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Supervolcano #1
Eruption
The New York Times bestselling author and "maven of alternate history" (San Diego Union-Tribune) presents a near- future thriller.
A supervolcanic eruption in Yellowstone Park sends lava and mud flowing toward populated areas, and clouds of ash drifting across the country. The fallout destroys crops and livestock, clogs machinery, and makes cities uninhabitable. Those who survive find themselves caught in an apocalyptic catastrophe in which humanity has no choice but to rise from the ashes and recreate the world...
420 pages, Hardcover
First published December 6, 2011
116 people are currently reading
1019 people want to read
About the author
Harry Turtledove
564 books1,963 followersDr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 312 reviews
July 2, 2018
i really am not looking forward to writing this review. this was the worst book i have ever read, and even though david was kind enough to point out that most of the books i read are shitty, he is wrong. this one is the shittiest.
and it has nothing to do with the frequent disparaging of rhode island. not content simply to use it as a unit of measurement (although he does), he also says many unflattering things about the state itself. but considering how crappy this book is, i am pretty sure rhode island is glad his protagonist will be going nowhere near the fine state. roger williams is locking the gate.
greg brought this book to my attention, so i am going to blame him entirely. it had just come in, and he took it off the cart and said, "harry turtledove wrote a supervolcano book!" (connor later misheard this as "a retarded love," which i think should be the subtitle of this book). having loved Ashfall, which is an awesome book about a supervolcano, i snatched it up and was really looking forward to borrowing it. i had never read harry turtledove before, but i knew he wrote alt-history novels, and is himself a historian, so i figured it would be a good companion to ashfall.
greg has read 10 harry turtledove books, and given 8 of them 4-stars. (except for this one)i figured i could trust that this would be a well-researched, realistic take on the effects of a supervolcano on the agriculture, topography, and population of the united states.
oh, god, it is not, and mike mullin has nothing to worry about because his book is so good and harrowing and well-written with character-depth and cause and effect and everything a book needs to be able to call itself a book. this book is truly appalling. i do not understand how someone who has written over fifty books manages to make such terrible characters, and use so many throwaway sentences and just make such amateur mistakes.
after an emergency landing of a plane into a body of water:
it didn't feel too cold once he got used to it. he'd been in pools that were worse. what it would feel like come february was bound to be a different question, but it wasn't february, thank god.
no. it is not february. there was zero chance of that character awaiting rescue until february. so why does that sentence exist? just to make me scream?
or this:
he muttered a stream of obscenities as he went. maybe they were what made his breath smoke. more likely, it was just the cold.
????
or this:
"those trees weren't down two years ago," larry said in a voice that brooked no argument. "five gets you ten one of the quakes knocked them over."
no one did argue with him. kelly wouldn't have dreamed of it. arguing with somebody who was obviously right was a loser's game.
that sentence made me want to jump into a volcano.
or this:
she hurried to the front entrance. it had those glass doors that automatically slid sideways when anyone approached. printed across them was the legend IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, PUSH OUTWARD. vanessa had seen it a million times without ever paying much attention to it. but someone had pushed, and the doors had indeed opened outward.
that whole paragraph could be shortened to "the door worked." why does this book want so badly to waste my time?
plus, it is sexist and racist and corny, which is as bad as being racist, because it hurts just as many people.
here came syracuse. a roadside sign proudly proclaimed you could get gas there. it also said you could get food. chances were you could get gas from the food, too, even if the sign didn't tell you that.
stop, you are killing me!
this book is like that great-uncle who says all the wrong things and makes you wince a little and still talks about sex at every opportunity even though - gross! stop being so horny and stop telling me about the wetbacks,and the "boobs" and the "tits," please.
there are more technical problems with the character's voices. there are seven different characters. third person, but with an overarching om. narr. and sometimes it gets muddy as to which voice belongs to the character and which to the om narr. in general, the characters pretty much all sound alike. the women are a little whinier, naturally, because that's what women do when they are not getting laid upon, but they are all similar, even down to the grammatical hangups.
let's talk about that for a second. oftentimes, characters will stop what they are doing to complain about word mis-usage or spelling. one of the characters corrects such errors for a living, so that is fine, but as for the other characters - why so much focus on this matter? no one stops in the middle of a plane crash to discuss the correct spelling of "flotation." the supervolcano is supposed to be terrifying, but everyone seems to find it more important to get frustrated over the proper use of the word "impact." could this language-sensitivity be a hangup of the author? hmmm - probably not, because an author with such strict emphasis on correct word-usage would never have written this sentence:
...slapping ash and random dirt off herself...
but it does let me talk about another huge problem with this book. there is no urgency. a supervolcano is nothing to sniff at. how is it you guys are just letting this happen in the background, while you spend way too much time bemoaning the fate the the print newspaper, secondhand bookstores, record stores, congress, quality of mexican food in wisconsin, etc?
why are you people unconcerned?
i mean - almost three years passes in the course of the book, and the supervolcano doesn't get "good" until around the 250-page mark, and after that, there is a portion of the book devoted to how it has messed things up, but mostly the characters are concerned about getting stoned, getting laid, getting married, getting pregnant. the supervolcano seems to be an annoyance - spouting this damn ash in the air. excuse me, "crud." that is a stupid word, by the way. but it makes its way into this book hundreds of times.
and usually in the most scientific of ways:
how many zillions of tons of crud were fouling the air right now? how much of that crud was tiny bits of iron? some small fraction, no doubt. but a small fraction of a zillion was still a jillion; plenty to jam radio and phone signals.
please write less technical books - we are not all scientists, schooled in science-words...
back to character, and the clumsiness of the author. here is another paragraph that made me tear my hair out.
the helicopters flew like jinking halfbacks, using the peaks of the Rockies for blockers. but they were running from, not towards. and what they were running from would flatten them more mercilessly than any middle linebacker ever hatched. kelly found a whole new reason to be glad she liked football; the comparison never would have occurred to her otherwise.
let's put aside the notion of being "glad " to "like" something, because it is just too foolish. this is the only mention of kelly liking football in the whole book, so obviously it is not kelly who is glad that she likes football, but harry turtledove himself who is glad that he can make her like football so she can make this observation. is just clumsy writing.
also, i hate his similes.
it was still black as the middle of an SS man's heart
later, everything would be black as the inside of a mortgage banker's heart
god, i hated this book.
and this:
some stuck around and kept partying till...what? till their money ran out? not likely - they weren't the kind whose money ever seemed likely to run out. till the cows came home, was the way it looked to rob.
so, he rejects the idea of them partying until their money runs out, because that was never going to happen. but instead this fanciful notion of cows coming home satisfies him? everyone knows that cows come home around five o'clock. terrible analogy.
colin filled her in in words of one syllable. "power's down in denver, and the ash cloud is heading that way," he finished.
if you are going to be specific enough to say "words of one syllable" when you really only mean that your character was brusque, just make sure those words really do only have one syllable each. there is no way you can say the word "volcano" in one syllable, and obviously the character wasn't tailoring what he said to this one-syllable rule imposed upon him.
he could even yell through it and make himself heard; "let's haul ass while we can. the farther we go before ash starts falling on us, the better. i don't know how the car's air filter will like all that grit, and i don't know how the engine will like the crud the filter lets through."
kelly had known him for a while now. he was low-key, unexcitable. she translated what he'd said into what would have come from most people. he figured the air filter wouldn't like volcanic ash for hell, and the motor would go queep and die once it inhaled enough grit.
that did not need to be translated. that's exactly what he said.(TWHS).if anything, it was clearer when he said it, because i have no idea what an engine going "queep" means. unless that's just the cute way ladies talk about engines. awww, like they are baby chickies!
back to character again. these are terrible. i don't know if i have made that clear.
back to plot. okay - so this is a book about a supervolcano. you know that from the title. but it is also a book about a protagonist who is a cop. and there is a serial rapist/killer on the loose who targets old ladies. in a book that was well-structured, this would come back as a plot point. maybe he would get caught. maybe he would get away. maybe he would attack a character known to the protagonist. maybe he would turn out to be one of the characters. maybe he would become involved in a tense situation with another character.
nope.
many pages are wasted going to crime scenes and covering the story on the news and reporters getting in the face of our cop, but nothing is resolved. it just pops up periodically. for no reason.well, i guess so the cop can go on at great length about how stupid reporters are and how much he hates them and blah and blah and social commentary and why do all the pretty people get the jobs and blah.
sigh, it really is unfair, isn't it?? in a book where characters frequently assert what women are "for", i am unsympathetic.
