Waiting

Rating:
Summary: Well-Written Thriller
Review: "Waiting" takes place in San Francisco, California, where Artie Baker, a middle-aged TV newswriter, and a handful of his friends (dubbed The Suicide Club since young adulthood--long story) are trying to solve the brutal murder of one of their members. Not only that, but Artie's wife and stepson have suddenly disappeared, just at the crucial moment when someone has been trying to kill him, as well as the people he associates with because of what they know.

After some time, what Artie and his friends soon discover is that a centuries-old species of human (called the Old People) have been waiting all this time for Homo sapiens to exterminate themselves off the planet. But for fear of being revealed and destroyed themselves, the Old People decide to declare a covert war on Homo sapiens in order to reclaim domination of the world.

When I started reading "Waiting," I checked out a few reviews at Amazon beforehand to see what others thought of it. I was only a few chapters into it, but I really liked it so far and was quite surprised by all the low reviews of it. When I picked the book back up, I kept expecting it to get worse like several reviewers had said. However, it didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. It's not very high on action, but it is quite thought-provoking on our existence in the next century or so, as possibly the next endangered species on Earth.

"Waiting" reminded me a little of something Dean Koontz would write, minus any sci-fi nonsense, which I kept expecting since it was published by Tor, a sci-fi-heavy publisher. It's a well-written thriller, and if you like such novels, then you'll probably like "Waiting."

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good as a thriller, but such awful science...
Review: The basic idea of this book is indisputably neato. I found myself really looking forward to how the tale might unfold, once I got the basic idea of a race of not-quite-human-beings having existed alongside us for 35,000 years. However, there really could have been a lot more research put into this. The science just didn't make sense to me, compared with, say, a Michael Crichton novel. It was very, VERY skimpy to say the least. Anyone with the slightest scientific background will probably feel kind of insulted on that point.

That said, the book isn't without its redeeming features. There is a lot of tension built up, as we wonder which of the hero's friends are human, and which... aren't. There are a few flaws... I think the very last few pages were probably supposed to be an unexpected "twist" ending, designed to give the reader that certain, satisfying jolt, but for me it didn't exactly work. I probably shouldn't go into it here, really, so suffice it to say that it concerns the hero's son.

Read this as a thriller, if you enjoy thrillers, especially thrillers heavy on chase scenes and police work. But the science really isn't too well done, so please be prepared for that if you are in the market for science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Premise with potential nullified by clichés
Review: This book was mentioned in Stephen King's reading list (as an appendix to his inspirational "On Writing"). The premise of a race of "superior" beings living among us intrigued me. Unfortunately, that was the ONLY reason why I endured the book until the end. I couldn't care less about any of the two-dimensional characters, the corny dialogue, or the repetitious spoon-feeding of plot detail (how stupid is the reader expected to be?). I sped through most of the novel because I was anxious to put it away and move on to a better book. VERY disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Clever concept
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The beginning is strange but if you can make it to about the middle of chapter 2, you'll be hooked. What I was amazed with the most is the way Robinson created a sense of dread throughout the entire book. It was like hearing the low bass tones in a scary movie that gives you that sense of anticipation and dread. I don't know how he did it with words. Definitely have to tip your hat to Robinson on his writing style.

I had a hard time putting the book down, staying up late at night but not pushing myself like I have done reading Stephen Hunter. The ending was not completely predictable but I did have my suspicions by the middle of the book. The ending was a little bit of a let down, not for anything other than it seemed like Robinson was trying to meet a deadline and rushed to a conclusion, but it didn't ruin the book by any means.

I would definitely recommend this to any one who enjoys minor amounts of science fiction rooted in fact or counterfactual thought. It reads very fast and would be good for travel of vacation. The message regarding our environment is timely also.

For more details, go to aj.huff.org. Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Premise with potential nullified by clichés
Review: This book was mentioned in Stephen King's reading list (as an appendix to his inspirational "On Writing"). The premise of a race of "superior" beings living among us intrigued me. Unfortunately, that was the ONLY reason why I endured the book until the end. I couldn't care less about any of the two-dimensional characters, the corny dialogue, or the repetitious spoon-feeding of plot detail (how stupid is the reader expected to be?). I sped through most of the novel because I was anxious to put it away and move on to a better book. VERY disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: What a find!
Review: This is one of those books that I picked up because I could not find the book that I came for. Cover art sells books for sure. I started reading this book and had to flip back to the cover to make sure that I had never heard of the author before. This book was extremely well written. Some of it is predictable but you get mad at the characters for not seeing the obvious, but that adds to the realism because real people would not see the obvious either. I really enjoyed this book. It is light science fiction that readers of Sci-fi and mainstream should enjoy. Books this good cross genre boundries.

