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Zero Gravity
The world is in a crisis. Almost all power is lost, the U.S. government has collapsed by a terrorist organization known as The Ravagers and there are unexplained, brief episodes of gravity loss which leads to numerous accidents, casualties and little to no arcas for shelter. Marlowe Benson is one of the few living Americans left in the United States, but has been separated from her partner, Jayden. After being rescued by other remaining survivors, they struggle to not only fight back The Ravagers but to find safety from the horrific gravity loss episodes known as "zero gravity attacks".
366 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 24, 2022
4 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Pridgen
5 books11 followersElizabeth Pridgen is a writer from Nash County, North Carolina who has been writing for almost ten years. She has written three novels, seven novellas and some poems and short stories. At only 18 years old, she became a published author through Outlaws Publishing LLC, which released her two novels, The Life of David Earl Penning and NEVERAFTER. At 21 years old, she released her third novel, Zero Gravity, a science fiction novel. Whenever she isn't writing, she is spending time with her two dogs, Hershey and Daisy.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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September 27, 2023I am one of the judges of team Space Girls for the SPSFC3 contest. This review is my personal opinion. Officially, it is still in the running for the contest, pending any official team announcements.
Status: Cut
Read: 33%
I entered this book with zero knowledge of the plot and with an open mind. Chapter 1 is pretty good. We meet our protagonist Marlowe as she rolls her eyes because her Vietnam vet uncle Dave is watching Fox News and grumbling nonstop. We immediately realize Dave is an old grump whose anger today is focused on a freak subway derailment accident.
Flash forward a few years into the future (2019), and the USA is in chaos. A terrorist militia group called the Ravengers have captured the White House, killed everyone and have formed a terrorist coalition government. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Marlowe's uncle are unknown as she travels in a truck alongside a guy named Jayden (who seems like a jerk). They are being harassed by Ravenger thugs until BAM! the truck is lifted into the air and then comes crashing down.
Zero gravity storms is a concept that is seldom used in fiction. We have tornado action cinema and even incoherent fiction films like Sharknado, but gravity storms are still rather unusual. For better or worse, I have become a very spoiled reader and have already experienced one book that can be a worthy comp: El último narval by Jesús Amalio Lugo.
El último narval unfortunately doesn't have an English translation. That novella is a story that teeters between psychological thriller, dystopia, sci-fi and maybe even dark fantasy, all in one very neat package spanning less than 80 pages. One thing I really liked about that book was how the gravity storms don't make everything float, only humans weighing less than 100 pounds and objects. Cities have redesigned interiors where everything has to be packed in pantries or bolted to the floor. Even clothing had to change as a means of adaptation. Most people wear unitard suits. The sense of relative normalcy amid an unknown global phenomena really gave me the spooks.
This book in contrast, well, I can understand it opts for the reaction of a society as the storms are a brand new phenomena. As expected, chaos and the loss of any rule of law is the norm. The problem is, well, this book forfeited a golden opportunity to explore the coolness of gravity storms. Quite frankly, I felt I was reading a slasher zombie story that is solely focused on a US audience. A story where the guns are plentiful, the threats more of an afterthought and the bullets never run out. The storms are powerful enough to lift heavy vehicles and subways deep into the ground, but the characters in the story always find a car with gasoline and keys to the engines.
I didn't like any of the characters of the story... except for the grumpy uncle and he only appears in flashbacks. To be honest, I think I would have liked the story a whole lot better if the protagonist had been the uncle. The writing style would have felt very natural with him in the lead. The way the niece meets all of these random people and somehow conveniently survives the endless storms with a disorganized brutal army of thugs ready to kill everything at sight instead of creating a new society was just not my cup of tea. I felt like I had seen this story with slight modifications hundreds of times already, which made it hard to maintain my interest.
Readers that love American style survivor stories where everyone is raining bullets left & right will enjoy this story. But sadly I couldn't get into it, and thus it is a cut from the contest for me.
Status: Cut
Read: 33%
I entered this book with zero knowledge of the plot and with an open mind. Chapter 1 is pretty good. We meet our protagonist Marlowe as she rolls her eyes because her Vietnam vet uncle Dave is watching Fox News and grumbling nonstop. We immediately realize Dave is an old grump whose anger today is focused on a freak subway derailment accident.
Flash forward a few years into the future (2019), and the USA is in chaos. A terrorist militia group called the Ravengers have captured the White House, killed everyone and have formed a terrorist coalition government. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Marlowe's uncle are unknown as she travels in a truck alongside a guy named Jayden (who seems like a jerk). They are being harassed by Ravenger thugs until BAM! the truck is lifted into the air and then comes crashing down.
Zero gravity storms is a concept that is seldom used in fiction. We have tornado action cinema and even incoherent fiction films like Sharknado, but gravity storms are still rather unusual. For better or worse, I have become a very spoiled reader and have already experienced one book that can be a worthy comp: El último narval by Jesús Amalio Lugo.
El último narval unfortunately doesn't have an English translation. That novella is a story that teeters between psychological thriller, dystopia, sci-fi and maybe even dark fantasy, all in one very neat package spanning less than 80 pages. One thing I really liked about that book was how the gravity storms don't make everything float, only humans weighing less than 100 pounds and objects. Cities have redesigned interiors where everything has to be packed in pantries or bolted to the floor. Even clothing had to change as a means of adaptation. Most people wear unitard suits. The sense of relative normalcy amid an unknown global phenomena really gave me the spooks.
This book in contrast, well, I can understand it opts for the reaction of a society as the storms are a brand new phenomena. As expected, chaos and the loss of any rule of law is the norm. The problem is, well, this book forfeited a golden opportunity to explore the coolness of gravity storms. Quite frankly, I felt I was reading a slasher zombie story that is solely focused on a US audience. A story where the guns are plentiful, the threats more of an afterthought and the bullets never run out. The storms are powerful enough to lift heavy vehicles and subways deep into the ground, but the characters in the story always find a car with gasoline and keys to the engines.
I didn't like any of the characters of the story... except for the grumpy uncle and he only appears in flashbacks. To be honest, I think I would have liked the story a whole lot better if the protagonist had been the uncle. The writing style would have felt very natural with him in the lead. The way the niece meets all of these random people and somehow conveniently survives the endless storms with a disorganized brutal army of thugs ready to kill everything at sight instead of creating a new society was just not my cup of tea. I felt like I had seen this story with slight modifications hundreds of times already, which made it hard to maintain my interest.
Readers that love American style survivor stories where everyone is raining bullets left & right will enjoy this story. But sadly I couldn't get into it, and thus it is a cut from the contest for me.
August 2, 2022
Found this little gem when I was browsing for new authors on Amazon. Absolutely loved it!
September 9, 2024
I felt this was written in a very simple way. I struggled to remain engaged.
However, I was mostly disappointed and irritated by the shoddy way this was typeset for the kindle version. Typo after typo occurred. Very poor proof reading indeed. The worst I've ever experienced.
However, I was mostly disappointed and irritated by the shoddy way this was typeset for the kindle version. Typo after typo occurred. Very poor proof reading indeed. The worst I've ever experienced.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews