Home :: Books :: Science Fiction & Fantasy  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Oceanspace

Oceanspace

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For an underwater adventure, this is all wet
Review: Ouch! I'm a HUGE fan of underwater stories. Doesn't matter what the general plot is, be it monster or character, I'll go to it like a...well...like a fish to water. So when I first caught sight of Allen Steele's "Oceanspace" needless to say I was very excited.

What a bad move that was.

You'd think someone of Mr. Steele's reputation (the dust jacket AND the imprinted cover proudly exclaim he's won TWO Hugo awards) would proof read the manuscript before allowing it to be published. There are so many typos (missing words, words out of order, etc.) that the book was barely readable to begin with. People make mistakes. I could forgive this if the story was so unbelievably good it held my attention completely. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here.

In Oceanspace (which is Mr. Steele's way of comparing the underwater world to what's outside our atmosphere; not the most original of metaphors) the general writing feels like it went through the typewriter once, with hardly a glance down, and then was sent off to a publisher to fulfill a contract. Characters are referred to by both first and last names repeatedly, which is good because they are so non-distinct this is the only way to tell them apart.

Once we get past the names, the characters become such stock stereotypes I find it hard to believe this writer has ever been published before, much less won awards (Wait, no, if he has won awards, then the people at he publishing houses must thing we'll buy anything and they don't have to worry about quality). We have the couple on the verge of a break-up; the temptress bitch who has her own agenda, the plucky teenager who comes through at the end, and the older, wiser teacher who, no matter what, must impart a final lesson. The only reason we know anything about these people is we are told what to think about them. Their actions are NEVER defined by any motivation other than Mr. Steele needing them to act a certain way to drive the plot forward.

Speaking of the plot...where was it? There were several stories going on, but none of them carried any emotional weight. The sea monster storyline (which started the book off with some great moments) was dropped as quickly as the Serpent disappeared into the briny deep. The high tech espionage bit was never explained enough to let the reader know what was at stake. The reporter who was there to do an in-depth piece on the habitat and it's people but instead went looking for a cover-up was the most blatant plot device of all. And as for Andie, the 17 year old who just happened to be visiting her aunt and uncle when everything went down...why were her parents fighting? The book was set in the year 2011, presumably so the technology to make an underwater research center would be realistically present. And yet, everything else seems to have stood still. Our favorite teen listens to music she wouldn't listen to as a 17 year old today. The submarine operators (who are at a premium for space) still elect to carry CDs (in their jewel cases no less) rather than opt for MP3 or its futuristic equivalent.

The one nice thing Mr. Steele does, however, is name a couple of glorified extras (who come in near the end of the book) after Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl, who wrote a trio of underwater stories in the 50s. At least he's tipping his hat in the right direction.

Ultimately, though, the book just doesn't work. While some of the technical detail is nice, there's not enough of it (and it's not accurate enough) to make it okay to jettison the characters and plot. If you're reading this looking for a good underwater adventure...don't hold your breath.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For an underwater adventure, this is all wet
Review: Ouch! I'm a HUGE fan of underwater stories. Doesn't matter what the general plot is, be it monster or character, I'll go to it like a...well...like a fish to water. So when I first caught sight of Allen Steele's "Oceanspace" needless to say I was very excited.

What a bad move that was.

You'd think someone of Mr. Steele's reputation (the dust jacket AND the imprinted cover proudly exclaim he's won TWO Hugo awards) would proof read the manuscript before allowing it to be published. There are so many typos (missing words, words out of order, etc.) that the book was barely readable to begin with. People make mistakes. I could forgive this if the story was so unbelievably good it held my attention completely. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here.

In Oceanspace (which is Mr. Steele's way of comparing the underwater world to what's outside our atmosphere; not the most original of metaphors) the general writing feels like it went through the typewriter once, with hardly a glance down, and then was sent off to a publisher to fulfill a contract. Characters are referred to by both first and last names repeatedly, which is good because they are so non-distinct this is the only way to tell them apart.

Once we get past the names, the characters become such stock stereotypes I find it hard to believe this writer has ever been published before, much less won awards (Wait, no, if he has won awards, then the people at he publishing houses must thing we'll buy anything and they don't have to worry about quality). We have the couple on the verge of a break-up; the temptress bitch who has her own agenda, the plucky teenager who comes through at the end, and the older, wiser teacher who, no matter what, must impart a final lesson. The only reason we know anything about these people is we are told what to think about them. Their actions are NEVER defined by any motivation other than Mr. Steele needing them to act a certain way to drive the plot forward.

