chapter or anything—you realize that the world is fucked. It's just...too fucked to unfuck. Dan Wells is evil, and your only hope is that the characters you like somehow make it out okay. Will the book end with the end of the world, or will it continue after it? The end of the world doesn't mean the end of the story, after all. It's just a glorious, tense catastrophe, this book, and while I wasn't fully satisfied with the ending, I'll give Wells props for going there. Also for an amazing Emperor's New Groove reference.

What's also great about this book is how it examines identity, which is one of my favorite themes. What makes us who we are? If there are five thousand clones of you, are you special? What if they're better at being you? Does our DNA define who we are? Because of the nature of the lotion, Wells does get into some sticky race and gender issues (the lotion can indeed change your race and/or gender), and for the most part, he's aware of the ramifications, though a few comments here and there seemed insensitive, even if they could be attributed to a character's opinion. The book doesn't dwell on these existential themes too much (there's an apocalypse to engineer), but I relished every little moment of musing.

I haven't even mentioned the characters yet, and I was surprised at how much I liked the characters, many of whom I didn't expect to become so interesting (especially the female characters—the book feels very male initially but by the end of the book I thought there was a good gender balance). I won't even say anything about the characters because then you get to like them for yourself. This is a fun book, dammit, have I not convinced you of that yet.

[H R Koelling · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, but it disappointed on so many levels.

The concept and plot were unique, but the method in which the author told his story was incredibly boring. While reading this book I kept telling myself that there was so much extraneous thought and discussion in the characters’ heads that the book could have been trimmed by about 100 pages. After reading the Acknowledgements section at the end of the book the author confesses that he and his editor had already trimmed the initial manuscript by 35%; approximately 70,000 words! You should have kept trimming, Mr. Wells.

I found the whole idea that the end of the world could happen because of DNA altering lotion laughable. It’s one of the flimsiest scientific ideas I’ve ever come across, and the science used to justify what happened just didn’t seem plausible.

The end of the book was also a great let down. The whole book was a great let down. I kept hoping something interesting would happen, and it never did. What a waste of my time.

Also, there were several typos, which always gets under my skin.

I gave two stars for the concept of the plot, but even that's a generous rating.

[Reading With Ghosty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew lotion would be the downfall of humanity? This was a very interesting read and unique concept. Kind of crazy that everyone dropped the ball on making sure ReBirth was safe and when discovered it wasn't didn't destroy it. The corporate greed was infuriating but these days I wasn't surprised in the slightest that they cut so many corners for profit. The cloning turn ReBirth took was kind of horrifying in it's own way, I would hate to constantly wonder if I was actually talking to the real person or a clone. Lyle was insufferable at times and needs a backbone.

Would recommend.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh-kay... Not at all what I was expecting. This is a story about how the human race is made up of selfish and destructive assholes. Imagine a lotion that was created to smooth wrinkles, but instead it reads your DNA and will transform a person into that other person. It's like cloning but it doesn't make them mentally the same person, just their physical body. If the person whose DNA is read by the lotion is short/tall thin/not thin, another color/race, and that lotion (even a microscopic drop) gets on another person, they will grow or shrink to match the original persons heights, gain or shed weight to match, skin color will change, hair color, eye color, allergies, diseases will appear or disappear to match whatever the original person has.

There are some good things that could be done using this, and attempts were made to do those good things (cure cancer, genetic issues, I think it even regrew a leg!).

BUT! Back to the selfish and destructive assholes parts. Money makes the world go round folks. And the company that owns this recipe does not do the responsible thing when they realized their wrinkle cream was NOT doing what they intended. Instead of stopping production and investigating WHAT was happening, they go full throttle and mass produce it. Yeah, no problems with this kind of power in the hands of other selfish and destructive assholes who don't understand (any more than the inventor) how to use the cream.

The story progresses over I think a year's time. I don't recall now when the clock started ticking, but tick it did. Counting down the days to the end of the world. I thought there was going to be a redeeming moment, or so realization or miracle fix all that would somehow STOP the end of the world from happening. But nope. 100 days to the end of the world, 75, 50, 25, 5, 1, 0.