the sex in this book makes me feel icky, in case you couldn't tell. but i do get grossed out by men considerably older than me talking about sex. unless it is leonard cohen, and then it is classy. but here we have a divorced couple with three "adult" children. both parents have found new partners considerably younger than themselves.gross. the daughter of the couple is with a man older than her own father. gross. one son is in a touring band, picking up disposable groupies after every show. gross. the other is picking up stoned co-eds after every class.gross. and then there is the ex of the daughter, who has found someone new. not too gross, i guess. it's not even that the sex is so graphic or prolonged, but jesus christ, this is supposed to be about a supervolcano! and the supervolcano is backdrop at best. it makes pretty sunsets for the lovers to nudely admire. sex is what fuels this book - with leering favors-for-blowjobs situations, and this overlayer of desperation which has nothing to do with the supervolcano that should probably have killed you by now.
i wish more characters were concerned about the supervolcano, i really do. i wish they spent less time telling me why they don't have a dishwasher. this is not germane to the story, it really isn't.
reading all those crab books was one thing - they were hilarious and they knew they were terrible. i don't think this book knows that. this is why i am telling it, so it knows, so it can improve.
so in brief, and to use "a retarded love's" own words,
newsies usually laid things on with a trowel, to say nothing of a shovel.
in which "newsies" is "this book," and "things" is "horrible writing."
come to my blog!
and it has nothing to do with the frequent disparaging of rhode island. not content simply to use it as a unit of measurement (although he does), he also says many unflattering things about the state itself. but considering how crappy this book is, i am pretty sure rhode island is glad his protagonist will be going nowhere near the fine state. roger williams is locking the gate.
greg brought this book to my attention, so i am going to blame him entirely. it had just come in, and he took it off the cart and said, "harry turtledove wrote a supervolcano book!" (connor later misheard this as "a retarded love," which i think should be the subtitle of this book). having loved Ashfall, which is an awesome book about a supervolcano, i snatched it up and was really looking forward to borrowing it. i had never read harry turtledove before, but i knew he wrote alt-history novels, and is himself a historian, so i figured it would be a good companion to ashfall.
greg has read 10 harry turtledove books, and given 8 of them 4-stars. (except for this one)i figured i could trust that this would be a well-researched, realistic take on the effects of a supervolcano on the agriculture, topography, and population of the united states.
oh, god, it is not, and mike mullin has nothing to worry about because his book is so good and harrowing and well-written with character-depth and cause and effect and everything a book needs to be able to call itself a book. this book is truly appalling. i do not understand how someone who has written over fifty books manages to make such terrible characters, and use so many throwaway sentences and just make such amateur mistakes.
after an emergency landing of a plane into a body of water:
it didn't feel too cold once he got used to it. he'd been in pools that were worse. what it would feel like come february was bound to be a different question, but it wasn't february, thank god.
no. it is not february. there was zero chance of that character awaiting rescue until february. so why does that sentence exist? just to make me scream?
or this:
he muttered a stream of obscenities as he went. maybe they were what made his breath smoke. more likely, it was just the cold.
????
or this:
"those trees weren't down two years ago," larry said in a voice that brooked no argument. "five gets you ten one of the quakes knocked them over."
no one did argue with him. kelly wouldn't have dreamed of it. arguing with somebody who was obviously right was a loser's game.
that sentence made me want to jump into a volcano.
or this:
she hurried to the front entrance. it had those glass doors that automatically slid sideways when anyone approached. printed across them was the legend IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, PUSH OUTWARD. vanessa had seen it a million times without ever paying much attention to it. but someone had pushed, and the doors had indeed opened outward.
that whole paragraph could be shortened to "the door worked." why does this book want so badly to waste my time?
plus, it is sexist and racist and corny, which is as bad as being racist, because it hurts just as many people.
here came syracuse. a roadside sign proudly proclaimed you could get gas there. it also said you could get food. chances were you could get gas from the food, too, even if the sign didn't tell you that.
stop, you are killing me!
this book is like that great-uncle who says all the wrong things and makes you wince a little and still talks about sex at every opportunity even though - gross! stop being so horny and stop telling me about the wetbacks,and the "boobs" and the "tits," please.
there are more technical problems with the character's voices. there are seven different characters. third person, but with an overarching om. narr. and sometimes it gets muddy as to which voice belongs to the character and which to the om narr. in general, the characters pretty much all sound alike. the women are a little whinier, naturally, because that's what women do when they are not getting laid upon, but they are all similar, even down to the grammatical hangups.
let's talk about that for a second. oftentimes, characters will stop what they are doing to complain about word mis-usage or spelling. one of the characters corrects such errors for a living, so that is fine, but as for the other characters - why so much focus on this matter? no one stops in the middle of a plane crash to discuss the correct spelling of "flotation." the supervolcano is supposed to be terrifying, but everyone seems to find it more important to get frustrated over the proper use of the word "impact." could this language-sensitivity be a hangup of the author? hmmm - probably not, because an author with such strict emphasis on correct word-usage would never have written this sentence:
...slapping ash and random dirt off herself...
but it does let me talk about another huge problem with this book. there is no urgency. a supervolcano is nothing to sniff at. how is it you guys are just letting this happen in the background, while you spend way too much time bemoaning the fate the the print newspaper, secondhand bookstores, record stores, congress, quality of mexican food in wisconsin, etc?
why are you people unconcerned?
i mean - almost three years passes in the course of the book, and the supervolcano doesn't get "good" until around the 250-page mark, and after that, there is a portion of the book devoted to how it has messed things up, but mostly the characters are concerned about getting stoned, getting laid, getting married, getting pregnant. the supervolcano seems to be an annoyance - spouting this damn ash in the air. excuse me, "crud." that is a stupid word, by the way. but it makes its way into this book hundreds of times.
and usually in the most scientific of ways:
how many zillions of tons of crud were fouling the air right now? how much of that crud was tiny bits of iron? some small fraction, no doubt. but a small fraction of a zillion was still a jillion; plenty to jam radio and phone signals.
please write less technical books - we are not all scientists, schooled in science-words...
back to character, and the clumsiness of the author. here is another paragraph that made me tear my hair out.
the helicopters flew like jinking halfbacks, using the peaks of the Rockies for blockers. but they were running from, not towards. and what they were running from would flatten them more mercilessly than any middle linebacker ever hatched. kelly found a whole new reason to be glad she liked football; the comparison never would have occurred to her otherwise.
let's put aside the notion of being "glad " to "like" something, because it is just too foolish. this is the only mention of kelly liking football in the whole book, so obviously it is not kelly who is glad that she likes football, but harry turtledove himself who is glad that he can make her like football so she can make this observation. is just clumsy writing.
also, i hate his similes.
it was still black as the middle of an SS man's heart
later, everything would be black as the inside of a mortgage banker's heart
god, i hated this book.
and this:
some stuck around and kept partying till...what? till their money ran out? not likely - they weren't the kind whose money ever seemed likely to run out. till the cows came home, was the way it looked to rob.
so, he rejects the idea of them partying until their money runs out, because that was never going to happen. but instead this fanciful notion of cows coming home satisfies him? everyone knows that cows come home around five o'clock. terrible analogy.
colin filled her in in words of one syllable. "power's down in denver, and the ash cloud is heading that way," he finished.
if you are going to be specific enough to say "words of one syllable" when you really only mean that your character was brusque, just make sure those words really do only have one syllable each. there is no way you can say the word "volcano" in one syllable, and obviously the character wasn't tailoring what he said to this one-syllable rule imposed upon him.
he could even yell through it and make himself heard; "let's haul ass while we can. the farther we go before ash starts falling on us, the better. i don't know how the car's air filter will like all that grit, and i don't know how the engine will like the crud the filter lets through."
kelly had known him for a while now. he was low-key, unexcitable. she translated what he'd said into what would have come from most people. he figured the air filter wouldn't like volcanic ash for hell, and the motor would go queep and die once it inhaled enough grit.
that did not need to be translated. that's exactly what he said.(TWHS).if anything, it was clearer when he said it, because i have no idea what an engine going "queep" means. unless that's just the cute way ladies talk about engines. awww, like they are baby chickies!
back to character again. these are terrible. i don't know if i have made that clear.
back to plot. okay - so this is a book about a supervolcano. you know that from the title. but it is also a book about a protagonist who is a cop. and there is a serial rapist/killer on the loose who targets old ladies. in a book that was well-structured, this would come back as a plot point. maybe he would get caught. maybe he would get away. maybe he would attack a character known to the protagonist. maybe he would turn out to be one of the characters. maybe he would become involved in a tense situation with another character.
nope.
many pages are wasted going to crime scenes and covering the story on the news and reporters getting in the face of our cop, but nothing is resolved. it just pops up periodically. for no reason.well, i guess so the cop can go on at great length about how stupid reporters are and how much he hates them and blah and blah and social commentary and why do all the pretty people get the jobs and blah.
sigh, it really is unfair, isn't it?? in a book where characters frequently assert what women are "for", i am unsympathetic.
the sex in this book makes me feel icky, in case you couldn't tell. but i do get grossed out by men considerably older than me talking about sex. unless it is leonard cohen, and then it is classy. but here we have a divorced couple with three "adult" children. both parents have found new partners considerably younger than themselves.gross. the daughter of the couple is with a man older than her own father. gross. one son is in a touring band, picking up disposable groupies after every show. gross. the other is picking up stoned co-eds after every class.gross. and then there is the ex of the daughter, who has found someone new. not too gross, i guess. it's not even that the sex is so graphic or prolonged, but jesus christ, this is supposed to be about a supervolcano! and the supervolcano is backdrop at best. it makes pretty sunsets for the lovers to nudely admire. sex is what fuels this book - with leering favors-for-blowjobs situations, and this overlayer of desperation which has nothing to do with the supervolcano that should probably have killed you by now.
i wish more characters were concerned about the supervolcano, i really do. i wish they spent less time telling me why they don't have a dishwasher. this is not germane to the story, it really isn't.
reading all those crab books was one thing - they were hilarious and they knew they were terrible. i don't think this book knows that. this is why i am telling it, so it knows, so it can improve.
so in brief, and to use "a retarded love's" own words,
newsies usually laid things on with a trowel, to say nothing of a shovel.
in which "newsies" is "this book," and "things" is "horrible writing."
come to my blog!
