Ill Wind

Rating:
Summary: Lackluster Post Apocalypse a waste of time and money.
Review: As a kid who grew up on Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s Young Jedi knights Series and a disciple of Post-Apocalypse fiction I had high hopes for Ill Wind which fell flat almost immediately. This book gets bogged down quickly by uninteresting characters to much description of an ecological disaster from too many points of view, and basically no story to speak of. Period. There is nothing but a premise and filler. This is a boring book that I would not read again nor recommend to anyone else who actually want to read good literature.

Rating:
Summary: Lackluster Post Apocalypse a waste of time and money.
Review: As a kid who grew up on Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s Young Jedi knights Series and a disciple of Post-Apocalypse fiction I had high hopes for Ill Wind which fell flat almost immediately. This book gets bogged down quickly by uninteresting characters to much description of an ecological disaster from too many points of view, and basically no story to speak of. Period. There is nothing but a premise and filler. This is a boring book that I would not read again nor recommend to anyone else who actually want to read good literature.

Rating:
Summary: Read Mutant 59: Plastic Eaters instead
Review: Ill Wind is well-enough done and a good cautionary novel. But I liked the plot in the "original" version better - of course, there are no new plots and art is all in the rendering. Pass on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating concept but ultimately falls flat.
Review: Imagine a world in which petroleum products suddenly disappeared, along with all the machines and gadgets that use them. This would include gasoline, oil, and all plastics. That's the premise of this imaginative novel. It's just a shame that the authors couldn't quite flesh it out. It's an unusual techno-thriller in that there's virtually nothing military about it, which was refreshing. However, Ill Wind suffers from a typical failing of techno-thrillers, cardboard cut-out characters and painfully stilted dialogue, especially between men and women. It seems as if the authors learned their dramatic skills from watching canned television mini-series rather than reading real literature. The concept is enough to get you about halfway through the book, but then it just gets tedious and you find yourself praying for a nuclear war to just put an end to the whole thing.

Rating:
Summary: It's an Ill Wind that doesn't blow some good
Review: That seems to be true of this book as well. Ill Wind is the story of the chaos that results when a tailored microorganism destroys the world's petrochemical products. I found the descriptions of the collapse of civilization to be interesting, but found the scientific basis not quite believable. The jump from an organism that just destroys octane to an organism that destroys all oil- and plastic-based products is just too great.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book. Other reviewers have mentioned that it follows the standard "disaster format" of multiple characters and plotlines, but this works for me. I found each of the characters to be engaging (with the possible exception of Connor Brooks, who was just too whiney for belief).

I admit that I initially picked up this book because I enjoy biotech thrillers, but I'm glad I did.

Rating:
Summary: It's an Ill Wind that doesn't blow some good
Review: That seems to be true of this book as well. Ill Wind is the story of the chaos that results when a tailored microorganism destroys the world's petrochemical products. I found the descriptions of the collapse of civilization to be interesting, but found the scientific basis not quite believable. The jump from an organism that just destroys octane to an organism that destroys all oil- and plastic-based products is just too great.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book. Other reviewers have mentioned that it follows the standard "disaster format" of multiple characters and plotlines, but this works for me. I found each of the characters to be engaging (with the possible exception of Connor Brooks, who was just too whiney for belief).

I admit that I initially picked up this book because I enjoy biotech thrillers, but I'm glad I did.

Rating:
Summary: Disaster thriller entertains and keeps up suspense/interest.
Review: The opening pages, wherein an oil tanker collides with one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and spills tons of crude into the San Francisco Bay, are pure suspense and realistic action. Sadly the multiple stories that follow are standard disaster thriller filler. The novel is far from boring, it's just that it suffers from the same problems with contrivance and characterization that plague other 'cast of thousands' disaster epics. This is strictly for those that can't stop themselves from watching The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno whenever it pops up on cable.