Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
The premise: what happens when a nano tech is released that dissolves all plastics into a liquid state, and assorted other eco terrorism attacks, with an unnamed group's objective of reducing the world population to 100 million and moving to a hunter gather society. Makes Berkeley look like a John Birch stronghold in comparison. Barnes is a seriously under appreciated writer, but hard science novels in general are out of vogue these days. This is the second in a trilogy.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not as good as the first one, but still very engaging.
I bought this book and its predecessor on a whim in a comic shop based on the cover and have absolutely fallen in love with this story. I kinda dragged my feet finishing this one because I'm enjoying it so much.
I liked this book better than the first. Maybe because now I know the characters already and I'm attached. Maybe because I enjoy the post-apocalyptic better than the during-apocalyptic part.
I was thrilled to find out there's a third in this series and I can keep reading.
Highly recommended for those that like end of civilization type stories, the "but how do we maintain government and authority when the world has ended?" kind of stories.
I liked this book better than the first. Maybe because now I know the characters already and I'm attached. Maybe because I enjoy the post-apocalyptic better than the during-apocalyptic part.
I was thrilled to find out there's a third in this series and I can keep reading.
Highly recommended for those that like end of civilization type stories, the "but how do we maintain government and authority when the world has ended?" kind of stories.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Rape
A strong middle book in the series (this is the first trilogy in a set of trilogies).
Not quite as good as the first one, but kept me reading, can't wait until the next one.
John Barnes sets the stage in Directive 51 by ending the world as we know it, and bringing to life a new, altered one as the diminished population tries to restart civilization. But just when it seems like the right start to getting things back to some semblance of order, people soon find out that the terrifyingly brilliant movement known as “Daybreak” isn’t completely finished yet, plus when its comes right down to it, people overall are just selfish and greedy, especially when their lives are at stake.
Heather O’Grainne not only has a new world to contend with, but a newborn to also take up her time, nevertheless she’s going to keep doing her job and getting her viewpoint in no matter what; she was after all one of the very few people on the planet who knew about Daybreak without being a member of the movement. The nation is still very divided, primarily with two different populations on either side of the country, doing what they can do get by. Meanwhile Heather is challenged with a diverse team of scientists, engineers, spies, and anyone else she thinks she needs in the small town of Pueblo, Colorado to start putting the country back together again. As she begins putting together reconnaissance from across the country, the news isn’t good: growing groups that come to be known as “tribals” are amassing and they are relentless in their capturing of those different from them, engaging in torture to whatever means to find out what their prisoners know. And then there’s the mechanism of Daybreak that still seems to be in full swing and attacking them somehow; the question is whether this is planned or part of some automated system.
Overall it appears that Barnes has a pretty bleak view on humanity, and yet readers will certainly be able to identify actions and events in Daybreak Zero that have certainly reared their ugly heads throughout our own tumultuous history. Nevertheless, his analytical detail is fascinating in these different populations and groups and what they do to survive and improve their lives. At times the book drags and could’ve used some editing to speed it up and quicken developments, but Daybreak Zero is an interesting sequel that doesn’t answer all the questions by any means, setting up for the third book in the series.
Originally written on June 9, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, and exclusive interviews, go to BookBanter
Heather O’Grainne not only has a new world to contend with, but a newborn to also take up her time, nevertheless she’s going to keep doing her job and getting her viewpoint in no matter what; she was after all one of the very few people on the planet who knew about Daybreak without being a member of the movement. The nation is still very divided, primarily with two different populations on either side of the country, doing what they can do get by. Meanwhile Heather is challenged with a diverse team of scientists, engineers, spies, and anyone else she thinks she needs in the small town of Pueblo, Colorado to start putting the country back together again. As she begins putting together reconnaissance from across the country, the news isn’t good: growing groups that come to be known as “tribals” are amassing and they are relentless in their capturing of those different from them, engaging in torture to whatever means to find out what their prisoners know. And then there’s the mechanism of Daybreak that still seems to be in full swing and attacking them somehow; the question is whether this is planned or part of some automated system.
Overall it appears that Barnes has a pretty bleak view on humanity, and yet readers will certainly be able to identify actions and events in Daybreak Zero that have certainly reared their ugly heads throughout our own tumultuous history. Nevertheless, his analytical detail is fascinating in these different populations and groups and what they do to survive and improve their lives. At times the book drags and could’ve used some editing to speed it up and quicken developments, but Daybreak Zero is an interesting sequel that doesn’t answer all the questions by any means, setting up for the third book in the series.
Originally written on June 9, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, and exclusive interviews, go to BookBanter
A strong middle book in the series (this is the first trilogy in a set of trilogies).
Thoroughly satisfying. Middle volumes of trilogies are hard to do well, and Barnes does a great job resolving a bunch of threads while leaving enough dangling to lure us, or at least me, on into the third volume.
One of the things I like most about Daybreak Zero is just how seriously the narrative and characters take questions of government. Law matters. The foundation of governments matters. The tension between law and immediate realities matters. A lot of sf rather glibly breezes past government as not a thing for the truly enlightened to bother with except as a tool for manipulating others. Here there are no over-men outside the need for life in society, and so the way they govern is very important.
The Daybreak trilogy as a whole is another story in what I've taken to calling the anti-cozy catastrophe genre. Things go wrong with the world that will never, ever be fixed - the billions dead aren't coming back to life and nobody's got a miracle cure about to happen for the still-very-active agents of destruction. Everyone has to keep learning how to deal with a world situation that continues to worsen even as individual communities and societies improve thanks to accumulated good work together.
If you read Directive 51, it's very much worth your while to continue on and read this too.
One of the things I like most about Daybreak Zero is just how seriously the narrative and characters take questions of government. Law matters. The foundation of governments matters. The tension between law and immediate realities matters. A lot of sf rather glibly breezes past government as not a thing for the truly enlightened to bother with except as a tool for manipulating others. Here there are no over-men outside the need for life in society, and so the way they govern is very important.
The Daybreak trilogy as a whole is another story in what I've taken to calling the anti-cozy catastrophe genre. Things go wrong with the world that will never, ever be fixed - the billions dead aren't coming back to life and nobody's got a miracle cure about to happen for the still-very-active agents of destruction. Everyone has to keep learning how to deal with a world situation that continues to worsen even as individual communities and societies improve thanks to accumulated good work together.
If you read Directive 51, it's very much worth your while to continue on and read this too.