June 4, 2012
I REALLY wanted to like this book, I've read Turtledove for years, and when I found out he had written a supervolcano book, I was pumped. I'm afraid this one should have been called Crappy Family: And a Volcano Blows Up.
I have to imagine that, should a nice chunk of the nation be obliterated, with major cities completely wiped out, and hundreds of thousands of people killed, even in California, they'd be more concerned with recent events than the fact that newspapers are getting thinner as paper becomes more scarce. The most that anyone in this book does to respond to a massive natural disaster and the problems associated with it is to stop herself from throwing away a paper towel than can be reused.
I mean, the fact that a restaurant is forced to stop using Styrofoam containers gets just about as much attention as a freaking nuclear war! The inside flap of the book reads, in part:
Then explosions send lava and mud flowing far beyond Yellowstone toward populated areas. Clouds of ash drift across the country, nearly blanketing the land from coast to coast. The fallout destroys crops and livestock, clogs machinery, and makes cities uninhabitable.
In a bit more than 400 pages, Turtledove barely expands on that paragraph while describing the effects of the eruption. The rest is filled up with soap opera quality family drama.
Rumor has it that this is merely the first book in a trilogy. I hope so, it will give the author a chance to add some apocalypse to his apocalyptic scenario.
I have to imagine that, should a nice chunk of the nation be obliterated, with major cities completely wiped out, and hundreds of thousands of people killed, even in California, they'd be more concerned with recent events than the fact that newspapers are getting thinner as paper becomes more scarce. The most that anyone in this book does to respond to a massive natural disaster and the problems associated with it is to stop herself from throwing away a paper towel than can be reused.
I mean, the fact that a restaurant is forced to stop using Styrofoam containers gets just about as much attention as a freaking nuclear war! The inside flap of the book reads, in part:
Then explosions send lava and mud flowing far beyond Yellowstone toward populated areas. Clouds of ash drift across the country, nearly blanketing the land from coast to coast. The fallout destroys crops and livestock, clogs machinery, and makes cities uninhabitable.
In a bit more than 400 pages, Turtledove barely expands on that paragraph while describing the effects of the eruption. The rest is filled up with soap opera quality family drama.
Rumor has it that this is merely the first book in a trilogy. I hope so, it will give the author a chance to add some apocalypse to his apocalyptic scenario.
December 17, 2022
This is another title that suffers from one idea being stretched into three books. There is a stark difference between 'want to pay my bills' and 'want to tell a story' that shows up plainly on paper.
'Supervolcano: Eruption' is one of those titles that I bought exclusively for its title. I am interested in the Yellowstone volcano and the aftermath of its impending eruption, so I thought this would be a very easy topic on which to make an enjoyable book. I loved 'Dante's Peak', and have fond memories of the movie '2012', and assumed this would be something in the same wheelhouse. It was not.
It started out interestingly enough with the rumblings of a titan in the background as a cop tries to find love again after a divorce. Don't forget about that elusive serial killer making his way through California, too. Then we follow the rest of his immediate family--as well as anyone else who has had sex with them--through snowstorms on the way to playing music gigs, or selling a short story in English class, or having a boyfriend run out on you in a time of need . . . Who the hell cares? At least when the Hallmark Channel pumps this type of swill on you, they do it with attractive people. My imagination could not make these people attractive enough.
There were parts in the refugee camp that I thought were interesting, and if there were more of that I might have rated it higher. But the real value of the story is the explosion itself, which was great, if short-lived. It came just in time at around the 100 page mark, so I read the whole novel hoping the climax would be if not as cool, a different variation of cool.
Nothing happened. The book slowed down. The book stopped. Stay tuned for the next installment. Neg.
2.5 stars. That extra point five is for the explosion alone. Toss the rest of this into liquid hot magma.
'Supervolcano: Eruption' is one of those titles that I bought exclusively for its title. I am interested in the Yellowstone volcano and the aftermath of its impending eruption, so I thought this would be a very easy topic on which to make an enjoyable book. I loved 'Dante's Peak', and have fond memories of the movie '2012', and assumed this would be something in the same wheelhouse. It was not.
It started out interestingly enough with the rumblings of a titan in the background as a cop tries to find love again after a divorce. Don't forget about that elusive serial killer making his way through California, too. Then we follow the rest of his immediate family--as well as anyone else who has had sex with them--through snowstorms on the way to playing music gigs, or selling a short story in English class, or having a boyfriend run out on you in a time of need . . . Who the hell cares? At least when the Hallmark Channel pumps this type of swill on you, they do it with attractive people. My imagination could not make these people attractive enough.
There were parts in the refugee camp that I thought were interesting, and if there were more of that I might have rated it higher. But the real value of the story is the explosion itself, which was great, if short-lived. It came just in time at around the 100 page mark, so I read the whole novel hoping the climax would be if not as cool, a different variation of cool.
Nothing happened. The book slowed down. The book stopped. Stay tuned for the next installment. Neg.
2.5 stars. That extra point five is for the explosion alone. Toss the rest of this into liquid hot magma.
December 19, 2020
This is my first Harry Turtledove book, about a California cop and his extended family, as a supervolcano under Yellowstone erupts and screws the world. Obviously I've heard his name before, he's an author of some renown and I was excited to read his take on the apocalypse.
What an ugly, caustic book. And I don't mean the garbage spewing out of the supervolcano. Reading through, yes, the main character is grumpy, curmudgeonly. Okay, let's keep going. His daughter is specifically called by everyone as an unpleasant bitch. Okay. His ex wife is awful. One son is a mooch that refuses to leave college, working on his fourth? fifth? major trying to stay on daddy's gravy train as long as possible. Another is a musician who at least works hard. Everyone is an acerbic jerk. Oh look! A cheerful character! The cop's magic happy girlfriend who is decades younger than him and chuckles at his constant ire and loves him regardless.
Everything is viewed as pessimistically and abrasively as possible, he has an eye for the absolute worst way to view the world. Beautiful autumn leaves? Someone will mention they're the color of bile and acid. Hey look a baby, or do we mean a squalling brat that smells like poo? One character goes to a gynecologist and we get treated to lovely snippets of ""Do you get sick and tired of staring at pussy all day?" And "He wouldn't care about a little old lady's twat any more than he cared about her elbow. But if a cute young thing came in [she] guessed his interest might be more than strictly professional," and the crowning moment when, "His fingering of her was nothing but businesslike."
Turtledove is an equal opportunity ass, though. About halfway through, I started to write a list of every "group" that was insulted or denigrated. We have:
Ethiopians
Musicians
Mexicans
Hispanics
Women
College Students
Liberals
Conservatives
Residents of Berkeley
Residents of Santa Barbara
Comedians
Teenagers
Africans
Lawyers
Religious People
Cats
Geologists
Newscasters
Journalists
Fema
Christians
Airport Security
Drivers of Hummers
And that was just one half of the book.
And oh, yay, lovely subplot centered around a rapist/murderer who targets senior citizen women, so we get images of dead little old ladies with their skirts hiked up to their waists. Because the world's ugliest family isn't enough.
There is enough bleakness in the world without dropping myself into Turtledove's black view of life. Which is a shame, because hey, supervolcano.
Do not want.
What an ugly, caustic book. And I don't mean the garbage spewing out of the supervolcano. Reading through, yes, the main character is grumpy, curmudgeonly. Okay, let's keep going. His daughter is specifically called by everyone as an unpleasant bitch. Okay. His ex wife is awful. One son is a mooch that refuses to leave college, working on his fourth? fifth? major trying to stay on daddy's gravy train as long as possible. Another is a musician who at least works hard. Everyone is an acerbic jerk. Oh look! A cheerful character! The cop's magic happy girlfriend who is decades younger than him and chuckles at his constant ire and loves him regardless.