At the conclusion to this story you are lead to believe their are no more humans left. Yep. Long story short, the cream can read the DNA of anything and if it gets on a human, they will start to transform. I think a gorilla was used first, and I am not sure if a human being was given gorilla cream, or the other way around - regardless, there was a creature that was mixed parts and didn't appear to have any self awareness.

In the final scene of the book, there are creatures that somehow have become mixes of human, lion, pig (tusks) and I don't even know what else and (again) you are led to believe they have killed the last two "normal" humans on Earth.

I wasn't expecting this ending and felt cheated. I didn't know it wasn't going to have a good ending. Things had started to derail a while back so I wasn't listening out of any enjoyment. I just wanted to know HOW it ended. I got my answer, am disappointed, and give this two stars.

Is it written well? Yes. Did I like the story? Yes, I liked it VERY much in the beginning. It was during the middlish to the end that things went way off the deep end. This story could have redeemed itself for ME had the two people lived - had they found an island they could live on forever and not be bothered. I guess I can see why the story didn't end that way. I can only assume the author wanted to make it clear that humanity was screwed and a new dawn had risen to other beings (not humans). I just wasn't prepared for this story.

Narration - great! 5 stars.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody really reads these, do they ? Well, if you are, I have a question; What don't people on Goodreads understand about the word "REVIEW" ?!?!? I'm starting to believe that the people here doing reviews have confused the word "review" with "summary" or "synopsis" or maybe they think "Review" means ; "Take the words written on the back cover of this book and re-write them WORD FOR WORD but pretend you thought them up all by yourself. Or maybe it's just me..?
**( If you took the time to read this - Thank you. Now, feel free to scroll through other members "reviews" where you'll be able to read the same exact thing you just read up at the top of this page. Ya know, the words next to the picture of this book. )***
Good night and God Bless America

[Aleshanee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super spannendes Thema, in der Umsetzung nicht immer ganz so mein Fall.
3.5 Sterne von mir

Das Vorwort zeigt schon deutlich, wo der Autor hinwill. Kurz aber prägnant umreißt er den Schönheitswahn, der durch die medizinischen Fortschritte immer mehr möglich macht und eine sehr klare und traurige Botschaft unserer Gesellschaft widerspiegelt:


Niemand möchte der sein, der er ist.
Zitat Seite 8



--- 267 Tage bis zum Weltuntergang, 9:01 Uhr, Manhattan ---

Mit diesem Countdown startet das erste Kapitel, in dem wir uns in der Firmensitzung von NewYew befinden. Das Unternehmen stellt Cremes und Make-Up her und ist ein mächtiger Konzern in der Kosmetik Branche. Die Diskussion im Firmenrat veranschaulicht direkt die Profitgier und die Philosophie dieser Menschen der Führungsriege von NewYew und stellt das Mittel vor, dass der Chefwissenschaftler Lyle Fontanelle entdeckt hat.
Eine bahnbrechende Entwicklung hat dem Chemiker eine Formel entstehen lassen für eine Creme, die direkt auf die DNA zugreift und die Kollagen-Bildung der Haut fördert und somit Falten komplett verschwinden lässt.
Doch die Bedenken, die Lyle seinem Boss entgegenbringt, stoßen auf taube Ohren.

"Verkauf ein Heilmittel, und du zerstörst dir selbst den Markt. Verkauf ein Mittel zur Behandlung, und du hast einen Kunden auf Lebenszeit."
Zitat Seite 11


Das verursacht gleich mal ein sehr ungutes Gänsehautgefühl wenn man sich überlegt, wie viele Firmenchefs in der Branche der Pharmaindustrie ein ähnliches Credo verfolgen.

