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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I love this book!Contagion is a YA space thriller very reminiscent of the Alien movies. The pretty sci fi cover originally drew me in, but when I read what it was about it definitely seemed up my alley and it was! This is the first thing I have read by Erin Bowman and I cannot wait for the sequel in this duology, which is set to release next year. This also makes me want to read her other works while I wait for the second book!
Hevetz Industries is an energy company that drills the largest amounts in the system of a renewable energy source called corrarium. A large part of the Hevetz company is also dedicated to research as they find new planets and ascertain whether they contain any corrarium and how the company is effecting the environment. One such team is currently evacuating a planet due to severe weather conditions when they get a distress signal from a far away planet. Being the closest, it is their duty to answer the distress signal, but under their current circumstances the crew that gathers together for the mission is a bit rag tag. Only one of the team has any search and rescue experience, the pilot is under a sort of trial period of flight, and one member is just a young intern trying to add something to her resume to get into the college she wants. But the group is also in a rush to get off planet and gets swept along without much explanation.
They soon find out that they are on their way to a planet that everyone believed had been disregarded as not worth the trouble, long ago. The S.O.S. Is coming from a Hevetz drill crew called Black Quarry that was on a classified job there. This planet has extreme weather conditions and is in a tidal lock with it’s sun. There is a thin strip of median where people can work and one previously known attempt at research done there. All that’s left from that time is a single survivor and plenty of rumors.
In fact, the sole survivor, now an older doctor of the Hevetz company, is one of the rescue crew headed to the planet now. If the rumored stories and distance (necessitating cryo) weren’t enough to have the crew on edge, the state of the Black Quarry drill crew’s ship, once there, definitely gives them something to think about. The Black Quarry crew has experienced something quite unexpected and the rescue team truly has no idea what they are getting into, at least for the most part.
I love the perspectives in Contagion, which come from the varied array of characters on the mission. They are diverse and convincing and the jumping from one POV to another contributes a lot to the build up of suspense. I really appreciated that of these characters there was some POC and LGBTQ+ representation. There was also a good representation of different age groups and careers and specialties within the company, so all in all there was a very rounded view of the occurrences in the story. Even with there being a larger number of perspectives, I still ended up enjoying the characters a lot.
The suspense build was multi-faceted and excellent. I’ve already mentioned how the POV swaps added to this sense of suspense but this was merely a piece of creating the tension. The way we learn about the characters is another factor. Instead of learning a lot of background information at the beginning, we don’t know very much at all and slowly pick up information along the way- often from what other characters pick up about each other. So we never know anyone’s full story and often we know only what others infer about each person. Add to this the rumored stories of what happened the only other recorded time Hevetz had anyone on this planet. At first the rumors alone create a sense of mystery and a need for caution, but as the characters begin to piece together the truth of what happened, the sense of danger increases.
Most of all though, it’s the writing style that is able to have you there on the edge with the rescue crew.It takes a lot of skill to write this many character perspectives well, to build suspense, to create a mystery that will have the reader guessing up to the very end, and to leave that reader eager for a second book. And I for one, cannot wait for the second book! It’s even more difficult because the ending was sooo cliff-hangery!! In the meantime, Contagion gets a 5/5 stars from me! ★★★★★
Hevetz Industries is an energy company that drills the largest amounts in the system of a renewable energy source called corrarium. A large part of the Hevetz company is also dedicated to research as they find new planets and ascertain whether they contain any corrarium and how the company is effecting the environment. One such team is currently evacuating a planet due to severe weather conditions when they get a distress signal from a far away planet. Being the closest, it is their duty to answer the distress signal, but under their current circumstances the crew that gathers together for the mission is a bit rag tag. Only one of the team has any search and rescue experience, the pilot is under a sort of trial period of flight, and one member is just a young intern trying to add something to her resume to get into the college she wants. But the group is also in a rush to get off planet and gets swept along without much explanation.
