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Ill Wind

Ill Wind

List Price: $23.95
Your Price: $23.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
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: 2 stars
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: 2 stars
Summary: A good concept, completely wasted
Review: I picked this up in an airport based on the books concept (a good one). I soon asked "why am I reading this?" Its full of scientific holes and inaccuracies. Perhaps an alternate reality where everyone is dumb. If there is no more plastic, and you want to generate power, why try to launch something into space, just build a dam. This would be entertaining if you don't consider yourself very smart. The only reason I didn't give it a lower score was that I was able to finish it

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good concept, fair execution
Review: Ill Wind is about the grounding of a supertanker and subsequently a petroleum-eating bacterium which gets out of control. A broad story with "a cast of thousands". I found it hard to keep track of all of the characters. The description of the tanker, and of the grounding are accurate. The novel is particularly effective in demonstrating the dependence of modern society on petroleum and petroleum derivatives.

Rating: 3 stars
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: 3 stars
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: 4 stars
Summary: Ill Wind Highly Entertaining
Review: Ill Wind was a very entertaining read. Anderson and Beason carefully describes the people, places and events. Though the story is perhaps a bit implausible, that doesn't make it any less entertaining. In fact, much good science fiction depends on a slightly implausible plot. The authors obviously spent a lot of time researching for this book. This one is difficult to put down once you pick it up

Rating: 2 stars
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: 4 stars
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: 4 stars
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.


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