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elysareadsitall's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
I didn't enjoy this book. It was confusing, and not in a fun way, and the characters were uninteresting. There wasn't enough description of aliens or place, so nothing felt truly scary. It felt like I was just listening to characters bumble through the confusing process of waking up from cryo-sleep.
catsy2022's review
dark
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
last_apoc's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
pastathief's review against another edition
4.0
A good number of people found this story weak and derivative, and I can't argue there, at least with the latter part. All of my descriptions start with, "It's kind of like X." You might go so far as to say that all the generation-ship ideas have been wrung dry, and that might be true. However, I love the genre, and this is one of the few really good *concise* examples. Generation ships by their very nature tend to go on at quite a bit of length, and jump into multi-part series at the drop of a hat. Hull Zero Three is a compact, tightly-paced, exciting whirlwind of a tale in comparison. It packs a lot of thrills while throwing in enough brain candy to satisfy, if not necessarily to be life-changing. The urgency drains out of the book somewhat toward the end of the book, but the wider plot picks up the slack nicely. In some ways this is just the kind of bait-and-switch that Hollywood keeps pulling where they promise a taut science fiction thriller but then turned it into slashy horror in the second act, and perhaps it disappoints some people in the same way (being neither wholeheartedly either horror or cerebral science fiction, really), but I think that if you watched Pandorum despite your better judgment and came away wishing someone would do that story right, then this is probably a book for you.
(Note that I read it as an audiobook, which meant it lasted somewhere between six and eight hours for me. This probably affected my perception of investment and pacing. It might work less well on paper, as you might expect more of it or have wanted it to be shorter for what it delivered.)
(Note that I read it as an audiobook, which meant it lasted somewhere between six and eight hours for me. This probably affected my perception of investment and pacing. It might work less well on paper, as you might expect more of it or have wanted it to be shorter for what it delivered.)
polarcubby's review against another edition
Not what I expected and NOT what I hoped for. Vague and confusing. It has something of Alice In Wonderland feel too it; deliberately, I think. I dislike that book intensely.
I wanted horror, not this confused weirdness.
I wanted horror, not this confused weirdness.
nimrodiel's review against another edition
2.0
I was disappointed with this book. After reading the more exceptional works of his in the past, this one was rather simple.
I found the plot rather uncomplicated and a bit predictable. While the story was set in a hard sci-fi setting, it read rather like a horror/thriller for most parts.
I found the plot rather uncomplicated and a bit predictable. While the story was set in a hard sci-fi setting, it read rather like a horror/thriller for most parts.
micahcastle's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
frater's review against another edition
3.0
Hull Zero three was another book that recently subverted my expectations. The description I read of this title suggested to me a dark survival horror-style novel of a man being woken on board a generation ship to find the halls full of monsters and broken-down machinary and himself hunted.
Whilst that is not an entirely inaccurate description of the setup for the novel, I was somewhat disappointed to find this atmosphere somewhat lacking; in fact, that is one of my key complaints about this novel in general. I picked it up looking forward to the atmosphere of the setting only to find it minimised by the writing style and not delivering to my expectations. This is because I misinterpreted what this story actually was.
One it began to strike home I found myself drawn deep into a mind-bending story of Carrollian absurdity and creepiness, a drop at terminal velocity through a rabbit-hole full of surprises as the characters try desperately to understand why the ship is so damaged, why genetically-engineered monsters lurk in the hallways and, most importantly of all, who, or what, exactly are they themselves?
This is a classic science fiction novel of Ideas, and in that vein it most certainly does not disappoint, keeping you guessing as to the true villain (if there can be said to really be one) and tugging at your sympathies constantly until the very end.
There was perhaps one subplot (the silvery) that I think the story could have been stronger without, particularly the slight suggestion of deus ex machina provided right at the end, but on the whole it should be quite satisfying to anyone with a love of twisted philosophical plots.
Whilst that is not an entirely inaccurate description of the setup for the novel, I was somewhat disappointed to find this atmosphere somewhat lacking; in fact, that is one of my key complaints about this novel in general. I picked it up looking forward to the atmosphere of the setting only to find it minimised by the writing style and not delivering to my expectations. This is because I misinterpreted what this story actually was.
One it began to strike home I found myself drawn deep into a mind-bending story of Carrollian absurdity and creepiness, a drop at terminal velocity through a rabbit-hole full of surprises as the characters try desperately to understand why the ship is so damaged, why genetically-engineered monsters lurk in the hallways and, most importantly of all, who, or what, exactly are they themselves?
This is a classic science fiction novel of Ideas, and in that vein it most certainly does not disappoint, keeping you guessing as to the true villain (if there can be said to really be one) and tugging at your sympathies constantly until the very end.
There was perhaps one subplot (the silvery) that I think the story could have been stronger without, particularly the slight suggestion of deus ex machina provided right at the end, but on the whole it should be quite satisfying to anyone with a love of twisted philosophical plots.
chalicotherex's review against another edition
3.0
A generation ship story that starts off like a bad video game - amnesiac protagonist, creepy girl, monsters stalking them through the ship. But it gets better. Eventually it even swings around to have the opposite problem, of too many ideas competing for attention.
My big problem with the second half is that the characters have been so thoroughly gaslighted by the ship (clones with implanted memories, being fought over by different factions in the ship) that I found it hard to believe their decisions.
I really liked Tsinoy, the mind of a navigator cloned into a ferocious porcupine battle cat thing, the idea being that a navigator is so important to the generation ship's survival that she's deserving of all the best defence mechanisms that evolution can provide.
It tackles some of the same questions about the ethics of the generation ship story that KSR handled better in his novel Aurora. Some of the writing reminded me favourably of Matthew Woodring Stover.
My big problem with the second half is that the characters have been so thoroughly gaslighted by the ship (clones with implanted memories, being fought over by different factions in the ship) that I found it hard to believe their decisions.
I really liked Tsinoy, the mind of a navigator cloned into a ferocious porcupine battle cat thing, the idea being that a navigator is so important to the generation ship's survival that she's deserving of all the best defence mechanisms that evolution can provide.
It tackles some of the same questions about the ethics of the generation ship story that KSR handled better in his novel Aurora. Some of the writing reminded me favourably of Matthew Woodring Stover.