Everything is viewed as pessimistically and abrasively as possible, he has an eye for the absolute worst way to view the world. Beautiful autumn leaves? Someone will mention they're the color of bile and acid. Hey look a baby, or do we mean a squalling brat that smells like poo? One character goes to a gynecologist and we get treated to lovely snippets of ""Do you get sick and tired of staring at pussy all day?" And "He wouldn't care about a little old lady's twat any more than he cared about her elbow. But if a cute young thing came in [she] guessed his interest might be more than strictly professional," and the crowning moment when, "His fingering of her was nothing but businesslike."
Turtledove is an equal opportunity ass, though. About halfway through, I started to write a list of every "group" that was insulted or denigrated. We have:
Ethiopians
Musicians
Mexicans
Hispanics
Women
College Students
Liberals
Conservatives
Residents of Berkeley
Residents of Santa Barbara
Comedians
Teenagers
Africans
Lawyers
Religious People
Cats
Geologists
Newscasters
Journalists
Fema
Christians
Airport Security
Drivers of Hummers
And that was just one half of the book.
And oh, yay, lovely subplot centered around a rapist/murderer who targets senior citizen women, so we get images of dead little old ladies with their skirts hiked up to their waists. Because the world's ugliest family isn't enough.
There is enough bleakness in the world without dropping myself into Turtledove's black view of life. Which is a shame, because hey, supervolcano.
Do not want.
December 2, 2011
Excellent writing, and the geologist in my heart approves of the technical background details. A bit slow in pacing, though it may be justified. If this thing does go off in our lifetime, it's going to be a long time before humanity as a whole understands the implications for their lifestyle, not to mention their survival possibilities. We're a stubborn lot.
So, Harry, where's the next book? Don't let little things like eating and sleeping slow you down, man - alteration of an entire planetary ecosystem is no time to take a nap! ;-D
So, Harry, where's the next book? Don't let little things like eating and sleeping slow you down, man - alteration of an entire planetary ecosystem is no time to take a nap! ;-D
January 3, 2012
My advice: don't read this. I spent most of the book rooting for the supervolcano to rise up and destroy the characters (with the sole exception of Kelly, the geologist grad student, who is out in the thick of things with the developing volcano. She inexplicably finds love with Colin, the main male character, but I was mostly able to overlook that because she was often the one giving me my volcano fix).
The details about Yellowstone and how it might erupt are done well enough; Turtledove does his research and it shows. I was sad there wasn't more information on the long-term and far-reaching effects of how a supervolcano eruption would change life in the US and around the world, because that would have been fascinating to read.
Most of the story, unfortunately, focuses on the flattest collection of characters I have read in a long time. There is no character growth; they are the same annoying people at the beginning of the story as they are at the end -- and what a waste! Disaster stories can be great vehicles for character exploration because they strip away the excesses of life and ask the characters: what do you really value? how do you react when your way of life is threatened? what do you hold on to and what can you let go? These characters apparently value: getting laid, weed, complaining, and not communicating with their family.
Also, the story is filled with really blatant and distasteful misogyny: seriously, Colin calls his daughter a bitch midway through the first chapter for bizarre reasons (IMO), is not apologetic about it, and never changes this opinion; his ex-wife is portrayed as a whiny, self-centered, illogical mess, who is barely tolerated by her own children and at the end of the story ; another male character muses that when he's in his fifties, of course he'll ogle twentysomething ladies because that's what they're there for; etc. UGH. Even the minor female characters are either "doughy" (which I think is Turtledove's way of saying "fat") or beauty-queen beautiful and utterly stupid; they are universally thought to be annoying and ineffective. I think Kelly only "escaped" this treatment because she is Colin's love interest, and thus had to be portrayed positively -- which is, of course, just a different kind of sexism. At least she got to run around the park and take readings and be interested in something other than a man for part of her story! (My unsolicited advice to the author: take a woman studies class, pronto, and try to listen and actually believe when your instructor, your classmates, and the literature tell you that your portrayal of women in this book is harmful. It frightens me that there are people out there who will finish this and not think there's anything wrong with it!)
I feel a little bad for giving such a negative review as this book was a well-intentioned Christmas gift from my brother, who knew my love of volcanoes and Yellowstone, saw the title, and nabbed it for me. It's also not an auspicious start to my 2012 year of reading. At least there's nowhere to go but up?
The details about Yellowstone and how it might erupt are done well enough; Turtledove does his research and it shows. I was sad there wasn't more information on the long-term and far-reaching effects of how a supervolcano eruption would change life in the US and around the world, because that would have been fascinating to read.
Most of the story, unfortunately, focuses on the flattest collection of characters I have read in a long time. There is no character growth; they are the same annoying people at the beginning of the story as they are at the end -- and what a waste! Disaster stories can be great vehicles for character exploration because they strip away the excesses of life and ask the characters: what do you really value? how do you react when your way of life is threatened? what do you hold on to and what can you let go? These characters apparently value: getting laid, weed, complaining, and not communicating with their family.
Also, the story is filled with really blatant and distasteful misogyny: seriously, Colin calls his daughter a bitch midway through the first chapter for bizarre reasons (IMO), is not apologetic about it, and never changes this opinion; his ex-wife is portrayed as a whiny, self-centered, illogical mess, who is barely tolerated by her own children and at the end of the story ; another male character muses that when he's in his fifties, of course he'll ogle twentysomething ladies because that's what they're there for; etc. UGH. Even the minor female characters are either "doughy" (which I think is Turtledove's way of saying "fat") or beauty-queen beautiful and utterly stupid; they are universally thought to be annoying and ineffective. I think Kelly only "escaped" this treatment because she is Colin's love interest, and thus had to be portrayed positively -- which is, of course, just a different kind of sexism. At least she got to run around the park and take readings and be interested in something other than a man for part of her story! (My unsolicited advice to the author: take a woman studies class, pronto, and try to listen and actually believe when your instructor, your classmates, and the literature tell you that your portrayal of women in this book is harmful. It frightens me that there are people out there who will finish this and not think there's anything wrong with it!)
I feel a little bad for giving such a negative review as this book was a well-intentioned Christmas gift from my brother, who knew my love of volcanoes and Yellowstone, saw the title, and nabbed it for me. It's also not an auspicious start to my 2012 year of reading. At least there's nowhere to go but up?
January 25, 2012
First Koontz, now Turtledove!
Two of my favorite authors just came up with barely readable books...this must be a record.
Let me start by saying that this is not alternate history...this is not even science fiction...this is...this is...just like the film "2012'!
What I mean with that is a disjointed, confusing, repetitive, pointless, apocalyptic yarn that goes nowhere.
The ENTIRE cast of characters is fairly disagreeable...well maybe not the geologist...but everybody, and i mean everybody, else is annoying and I spent half the book hoping the supervolcano would take care of them.
The main problem is that Turtledove tried to go Stephen King on us and write a character driven tale centered around a science fiction event. He has tried that in the past with mixed results. While I can say his Robert E Lee is great, many of the characters in his Civil War alternate history are boring and shallow...just like the ones here.
The plot revolves around the well known supercaldera under Yellowstone Park and he uses this as the central theme of an exploration of relationships among a recently broken LA county family. The problem is that he depicts them as mostly self-centered, drug addled, egotistical whiners. I won't even bother with a plot summary. Suffice to say the volcano doesn't explore until mid book, the disaster it creates is only a bit more inconvenient than the San Diego County blackout in 2011, and the ending is so "blah" that I felt cheated.
Wait for Turtledove's next book or re-read the WorldWar series.
Two of my favorite authors just came up with barely readable books...this must be a record.
Let me start by saying that this is not alternate history...this is not even science fiction...this is...this is...just like the film "2012'!
What I mean with that is a disjointed, confusing, repetitive, pointless, apocalyptic yarn that goes nowhere.
The ENTIRE cast of characters is fairly disagreeable...well maybe not the geologist...but everybody, and i mean everybody, else is annoying and I spent half the book hoping the supervolcano would take care of them.
The main problem is that Turtledove tried to go Stephen King on us and write a character driven tale centered around a science fiction event. He has tried that in the past with mixed results. While I can say his Robert E Lee is great, many of the characters in his Civil War alternate history are boring and shallow...just like the ones here.
The plot revolves around the well known supercaldera under Yellowstone Park and he uses this as the central theme of an exploration of relationships among a recently broken LA county family. The problem is that he depicts them as mostly self-centered, drug addled, egotistical whiners. I won't even bother with a plot summary. Suffice to say the volcano doesn't explore until mid book, the disaster it creates is only a bit more inconvenient than the San Diego County blackout in 2011, and the ending is so "blah" that I felt cheated.
Wait for Turtledove's next book or re-read the WorldWar series.
November 6, 2012
Would have been much better if the supervolcano was more of the story.
August 9, 2017
See my full thoughts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26r2I...
