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Das Avalon-Projekt
Seltsame Dinge geschehen auf der Ölbohrinsel Avalon II: Die Besatzung ist spurlos verschwunden und die Plattform verwüstet. Ist es das Werk der Wellen, die um die Bohrinsel herum mit unglaublicher Gewalt toben? Oder haben Ökoterroristen ihre Hände im Spiel? Der Versicherungsdetektiv Rudger Harm stellt Nachforschungen an und wird hineingerissen in einen Strudel unerklärlicher Phänomene.
800 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
6 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Wolfgang Hohlbein
610 books452 followersWolfgang Hohlbein is a German author of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction who lives near Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia. His wife, Heike, is also a writer and often works with her husband. She often comes up with the story ideas and therefore is generally credited as co-author. Their daughter, Rebecca, is also a writer.
Writing short stories since age 15, Hohlbein was first recognized as an author after sending in a manuscript he and his wife had written at a fantasy and science fiction writing contest in 1982. They won and their book, Märchenmond (English title: "Magic Moon"), was published by Ueberreuter Publishing, soon becoming a bestseller and winning several awards. It is one of their greatest successes till today.
Many of his more than 200 books are translated and published in many European countries as well as in South Korea. Yet for many years none of his works had been translated into English. In 2006, Magic Moon was translated into English and published in the United States.
Writing short stories since age 15, Hohlbein was first recognized as an author after sending in a manuscript he and his wife had written at a fantasy and science fiction writing contest in 1982. They won and their book, Märchenmond (English title: "Magic Moon"), was published by Ueberreuter Publishing, soon becoming a bestseller and winning several awards. It is one of their greatest successes till today.
Many of his more than 200 books are translated and published in many European countries as well as in South Korea. Yet for many years none of his works had been translated into English. In 2006, Magic Moon was translated into English and published in the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 9, 2019
Ich hatte ein wenig mehr Fantasy erwartet, leider liest dich das Buch eher wie ein Thriller, mit leichtem Fantasyhauch. Wer das so mag, dem sei dieses Buch hiermit empfohlen.
Ich für meinen Teil hatte mit tatsächlich mehr erhofft und wurde auch mit den Charakteren nicht recht warm. Ich konnte den Protagonisten (Rutger) zwar gut nachvollziehen, aber das heißt nicht, dass er mir deshalb sympathisch wurde. Es war eher durchwachsen.
Unglaublich enttäuscht war ich von der weiblichen Hauptbesetzung (Jenny), welche sich fast das ganze Buch über aufgeführt hat wie ein Kleinkind oder als würde sie noch in der schlimmste Phase der Pubertät feststecken. Sie ist 28 (wenn ich mich richtig erinnere). Die Gespräche der beiden drehen sich im Kreis und sind mir ziemlich auf den Keks gegangen. Er stellt Fragen, sie reagiert sofort patzig und trotzig und ist beleidigt, weil er ihr nicht glaubt. Dass er als (Versicherungs)Detektiv, und auch als rationaler Mensch, ein paar Beweise braucht, wird kategorisch ausgeblendet. Die wenigen Momente, in denen Rutger dann tatsächlich mal in Berührung mit dem Übernatürlichen kommt, sind ausschließlich lebensbedrohliche Ausnahmesituationen oder aber er ist stark übermüdet. Keine Momente, in welchen man seiner Erinnerung wirklich Glauben schenken würde.
Am sympathischsten war mir Lance, der aber leider nur kurz an Anfang und kurz am Ende auftaucht.
Ansonsten ist die Story nett geschrieben, ist hier und da sogar unfreiwillig komisch, ist aber eher ein actionreicher Verfolgungsthriller als ein wirklicher Fantasyroman. Viele Fragen werden auch am Ende nicht beantwortet und generell ließ es mich doch ziemlich unbefriedigt zurück. Man hätte deutlich mehr daraus machen können. Mein Fantasyherzchen ist jedenfalls nicht auf seine Kosten gekommen.
Ich für meinen Teil hatte mit tatsächlich mehr erhofft und wurde auch mit den Charakteren nicht recht warm. Ich konnte den Protagonisten (Rutger) zwar gut nachvollziehen, aber das heißt nicht, dass er mir deshalb sympathisch wurde. Es war eher durchwachsen.