Lyle schafft es auch nicht, sich dagegen zu wehren. Überhaupt ist er für mich ein sehr schwacher Charakter, was leider auch recht bald und deutlich zum tragen kommt. Seine teenagerhafte Verliebtheit seiner Assistentin gegenüber und sein Unvermögen, zu seiner Überzeugung zu stehen, lässt das ganze bald außer Kontrolle geraten.
Die Tests sind so gut wie abgeschlossen, die Vermarktung läuft auf Hochtouren und die Einbringung auf dem Markt rückt näher - als plötzlich einige Testpersonen merkwürdige Symptome aufzeigen, die in keinem Zusammenhang zu stehen scheinen.

Ob die Idee von Dan Wells so weit her geholt ist? Wer weiß ... es wird so viel geforscht auf Gebieten, von denen wir noch viel zu wenig wissen und wohin uns diese Experimentierfreudigkeit noch bringt steht in den Sternen. Was hier dann tatsächlich passiert und welche Auswirkungen diese neuartige Creme hat, ist jedenfalls außergewöhnlich und gruselig! Vor allem aber leider auch die Reaktion der Menschen, die trotz der Abstrusität glaubwürdig wirkt, weil man den Wahn nach äußerlicher Schönheit jeden Tag auf der ganzen Welt mitverfolgen kann.

Der Stein ist jedenfalls ins Rollen gebracht und kaum mehr aufzuhalten. Der Countdown zum Weltuntergang läuft und Dan Wells präsentiert die vielen Arten der unterschiedlichen und unüberschaubaren Probleme, die mit Eingriffen in die DNA einhergehen können. Ganz abgesehen von der moralischen Komponente.

Es gibt natürlich medizinische Notfälle, bei denen man sehr froh sein kann über die Fortschritte, die wir Menschen in diesem Gebiet machen. Welche Kreise das ganze aber mittlerweile zieht und wie sehr uns die Medien und die Werbung hier beeinflussen, ist geradezu grotesk. Ich hab auch meine Problemzonen und hätte gerne mehr dies und weniger das. Aber etwas (chirurgisch) an seinem Körper zu ändern, dem stehe ich schon mit sehr viel Skepsis gegenüber.
Dass die Hochglanzfotos auf Zeitschriften retuschiert sind weiß man, nimmt es aber augenscheinlich nicht wahr und die ganzen Modellmaße, die uns überall ins Auge springen, sind nicht "die Norm" und müssen es auch nicht sein! Die Vielfalt ist doch das, was die Natur so schön macht und eine äußerliche Korrektur ist nicht immer der Weg, das innerliche "Dilemma" zu verbessern.

Dan Wells hat einen sehr einfachen, geradlinigen Schreibstil. Die Handlung geht zügig, wenn auch teilweise konstruiert voran, die Charaktere sind sehr klischeekonform und das Hauptaugenmerk in dem Buch ist wirklich das Thema, mit dem man konfrontiert werden soll. Ein wichtiges Thema, mit dem wir uns selbst oft viel zu sehr schaden und hadern und ja, ich weiß, wie schwer es manchmal sein kann, seinen eigenen Körper so zu lieben wie er ist. Aber er trägt uns, er ist unsere ganz persönliche Heimat und hat neben seine Macken auch viele schöne Seiten, die man nicht vergessen sollte :)

Was ich unbedingt noch loswerden möchte ist dieser "Weltuntergang-Countdown". Ich finde es ja immer witzig, dass diese Bezeichnung gebraucht wird, wenn der Menschheit eine Apokalypse droht. Die Welt wird nicht untergehen, wenn wir Menschen verschwinden. Die Welt wird noch sehr sehr lange weiterbestehen, auch und grade ohne uns. Vielleicht ist es grade deshalb so wichtig, dass wir der Erde zeigen, dass wir auch gut mit ihr umgehen können.

Trotz sehr wichtiger Thematik und spannendem Aufbau hat es durch die stereotypen Charaktere und der mir etwas zu oberflächlichen Art an manchen Stellen nicht für die volle Sternezahl gereicht.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh that was a fun, weird dystopian sci-fi horror. Unclear what exactly but immensely entertaining! This book does is getting crazier by the page. Loved it! Just the weirdness I needed.