Well this was disappointing. I've loved Harry Turtledove ever since I read "The Great War" trilogy, and after this I think he should stick to alternate history. While this is far from the worst book I've ever read, I wouldn't even call it bad, it focused on all of the most boring aspects.
Let's start with the positives: The build up to the eruption is great. All of the facts are clearly laid out and the horrors of what's coming slowly dawns on the audience the same way it dawns on the characters. The middle third of the book covers the eruption and the immediate aftermath, which is also great because there's actual tension and danger. Around half the character cast is fine, no real standouts here but they aren't annoying or boring. And the writing is very straightforward, it's rarely difficult to follow what's going on.
Now the negatives: After the middle third is done, the book seems to forget that a giant volcano has plunged half the country into chaos and instead wants to focus on family drama. The closest thing to the protagonist, Colin, is an asshole who's difficult to care about. And overall, the whole thing just runs out of steam. I wanted to read about an apocalyptic event in middle America and most of the book didn't have that.
Definitely one to skip.
Well this was disappointing. I've loved Harry Turtledove ever since I read "The Great War" trilogy, and after this I think he should stick to alternate history. While this is far from the worst book I've ever read, I wouldn't even call it bad, it focused on all of the most boring aspects.
Let's start with the positives: The build up to the eruption is great. All of the facts are clearly laid out and the horrors of what's coming slowly dawns on the audience the same way it dawns on the characters. The middle third of the book covers the eruption and the immediate aftermath, which is also great because there's actual tension and danger. Around half the character cast is fine, no real standouts here but they aren't annoying or boring. And the writing is very straightforward, it's rarely difficult to follow what's going on.
Now the negatives: After the middle third is done, the book seems to forget that a giant volcano has plunged half the country into chaos and instead wants to focus on family drama. The closest thing to the protagonist, Colin, is an asshole who's difficult to care about. And overall, the whole thing just runs out of steam. I wanted to read about an apocalyptic event in middle America and most of the book didn't have that.
Definitely one to skip.
November 28, 2020
3.75 rounded up.
There is lots to like about this series about a Supervolcanic Eruption. It's very easy reading and asks very little of the reader. I liken it to Ben Winters' The Last Policeman Trilogy. The characters are not deeply developed, but what you do get is an easy breezy speculative fiction read, and sometimes, that's exactly what you're in the mood for.
There are a few funny moments, some flashes of insight about human behavior, and some good questions about how the U. S. (and the world) would even begin to tackle the aftermath of a catastrophe this huge. I would quibble with a couple of points, but honestly, this isn't meant to be scientific. It's just entertainment including some mild ruminations on what ifs.
I'm definitely going to read the rest of the trilogy. There's a parallel plot which I think I've figured out and I want to see if I'm right. Hopefully not. One thing that keeps the story fresh is any surprises in the plot.
There is lots to like about this series about a Supervolcanic Eruption. It's very easy reading and asks very little of the reader. I liken it to Ben Winters' The Last Policeman Trilogy. The characters are not deeply developed, but what you do get is an easy breezy speculative fiction read, and sometimes, that's exactly what you're in the mood for.
There are a few funny moments, some flashes of insight about human behavior, and some good questions about how the U. S. (and the world) would even begin to tackle the aftermath of a catastrophe this huge. I would quibble with a couple of points, but honestly, this isn't meant to be scientific. It's just entertainment including some mild ruminations on what ifs.
I'm definitely going to read the rest of the trilogy. There's a parallel plot which I think I've figured out and I want to see if I'm right. Hopefully not. One thing that keeps the story fresh is any surprises in the plot.
June 30, 2013
I'll start on a positive note: the material devoted to the actual eruption was good stuff; intense, suspenseful, and even a little scary. The pages devoted to it just flew by, and I really wanted to see what would happen next. Perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of the material was that it was kind of evocative of the series "It Could Happen Tomorrow" on the Weather Channel - it was a worst case scenario type of situation, but the events were compelling, rather than wholly unbelievable.
This section of the book was truly good, and before I actually began reading the book, I had assumed that this event would warrant a lion's share of the book's pages. This is where the not so good starts to come into play: comparatively speaking, not all that much of the book dealt with the actual supervolcano, and that was a real disappointment.
Instead, the reader is "treated" to seeing how the eruption impacts a cast of characters, which is a shame, since character development is in incredibly short supply in this novel. The most well-developed characters (and that's not saying much) are Colin, his love interest (Kelly), and Bryce, who is his daughter's ex-boyfriend. The latter is okay, I guess, but I spent most of my time wondering why Turtledove felt the need to write this character who, much like most of the other characters I'll mention in a moment, struck me as little more than a waste of time and pages. Those three are the most interesting and sympathetic, but even they are just a step above stock characters, if that.
The rest of the characters range from uninteresting - Colin's sons, who are mostly interested in smoking joints, and being consumed with groupies and whether or not a life devoted to a struggling rock band is worth it, respectively - to bratty and self-absorbed - Colin's daughter, to 100% completely and totally unlikable - Colin's ex-wife.
That ex-wife, Louise, is one of the biggest problems I had with this book. She is truly a terrible human being, in that she is perhaps the most self-centered, selfish character about whom I've read in a very long time. This was all brought into stark relief when, near the end, she found herself embroiled in a problematic situation, and actually expected Colin, a man whom she had treated cruelly and abominably and had absolutely nothing to do with the aforementioned problem, to bend over backwards to help and support her; she essentially demanded his money, his time, and essentially expected him to drop everything in his life so that he could take care of and be there for her. She was such a waste of space that words fail me when I try to adequately describe what a deplorable character she was.
The real shame about this book is that Turtledove spent so much time on these characters about whom it was nearly impossible to care, rather than on the supervolcano itself, or in better developing his main characters, namely Colin and Kelly. While the eruption and its immediate aftermath made for compelling reading, it lasted for too few pages, as the book became mired in the day-to-day activities of the characters, most of which was utterly boring and unnecessary material, in my view.
So, if a reader is looking for a few good chapters revolving around a catastrophic supervolcano eruption, you'll find those few chapters in this book. Is it worth it to read this and wade through a couple of hundred pages about characters who range from run-of-the-mill to mind-boggling unsympathetic and deplorable? Not so much. This is simply not Harry Turtledove's best book, and it's not one that I can fully recommend.
This section of the book was truly good, and before I actually began reading the book, I had assumed that this event would warrant a lion's share of the book's pages. This is where the not so good starts to come into play: comparatively speaking, not all that much of the book dealt with the actual supervolcano, and that was a real disappointment.
Instead, the reader is "treated" to seeing how the eruption impacts a cast of characters, which is a shame, since character development is in incredibly short supply in this novel. The most well-developed characters (and that's not saying much) are Colin, his love interest (Kelly), and Bryce, who is his daughter's ex-boyfriend. The latter is okay, I guess, but I spent most of my time wondering why Turtledove felt the need to write this character who, much like most of the other characters I'll mention in a moment, struck me as little more than a waste of time and pages. Those three are the most interesting and sympathetic, but even they are just a step above stock characters, if that.
The rest of the characters range from uninteresting - Colin's sons, who are mostly interested in smoking joints, and being consumed with groupies and whether or not a life devoted to a struggling rock band is worth it, respectively - to bratty and self-absorbed - Colin's daughter, to 100% completely and totally unlikable - Colin's ex-wife.
That ex-wife, Louise, is one of the biggest problems I had with this book. She is truly a terrible human being, in that she is perhaps the most self-centered, selfish character about whom I've read in a very long time. This was all brought into stark relief when, near the end, she found herself embroiled in a problematic situation, and actually expected Colin, a man whom she had treated cruelly and abominably and had absolutely nothing to do with the aforementioned problem, to bend over backwards to help and support her; she essentially demanded his money, his time, and essentially expected him to drop everything in his life so that he could take care of and be there for her. She was such a waste of space that words fail me when I try to adequately describe what a deplorable character she was.
The real shame about this book is that Turtledove spent so much time on these characters about whom it was nearly impossible to care, rather than on the supervolcano itself, or in better developing his main characters, namely Colin and Kelly. While the eruption and its immediate aftermath made for compelling reading, it lasted for too few pages, as the book became mired in the day-to-day activities of the characters, most of which was utterly boring and unnecessary material, in my view.
So, if a reader is looking for a few good chapters revolving around a catastrophic supervolcano eruption, you'll find those few chapters in this book. Is it worth it to read this and wade through a couple of hundred pages about characters who range from run-of-the-mill to mind-boggling unsympathetic and deplorable? Not so much. This is simply not Harry Turtledove's best book, and it's not one that I can fully recommend.
December 11, 2011
Possibly one of the most boring books I've tried this year - I gave up 120 pages in. The characters varied from highly unpleasant to kind of unlikeable. I'd think the author's a bit of a misogynist for the daughter and ex-wife characters and the internal dialog of the cop main character, but really all the characters sucked so perhaps it was all intentional so we'd be happy if they all got smothered in volcano ash. I'm hoping that's what happened in the story, anyway. Not sure how one can make a story about the apocalyptic eruption of a supervolcano under Yellowstone so yawn worthy, but I won't be eager to try another Turtledove novel, that's for sure.