Speaking of the plot...where was it? There were several stories going on, but none of them carried any emotional weight. The sea monster storyline (which started the book off with some great moments) was dropped as quickly as the Serpent disappeared into the briny deep. The high tech espionage bit was never explained enough to let the reader know what was at stake. The reporter who was there to do an in-depth piece on the habitat and it's people but instead went looking for a cover-up was the most blatant plot device of all. And as for Andie, the 17 year old who just happened to be visiting her aunt and uncle when everything went down...why were her parents fighting? The book was set in the year 2011, presumably so the technology to make an underwater research center would be realistically present. And yet, everything else seems to have stood still. Our favorite teen listens to music she wouldn't listen to as a 17 year old today. The submarine operators (who are at a premium for space) still elect to carry CDs (in their jewel cases no less) rather than opt for MP3 or its futuristic equivalent.

The one nice thing Mr. Steele does, however, is name a couple of glorified extras (who come in near the end of the book) after Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl, who wrote a trio of underwater stories in the 50s. At least he's tipping his hat in the right direction.

Ultimately, though, the book just doesn't work. While some of the technical detail is nice, there's not enough of it (and it's not accurate enough) to make it okay to jettison the characters and plot. If you're reading this looking for a good underwater adventure...don't hold your breath.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A terrific, well written, engaging science fiction tale.
Review: Tethys is the world's first self-sufficient undersea research station filled with promise - and growing danger as an unknown entity living in the ocean depths becomes aware of human activities in a hidden realm. Add a dose of political strife and you have an active, changing account hard to put down.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: very disappointing
Review: The book is not very original. The human characters are déjà vus, the `scary' sea monster poorly developed, the plot slowed down by detailed technical descriptions that may interest only an engineer, and the dialogues loaded with vulgarity. I was very disappointed.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I Was Expecting Much More...
Review: The title, the cover - they're mysterious, intriguing... I was expecting to be dragged into a wondrous undersea world, full of awe and danger. What I got was only nominally better than "Sphere," much to my disappointment. You'd think that when a sea serpent and a new undersea vent are mentioned in nearly the same breath, they'd be connected somehow - but they're not. Maybe Steele would think this approach cliched, but without it he has produced an unfocused book, full of disparate plotlines that lead nowhere. The aforementioned sea serpent - the most promising aspect introduced - is barely dealt with at all during the book's 375 pages. Instead, readers are treated to a climax featuring - wow - an underwater vent. Yay. Maybe if I was a scientist, I would find this at least marginally exciting... Science is the most important thing here, towering over everything else - plot, action, characterization. The teenager is a strikingly bad stereotype (but not a totally untruthful one, at least in some cases), while the other characters are supposed to seem 3-dimensional thanks to manufactured flaws... instead they just seem bi-polar. Perhaps Steele should've written a textbook instead. How sad is it when the best part of the book involves a two-line mention of one of your favorite band's songs?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Looking for a great undersea adventure? Look elsewhere!
Review: This book comes on strong at the start, promising lots of great stuff: Sea monsters, mystery, espionage. Too bad the author is unable to deliver on any of these promises.

The sea monster makes a couple of brief appearances. Don't get too attached to it. You'll never learn anything else about it. I suppose this is where the mystery comes in? The supposedly high-tech espionage plot could have been penned by any 10-year-old who's seen "Jurassic Park."

The characters are the worst sort of 1-dimensional beings. Stereotypes and cliches abound. What motivates them? Who knows? (Another reviewer suggested they might be bi-polar. That's as good an explanation as any.) I have a feeling that the author has some issues with marriage and women in general, given his depiction of both. Not one main character is remotely likeable. I have to admit that by the last 1/3 of this book, I honestly didn't care which characters lived or died.

The plot is tissue-thin, and in many places wildly implausible. (Should we be worried about taking an untrained teenager to an deepwater habitat? She'll be fine. Should we take her aboard a nuclear sub to investigate a new sea vent? She's got a camcorder, let's take her along.) Maybe this would have made a good short story. There's just not enough here for a novel.

