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lizzy_22's review
4.0
Novella at the end of Zero World, really got me interested in The Darwin Elevator!
mjfmjfmjf's review
3.0
Confused. World-wide blindingly fast epidemic somehow caused or protected by an alien space elevator in Australia. Zombies. Limited number of random immune people setup to be stars presumably in the actual series. Yeah whatever. The intro stories to the characters are pretty good, but that is offset by uninteresting world building. Not worth going out of my way to read the rest of the series without strong recommendations.
missarika's review
4.0
Super awesome read! Several different POVs, each just as entertaining as the next (which is rare these days). My interest is piqued on the series and I will continue on to the next book. The author is great at describing things, but some scenes have discrepancies which caused me to pause and develop a small level of confusion. For example, one sentence says there was bodies lying outside the warehouse, the next says one of those bodies was staring blankly at the ceiling. However the body could not have been staring at the ceiling for it was lying outside under the sky. There were several instances of these minor mess up and is why I took a star away. Otherwise it was a perfect and entertaining read. I really enjoyed how all the characters came together at the end as well.
trike's review
3.0
A novella prequel to Hough's [b:The Darwin Elevator|16127235|The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, #1)|Jason M. Hough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383580448s/16127235.jpg|21951477]. It's appended to the novel [b:Zero World|23995290|Zero World|Jason M. Hough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1428086189s/23995290.jpg|43596017].
I actually liked this slightly better than Darwin Elevator simply because I have lesser expectations of novellas. In shorter works these days you don't really expect everything to be answered and tidied up. Gone are the days when authors would create an entire world, complete characters and an interesting plot in a story with a proper beginning, middle and end. Now they're more tone pieces or character sketches or slice of life tales.
Like most prequels, this doesn't really need to exist. It's not all that important to know how everyone got to Darwin or how they met each other. However, the fact that this information exists here means that it's probably never answered in the Dire Earth trilogy. (Unless Hough is pulling a Star Wars prequel on us.)
It's fine, I just feel the total is somehow less than the sum of the parts.
For some reason I want to just read more about Skyler's purloined air force cargo jet, the Melville rather than anything else. Maybe I'm missing Firefly too much.
I actually liked this slightly better than Darwin Elevator simply because I have lesser expectations of novellas. In shorter works these days you don't really expect everything to be answered and tidied up. Gone are the days when authors would create an entire world, complete characters and an interesting plot in a story with a proper beginning, middle and end. Now they're more tone pieces or character sketches or slice of life tales.
Like most prequels, this doesn't really need to exist. It's not all that important to know how everyone got to Darwin or how they met each other. However, the fact that this information exists here means that it's probably never answered in the Dire Earth trilogy. (Unless Hough is pulling a Star Wars prequel on us.)
It's fine, I just feel the total is somehow less than the sum of the parts.
For some reason I want to just read more about Skyler's purloined air force cargo jet, the Melville rather than anything else. Maybe I'm missing Firefly too much.
ntrlycrly's review
4.0
Nice set up to the later novels, seems like there will be like able characters to follow.
nightxade's review
3.0
After reading a great novel or series of novels, you always want more. Origin stories give you a chance to see your favourite (or not so favourite) characters again, and learn something more about the history of their world. The problem is that sometimes for me, origin stories just don't work.
In the The Dire Earth, [b:The Darwin Elevator|16127235|The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, #1)|Jason M. Hough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383580448s/16127235.jpg|21951477] is already in place in Australia, but the next mystery from the strange alien Builders has arrived: the disease called SUBS. The disease strips the humanity from its victims, reducing them to a basic fight or flight animalistic existence. The only place safe from the disease is Darwin, and in this novella, we see the world come to that realization. We get to see Skylar, Skadz, Sam, Nigel, Russell, and more again, as they all deal with the end of the world, right as it is happening.
The thing is, while I really loved being able to see the characters again, the story didn't really give me anything new. There were details that I did not know of how each person got to Darwin or discovered their immunity to SUBS, but having already read the series, the details were not particularly relevant for me. I had figured out or imagined the basics of how and why, so having it all spelled out, as I said, simply didn't add anything to the lore that I hadn't already figured out on my own.
That's not to say this is a bad short story. As it is an introduction to Hough's Dire Earth series, this would be a great way for someone new to get a taste of Hough's world. In fact, I consider The Darwin Elevator to be a good starter book for people who are uncertain about science fiction. The balance between reality and science fiction is well done, with no overwhelming use of science. As it takes place on earth, with a focus on amazing characters, the science fiction aspect sits quietly just on the fringe as you slowly get sucked into the mystery of the Builders...
www.BiblioSanctum.com
In the The Dire Earth, [b:The Darwin Elevator|16127235|The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, #1)|Jason M. Hough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383580448s/16127235.jpg|21951477] is already in place in Australia, but the next mystery from the strange alien Builders has arrived: the disease called SUBS. The disease strips the humanity from its victims, reducing them to a basic fight or flight animalistic existence. The only place safe from the disease is Darwin, and in this novella, we see the world come to that realization. We get to see Skylar, Skadz, Sam, Nigel, Russell, and more again, as they all deal with the end of the world, right as it is happening.
The thing is, while I really loved being able to see the characters again, the story didn't really give me anything new. There were details that I did not know of how each person got to Darwin or discovered their immunity to SUBS, but having already read the series, the details were not particularly relevant for me. I had figured out or imagined the basics of how and why, so having it all spelled out, as I said, simply didn't add anything to the lore that I hadn't already figured out on my own.
That's not to say this is a bad short story. As it is an introduction to Hough's Dire Earth series, this would be a great way for someone new to get a taste of Hough's world. In fact, I consider The Darwin Elevator to be a good starter book for people who are uncertain about science fiction. The balance between reality and science fiction is well done, with no overwhelming use of science. As it takes place on earth, with a focus on amazing characters, the science fiction aspect sits quietly just on the fringe as you slowly get sucked into the mystery of the Builders...
www.BiblioSanctum.com
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