[Corey Sanders · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an idea book. Plot and character take the backseat while exploration of the core idea of a lotion that can turn you into a genetic clone of someone else drives the story. It is a thorough exploration of that core idea and entertaining in that regard, but mostly I didn't care. This will probably appeal to hard SF fans, but I need more than just a thought experiment in a book to stay engaged.

[Chris Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full video review coming soon!

[Romina · Rating 5 out of 5]

IN CRE I BLE

Tremendo libro UNA JOYITA

Leanloplis

[Lee]

I enjoyed it a lot, actually. Well, until part 4, then it kinda went off the rails a little? But I did appreciate it, and it brings up a lot of things to think about, in general. Overall fun times.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most entertaining freak show I've ever read. It can only be described as a mix between amazingly masterful and utterly ridiculous. This one is going to give me nightmares for years, I'm sure.

The first thing I'll say is that this is definitely the most thematically dense Dan Wells book I've ever read. Possibly one of the most dense books I've ever read PERIOD. It's such an interesting exploration of science, business, corruption, and basic humanity. I'll try to touch on some of the themes in my review, but some of them will be spoilery so I'll leave those out.

First of all, note that this book gets more ridiculous with each portion. This book is split up into 4 parts: NewYew, Makeover, The Common Man, and Rebirth. I thought that the first two sections: New Yew and Makeover were perfect 10 out of 10 stories. I thought that The Common Man was a solid 9 out of 10, and Rebirth was a 7. The book is a masterpiece, and It will get high marks, but note that I thought the beginning and middle were where it shined, and the end was good but not great.

This stems from an issue that the book has which is that each section gets more and more ridiculous as it goes along. That is kind of expected in an apocalyptic, horror, sci-fi thriller, but each section cranks it up so much that the ending feels so different from the beginning. But because the tone and level of craziness is constantly evolving throughout the book, it feels like it fits and actually a natural story progression.

If you don't know, I'll start by discussing the premise. This book begins with a makeup company (NewYew) which is working on developing a face cream for aging. However, something goes wrong and it creates a mutation that creates cloning and other bad side effects. The book becomes an exploration of how corporations, governments, and individuals react to this development. Rather than simply focus on one, it allows the reader to experience all of them through the main character of Lyle Fontanelle, the scientist responsible for everything.

This premise is fantastic. Many movies and books explore apocalypse situations and cloning situations, but rarely have this macro a look, and also rarely have such fantastic deeper themes. What sets this book apart from the genre is its execution, which is near flawless (until the last act).

This book explores the deep questions of why we have the bodies we have. Dan Wells explores this through characters with complex emotions and backstories. The lesson that Wells comes up with, which I think is the right lesson, is that God made us exactly like we are meant to be, flaws and everything. We should endeavor to work to naturally make our bodies the best that they can be, but we should not abandon that which makes us unique, even if it means sometimes embracing our physical flaws. It is much more complex in the book, believe me, but I thought it was such a well handled take. It could have gone any number of ways and been bad, but it was actually good.

This book also explores the more depressing angle of big corporations. The primary antagonists in this book, for lack of a better term, are "Big Pharma". Wells takes an incredibly cynical approach to business, and shows them at their absolute worst. These almost feel on the level of "Mustache-twirling villains". Many will probably point to this as something that makes the book one-dimensional, but there is so much complexity that it actually works just fine having straight up villains. I would hope and actually believe that business and governments would not be so self-interested and cynical that they would allow all of the things in this book to happen, but this definitely seems possible. The fact that we haven't had an actual apocalypse actually gives me hope in this regard, especially considering the diseases that have spread around.

The book also explores elements of gender ideology. This is probably where Wells leaves the reader with the most interpretation. I could easily point to instances where I think Wells is making a point about the perils of Transgenderism, but I could also point to places where Wells is pointing to its advantages. The point is that Wells' points here may be murky, which I think is good because it is unlikely to get him in trouble with either side of the aisle.