The best part about it is that the reading (which I estimate to be at about the 6th grade level) goes very quickly. You'll be well into the book before you realize that nothing is happening. The author does try to do a wrapup/debriefing scene at the end. This is really just a pointless re-hash of the last couple of chapters. We already know everything the author is planning to tell us. I suspect this is merely a device to get the characters back up to sea level so the "moster" can make its final cameo.

One last point: This author desperately needs a new copyreader. There are several laughable grammatical errors throughout the book. Many sentences have words missing or reversed. Yeah, word processors are great, but maybe you should re-read after you cut-and-paste? Very distracting.

Overall, a complete disappointment.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Looking for a great undersea adventure? Look elsewhere!
Review: This book comes on strong at the start, promising lots of great stuff: Sea monsters, mystery, espionage. Too bad the author is unable to deliver on any of these promises.

The sea monster makes a couple of brief appearances. Don't get too attached to it. You'll never learn anything else about it. I suppose this is where the mystery comes in? The supposedly high-tech espionage plot could have been penned by any 10-year-old who's seen "Jurassic Park."

The characters are the worst sort of 1-dimensional beings. Stereotypes and cliches abound. What motivates them? Who knows? (Another reviewer suggested they might be bi-polar. That's as good an explanation as any.) I have a feeling that the author has some issues with marriage and women in general, given his depiction of both. Not one main character is remotely likeable. I have to admit that by the last 1/3 of this book, I honestly didn't care which characters lived or died.

The plot is tissue-thin, and in many places wildly implausible. (Should we be worried about taking an untrained teenager to an deepwater habitat? She'll be fine. Should we take her aboard a nuclear sub to investigate a new sea vent? She's got a camcorder, let's take her along.) Maybe this would have made a good short story. There's just not enough here for a novel.

The best part about it is that the reading (which I estimate to be at about the 6th grade level) goes very quickly. You'll be well into the book before you realize that nothing is happening. The author does try to do a wrapup/debriefing scene at the end. This is really just a pointless re-hash of the last couple of chapters. We already know everything the author is planning to tell us. I suspect this is merely a device to get the characters back up to sea level so the "moster" can make its final cameo.

One last point: This author desperately needs a new copyreader. There are several laughable grammatical errors throughout the book. Many sentences have words missing or reversed. Yeah, word processors are great, but maybe you should re-read after you cut-and-paste? Very distracting.

Overall, a complete disappointment.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Engineering-Fi, Not Sci-Fi
Review: This book was journalistic fiction, not unlike Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. The author had to list 30 sources for the material on seabed mineral mining and on the hydrothermal black smoker theory for the origin of earthly life. I suppose the elusive sea serpent could qualify as fantasy, but that's stretching the genre termed Sci-Fi.

That is not to say that the story was not a thriller, strung together with all the craft of a Stephen KIng. But when one wants this type of space soap opera there is plenty on TV. What the story lacks is a speculative framework that places its characters outside the normal, work a day milieu-in one word, imagination.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Engineering-Fi, Not Sci-Fi
Review: This book was journalistic fiction, not unlike Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. The author had to list 30 sources for the material on seabed mineral mining and on the hydrothermal black smoker theory for the origin of earthly life. I suppose the elusive sea serpent could qualify as fantasy, but that's stretching the genre termed Sci-Fi.

That is not to say that the story was not a thriller, strung together with all the craft of a Stephen KIng. But when one wants this type of space soap opera there is plenty on TV. What the story lacks is a speculative framework that places its characters outside the normal, work a day milieu-in one word, imagination.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great sf
Review: Under the sea, in the depths of the ocean, a completely submerged research station called Tethys exists, and goes about its work hoping to explore the true final frontier, the mysterious world of the ocean. But the station is disturbed by what Joe Niedzwiecki can only describe as a sea serpent. His report spawns a barrage of interested parties, some in search of knowledge, others in search of much baser booty.

Allen Steele has undertaken what he himself calls a departure, a state of the art undersea book. His efforts have resulted in a high impact adventure, featuring Steele's excellent description and impressive writing skills. A cast of characters worth caring about (and a couple worth despising) round out this exciting book which Steele describes as a homage to Arthur C. Clarke's The Deep Range.

Rickey R. Mallory


<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates