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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I think the best way I can sum this up is "workmanlike". It is a generic, uninspired cash-in. The prose is competent, but the plot, structure and pacing are all lacking.
What's missing most is any sense of suspense which, in a horror story based on extremely suspenseful video games, is a big problem. For most of the story we have multiple POVs which play out as "Person A has weird/scary/inexplicable experience, possibly kills themselves, Person B speculates about happened to Person A, usually guessing exactly right". We get to see everything that happens so there is nothing left in doubt or to the imagination. It reads therefore as a pedestrian recounting of events without any sort of drama. Toward the end, we're left with a single POV which, given there's almost a quarter of the book left, means that person is in no real jeopardy until the very end.
The call-outs to the video games are, I suppose, necessary, but also feel a bit like getting hit over the head. Necromorphs are described to us as if being seen for the first time (as they are, by the characters) but anyone having got that far through the book is surely already familiar with the games so there's nothing surprising or horrifying about it. The main character ending up with a plasma cutter (the iconic weapon of the games) is a bit of coincidental fan service that wasn't needed and the discovery of how best to fight the monsters was laboured and unnecessary.
If you are familiar with the games (and why would you be reading this if you weren't?) the inevitability of what is to come hangs heavy over this like a Star Wars prequel movie. You know they have to hit certain beats because you know what happens next so none of it can surprise you, it can only disappoint.
I didn't have high expectations because the chances of the only Dead Space novel being good seemed slim but I wasn't prepared for just how much of a dull slog this was. The icing on the cake is probably in the acknowledgements when the author describes Dead Space as "the best bit of first-person SF/horror dismemberment out there". Dead Space, of course, is famously a third-person game but apparently the author doesn't know that. Or maybe he just played the Wii spin-off.
What's missing most is any sense of suspense which, in a horror story based on extremely suspenseful video games, is a big problem. For most of the story we have multiple POVs which play out as "Person A has weird/scary/inexplicable experience, possibly kills themselves, Person B speculates about happened to Person A, usually guessing exactly right". We get to see everything that happens so there is nothing left in doubt or to the imagination. It reads therefore as a pedestrian recounting of events without any sort of drama. Toward the end, we're left with a single POV which, given there's almost a quarter of the book left, means that person is in no real jeopardy until the very end.
The call-outs to the video games are, I suppose, necessary, but also feel a bit like getting hit over the head. Necromorphs are described to us as if being seen for the first time (as they are, by the characters) but anyone having got that far through the book is surely already familiar with the games so there's nothing surprising or horrifying about it. The main character ending up with a plasma cutter (the iconic weapon of the games) is a bit of coincidental fan service that wasn't needed and the discovery of how best to fight the monsters was laboured and unnecessary.
If you are familiar with the games (and why would you be reading this if you weren't?) the inevitability of what is to come hangs heavy over this like a Star Wars prequel movie. You know they have to hit certain beats because you know what happens next so none of it can surprise you, it can only disappoint.
I didn't have high expectations because the chances of the only Dead Space novel being good seemed slim but I wasn't prepared for just how much of a dull slog this was. The icing on the cake is probably in the acknowledgements when the author describes Dead Space as "the best bit of first-person SF/horror dismemberment out there". Dead Space, of course, is famously a third-person game but apparently the author doesn't know that. Or maybe he just played the Wii spin-off.
Loved this book. I have not played the game so I came in with an open mind.
The ending was superb :)
The ending was superb :)
This is a videogame tie-in novel, so I knew what I was getting into. I'd heard positive things, and was interested in the story behind Unitology, so I gave it a shot.
It isn't the worst book I've ever read, but there's really nothing to recommend. Awkward, cliche prose, and the story itself was highly disappointing. Now that I know the "official" story of Altman and the origins of Unitology, I kind of wish I didn't.
It isn't the worst book I've ever read, but there's really nothing to recommend. Awkward, cliche prose, and the story itself was highly disappointing. Now that I know the "official" story of Altman and the origins of Unitology, I kind of wish I didn't.
This book started like a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Abyss, and Solaris. This was both good and bad as I really like that kind of story but yet it seemed to not be original. I did like some of the buildup and discussions about religion. By the end, though, it degraded into just a battle against monsters. Some issues were resolved, but there was just too much that did not make sense to me. So there was enough to keep me interested most of the way, but to me it never realized its potential.
A generally ok, if unremarkable, Sci-Fi-Horror hybrid. I enjoyed it.