jbronderbookreviews

Beyond the Ice Limit (Gideon Crew – 4) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

That thing is growing again. We must destroy it. The time to act is now…

With these words begins Gideon Crew’s latest, most dangerous, most high-stakes assignment yet. Failure will mean nothing short of the end of humankind on earth.

Five years ago, the mysterious and inscrutable head of Effective Engineering Solutions, Eli Glinn, led a mission to recover a gigantic meteorite–the largest ever discovered–from a remote island off the coast of South America. The mission ended in disaster when their ship, the Rolvaag, foundered in a vicious storm in the Antarctic waters and broke apart, sinking-along with its unique cargo-to the ocean floor. One hundred and eight crew members perished, and Eli Glinn was left paralyzed.

But this was not all. The tragedy revealed something truly terrifying: the meteorite they tried to retrieve was not, in fact, simply a rock. Instead, it was a complex organism from the deep reaches of space.

Now, that organism has implanted itself in the sea bed two miles below the surface-and it is growing. If it is not destroyed, the planet will be doomed. There is only one hope: for Glinn and his team to annihilate it, a task which requires Gideon’s expertise with nuclear weapons. But as Gideon and his colleagues soon discover, the “meteorite” has a mind of its own-and it has no intention of going quietly…

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Douglas Preston’s Website     Lincoln Child’s Website

My Review

4 stars

The Gideon Crew has been called in to recover the meteorite that was really an alien lifeform. It seems the meteorite was not a rock but more of a seed and it has been growing in the bottom of the ocean. This thing is a great threat to the plant and needs to be stopped. But it is not going to be an easy fight, some won’t make it, but if the Gideon Crew doesn’t succeed there won’t be much left of our planet.

I have not read the other books in the Gideon Crew series or The Ice Limit. I know, as a fan of Lincoln and Child this is a travesty. But, I had no problem jumping right into this story. Having said that, the beginning was a little slow as everything was getting built. But once you get past that, you are off to the races trying to keep up with the break neck pace.

Beyond the Limit is a great mix of science fiction, fantasy, and thriller. Lincoln and Child keep you on your toes and when you think it might be over, bam, you are off and running again. I really enjoyed Beyond the Limit. I will definitely be reading The Ice Limit and others in the Gideon Crew series.

I received Beyond the Ice Limit from the publisher free of charge. This does not influence my opinion of this book.

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Rarity from the Hollow by Robert Eggleton

Lacy Dawn’s father relives the Gulf War, her mother’s teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in The Hollow isn’t great. But Lacy has one advantage — she’s been befriended by a semi-organic, semi-robot who works with her to cure her parents. He wants something in exchange, though. It’s up to her to save the Universe.

Will Lacy Dawn’s predisposition, education, and magic be enough for her to save the Universe, Earth, and, most importantly, protect her own family?

Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire. It is a children’s story for adults, not for the prudish, faint of heart, or easily offended.

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My Review

3 stars

Lacy Dawn’s life is full of abuse and death. Her father suffers from PTSD and beats and abuses both Lucy and her mother. Lucy’s best friend is Faith, a girl that was beaten to death by her father, and the trees. Lucy meets DotCom, a robot that offers her a chance to “fix” her parents if she goes shopping at the universes biggest mall. This shopping trip helps prepare her to fight the cockroaches that are taking over.

This book is told in a couple parts. The first part about Lacy and her home life is heartbreaking. I know things like this happen all the time but we seem to have blinders on as we go through our own lives. You can tell that Robert Eggleton has had a lot of personal dealings with this aspect of life. The next part is more of a satirical look at adults while Lucy trains in the universes largest mall. And then end battle with the cockroaches seemed to lose me.

Although the beginning is heartbreaking, I think the second half of the book could have been a story of its own. You do need some background on Lucy but when she heads to the mall the story gets turned on its head. It didn’t really flow well and left me feeling jolted and had a hard time recovering.

I did like the story if it would have been two different stories. But the best part of Rarity from the Hollow is author proceeds are donated to child abuse prevention. I would purchase this book just for that.

I received Rarity from the Hollow from the author in exchange free of charge. This has not influenced my opinion of this book.

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