Flood

This was a great book. It is great "hard sci-fi" and those expecting a Hollywood type ride will be disapointed. The main characters are just there to spice the story a bit, serve as an anchor and give the human perspective of the events. The book is a exploration of how events might unfold if the seas start rising. In the end it shows us how fragile our culture and knowledge really is, how quick it can be lost and how thin the layer of culture really is over the instinct of survival.

I loved this book from start to end and highly recommed the follow-up (Ark) as well. It is a bleak out look on our current world and leaves you looking at everything around you in a different way

If you enjoy watching paint dry, or staring at the bathtub while it is filling, then you will love this book. Hey Jim, look, the water is a little higher now, almost to the soap scum ring in the tub... wow! Very boring book. I'm not saying that the book needs to be action packed, but it should at least have a plot or something that at least captures the reader's interest. I'll summarize this book for you so that you don't have to read it... here is the theme.... earth filling (bathtub analogy), people moving way from water, earth filling some more, people move a little more (over and over again). Hey Jim, look, the parking lot is flooded, oh no! Maybe we should consider moving back a few inches before our shoes get wet. Seriously, I don't understand the good reviews this book has received. I was a trooper and listened to it all, but really came away feeling like I wasted my time.

The book was on the long side, but I enjoyed how it followed all the original characters through their entire lives. t did get kind of depressing, but I appreciated the fact that the characters rose to challenges, some overcame, some not. This is a book full of imperfect characters, and to me that made them seem more human and realistic. I'm not a hard science person, so the plot seemed mostly believable, although I did start having a hard time wondering just where all that water was coming from . . .

No. It was interesting, but it was long and spanned a great many years, which meant skipping a lot of time. It was hard to get to know some of the characters for that reason.

I haven't.

Grace got rescued, although you didn't really see that scene.

No.

It was good but not great.

well this isnt really Sci-Fi at all, more of a geography lesson - near the end it becomes more sci-fi nou its not until the next book "Ark" that it becomes sci-fi

there is no back story to the characters and you have to get to know them as it goes on - starts off as flash floods overwhelm century old drainage systems, rich people will just ride off on one of AxysCorp CEO Nathan Lammockson's floating hotels and ride the storm out until the waters go down

it gets way worse after underwater lakes are filling up the oceans and in 2052 MT. Everest is covered with water

3 arks are build, although you only know about the 1st and 3rd one in this book, its the next book "Ark" that you find out what Ark 2 is - Ark 3 is a huge boat that looks like the Queen Mary and has a reactor as a power plant, after time it gets sink and they all go to rafts after that like everyone else out there - Ark 1 is a space ship that will take a select group of people and tones of genetic stuff from Earth to seed a new planet with life from Earth, it is not covered until the next book "Ark" - Ark 2 is an underwater habitat built in Yellowstone Park

the whole book is essentially 3 parts, the first 2 being a prologue to the book that follows called Ark, and the last part being oddly enough taking place near the middle of the second book Ark - if you read 1 and then had your mind wiped and read the other one you would like both equally and not think that either one needed an sequel or prequel

only reason it gets 4 stars not 3 is because how it ended, the middle sucks badly with the whole geography lesson or whatever, constantly naming off towns and cities as if I am sosposta know where they are and understand it, as if I know every part of the world - those parts are boring but the end is great

I loved this story, and the narration by Chris Patton was great. He made the story for me, bringing everyone to life for me on my long drives. This story stopped me cold to think about what I could due if the flood really did come, or even a smaller one. Great way to tie the people together. Could not stop listening. and I am downloading "Ark" by Stephen Baxter right now. I can't wait to continue this story line.

You might like this better if you know London well. This was a great idea and if written in the style that he wrote Evolution it would have been much better. There is so much that could have been done with this subject that did not get done, because Baxter choose to write a soap opera about characters we really don't care about. Evolution was a great book, this was not. He needed to write about different parts of the country and how it affected these people instead of following some characters we just don't give a damn about.

The premise of the book is weak at best, but could have been saved with good writing - it wasn't. The characters are inconsistent at best, and whiny and completely unrealistic at worst. Some of the climatology was interesting but in other parts the author has some serious gaps in his understanding of science and of the world. I followed to the end out of sheer determination with one more illogical step after another (both in the characters personal lives and the flooded world). The narration made it worse- the accents were terrible and never what they were described as - a "California drawl" sounded like a drunk Ozzy.

Possible Spoiler Warning. Subterranean seas are opening and raising the sea level? Really come on, what would push the water up? The planet Earth wants life to survive and adjusts herself? The hostage portion is silly and does not even compute. I only finished this book to see how ridiculous it would become with time. How did Helen die? It was so irrelevant I missed it. What a waste of money and time, about the worst novel by far I have ever read. If this can be published we should ask so 1st graders to submit their novels. Dont waste your money.

well this isnt really Sci-Fi at all, more of a geography lesson - near the end it becomes more sci-fi nou its not until the next book "Ark" that it becomes sci-fi

there is no back story to the characters and you have to get to know them as it goes on - starts off as flash floods overwhelm century old drainage systems, rich people will just ride off on one of AxysCorp CEO Nathan Lammockson's floating hotels and ride the storm out until the waters go down

it gets way worse after underwater lakes are filling up the oceans and in 2052 MT. Everest is covered with water

3 arks are build, although you only know about the 1st and 3rd one in this book, its the next book "Ark" that you find out what Ark 2 is - Ark 3 is a huge boat that looks like the Queen Mary and has a reactor as a power plant, after time it gets sink and they all go to rafts after that like everyone else out there - Ark 1 is a space ship that will take a select group of people and tones of genetic stuff from Earth to seed a new planet with life from Earth, it is not covered until the next book "Ark" - Ark 2 is an underwater habitat built in Yellowstone Park

the whole book is essentially 3 parts, the first 2 being a prologue to the book that follows called Ark, and the last part being oddly enough taking place near the middle of the second book Ark - if you read 1 and then had your mind wiped and read the other one you would like both equally and not think that either one needed an sequel or prequel

only reason it gets 4 stars not 3 is because how it ended, the middle sucks badly with the whole geography lesson or whatever, constantly naming off towns and cities as if I am sosposta know where they are and understand it, as if I know every part of the world - those parts are boring but the end is great