I actually quite liked the main character of Lyle. Lyle is not the most brilliant individual, he just happens to have stumbled on the formula that causes all the problems. He constantly reacts to the actions of others, and while he usually doesn't know what the right thing to do is, he usually is trying to do it.

There are also themes regarding religious zealots and regarding religion in general. In many ways, the religious people are the ones who recognize the dangers of the book first and I really applaud Wells for not making them histrionic like many authors are prone to do. I will say that there are religious characters who fall into the "villainous" category, but they are well balanced in the book. I should also note that compared to everything else I've talked about, the religious component of this book is miniscule, taking up really just a handful of chapters, and even then not full on chapters.

I do have some criticisms of the book. My biggest problem is the last act. It was so ridiculous that I rolled my eyes at it. I understand that the entire book was ridiculous, but the ending in particular is just so bizzare and goes in a direction I think it shouldn't have gone. It had such a depressing tone, and I would have given it a happier tone. I've noticed that Dan Wells frequently ends his books with somber, sad tones, as you can tell by my reviews of all the other books that I've read of his. Yet, despite my many problems with the somber tone of his books, the books themselves are so good that I still love them. This book delves into an ending not unlike the story of Jurassic Park, but I didn't want that. I wanted something closer to the movie "2012". (if you read the book, you can probably parse out what I meant by that).

Also, there are two female characters that I really enjoyed and thought were really entertaining in the book. However, I think they should have been combined in the book. One of them is heavily present in the first half/two-thirds of the book (Susan), and the other is only present in the last section (Lily). While I like both characters, I felt that the ending with Susan wasn't satisfactory and the ending for Lily did not hit hard enough. Had Wells combined the characters, given Susan all of Lily's personality but made her throughout the book, it would have been much more satisfying.

While there are allusions to sexual elements, I thought the book was overal very clean. I applaud Wells for keeping discretion in the book. Much like Sanderson in his projects, Wells was able to tackle difficult topics while still keeping the book PG-13 and overall appropriate for the audience.

*If I can make a note on the cover of the book: This is not a comment on Wells' writing style or anything else, so it will not affect my rating, but it's something that needs to be said. The cover, while fitting the tone and feel of the book, was poorly designed. First of all, the back of the book with the review blurbs and with the summary of the book was almost unreadable because it had a white text on a light pink background with little black dots (that are part of an image). This instantly would make me uninterested in the book because of the difficulty in reading the blurb. Another note I have with the cover is that the side and back of it are light pink, and those aren't covers you can never use on a book, but when you combine them with the title "Extreme Makeover", then it is likely to turn away male audiences. I think this would affect the sales of the book in stores. Anyway, that's my piece about the cover, which I thought was poorly designed. *

Overall, I think this is an excellent book with a magnificent premise, great characters, and a breakneck pace that keeps the reader reading. There are natural break points, but you could conceivably read this as fast as I did (which as in 4 sittings). I think that the opening and middle were most excellent, and the ending was just "fine" or "good", but missed the greatness that it could have had. For that reason, I give this book a 9.1 out of 10! Great job Dan Wells! (and go see someone Wells, because your brain is messed up).

Also, there are several moments in the book that had me cracking up. There is a certain point where the characters are discussing an actor and they reveal the actors name and I just couldn't help but chuckle. Really well delivered humor in this apocalypse book.

[Eric Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun. It's a very dark comedy about the end of the world, combined with a satire of the cosmetics industry, which the author Dan Wells worked in before becoming a writer. To me a lot of the book felt along the lines of Doctor Strangelove. (Which, if you haven't seen, you MUST go watch as soon as possible. Seriously!) There are several scenes that really seem to pay homage to the movie, without feeling like it's ripping them off. There's also a crazy amount of sci-fi TV series references from Star Trek to Firefly that made me laugh quite a bit.

Throughout the book things just get more and more insane, and in a good way. About halfway through something happens, and I said "What more could possibly happen after that!" I then continued to ask that same question repeatedly for the rest of the book. Just when you think Wells has brought the characters to the worst they could possibly face, he finds new way to shake things up and keep it going.