Unglaublich enttäuscht war ich von der weiblichen Hauptbesetzung (Jenny), welche sich fast das ganze Buch über aufgeführt hat wie ein Kleinkind oder als würde sie noch in der schlimmste Phase der Pubertät feststecken. Sie ist 28 (wenn ich mich richtig erinnere). Die Gespräche der beiden drehen sich im Kreis und sind mir ziemlich auf den Keks gegangen. Er stellt Fragen, sie reagiert sofort patzig und trotzig und ist beleidigt, weil er ihr nicht glaubt. Dass er als (Versicherungs)Detektiv, und auch als rationaler Mensch, ein paar Beweise braucht, wird kategorisch ausgeblendet. Die wenigen Momente, in denen Rutger dann tatsächlich mal in Berührung mit dem Übernatürlichen kommt, sind ausschließlich lebensbedrohliche Ausnahmesituationen oder aber er ist stark übermüdet. Keine Momente, in welchen man seiner Erinnerung wirklich Glauben schenken würde.
Am sympathischsten war mir Lance, der aber leider nur kurz an Anfang und kurz am Ende auftaucht.
Ansonsten ist die Story nett geschrieben, ist hier und da sogar unfreiwillig komisch, ist aber eher ein actionreicher Verfolgungsthriller als ein wirklicher Fantasyroman. Viele Fragen werden auch am Ende nicht beantwortet und generell ließ es mich doch ziemlich unbefriedigt zurück. Man hätte deutlich mehr daraus machen können. Mein Fantasyherzchen ist jedenfalls nicht auf seine Kosten gekommen.
July 6, 2017
Recommended to me by my mother, but couldn´t quite meet my expectations. It started off great, but as the story progressed it got harder and harder to get through. The rough storyline could have been really interesting and exciting, but the execution could have been a lot better. Also, I just realised that this took me almost three weeks to read, which is INSANE for someone who usually reads two books per week.
First, I should mention what I liked about the book – the plot was overall pretty exciting, you always have just enough information to keep you curious to know more about what´s going on. The atmosphere of the story was pretty nice and there were also a couple plot twists I didn´t see coming.
The thing that bothers me most after finishing this: all those plot holes and loose ends. Throughout the story the book heavily relies on keeping information hidden from the reader to reveal it later at just the right time. That would have been fine, IF all open questions would have been answered by the end, which was not the case. The ending in general felt rushed and there should have been way more explanation what happened and why it happened. Like this, it felt like the author didn´t really know where this was going either.
What got on my nerves while reading: this is waaay longer than it needed to be. Beginning and end were fine, but the middle part was just a constant back and forth with a quite obvious outcome. I strongly dislike how the author writes action scenes. They were overly detailed, way to frequent and basically gave me nothing – by the end I started skimming them. I don´t see why it would be a good idea to stretch an action that´s supposed to last three seconds to a whole page. Oh, and there are SO many descriptions of the weather, it´s ridiculous!
Overall, it´s not a bad book, but I had many problems with it. Now I’m thinking of a way to tell my mom that I didn´t *love* this book.
First, I should mention what I liked about the book – the plot was overall pretty exciting, you always have just enough information to keep you curious to know more about what´s going on. The atmosphere of the story was pretty nice and there were also a couple plot twists I didn´t see coming.
The thing that bothers me most after finishing this: all those plot holes and loose ends. Throughout the story the book heavily relies on keeping information hidden from the reader to reveal it later at just the right time. That would have been fine, IF all open questions would have been answered by the end, which was not the case. The ending in general felt rushed and there should have been way more explanation what happened and why it happened. Like this, it felt like the author didn´t really know where this was going either.
What got on my nerves while reading: this is waaay longer than it needed to be. Beginning and end were fine, but the middle part was just a constant back and forth with a quite obvious outcome. I strongly dislike how the author writes action scenes. They were overly detailed, way to frequent and basically gave me nothing – by the end I started skimming them. I don´t see why it would be a good idea to stretch an action that´s supposed to last three seconds to a whole page. Oh, and there are SO many descriptions of the weather, it´s ridiculous!
Overall, it´s not a bad book, but I had many problems with it. Now I’m thinking of a way to tell my mom that I didn´t *love* this book.
November 22, 2015
Das Buch hat sich für mich dank Elfen und einem nervigen, zickigen Weibsbild so hingezogen, dass ich froh war, als ich die 654ste Seite beendet hatte.
Aus dem Anfang hätte was werden können, aber dann kam die Elfe (die am Anfang noch nicht so genannt wurde, was für mich aber leider eindeutig war). Selbst dann hätte es noch was werden können, aber dann kam die Nervensäge und es wurde zur Qual. Das Ende war actionreich, aber gewissen Charakteren wünscht man einen Verstand und anderen schlicht den Tod!
