Revolution Earth

[Angie]

Please leave a comment below if you intend to read Revolution Earth by Lambert Nagle during the month of June.

Participating:
Chris
Ella's Gran
Kathleen
Sue
Sweetp-1
Sharlene

[Chris]

I'm in. $0.99 @ amazon, how could I not!

[Lesley]

I've already got this in my collection so I'm in.

[Kathleen]

I read this already but would enjoy participating in this discussion so count me in.

[Sue]

I'm in

[Sweetp-1]

I am reading this now

[Sharlene]

Keen to read this. Sounds intriguing. Just picked it up on Kindle. Will start tonight & will read it for June ReadaThing at LibraryThing.com

[Sweetp-1]

My review is here here If you haven't read the book yet it contains minor spoilers.

I gave this book 3 stars. It was a fast paced read and I liked the ecological focus - the sinister stuff was really quite believable, particularly the role of the PR spin. It also had some unexpectedly funny moments - the one that sticks in my mind and still makes me grin is in the airport cafe when Ginny is asked if she wants "trum" milk.

This is a really ambitious novel. There is a lot going on - lots of characters, action taking place all over the world, a huge number of viewpoint changes, twisty plot turns. Sometimes it felt a little choppy and I wonder if the characterisations let it down a little bit.Sometimes I wished that some of the motivations had been fleshed out a bit more, particularly Stephen and also to some extent Cara. I get that this was mainly an action/plot centred novel but some of the characters blurred together for me (cara/jonie, I could barely distinguish the males in cara's group). Maybe the changes between characters were too quick - we never got to stay in one person's viewpoint for too long, or they just needed a bit more development. I would have liked to have got inside Stephen's head a bit more, sometimes I just didn't get him (e.g I would have liked a deeper and more genuine connection with Cara). That being said Tariq was really memorable and well written.

All in all a fast paced read and I will probably be tempted to look for the next novel in the series. :)

[Sue]

I'm about halfway through, and Sweetp has written exactly what I was thinking (saved me the job, thank you Sweetp!) I'm enjoying it, but I'm having a problem with the switching points of view and the characterisation. I feel like asking it to slow down and let us get to know the characters a bit more. I also have a bit of a problem with the coincidences - people happening to turn up in the same pub, the same airport. But I'm keen to read on. More soon ...

[Sweetp-1]

That's good to know Sue because I was aware that a/I dont normally read thrillers and b/read it while I was sick in bed and I wasnt sure if it was just me. I see the book is going to be part of a series with Stephen and I hope they are able to expand on his character a bit more in later books. I would have liked to understand him a bit more.

[Tui]

I've started it. Bought the e-book last night. I was interested to hear it has both cycling scenes and sailing scenes so those are both interests of mine.

[Sweetp-1]

I enjoyed the cycling parts - not a cyclist here - well written and evocative. Also I liked the juxtaposition of the cycling at the beginning and the role it plays later on in the story.

[Mariana]

I'm in for this one. Sounds interesting.

[Tui]

I'm progressing slowly with reading it. Found some strange punctuation errors such as she"ll for she'll, and in one place there were several of those on one page.
Also was puzzled by a sailing scene where they were described as being under the southern edge of Waiheke and next moment entering Coromandel Harbour as though there was no passage of the Firth of Thames in between.
But I so identify with some aspects of Cara's character, like the way she likes to blow away all her human hassles by getting out into the wind, either on a bike or sailing boat. Also the way she sensed the aggro from Jonie's Mum and just immediately cleared off to go camping. I would have done the same in her place. But I am finding the other characters so far have not really come to life for me yet, but its early days so I'll keep going.

[Sue]

I'm up to Antarctica - things are picking up nicely.

[Chris]

I am 70% through and I agree with what the others have written - I am finding the constant shifting of viewpoints jarring, the story does not get any momentum because of that.

[Lesley]

I have enjoyed this fast paced ecological thriller that spans the globe with its countless characters. Told from several viewpoints in short chapters gave the feeling of speed and urgency which kept the pages turning.

I have two criticisms and have a bearing on awarding just four stars..
I didn’t care for the sex scene and felt the inclusion of this was a box ticking exercise – must include sex scene (tick). The romance would have done without the detail for me.
I felt I didn’t get to know Stephen well which, given this is the first in a series about him, disappointed.
Overall I really enjoyed both the story and the writing style. I will be looking out for the next book.

[Kathleen]

It's good to read all your comments. I too enjoyed the cycling scenes and found the sailing scenes very exciting. Unlike some who didn't, I rather enjoyed the fast moving from different viewpoints, and felt it fitted well with the plot.

It took me quite a while to realise Stephen was such an important character, but on reflection I think maybe I like that. I quite like that there is more to him to be discovered in a second novel.

But I absolutely agree with you, Ella's Gran, about the sex scene - I got quite annoyed with its unnecessary inclusion.

[Tui]

I'm getting nrevous about this sex scene - I still haven't got there yet.

[Sue]

I am past the sex scene, and was expecting a bit of a 50 Shades thing from what others have said! Unless there's another one, I didn't think it was so bad, but it was certainly a 'tick the box' job, as Ella's Gran said.

So, on to my thoughts. I am only about halfway through Revolution Earth, and I'm going to stop here. I think this book has a lot of potential, but needs structural work to bring it up to a good standard. It is topical, the plot is good, and we need popular fiction to address environmental issues - it's a very effective way of getting messages across. This is why I am disappointed that reading this book became, for me, more of a chore than a pleasure. The switching viewpoints were too much in the end; sometimes a viewpoint changed without there even being a new paragraph. If the viewpoints had been separated with headings (e.g. 'Stephen [place, date]') and had stuck with that voice, it would have flowed much better. Also some of the plot elements were too contrived - main characters just happening to be in the same place at the same time. And as others have said, the characters needed more depth.

Much of the writing was very good - I particularly liked the landscape descriptions, e.g. flying over Antarctica. There were no close editing issues - it was a manuscript assessment that was needed, to take care of the structural problems, viewpoints, and characterisation.

I hope the author takes note of the points that everyone has raised on this thread, as they would be relatively straightforward to fix with a new draft, and the writing talent is there, it just needs whipping into shape!