I will admit that this book is probably not for everyone. It is very strange, and the humor may be a little too much for some people, or a bit over some people's heads. I mean, a lot of it you REALLY have to be burrowed into geek culture to understand. There are some REALLY obscure jokes in this book. If a book about lotion that turns you into a clone of the first person to touch it and all of the consequences cascading toward the end of the world, while also managing to be a comedy, doesn't sound like your thing, you may want to pass. Generally, I'd say that if you enjoyed the movie Doctor Strangelove, you'll probably really enjoy this book.

On the whole, I found this book to be incredibly entertaining, creative, and a whole lot of fun. In a time where there are doomsayers on every street corner proclaiming a Trump presidency is the end of the world, a book making fun of the end of the world in such a silly, and inventive way was very welcome for me.

Also, check out the indie horror movie "I Am Not A Serial Killer" based off of Dan Wells' first book. You can find it on video streaming sites, and on dvd/bluray in a couple weeks. It was a lot of fun, and a pretty good adaptation of the book, which if you haven't read, you definitely should.

[l u d ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todavía estoy procesando este libro. Todo lo que pasó, el final... Tremendo 🙌🏻

No voy a entrar mucho en detalle porque siento que es mejor leerlo sin saber mucho de que se trata
Y aparte si empiezo a hablar no termino más. Tengo muchas cosas buenas que decir de este libro. Imagínense lo bueno que está que me enganchó desde el PRÓLOGO.

Lo que más me gustó es que este libro tiene críticas a la sociedad que te hacen pensar muchísimo y varios términos científicos que están muy bien explicados (literal están tan bien explicados que cualquiera que los lea los puede entender). Y todo lo que lees te dan ganas de marcarlo para poder releerlo mil veces (es el libro con más post-its que tengo).

En conclusión: LEAN ESTE LIBRO. Es una joyita de la ciencia ficción 👌🏻❤️

[Nicolás Briozzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Wells es conocido por varias sagas de ciencia ficción y fantasy muy entretenidas: El Mirador, Partials y mi favorita, la historia de John Cleaver, un sociópata adolescente entrañable.
"Makeover Extremo" es de sus pocas novelas "standalone" y la primera de ellas publicada en Argentina.
La historia parte de un invento que revolucionará la industria cosmética: una loción que permite alterar el propio ADN. Pero lo que en principio parece una herramienta para mantenerse joven y atractivo, termina mutando el propio genoma humano en formas impensadas e incontrolables que llevarán al fin de la civilización.
La idea está muy bien construida; se hace patente la investigación a consciencia que realizó el autor, vertiendo conceptos biológicos y genéticos reales y bien argumentados.
Sin dejar de ser una novela "juvenil", se plantean dilemas éticos y morales profundos que tienen que ver con la identidad y los límites que se pueden traspasar en pos de alcanzar ideales de belleza irreales y luchar contra el inevitable paso del tiempo.
Una novela inquietante y trepidante, con un final digno del mejor Dan Wells, que sabe cómo ponernos los pelos de punta.

[Bennison Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a simple man, I like simple things. When Brandon Sanderson recommends that his readers pick up the latest novel from Dan Wells, I don't think about it, I just go do it.

I had to think for a little while before I gave this book five stars - I was wavering between four and five. In the end, I wanted to give Wells' work here the highest grade possible. He takes the story in directions I never could have anticipated when I first began reading. Things get very dark and very twisted, but I never once wanted to stop reading.

I really appreciated how thoroughly he thought through what the social, economic and geopolitical consequences might be should someone unwittingly invent a lotion that can clone people. Perhaps this book's strongest asset is how plausible and mostly grounded in reality every element of it feels.

Also the ending. Holy moly.

Serious sci-fi fans should definitely check this out.

