Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Year Zero by Jeff Long ISBN: 0743406117 Publisher: Pocket Star Pub. Date: April, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.42
Rating: 5
Summary: Long hits another one over the fence
Comment: I devoured "The Descent" in a two-day span, and couldn't wait for Jeff Long's follow-up. I'm glad that it wasn't a sequel: Long is far too mindbendingly original to tread the same ground again. In "Year Zero", Long dons the mantle of all science fiction writers, and plumbs the scientific and moral question of his day: cloning. Faced with an extinction event that stirs from a 2000-year-old contagion, what will be our response?
Long constructs his tale with his use of dichotomies, some starkly drawn (Ochs and Nathan Lee, Paul and Miranda Abbott, Ben and Eesho), some mirror image (Cavandish and Adam). I've read some criticism concerning Long's pacing and continuity, but have to disagree. The development of each disparate plot line, setting, and set of characters illuminates what has been foreshadowed, and casts shadows across the rest of the novel.
Long is unflinching in his examinations of the brutality with which man savages his savages, in "The Descent", the hadals, and here, in "Year Zero", the dehumanized clones. Yet while some descriptions might disgust and dismay, others delight: all of the passages with the Appaloosa, the passages with Tara, the ancient child of the future, and the passages about the storybook Nathan Lee wrote for Grace are heartfelt and beautiful.
When you buy this book, be prepared for a couple of sleepless nights because you'll be drawn in and catapulted through this story. Like its predecessor, "The Descent", "Year Zero" has it all going for it: Long's winningly literary style, a dizzyingly suspenseful story, and a fictitious construct of complex issues which remain with you long after the final chapter.
Rating: 4
Summary: More than meets the eye! Promising writer!
Comment: I bought this book for a vacation read, as it promised to be a fun, quick read. The premise behind the book is ingenious--an ancient plague is unleashed and scientists believe the clue to the cure lies in cloning people who were alive 2000 years ago during the time of the original plague.
A clever idea, but this book turned out to be much more than a simple disaster tale. Underlaying the simple plot is an appreciation for beauty and a sense of wonder that adds immensely to the depth and strength of the book. The images of a decimated world are strange and beautiful. And the descriptions of the high Himalayas are stunning. Even the depiction of the plague victims embues them with a strange dignity and beauty.
However, despite the interesting premise of the novel, I would say it spends less time on science than on the mysteries of human relationships and their power. If you look too closely at the science behind the novel, you may not care for this book. (Humans cloned from crucifixion fragments from Golgotha retain their memory!? Huh?) My advice is to suspend critical thought and enjoy the considerable pleasures of this book by accepting it for what it is--a heart-felt look at why we love and how we live with honor. I found this book entirely captivating, and several weeks after reading it I'm still pondering it.
I will be looking for other books by this author!
Rating: 5
Summary: Swept away!
Comment: Here it is, the ultimate Survivor episode, a thinking person's adventure tale. The writing hooked me with the first sentence, "The wound was their path", and what a path it becomes, full of twists and surprises and Nathan Lee's heart full of hope. I've never seen a book like this, with such wild premises that seem to have no connection, but by the end are woven together so perfectly. On the one hand Year Zero is a novel about the virus from hell, the big extinction event that we think can't happen to us. Then there's the cloning of human lab rats that has echoes of Frankenstein and Brave New World. Nathan's escape through the Himalayas is almost a story in itself, but Long keeps on spinning his web, and somehow, amazingly ties it all together in the end. I started telling the story to a friend, then just stopped and gave her the book to read for herself. This one defies simple description. All I can say is, dive in, and get swept away.
 |
Title: The Descent by Jeff Long ISBN: 051513175X Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: 31 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas J. Preston, Lincoln Child ISBN: 0446530220 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
 |
Title: Amazonia : A Novel by James Rollins ISBN: 0060002484 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 19 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Utopia by Lincoln Child ISBN: 0385506686 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 24 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Deep Fathom by James Rollins ISBN: 0380818809 Publisher: Harper Mass Market Paperbacks Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
