27 August 2013

BOOK REVIEW: The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, #1) by Jason M. Hough

The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, #1)The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book on the strength of some great advance reviews that it received from a few book sites that I follow. And I agree with them, it's a really good book. It's a fun read that gallops along a fair old pace and the plot, along with the cast of characters, was enough to hook me right from the start. For an author new to this sort of thing, Hough writes incredibly well. As is often the case with me, I ended up having one of the 'baddies' as my favorite character. Says something about me, perhaps..?
The space elevator idea has always fascinated me and the book didn't disappoint with it's own take on this tried and true SF concept. Basically, some mysterious aliens visit our planet and weave this amazing thread down from their ships in orbit then sod off leaving Earth in somewhat of a mess. We don't know why they built the elevator and what it's intended purpose is but as the story progresses we learn more about it and the human society that has built up both along and around the elevator (it's 40,000 kilometers long!).
As one of the key aspects to the story line, again we get 'zombie' hoards made such by a mysterious virus somehow linked to the elevator. I must admit that I am getting a little bit tired of this theme seemingly everywhere in various fiction genres these days. But it actually works with the story okay. However, it's the only complaint from me about an otherwise excellent action sci-fi story, and the only reason I didn't give it five stars.
Overall it's pretty damned good and I liked it enough to order the next book in the series (The Exodus Towers).

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