Scan barcode
thogek's review against another edition
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Torture, War, Death, Murder, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, and Slavery
Minor: Rape and Cursing
matosapa's review against another edition
3.0
A strong middle book in the series (this is the first trilogy in a set of trilogies).
lettemeread's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite as good as the first one, but kept me reading, can't wait until the next one.
alexctelander's review against another edition
3.0
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
mato's review against another edition
3.0
A strong middle book in the series (this is the first trilogy in a set of trilogies).
brucemri's review
4.0
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.
alexctelander's review
3.0
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
More...