May 24, 2018
Hmm... I was prepared to be disappointed with this after reading reviews so I wasn't surprised by my reaction.
The descriptions of the eruption were really good, the characters were not. One dimensional and unlikeable.
I don't care enough to read the rest of the series.
The descriptions of the eruption were really good, the characters were not. One dimensional and unlikeable.
I don't care enough to read the rest of the series.
February 5, 2012
I was anxious to pick up this book because (a) I'd read quite a few of Turtledove's earlier novels and really enjoyed them and (b) recently read another book on the subject of a super-volcano eruption at Yellowstone called "Ashfall" by Mike Mullin. Technically its a YA novel but thus far its been far superior to the drivel in Turtledove's version.
This may be a first for me in that the author has managed to craft an entire book without a single sympathetic character - except for Pickles, the cat of one of the central characters. Unlikeable, barely one-dimensional characters, hackneyed prose, unbelievable situations and reactions that defy logic and human behavior. What's to like? Nothing really. There were so many points where as I was reading, I'd put the book down and say to myself "There's no way that would happen." It was often a struggle to pick the book back up and continue.
You'd think that with a title like "Supervolcano: Eruption" there might be some emphasis on the eruption and how the characters and society reacted to them. Instead, its almost added in as an afterthought to a soap opera about a dysfunctional unlikable family who in the midst of a cataclysmic planetary disaster doesn't seem to grow or learn anything. Given the self-centeredness of every character, frankly I'm a bit surprised they even noticed that there was an eruption. The Ferguson clan spends the entire book, before and after the disaster, more concerned with getting stoned, getting laid, acting sexist, complaining about grammar, grinding axes with former spouses, exhibiting an utter disregard for their family - the adults being more selfish than the grown children. With each page, I found myself rooting more and more for the volcano.
Luckily Mr. Turtledove did get around to mentioning several times that in his version of a post-apocalyptic America there would be paper shortages. One can only hope such vision becomes a reality before he follows his usual publishing MO and turns this complete and utter waste of time into a series by penning another half-dozen books.
This may be a first for me in that the author has managed to craft an entire book without a single sympathetic character - except for Pickles, the cat of one of the central characters. Unlikeable, barely one-dimensional characters, hackneyed prose, unbelievable situations and reactions that defy logic and human behavior. What's to like? Nothing really. There were so many points where as I was reading, I'd put the book down and say to myself "There's no way that would happen." It was often a struggle to pick the book back up and continue.
You'd think that with a title like "Supervolcano: Eruption" there might be some emphasis on the eruption and how the characters and society reacted to them. Instead, its almost added in as an afterthought to a soap opera about a dysfunctional unlikable family who in the midst of a cataclysmic planetary disaster doesn't seem to grow or learn anything. Given the self-centeredness of every character, frankly I'm a bit surprised they even noticed that there was an eruption. The Ferguson clan spends the entire book, before and after the disaster, more concerned with getting stoned, getting laid, acting sexist, complaining about grammar, grinding axes with former spouses, exhibiting an utter disregard for their family - the adults being more selfish than the grown children. With each page, I found myself rooting more and more for the volcano.
Luckily Mr. Turtledove did get around to mentioning several times that in his version of a post-apocalyptic America there would be paper shortages. One can only hope such vision becomes a reality before he follows his usual publishing MO and turns this complete and utter waste of time into a series by penning another half-dozen books.
July 27, 2012
This man has a PhD in Byzantine history. He has written some of the most well researched, best alternative history novels I've ever read.
Why at this point in his career he chose to write this USA network movie drivel I have no idea.
The characters are one dimensional and unlikable, the event itself in the book was underwhelming, and the aftermath was "So what?". No real drama, no tension. There was about a 10 page section that made me feel like I was playing The Sims. She took something out of her purse, then she walked over here. She put the key in the door, then she turned it... I don't know if this was some kind of contractual obligation, or more concerning, if Turtledove is joining the dumbing down of America bandwagon. Perhaps in this stage in his life, he is hoping for that one big score and write a book that will be picked up as a movie staring Tom Cruise, but if you are a Turtledove fan, you will be disappointed. If you've never read him, do yourself a favor and do not make this your first experience.
December 18, 2011
I had this book on pre-order for two months. I have never been more disappointed by a good author. Not only is this novel a mess of meaningless foreshadowing and characters, the "science" was deplorable. My fifth graders could have constructed a more interesting "what if " story after watching any decent National Geographic super volcano DVD. Despite my frustrations with this book, I slogged all the way to the end, somehow hoping Turtledove was going to craft a clever twist or make me even care about these characters. And these characters were all nearly indistinguishable from each other. I was tired of their meaningless profanity and sarcasm from the beginning. Frankly I didn't care enough about most of them and wouldn't have minded if the volcano wiped them all out.
March 11, 2014
Wowee zowee.
I wanted to like this book SO MUCH and kept plowing through the choppy POV and crappy dialogue but I just can't even finish.
I made it to page 74 and after reading this: "One of the girls behind the desk, a blonde who'd be porky in another five or ten years, had not a clue concealed anywhere about her person."
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME.
No. Do not waste your time.
I wanted to like this book SO MUCH and kept plowing through the choppy POV and crappy dialogue but I just can't even finish.
I made it to page 74 and after reading this: "One of the girls behind the desk, a blonde who'd be porky in another five or ten years, had not a clue concealed anywhere about her person."
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME.
No. Do not waste your time.
September 28, 2012
Didn't survive the first CD. Starting off with a potty-mouthed loser as protagonist was a poor choice by this author. Stick with alternate histories, Harry.
April 10, 2021
This is a hot mess filled with utterly unlikable characters, written with all the plodding creativity of a sloth on downers.
I came here to read a book about a supervolcano going kaplooey. I got a fine illustration on how someone can take an amazing topic and write it so dreadfully that it would even turn off someone whose idea of a good popcorn movie is something like San Andreas.
Y'all.
Y'ALL.
I came here to read a book about a supervolcano going kaplooey. I got a fine illustration on how someone can take an amazing topic and write it so dreadfully that it would even turn off someone whose idea of a good popcorn movie is something like San Andreas.
Y'all.
Y'ALL.
June 21, 2018
It was interesting to read how this even effected the different parts of the country. It centered around a slightly dysfunctional family and their experiences... i wouldnt say it was the best or worst book Ive read... it was interesting but not super exciting, but held my attention enough that Im considering reading the next one.
July 27, 2018
The supervolcano itself is an afterthought, a minor plot point in what is a terribly boring drama. I could only read the details of somebody's breakfast so many times before I gave up on this one.
April 6, 2019
I was expecting an adventure or a disaster book. this was neither. A little slow.
July 14, 2021
The concept sounded interesting, but the writing was just plain awful. I made it about 10% in before I couldn’t handle it anymore.
The story is written in third person, but it’s as if the author wants it to be first person, and it is just a stream of thought from the main character. The author’s comments were repetitive, sarcastic, stupid, and unnecessary.
I’m done.
The story is written in third person, but it’s as if the author wants it to be first person, and it is just a stream of thought from the main character. The author’s comments were repetitive, sarcastic, stupid, and unnecessary.
I’m done.
July 19, 2017
3.5, actually. Maybe 3.75. Good escapism when there isn't a vintage disaster movie playing on TV. (Yes, I'm a disaster-movie junkie.) Review to run on my blog 7-19-17. www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com/blog.
November 27, 2012
Yellowstone Park is known as a national treasure, and a wonder to behold, but few know about its deadly potential. The park sits atop a gigantic supervolcano, which has gone off in the past, and is due to erupt again virtually any time. Humanity has never witnessed the wrath of a supervolcano... until now. Harry Turtledove begins a new trilogy, Supervolcano, with the first of the series, Eruption.
Synopsis for Eruption :
The eruption of a supervolcano would undoubtedly spell doom for huge portions of the US, and would have lasting repercussions the world over--or so you would think. Though Turtledove does an admirable job portraying the effects such a disaster would have, there's still a lot left missing. Specifically, the effects the rest of the world would feel, and not just to the people immediately surrounding the devastation. It's a very tightly-focused novel, and it's slightly unbelievable that weeks or months after this eruption, people would still be going about life pretty much as they always have. Though the author definitely describes the idea of hardships, it never seems to impact any of the characters overly so in the novel. The primary character, Colin Ferguson seems to be quite wealthy for a police officer, even if he is a Lieutenant. The gas shortages, escalating prices of everything, and changing weather don't seem to affect the characters as profoundly as one would expect. Likewise, the author makes the characters seemingly obtuse to the news around them. Our modern society would be glued to the television sets, staring at pictures of the devastation, yet that doesn't seem to happen in Eruption. Instead, the characters seemingly go about their lives as usual, with only a couple--though major--exceptions. Ultimately, it feels that Turtledove did some research into what effects might occur, but leaves out so many details that it's more of an inconvenience, than a catastrophe the world has never known. The author says the right things, but somehow never makes the reader feel the catastrophe. On top of the supervolcano eruption, Ferguson is tracking a serial-killer, which adds an unwelcome story thread which seems not at all necessary.