[nicbiy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[IzamaRi H. Fabela · Rating 4 out of 5]

RESEÑA EN EL BLOG ➜ https://bit.ly/39x0isg

Lyle Fontanelle, el director científico de la compañía New new, siempre se ha jactado de ser el mejor en su trabajo. Él sabe que el tiempo que pasa inmerso en su laboratorio vale la pena cuando cada producto de la compañía ayuda a mejorar la autoestima de los clientes. Pero también sabe que su intelecto es desperdiciado en el ámbito de la belleza, por lo cual se esfuerza mucho para crear el producto perfecto que no solo satisfaga al cliente sino que lo lleve a ser el reconocido creador de la mejor crema rejuvenecedora.

Es tanto su fervor por ser reconocido que su trabajo lo lleva a crear una crema muy especial, una crema capaz de dar a cualquiera que la use su cuerpo deseado. No importa si lo que el cliente busca es ser más alto, más delgado o hasta ser de otro sexo, la crema de Lyle es capaz de lograrlo en apenas unas horas.

Pero la búsqueda a la perfección no será indolora, hay un alto precio que la humanidad deberá pagar, pues después de todo, la belleza duele.
"Nadie quiere ser uno mismo".
Sin lugar a dudas Dan Wells es uno de mis autores favoritos porque la gran mayoría de los libros que he leído de él me han dejado con un increíble sabor de boca (que por cierto, esto me lleva a decirles una vez más que deben de leer su serie John Cleaver), así que comencé el libro con muchas ganas.
Ganas que se vieron recompensadas, ya que en este libro Dan Wells nos presenta una historia en extremo inquietante. Y es que todos sabemos que los humanos veneramos lo que es bello y la búsqueda por obtener belleza puede nunca tener fin, así que tenemos esta historia donde por fin se ha creado el producto soñado que literalmente permite a quien la use a transformar su cuerpo en su cuerpo soñado, pero los humanos también somos avariciosos y solemos siempre anhelar más, así que lo que comenzó como un producto milagro pronto se transformó en un arma capaz de erradicar a toda la humanidad, ya que debido a algún tipo de mutación este encantador "suplemento" tiene el poder de anular el ADN de cualquier individuo que lo use, convirtiéndolo en un clon de otra persona.

Justo aquí está lo que más he disfrutado de este libro, el hecho que el propio humano con su mente enfermiza haya provocado el fin del mundo, ya que cuando este producto es lanzado al mundo todos se vuelven locos. Y cuando digo todos quiero decir que todos, personas comunes que solo se niegan aceptarse como son, hasta las Fuerzas Armadas de los Estados Unidos, organizaciones terroristas, grupos religiosos, cultos, distribuidores clandestinos y la lista continúa.
“El sudario de Turín lleva pequeñas gotas de sangre que han estado en la tela desde el día de la muerte de nuestro Señor Jesucristo”.

Voy a detenerme un poquito para hablarles de dos escenas que me hicieron ruido a la hora de leer este libro. La primera es donde un grupo de religiosos se empeñan a resucitar a Jesús con la crema, es decir que piensan crear un clon del señor. Al leer esto me imaginé que su plan al idear esto era llevar la salvación a la gente o algo así, pero nop, este idílico grupo solo quiere traer a Jesús de regreso para que comience el apocalipsis y castigue aquellos que no han seguido su palabra.

La otra escena menciona a una chica a la que violaron quien intenta usar la crema para convertir a su agresor en una modelo para dejar que ahora abusen de él. ¿Ven lo inquietante que es? Pues eso es lo que hace que los libros de Dan sean tan geniales, que se le ocurren estas ideas que son tan ridículas que quieres sacudir la cabeza y luego te muestra meticulosamente lo plausible que es todo y te sigue aterrorizando al mostrar lo enferma que está a sociedad.
"Cuando el mundo acabe, ¿qué tomará su lugar?"
Para resumirles un poco las cosas, si creen que ningún nuevo apocalipsis va a sorprenderlos, los reto a leer este libro y al final me dicen si no tienen una nueva pesadilla.

[Panxokd.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

[Cyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

Holy...wow.
This was all sorts of fvked up. Really frightening but also really funny