Rating:
Summary: a very poor 'thriller'
Review: I was given this book. Once I started I couldn't wait to finish it but for all the wrong reasons (I don't like to just stop reading a book halfway through). I was curious to see what others had to say about it so had a look at the reviews here and was amazed to see some positive reviews about it. I had no connection with any of the characters and the environmental issues side was very heavy handed. Put simply it is a very poorly written book.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Intentioned Environmentalist Propoganda
Review: Here's the story: clueless t.v. journalist Archie's friend is killed in an alley by a pack of wild dogs. When this happens, Archie believes his death is NO accident and begins to search for the killer. During the course of his investigation, he learns about the existence of another race of beings which has been living amongst us for centuries. Archie's investigations uncover a vast conspiracy of epic proportions... Can Archie save humanity? Or is it already too late?

Okay, I am as concerned about the environment as the next person. But when I pick up a horror/thriller novel, I don't like to be bludgeoned over the head repeatedly with paragraphs and paragraphs of environmentalist propaganda. The novel assumes that all humans are idiots, care nothing about the environment and live in an ignorant vacuum. Not so. Some of us are scientist, researchers, anthropologist, or just plain concerned people. Robinson goes a bit too far in my opinion with the sermonizing, and , painting humanity with a broad-brush as possible, while portraying his created race, 'the old people' as being 'good, kind, and saintly.' Please. I mean, we get it already, humanity= evil 'the old people' = good. What I don't get is if the 'old people' are so concerned about the environment.... Why do they drive cars? Don't cars pollute the environment? And what about killing people? Isn't that wrong? I mean, come on. This novel practices an alarming pseudo-science. Humans are mammals of the Primate order. So are Robinson's 'old people.' Primates (especially males), of most species are violent. I find it extremely difficult to believe the 'old people' are somehow SO much superior.

While I really liked the characters, and some of the concepts, I got tired with the author's soapboxing. I also found the ending of this novel to be, extremely irritating. I was unsatisfied with the relationship issue between Archie and his wife, and never quite understood, the author's inference about Mark. While I recommend giving this novel a listen, be prepared for long chapters of thinly-veiled neo-malthusian dialog about eco-issues ad nauseum.

Rating:
Summary: When the author said he was a fan of didactic novels...
Review: ...that should have caused me to think twice about Waiting.

I found myself caught up in a lot of hype about Waiting. NPR likes it. Harlan Ellison likes it. A lot of people like it.

Did I? Mmm, I liked the writing. And I liked the basic story. And being from SF, I was pleased to be able to follow the action. Except for the parts about feral dogs in the Tenderloin, location-wise it was all very plausible.

But I also found the novel terribly preachy to the point where I found it very irritating. I guess I just get really irritated when a creature from a species that doesn't exist starts lecturing me about what a horrible group Homo Sapiens is, using exaggerated anecdotes about what we're doing to the environment.

Then (the creature, being, what-have-you) bitterly lectures you about how he's a member of a more peaceful and socially responsible group, far more intelligent and grounded in reality than everyone else around him, and how his people were cheated out of the opportunity to run things...and well, let's just say that living in SF, I've been bombarded with this constantly since January 2001. Now, to get this from a novel was really a bit too much.

Rating:
Summary: Seriously flawed for fans of good sci-fi
Review: Waiting has a good premise: homo erectus, a pre-human hominid, has survived and has been hiding among us, pretending to be human, waiting for the human race to go extinct from its own ecologically-sinful ways. But after 35,000 years, Erectus has gotten tired of waiting and decides to speed along humanity's demise. A few unlucky humans learn of the conspiracy and find themselves hunted.

That summary should sell a lot of books - it worked on me. But Robinson did a very poor job developing his story. A lot of the story simply strains suspension of disbelief beyond its limits; for example, Robinson explains that homo erectus superficially looks human, but on close inspection, you find that their proportions simply don't fall within the human spectrum. Yet many of his Erectus characters aren't especially ugly - one is even a TV news reporter. Human beings who fall on the tail ends of our physical spectrum, like a pure ectomorph or endomorph, are generally regarded as ugly. A being who falls completely outside of our bodily characteristics in bone structure and morphology would certainly be regarded as hideous. Worse, homo erectus supposedly lost to humanity because they couldn't use language - but Robinson's Erectuses speak fine, even have verbally-challenging jobs like lawyers. Robinson makes his Erectuses telepathic, which just doesn't seem to fit the scientific plausibility he's aiming for. A lot of the characters are pointlessly homosexual, as if Robinson, the winner of a Lambda literary award, is merely trying to get cheap exposure for gays (the gay sub-theme does nothing to enhance the story, and it doesn't neatly dovetail into the "alien among us" theme of the rest of the book). The book takes way too long to really get moving, and the main character, Artie, seems like a bit of schlep - a war-addled Viet Nam vet incapable of recognizing that he's being played for a chump in his marriage and at his job. There's also a lot of environmentalist preaching that seems to harken back to all those baloney "population bomb/soylent green" predictions of the 1970s - in case you're wondering, it's 2003 and all the trees are still very green, we can still breathe the air, and we all have plenty of food.

The "alien among us" is a fine theme that has a lot of appeal post-9/11. But we're going to have to wait for a better writer to really revitalize the genre.