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A review by catbooking
Earthcore by Scott Sigler
2.0
It was an OK read. It would have benefited a lot from a more aggressive editor, who was willing to chop off unnecessary lines like the monsters were willing to cut off limbs. For example, if someone calls someone else a “Son of a bitch” I don't need to be told they are angry, I know this from what they said. The only time I need to know how they feel is, if it is the opposite of what one would expect. If you cut such obvious lines from the narrative not only will the book shrink by 1/3 but the narrative would flow much smoother.
The romance subplots could really be cut out. It is nice to see people make connections while in dire situations, but it is so unrealistic that it breaks immersion and makes me cringe.
And speaking about cringing, why is everyone angry? Every single character in the book was angry at least once, and for a couple anger was the natural state. They were so angry they were seething with it, and Sigler had to keep telling us they were angry, lest we forget.
From my criticism above don't think that everything about this book was awful. The monsters were really unnerving. I can see where Sigler may have gotten his inspiration from, looking at some gifs on the web. And I do have to appreciate the fact that he was willing to kill of his characters. Usually you assume a sub set of characters would be safe from death, but not in this book. If someone has to die, Sigler isn't concerned what role they had in the narrative, they die.
If you only take one thing away from my review let it be this, this book is mediocre but it is also one of Sigler's first books. Having read his later creations I can say he improved by a mile. So if you somewhat liked this book, pick up his later works without fear over them not being enjoyable.
The romance subplots could really be cut out. It is nice to see people make connections while in dire situations, but it is so unrealistic that it breaks immersion and makes me cringe.
And speaking about cringing, why is everyone angry? Every single character in the book was angry at least once, and for a couple anger was the natural state. They were so angry they were seething with it, and Sigler had to keep telling us they were angry, lest we forget.
From my criticism above don't think that everything about this book was awful. The monsters were really unnerving. I can see where Sigler may have gotten his inspiration from, looking at some gifs on the web. And I do have to appreciate the fact that he was willing to kill of his characters. Usually you assume a sub set of characters would be safe from death, but not in this book. If someone has to die, Sigler isn't concerned what role they had in the narrative, they die.
If you only take one thing away from my review let it be this, this book is mediocre but it is also one of Sigler's first books. Having read his later creations I can say he improved by a mile. So if you somewhat liked this book, pick up his later works without fear over them not being enjoyable.