They soon find out that they are on their way to a planet that everyone believed had been disregarded as not worth the trouble, long ago. The S.O.S. Is coming from a Hevetz drill crew called Black Quarry that was on a classified job there. This planet has extreme weather conditions and is in a tidal lock with it’s sun. There is a thin strip of median where people can work and one previously known attempt at research done there. All that’s left from that time is a single survivor and plenty of rumors.
In fact, the sole survivor, now an older doctor of the Hevetz company, is one of the rescue crew headed to the planet now. If the rumored stories and distance (necessitating cryo) weren’t enough to have the crew on edge, the state of the Black Quarry drill crew’s ship, once there, definitely gives them something to think about. The Black Quarry crew has experienced something quite unexpected and the rescue team truly has no idea what they are getting into, at least for the most part.
I love the perspectives in Contagion, which come from the varied array of characters on the mission. They are diverse and convincing and the jumping from one POV to another contributes a lot to the build up of suspense. I really appreciated that of these characters there was some POC and LGBTQ+ representation. There was also a good representation of different age groups and careers and specialties within the company, so all in all there was a very rounded view of the occurrences in the story. Even with there being a larger number of perspectives, I still ended up enjoying the characters a lot.
The suspense build was multi-faceted and excellent. I’ve already mentioned how the POV swaps added to this sense of suspense but this was merely a piece of creating the tension. The way we learn about the characters is another factor. Instead of learning a lot of background information at the beginning, we don’t know very much at all and slowly pick up information along the way- often from what other characters pick up about each other. So we never know anyone’s full story and often we know only what others infer about each person. Add to this the rumored stories of what happened the only other recorded time Hevetz had anyone on this planet. At first the rumors alone create a sense of mystery and a need for caution, but as the characters begin to piece together the truth of what happened, the sense of danger increases.
Most of all though, it’s the writing style that is able to have you there on the edge with the rescue crew.It takes a lot of skill to write this many character perspectives well, to build suspense, to create a mystery that will have the reader guessing up to the very end, and to leave that reader eager for a second book. And I for one, cannot wait for the second book! It’s even more difficult because the ending was sooo cliff-hangery!! In the meantime, Contagion gets a 5/5 stars from me! ★★★★★
I would have been super annoyed with the cliff hanger ending if the second book was not already out. This was a enjoyable science fiction/horror book.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was fine? On paper, it sounds fun, but something about the execution was lacking. And I find cliffhanger endings annoying.
8/7/21: My reread was just as wonderful as the first time I read Contagion. This time I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator does an incredible job of highlighting the suspense of the story.
Contagion was amazing!! I hadn't read a sci-fi for a while, and this is just what I needed. Fantastic characters, worldbuilding, plot, mystery, politics, secrets...basically fantastic everything! I read this as part of Erin Bowman's readalong on Instagram leading up to the release of the sequel, Immunity. As much as I loved this book, I'm glad I waited until now to read it because cliffhanger!! I will definitely be rushing to the bookstore on Immunity's release day. This duology is definitely one of my favorite sci-fi series now! :)
Contagion was amazing!! I hadn't read a sci-fi for a while, and this is just what I needed. Fantastic characters, worldbuilding, plot, mystery, politics, secrets...basically fantastic everything! I read this as part of Erin Bowman's readalong on Instagram leading up to the release of the sequel, Immunity. As much as I loved this book, I'm glad I waited until now to read it because cliffhanger!! I will definitely be rushing to the bookstore on Immunity's release day. This duology is definitely one of my favorite sci-fi series now! :)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Love a good zombie book. Definitely suspenseful but the captain irritated me so much.
This was a solid scifi/zombie horror. The YA of it all ("muttered a swear") was a little jarring at first after a while without reading one, but the story of a handful of deeply unqualified people mounting a doomed rescue mission in deep space and paying the price for it could hardly lose my attention. The characters meant nothing to me, but that's almost a good thing since all they were doing is being dumb and then dying.
It's part of a duology, so the end was only half an end. I'm definitely interested in what happens next.
It's part of a duology, so the end was only half an end. I'm definitely interested in what happens next.