Darwinský výtah

Well, this was a heckuva read. Solidly built world, you can see it – practically smell it. Yeah, it takes a little while to fill the picture in, but really from the get-go you have a pretty clear idea what this particular distopia is like.

But it's more than just another distopian novel about survival – thankfully. Actually, it's hard to put a finger on exactly what kind of SF novel this is without giving away everything, because every now and then – just when you think you have an idea what kind of book this is going to be, and what's going on and what's going to happen – Hough comes along, slaps you upside the head and says, “Nope, not that,” and proceeds to pull the rug out from underneath you. Characters you think you'll be spending time with for the trilogy are killed. Constants turn out to be temporary. The shifts in direction aren't such to give you whiplash, but it is enough to make you rethink everything you've read/predicted up to that point.

At some point, I started to mentally fill out one of those AD&D alignment grids for the characters – with 2 exceptions (and I guess you could make the argument for another one or two) they're all some sort of “Neutral.” A couple of “Neutral Good”s, one “Neutral Evil,” (and of course, the exceptions – one “Lawful Good” and one “Chatoic Evil” (or “Total D*ck”), but on the whole, everyone is “Neutral”, just out to survive. Maybe find a little comfort and fun, but mostly just trying to survive in this uncertain world. Which is no mean feat.

It's that need to survive that creates most of the conflict, most of the motivation for characters – and makes the whole thing so compelling. Almost every decision becomes a matter of life or death – sometimes for the person making the decision, sometimes for large groups of people, occasionally for the human race.

In the end, I think more questions were raised than were answered – but I didn't feel cheated by any means, it wasn't that Hough bit off more than he could chew, or left a lot of red (or potentially red) herrings laying around. Nope. He answered questions, he resolved plotlines, saw characters through their arcs. And those answers, resolutions and arcs led organically to new ones. The way it should be. He didn't end things on a cliffhanger, but there's almost no way someone could read that last line and not get impatient waiting for the sequel.

Another book that reminds you not to go by the back cover synopsis (in this case Goodreads synopsis) and use the rating system to add to your “to read” shelf. Having said that, Jason must be congratulated in creating a world which is different from our run of the mill zombie plague stories. The Elevator is a nice and unique concept and well thought out in itself. The aliens are also well managed. What lets the book down is the rather simplistic story telling and characterization. Non of the protagonists stand out (well maybe Russel) and interactions between the key players is pretty mundane and lacking tension. In fact lacking tension is probably the books biggest letdown. The important thing though is that you can make up for these with the next book in the franchise is the key ingredient is already in the mix. Hope Jason delivers.

The Darwin Elevator caught me up in its premise initially. Anything compared to Josh Whedon and John Scalzi makes me take notice. I expected some action, space travel, and hopefully some characters I'd fall in love with. I'm a fan of Science Fiction. I hoped I'd be a fan of Jason M. Hough's work as well.

The book starts out by introducing the reader to the current state of Earth. Ravaged to the point of near-annihilation, the last hope for humanity lies in one city. Darwin, Australia has become home to all that is left of the human race. I was a little lost at first, I'll admit it. The book takes off really quickly. Once I caught up though, I was immersed in this world. One thing I'll say for Hough's writing, the world building is phenomenal.

I can't say the same for the plot, however. Things started out shaky for me when I learned the caste system in Skyler's world. The “immunes”, those who can actually leave the planet, are for some reason at the bottom of the barrel. I was trying to figure out how the” non-immunes” managed to be the top dogs in this society. After that things became increasingly confusing. While the world that these characters populate is gorgeously desolate, the society doesn't really fit in it.

Then there are the characters. I will be honest and say that there were some that I loved. Sadly, they happened to be the ones that were barely focused on, and one even died. The main characters, like Skylar, were all very shallow. It was hard for me to believe that Skylar, a man who has no self-esteem, was captain. It took me a long time to get behind any of these characters and once I finally did the book was near its end. I hoped for more.

All in all The Darwin Elevator was a decent read. I would have liked more depth, but what was given to me was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end. I'm thinking that if the book had been a bit shorter, it would have been an easier read. Still, if you like Science Fiction, this might be a book that you want to try out.