Eruption follows primarily a single family, the Fergusons, as they go about their normal, everyday lives--though normal might be stretching it just a bit. Though not over-the-top, this family is believably dysfunctional. But the characters eventually fall relatively flat. It's easy to despise nearly every viewpoint character introduced, as none of them have particularly endearing qualities; the ones who do feel withdrawn and distant, never establishing an emotional connection with the reader.
The dialogue is mostly believable, though sometimes rather abnormal. The police lingo used isn't entirely realistic, and the talk amongst the band-members seems artificial most of the time. Speaking of the band, it's an oddly-named group, and is repeated--in entirety--so often that it feels like the author is promoting something, rather than referring to the band. It's an odd group of characters that only serve to further distance the reader from the events going on in the book.
Unfortunately, readers who pick up this book expecting to read about a cataclysmic and earth-changing event will be left very disappointed. The supervolcano eruption itself is unspectacular, the aftermath feels tired, and it's more work than reward to finish reading. For the beginning of a trilogy, it's a weak opening chapter, and leaves no desire to read the remaining ones.
Synopsis for Eruption :
A supervolcanic eruption in Yellowstone Park sends lava and mud flowing toward populated areas, and clouds of ash drifting across the country. The fallout destroys crops and livestock, clogs machinery, and makes cities uninhabitable. Those who survive find themselves caught in an apocalyptic catastrophe in which humanity has no choice but to rise from the ashes and recreate the world…
The eruption of a supervolcano would undoubtedly spell doom for huge portions of the US, and would have lasting repercussions the world over--or so you would think. Though Turtledove does an admirable job portraying the effects such a disaster would have, there's still a lot left missing. Specifically, the effects the rest of the world would feel, and not just to the people immediately surrounding the devastation. It's a very tightly-focused novel, and it's slightly unbelievable that weeks or months after this eruption, people would still be going about life pretty much as they always have. Though the author definitely describes the idea of hardships, it never seems to impact any of the characters overly so in the novel. The primary character, Colin Ferguson seems to be quite wealthy for a police officer, even if he is a Lieutenant. The gas shortages, escalating prices of everything, and changing weather don't seem to affect the characters as profoundly as one would expect. Likewise, the author makes the characters seemingly obtuse to the news around them. Our modern society would be glued to the television sets, staring at pictures of the devastation, yet that doesn't seem to happen in Eruption. Instead, the characters seemingly go about their lives as usual, with only a couple--though major--exceptions. Ultimately, it feels that Turtledove did some research into what effects might occur, but leaves out so many details that it's more of an inconvenience, than a catastrophe the world has never known. The author says the right things, but somehow never makes the reader feel the catastrophe. On top of the supervolcano eruption, Ferguson is tracking a serial-killer, which adds an unwelcome story thread which seems not at all necessary.
Eruption follows primarily a single family, the Fergusons, as they go about their normal, everyday lives--though normal might be stretching it just a bit. Though not over-the-top, this family is believably dysfunctional. But the characters eventually fall relatively flat. It's easy to despise nearly every viewpoint character introduced, as none of them have particularly endearing qualities; the ones who do feel withdrawn and distant, never establishing an emotional connection with the reader.
The dialogue is mostly believable, though sometimes rather abnormal. The police lingo used isn't entirely realistic, and the talk amongst the band-members seems artificial most of the time. Speaking of the band, it's an oddly-named group, and is repeated--in entirety--so often that it feels like the author is promoting something, rather than referring to the band. It's an odd group of characters that only serve to further distance the reader from the events going on in the book.
Unfortunately, readers who pick up this book expecting to read about a cataclysmic and earth-changing event will be left very disappointed. The supervolcano eruption itself is unspectacular, the aftermath feels tired, and it's more work than reward to finish reading. For the beginning of a trilogy, it's a weak opening chapter, and leaves no desire to read the remaining ones.
July 8, 2012
Oh my god. It has been quite some time since I've read a book I disliked as completely as this one. It had rare, small moments, sure, but overall? The idea of a "What if...?" story involving the supervolcano under Yellowstone isn't bad, it's the book itself.
We open with Colin Ferguson, a Southern California cop, who is on vacation in the Yellowstone area getting over his ex-wife who left him for an aerobics instructor. (My first 'wtf?' moment was that the main character shares a name with an actor who played the sheriff on the SyFy show "Eureka!") He meets a geologist named Kelly there who's made her career on researching volcanoes, particularly what would happen if Yellowstone went. They hit it off (of course). Ferguson has 3 grown kids: one son who endlessly tours with a band, a daughter who inexplicably decided to move to Denver when the guy she's sleeping with tells her he's moving, and another son who's doesn't want to graduate college & keeps changing his major to stay there 'cause his dad foots the bill. There's even the random character of daughter's ex who gets on so well with dad that he still hangs out with him from time to time.
So, we scatter the family around the country to make it even more dramatic, except...it's not, really. Nobody ever gets as emotional as real people probably would. The only people who get emotional at all are the daughter & the mother, who are both described as "drama queens." Really?
Honestly, I feel that the effects of what would actually happen in the wake of something like this were downplayed. The daughter ends up in a refugee camp set up in the ass-end of someplace near Arkansas, but we hardly spend any time with her...apparently people actually suffering from the effects aren't that interesting. The oldest son and his band mates have ended up stranded in Maine because of weather with a kindly and eccentric innkeeper, but, they're hardly bearing the brunt of things like the refugees. Brief conversations are had here & there about the actual ramifications of things, but, it's all in a blithe, 'oh well' sort of tone. (One of these occurred between the band mates & a rather eccentric friend of the innkeeper who seemed was only introduced for...well, I really have no idea.) Ferguson, in Southern California, seems hardly fazed by any of this sometimes - possibly because of the serial killer case he & his fellow officers are working on that NEVER GETS SOLVED. So what was the point?? Also, in California, aside from paper & gas shortages that occur (oh, and it snows), it pretty much seems like business as usual.
There were lots of 'wtf?' sort of moments with the writing style, the main one for me: does the police station really need to be referred to as the "cop shop" at almost every single opportunity? Lots of corny writing and dialogue exists, too, like characters who needlessly correct typos when they see them. A character who draws a football comparison & is "glad" she liked football, because otherwise it never would have occurred to her. (I think she would have found some other way of describing the situation.)
Going into this book, I was cautious - since the title smacks of SyFY Original Movie. However, I'd heard decent things about Mr. Turtledove's writing. With this as my only example, I'm not likely to try anything else by him any time soon.
We open with Colin Ferguson, a Southern California cop, who is on vacation in the Yellowstone area getting over his ex-wife who left him for an aerobics instructor. (My first 'wtf?' moment was that the main character shares a name with an actor who played the sheriff on the SyFy show "Eureka!") He meets a geologist named Kelly there who's made her career on researching volcanoes, particularly what would happen if Yellowstone went. They hit it off (of course). Ferguson has 3 grown kids: one son who endlessly tours with a band, a daughter who inexplicably decided to move to Denver when the guy she's sleeping with tells her he's moving, and another son who's doesn't want to graduate college & keeps changing his major to stay there 'cause his dad foots the bill. There's even the random character of daughter's ex who gets on so well with dad that he still hangs out with him from time to time.
So, we scatter the family around the country to make it even more dramatic, except...it's not, really. Nobody ever gets as emotional as real people probably would. The only people who get emotional at all are the daughter & the mother, who are both described as "drama queens." Really?
Honestly, I feel that the effects of what would actually happen in the wake of something like this were downplayed. The daughter ends up in a refugee camp set up in the ass-end of someplace near Arkansas, but we hardly spend any time with her...apparently people actually suffering from the effects aren't that interesting. The oldest son and his band mates have ended up stranded in Maine because of weather with a kindly and eccentric innkeeper, but, they're hardly bearing the brunt of things like the refugees. Brief conversations are had here & there about the actual ramifications of things, but, it's all in a blithe, 'oh well' sort of tone. (One of these occurred between the band mates & a rather eccentric friend of the innkeeper who seemed was only introduced for...well, I really have no idea.) Ferguson, in Southern California, seems hardly fazed by any of this sometimes - possibly because of the serial killer case he & his fellow officers are working on that NEVER GETS SOLVED. So what was the point?? Also, in California, aside from paper & gas shortages that occur (oh, and it snows), it pretty much seems like business as usual.