Aus dem Anfang hätte was werden können, aber dann kam die Elfe (die am Anfang noch nicht so genannt wurde, was für mich aber leider eindeutig war). Selbst dann hätte es noch was werden können, aber dann kam die Nervensäge und es wurde zur Qual. Das Ende war actionreich, aber gewissen Charakteren wünscht man einen Verstand und anderen schlicht den Tod!
February 7, 2019
Mir hat es sehr gut gefallen. Bis zum Schluss wusste ich nicht wer welche Position in der Geschichte hat.
December 30, 2020
My mum somehow managed to get an ARC from our local bookshop when this first came out in 2000. Having read and loved a Wolfgang Hohlbein book the previous winter, I was incredibly keen for this book and didn't get disappointed.
We follow insurance agent Rudger who visits oil rig Avalon II to investigate after its crew mysteriously disappeared. But something is off, everything looks incredibly outdated. It doesn't take him long to figure out that he is in fact not on Avalon II, but on Avalon I, an oil rig that sank 20 years ago in the exact same spot. He also finds a mysterious prisoner on the oil rig and Rudger feels compelled to help her. Not much after that Rudger runs in Jenny, who is a follower of a strange cult. And soon Rudger is into it way over his head.
This is an incredibly fast-paced book and I had a ton of fun when I read it for the first time as a kid (this is an adult novel though). I would have given it 5 stars back then, now it's more like a 3.
Rudger is like every other Wolfgang Hohlbein protagonist: bland and unremarkable. It does make him a good reader-insert character though and he books is written in a way that makes it easy to put yourself into his shoes - you are very much in his head and he mostly describes what happens around him, so you end up mostly visualising his surroundings and not him, if that makes sense.
One thing that really rubbed me the wrong way on this reread was Rudger constantly talking about the attractiveness of two female characters. There is an explanation in the story for this behaviour but that doesn't mean I like it. He also calls 24 year old Morgan "a girl" when he himself is only 32. Makes no sense to me. And then the antagonist makes rape & incest jokes ... no thanks.
While the plot is always moving, the book is quite long. Some questions remain unanswered at the end and one of the characters just drops off at the end. I wonder what happened to them?!
Nevertheless it's an entertaining read if you are willing to look past the aforementioned weaknesses.
We follow insurance agent Rudger who visits oil rig Avalon II to investigate after its crew mysteriously disappeared. But something is off, everything looks incredibly outdated. It doesn't take him long to figure out that he is in fact not on Avalon II, but on Avalon I, an oil rig that sank 20 years ago in the exact same spot. He also finds a mysterious prisoner on the oil rig and Rudger feels compelled to help her. Not much after that Rudger runs in Jenny, who is a follower of a strange cult. And soon Rudger is into it way over his head.
This is an incredibly fast-paced book and I had a ton of fun when I read it for the first time as a kid (this is an adult novel though). I would have given it 5 stars back then, now it's more like a 3.
Rudger is like every other Wolfgang Hohlbein protagonist: bland and unremarkable. It does make him a good reader-insert character though and he books is written in a way that makes it easy to put yourself into his shoes - you are very much in his head and he mostly describes what happens around him, so you end up mostly visualising his surroundings and not him, if that makes sense.
One thing that really rubbed me the wrong way on this reread was Rudger constantly talking about the attractiveness of two female characters. There is an explanation in the story for this behaviour but that doesn't mean I like it. He also calls 24 year old Morgan "a girl" when he himself is only 32. Makes no sense to me. And then the antagonist makes rape & incest jokes ... no thanks.
While the plot is always moving, the book is quite long. Some questions remain unanswered at the end and one of the characters just drops off at the end. I wonder what happened to them?!
Nevertheless it's an entertaining read if you are willing to look past the aforementioned weaknesses.
July 12, 2013
... ein paar Jahre später gab ich dem Autor nochmals eine Chance bei mir, nachdem ich sein Werk *die Moorhexe* sehr schlecht fand. Der Schreibstil ist nun flüssig, aber die eigentlich recht spannende Geschichte wird stellenweise überflüssig in die Länge gezogen - um dann *schnell* auf den letzten Seiten zu enden. Da frage ich mich schon, warum er soviele Seiten produzieren musste, das hätte auch auf knappe 500 Seiten erzählt werden können.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews