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Subhuman
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January 2019-Group Read #2: SUBHUMAN by Michael McBride
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I went ahead and borrowed from my online library because it's available now. But I have it for 21 days 😊
awesome, will put it on hold at the library today.
Yay!!! 😊
Mod
I saw that K so I thought it just might be good 😄
Mod
If you can get through this book, you’ll fall in love with the series!https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Is it just me or is this not available on kindle?
Lena wrote: "https://smile.amazon.com/Subhuman-Uni..."Thanks Lena but it's "currently not available in your country". Friggin Amazon book nazis :(
Melanie wrote: "Lena wrote: "https://smile.amazon.com/Subhuman-Uni..."Thanks Lena but it's "currently not available in y..."
Have you got a friend who lives in the US and could buy you the ebook as a gift on Amazon?
YES YES YES! LOVED IT THE 1ST TIME I READ THIS + AM SUPER EXCITED, AS EXPRESSED BY ALL OF THESE CAPITAL LETTERS, TO *RE-READ* THIS ONE WITH THE H.A. GROUP! Then, it will be on to the sequel. I hope some others join me for the sequel, as maybe others will be like myself and have that NEED to know what else continued to happen --Jen from Quebec :0)
This one is the first book right?
Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ wrote: "This one is the first book right?"Yes it is.
Okay good! I think I got confused for a minute, which isn’t unusual 😂🤣
@Melanie - https://m.barnesandnoble.com/s/SubhumanB&N NZ have it in Nook format for $1.99. You can download the nook app to your iPad or other non Nook device.
Lena wrote: "@Melanie - https://m.barnesandnoble.com/s/SubhumanB&N NZ have it in Nook format for $1.99. You can download the nook app to your iPad or other non Nook device."
Thank you Lena :) I shall investigate downloading the app later as it's feeding time at the zoo and the flying monkeys are causing havoc.
@MelanieAnd also sold as an Ibook on Itunes.
Found this at my local county library and put my reservation in. The description sounds intriguing. Hope to join you by mid-month at the latest.
Mod
It suffers from infodumpitis... push through even if it means skimming. Book Two is great!
I’m about 66% of the way through. For those of you concerned about the large number of characters and locations, just keep going. They all come together into one unified story line by part 2. So far, personally, I’m enjoying the heck out of it.
Mod
I’m only 7% in but it’s already interesting and I’m wanting to know what’s going on!!
I gave it 4 stars! It got creepy! I hope to read the sequel at some point!
I just finished. It was a very quick read for me. I loved it. It did remind me of Preston & Child like Alan said. It reminded me of The Ice Limit.
Yay! 😊
I'm 52 pages in now, after the prologue and followed by 7 chapters each introducing a different character. I agree with Alan about the scientific jargon, multiple locations and multiple characters. I'm continuing strictly on optimism. Just hoping there's a reason for all the details about crop circles, measuring methodology etc. - - hoping author McBride will justify the reason for all that info dump in the beginning. Normally, I read 50 pages of any novel and then decide if I'm going to continue. Had I not decided to participate in this group read, I would have stopped already. I'm still in for a win, hoping to get engaged with this novel sometime within the next 50 or so pages. TBD.
I'm about halfway through and while I do like it, it hasn't captured my attention the way other similar books have like Relic or Into the Drowning Deep.
Mod
When the intros are over and the main story line finally gets going, maybe chapter 12-ish or so (?), the book becomes more engaging. But the scientific exposition continues throughout. I realize half the stuff the scientists talk about I would never have understood otherwise, but better authors like Michael Crichton knew when to stop explaining and let the story play out.
I'm up to page 128 now, where Book II begins. Things do pick up a little, but the info dumps continue. I'm wondering how much of this is absolutely necessary to the story, as it really slows and bogs the flow of things down with too much detail. Also, I don't know enough about any of these characters yet to really empathize with any of them. That's normally what keeps me reading. Anya is one I'm concerned for. The others, meh. Richard is a pompous boor, who can't stop talking. Not endearing at all. I'm still in this for now. Credit the words of Alan and Jen and some others to give me hope that this might be a different, more interesting book from this point forward.