There were lots of 'wtf?' sort of moments with the writing style, the main one for me: does the police station really need to be referred to as the "cop shop" at almost every single opportunity? Lots of corny writing and dialogue exists, too, like characters who needlessly correct typos when they see them. A character who draws a football comparison & is "glad" she liked football, because otherwise it never would have occurred to her. (I think she would have found some other way of describing the situation.)
Going into this book, I was cautious - since the title smacks of SyFY Original Movie. However, I'd heard decent things about Mr. Turtledove's writing. With this as my only example, I'm not likely to try anything else by him any time soon.
March 13, 2012
I normally really like Harry Turtledove's books. However, this one left me a little cold.
The basic premise is that the Supervolcano under Yellowstone Park erupts. Now this sounded like a really cool disaster novel.
There are a couple of problems with the novel:
•It takes at least 1/3 of the novel before the Supervolcano actually goes off. This should've happened sooner in the book.
•After it goes off, Harry Turtledove describes some of the devastation, but it's less graphic than I would've liked - at one point he's writing about a news report that just basically states that Wyoming and Utah are buried under feet of ash - very cool - but he doesn't really go into the devastation in as much detail as I would've liked.
•Most of the characters don't seem to be very likeable.
•Turtledove kills a lot of people "off camera", but is surprisingly hesitant to kill too many of the main characters. I do have to say that he does make one character suffer because she was too close to the supervolcano, and her journey out of that part of the country was fairly interesting, but I was kind of hoping she'd die because she was pretty obnoxious.
•Most of the main characters are less traumatized by this event than you would think.
•Finally, I think the ending was a little ambiguous, and left you hanging as to the final fate of most of the characters. It's almost as if he's going to write a sequel that shows just how tough life in the United States and around the globe will be months or years after the supervolcano blows up.
I really, really hate to say this, but I think the SciFi channel could've written a better Disaster/Critter movie of the week based on the idea of a Supervolcano. This book did not blow my mind.
On the plus side, the word Supervolcano is really awesome.
The basic premise is that the Supervolcano under Yellowstone Park erupts. Now this sounded like a really cool disaster novel.
There are a couple of problems with the novel:
•It takes at least 1/3 of the novel before the Supervolcano actually goes off. This should've happened sooner in the book.
•After it goes off, Harry Turtledove describes some of the devastation, but it's less graphic than I would've liked - at one point he's writing about a news report that just basically states that Wyoming and Utah are buried under feet of ash - very cool - but he doesn't really go into the devastation in as much detail as I would've liked.
•Most of the characters don't seem to be very likeable.
•Turtledove kills a lot of people "off camera", but is surprisingly hesitant to kill too many of the main characters. I do have to say that he does make one character suffer because she was too close to the supervolcano, and her journey out of that part of the country was fairly interesting, but I was kind of hoping she'd die because she was pretty obnoxious.
•Most of the main characters are less traumatized by this event than you would think.
•Finally, I think the ending was a little ambiguous, and left you hanging as to the final fate of most of the characters. It's almost as if he's going to write a sequel that shows just how tough life in the United States and around the globe will be months or years after the supervolcano blows up.
I really, really hate to say this, but I think the SciFi channel could've written a better Disaster/Critter movie of the week based on the idea of a Supervolcano. This book did not blow my mind.
On the plus side, the word Supervolcano is really awesome.
August 15, 2012
Let me just say up front I wasn't able to finish this book.
In the beginning I was actually enjoying it quite a bit. I have read several books by Harry Turtledove and I have learned to forgive his lack of character development in favor of his incredible ability to weave historical and technical details into a realistic, while also fantastic story. I was enjoying the lead up to the volcano eruption, including all the little nerdy bits of volcano science, and was looking forward to an exciting story of survival.
Unfortunately, once the volcano erupted the story really went down hill for me. There was little hope for the characters or the world. Everyone was depressed and it just looked more and more like the ending of this series was everybody dying, not just the characters, but most of the population of the planet. It felt like I was just reading the stories of a half dozen people's slow and miserable paths to death.
Now I understand why disaster stories are also always so unrealistic and unscientific - because the truth is that in a disaster it would mostly just be horrible and depressing and there would be very little we could do about it. Those facts do not make for an exciting story. Those characteristics that I have enjoyed in Harry Turtledove's other books - his attention to detail and real world insight - proved more a liability than an asset in this book. So, I'm putting it down and moving on to something a little more upbeat. My advice is to stick to Turtledove's historical novels and steer clear of this one.
In the beginning I was actually enjoying it quite a bit. I have read several books by Harry Turtledove and I have learned to forgive his lack of character development in favor of his incredible ability to weave historical and technical details into a realistic, while also fantastic story. I was enjoying the lead up to the volcano eruption, including all the little nerdy bits of volcano science, and was looking forward to an exciting story of survival.
Unfortunately, once the volcano erupted the story really went down hill for me. There was little hope for the characters or the world. Everyone was depressed and it just looked more and more like the ending of this series was everybody dying, not just the characters, but most of the population of the planet. It felt like I was just reading the stories of a half dozen people's slow and miserable paths to death.
Now I understand why disaster stories are also always so unrealistic and unscientific - because the truth is that in a disaster it would mostly just be horrible and depressing and there would be very little we could do about it. Those facts do not make for an exciting story. Those characteristics that I have enjoyed in Harry Turtledove's other books - his attention to detail and real world insight - proved more a liability than an asset in this book. So, I'm putting it down and moving on to something a little more upbeat. My advice is to stick to Turtledove's historical novels and steer clear of this one.
February 4, 2014
Come on: it's Harry Turtledove! You know what you're going to get: a smart, tough drill sergeant character (in this case a police LT), a frivolous middle aged woman (his ex wife), a smart younger woman (his new love, a vulcanologist), and a variety of "everyman" younger characters. All the characters will make pop culture references endlessly, and most of them will speak "military" small talk: "Have a good day" "Have a better one".
These characters will all find themselves in a drastically changed world, which one of the characters warned them would happen, but no one listened. Some characters will grow, some characters will die, even main characters, usually unexpectedly. It's harry Turtledove, and we know how it goes.
In this book, the drastically changed world is caused by the eruption of the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone national park. An area the size of Rhode Island has become a volcano, and the resulting lava and ash have essentially covered the states of Wyoming and Montana, and parts of Idaho, Colorado. Volcanic dust in the lower atmosphere has ruined all the crops of the midwest, while the same dust in the stratosphere has blocked out a significant portion of the sun's light.
The survivors have to get along in a world with less food, less communication, fewer resources (it is hinted that everyone in Wyoming was killed) and a drastically changed United States. How will they manage?
These characters will all find themselves in a drastically changed world, which one of the characters warned them would happen, but no one listened. Some characters will grow, some characters will die, even main characters, usually unexpectedly. It's harry Turtledove, and we know how it goes.
In this book, the drastically changed world is caused by the eruption of the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone national park. An area the size of Rhode Island has become a volcano, and the resulting lava and ash have essentially covered the states of Wyoming and Montana, and parts of Idaho, Colorado. Volcanic dust in the lower atmosphere has ruined all the crops of the midwest, while the same dust in the stratosphere has blocked out a significant portion of the sun's light.
The survivors have to get along in a world with less food, less communication, fewer resources (it is hinted that everyone in Wyoming was killed) and a drastically changed United States. How will they manage?
March 15, 2012
I don't know if this is supposed to be part of a series or a stand alone novel. If it's the beginning of a series I'd feel a little differently because it just sort of ends with a bunch of unanswered questions.
I don't normally have trouble keeping characters straight in my head but for some reason I had problems with everyone except the main character and his girlfriend. I'd always have to think for a minute to orient myself with the change in point of view.
I guess I expected more of the book to take place after the eruption and actually see some of the devastating consequences for the country and the world rather than simply having the characters asking a lot of "what if" questions.
There was some interesting political fallout I hadn't thought about before, though realistically I think there would have been even more fallout as the world not only perceived (rightly) that the US was too busy dealing with its own problems to do much around the world but you'd also have governments that would realize the entire world would be facing shortages in almost every way.
If this subject interests you, I highly recommend a docudrama the BBC put out a number of years ago called "Supervolcano." It can be hard to find (my local library has a copy) but it's definitely worth checking out.
I don't normally have trouble keeping characters straight in my head but for some reason I had problems with everyone except the main character and his girlfriend. I'd always have to think for a minute to orient myself with the change in point of view.
I guess I expected more of the book to take place after the eruption and actually see some of the devastating consequences for the country and the world rather than simply having the characters asking a lot of "what if" questions.
There was some interesting political fallout I hadn't thought about before, though realistically I think there would have been even more fallout as the world not only perceived (rightly) that the US was too busy dealing with its own problems to do much around the world but you'd also have governments that would realize the entire world would be facing shortages in almost every way.
If this subject interests you, I highly recommend a docudrama the BBC put out a number of years ago called "Supervolcano." It can be hard to find (my local library has a copy) but it's definitely worth checking out.
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