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knightkittyreads 's review for:
Cold People
by Tom Rob Smith
My thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for the advanced copy of this book.
I thought the premise was good. An alien species arrives and delivers a message that all people must reach Antarctica within 30 days or, presumably, die. The story follows the survivors to Antarctica, and the new society’s attempt to genetically engineer a superior being - “the cold people” - to be able to thrive and survive in the hostile climate.
I had some major problems with this book. I felt that the alien invasion was nothing more than a plot device to get people into Antarctica as it was rarely mentioned again after it triggered the mass exodus. Also, the book jumped rapidly through the storyline to its own detriment. At one point, our main survivor group makes an agreement for passage on a ship sailing to Antarctica, by trading their ingenuity for passage. They are successful, but rather than experiencing this crossing with them, learning how they survive, getting to see them not only as individuals but as a group, we jump ahead to when they have arrived at their destination. We also don’t get to experience the early years in Antarctica. Soon after their arrival, the book jumps forward 20 years. In my opinion, the author could have just begun the book at about the 40% mark since all we get before that is background that could easily be covered in far fewer pages, and the author’s true interest seems to be the cold people storyline, which doesn’t begin until almost 50%. Even the climactic scene gets cut short. There is a standoff between the refugees and the cold people in which the cold people issue an ultimate. Rather than sticking with the story and letting us see how that played out, we are jumped forward two months. Due to this constant jumping forward and backwards 20 years, and changing viewpoints, we never get to know any of the characters. They all remain flat and uninteresting.
One thing that was very distracting to me for much of the book was trying to figure out how this new society, which was fairly primitive, existing on native sea life, plants, and materials scavenged from airplanes and boats, was somehow creating sophisticated genetically mutated people. Granted, there was the prior existence of McMurdo Station (an existing science research station) but McMurdo was not conducting genetic experiments. Around the 70% mark it was finally explained that a top geneticist had brought equipment and knowledge with her, but it would have been helpful to have been told that earlier.
I think this book was ambitious, the author’s knowledge and interest in Antarctica apparent, but in his eagerness to do so much, he sacrificed the smaller plot points, and character development, and ended up with a choppy book that did not commandeer my interest.
I thought the premise was good. An alien species arrives and delivers a message that all people must reach Antarctica within 30 days or, presumably, die. The story follows the survivors to Antarctica, and the new society’s attempt to genetically engineer a superior being - “the cold people” - to be able to thrive and survive in the hostile climate.
I had some major problems with this book. I felt that the alien invasion was nothing more than a plot device to get people into Antarctica as it was rarely mentioned again after it triggered the mass exodus. Also, the book jumped rapidly through the storyline to its own detriment. At one point, our main survivor group makes an agreement for passage on a ship sailing to Antarctica, by trading their ingenuity for passage. They are successful, but rather than experiencing this crossing with them, learning how they survive, getting to see them not only as individuals but as a group, we jump ahead to when they have arrived at their destination. We also don’t get to experience the early years in Antarctica. Soon after their arrival, the book jumps forward 20 years. In my opinion, the author could have just begun the book at about the 40% mark since all we get before that is background that could easily be covered in far fewer pages, and the author’s true interest seems to be the cold people storyline, which doesn’t begin until almost 50%. Even the climactic scene gets cut short. There is a standoff between the refugees and the cold people in which the cold people issue an ultimate. Rather than sticking with the story and letting us see how that played out, we are jumped forward two months. Due to this constant jumping forward and backwards 20 years, and changing viewpoints, we never get to know any of the characters. They all remain flat and uninteresting.
One thing that was very distracting to me for much of the book was trying to figure out how this new society, which was fairly primitive, existing on native sea life, plants, and materials scavenged from airplanes and boats, was somehow creating sophisticated genetically mutated people. Granted, there was the prior existence of McMurdo Station (an existing science research station) but McMurdo was not conducting genetic experiments. Around the 70% mark it was finally explained that a top geneticist had brought equipment and knowledge with her, but it would have been helpful to have been told that earlier.
I think this book was ambitious, the author’s knowledge and interest in Antarctica apparent, but in his eagerness to do so much, he sacrificed the smaller plot points, and character development, and ended up with a choppy book that did not commandeer my interest.