Just finished the last pages of Book II. Finally, within the last 30 or so pages something occurs to hold my interest. Now, I actually want to move onto the Book III section and finish reading this. The reason for all the scientific explanations, dialogue containing info dumps, and just plain info dumps all over starts to make a bit of sense. McBride is building the case for the rational explanation of the events he's put into motion (trying not to spill the beans here). However, I think he tried too damn hard. He could easily have cut 100 pages out of this novel and made it a faster, better read. Too often did I feel like an elementary school student assigned in error to an advanced placement science class. I wonder how many potential readers walked away from this part-way through because of that? I almost did.
Michael wrote: "Just finished the last pages of Book II. Finally, within the last 30 or so pages something occurs to hold my interest. Now, I actually want to move onto the Book III section and finish reading this..."Yes, a LOT of verbal diarrhea! I've just been skimming some of those parts when it starts to annoy me, but I can see why people would walk away. Otherwise, I'm really enjoying it. :-D
Vickie wrote: "Michael wrote: "Just finished the last pages of Book II. Finally, within the last 30 or so pages something occurs to hold my interest. Now, I actually want to move onto the Book III section and fin..."Verbal diarrhea - - I like that summation! Very appropriate. Might be why I had such a hard time bonding with any of these characters. They all talk like professors. Although, I'm warming up to a few of them now.
I wanted to like this because it had a really good premise but there was just something missing. I don't know if it was the lack of character development or inability to fully explain what was actually going on but it ended up letting me down. Not terrible, just not that great either.(view spoiler)
I havent' gotten my copy yet, but I will read up and join in later!
Just finished the book. I almost gave up on it during part 1 because of trying to keep track of all the people and just not being invested in it. I stuck with it though and ended up enjoying it. I’m probably going to read book two at some point. Has anyone read book two yet?
Yes and I loved it. It was the payoff for getting through book one!
I think I"m going to pass on Book 2, as well as anything else by McBride - - unless someone can convince me why I should read more of his work.I finally finished Subhuman this morning. Too many books like this end the same way, which is disappointing. I'd prefer if someone broke the mold at least once.
The last 25% of the book moved at a quicker pace, due to the action and suspense. I actually began to feel some concern for many of these characters. I just think it was too late to start developing them. Have a feeling many readers had given up before this point.
I like the premise, think that McBride spent way too much time trying to rationalize how this could occur, could have used some other way than info dumps and character dissertations to get the main points across, and was seriously in need of an editor with a sharp red pencil on this one. This did not meet my expectations - - below average.
Here's my review and final words on Subhuman. It's relatively spoiler free. I'm just hoping I don't discourage you from continuing if you decided to join this group read. I kept going even though I wasn't very excited. It does get really busy in the last section . . . . . .https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I did mean to read it but got side tracked by another of his books Fearful Symmetry that is really good.I love #expeditionhorror
Michael wrote: "I think I"m going to pass on Book 2, as well as anything else by McBride - - unless someone can convince me why I should read more of his work.I finally finished Subhuman this morning. Too many b..."
Totally agree with your last two paragraphs, I felt the same way. And yes, the writing errors... oy vey, SO distracting!
Finally starting this one! And I guess i have good timing since the weather is going to be very cold this weekend here in new york.anyway, i'm only up to page 11. i liked the opening a lot.
Just finished it tonight. It was interesting and unlike a few others I did like the ending. I don’t want to write too much here because I’m scared of dropping spoilers. :)
oh my god i finally finished. NOT because i was disliking the book, i've just had a hard time reading in general. (for example i read ONE BOOK IN FEBRUARY which is super low for me lol). going to go through this post now.
i actually really liked all the scientific talk. now whether or not any of it was accurate is another thing, but i appreciated that the author must've taken a lot of time to research all this stuff to make his characters sound believable.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Fearful Symmetry (other topics)Subhuman (other topics)
Please be careful of spoilers and happy reading, everyone!