Official Review: Cold Energy. Episode 2 of the Alex Cave ...
-
Misaela
- Posts: 544
- Joined: 25 Jul 2013, 20:04
- Currently Reading: Catch-22
- Bookshelf Size: 21
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-misaela.html
- Latest Review: "A Wounded World" by Crit Kincaid
- Reading Device: B00JG8GOWU
Official Review: Cold Energy. Episode 2 of the Alex Cave ...
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Cold Energy. Episode 2 of the Alex Cave adventure series" by James M. Corkill.]
As the name suggests, this novel is the second in what appears to be a series about Alex Cave. I have not read the first part of the series, but the story develops normally, and you understand the plot without having to guess what happened before.
The Story
Cold Energy begins on the Seattle Federal Building, on the FEMA Regional Office. The United States are frantically looking for an explanation as to why a major earthquake hit Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands, and caused serious damage, but didn’t register as even a tremor with the USGS (United States Geological Service). Sharon, the USGS supervisor, decided to fly over the San Juan Islands to assess the damage. It was worse than she thought, and that worried her. Something must be radiating massive amounts of energy without the ground moving so much, and that is not a natural thing for geologists. They tried to reach Wesley Patterson, a volcanologist stationed near Mount Baker, State for an answer, Washington, but he did not answer.
Meanwhile, on the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS), in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Sonja Hanspevin was thinking that her GPS unit was malfunctioning. It showed data that the ice sheet north of Canada had just increased two hundred meters in elevation, in only three minutes. She went to check the new ice sheet by helicopter, and noticed a very peculiar sight: the ice made a sharp, vertical rise for two hundred meters, and extended two hundred more to the south. It could not be possible for this to happen. Worst of all, the ice was completely transparent: pure water. That was not a possible thing to happen at sea; at least, not naturally, of course. They landed on the ice to try to get another GPS receiver, but her shoe got stuck in the ice: it was extremely cold. The helicopter was also frozen in place, and they could not call for help, lest they get stuck, too.
On the Pacific Ocean, about 60 miles west of Vancouver Island, Canada, the Mystic, a research ship, just found a really strange slab of methane: it had elements only found on Earth’s atmosphere, not on the sea floor. They went down on a submarine to examine it, with a state-of-the-art ultrasound system. The moment the ultrasound is turned on, a brilliant blue light appears as if out of nowhere, and blinds everyone. The submarine is slammed to the sea floor, making it roll over and over, disorienting everyone.
On Mount Baker, Washington State, Wesley checks his seismic detectors near his sleeping volcano, and is slightly alarmed. Instead of normal seismic activity, the ground just seemed to jump. The needles jumped from the detectors. This extremely impossible event was starting to wake up the volcano.
In Montana University, on Bozeman, Montana, Alex Cave was just finishing up a class on geophysics, when he saw a message from the USGS, got a call from Sonja, and called Wesley Patterson. Apparently, this particular geology professor has more knowledge and contacts than the normal university staff.
There is more than meets the eye with this Alex Cave character, as his actions and decisions can prove to be most helpful in finding what is happening with the seismic activity, the ice sheet, the strange slab of methane and, on a bigger scale, the planet.
My Reaction
This was a very large story. It encompassed several points of view, many characters, and a bigger plot than I imagined. Many characters hid secrets, had secret identities or bigger purposes in life. All the points of view had a common connection, and that made it easier to follow as the story got deeper. It really has some potential.
However, I had some problems with it. Cold Energy, being such a big story, had to be more elaborate, in my opinion. It is already a fairly large novel (over 200 pages), but I felt that some more details were needed to make it more convincing. The dialogue was a little too fast? It seemed as if the author was trying to fit in a lot of thoughts in few sentences. Don’t get me wrong, the plot was good and it was not completely predictable, but if you’re going to make an elaborate novel, don’t be stingy with dialogues. The people that like it will stick to the end, no matter how long a story (I myself read the ~1500 page Lord of the Rings trilogy and loved it!).
Also, it needs to be revised for grammar. An example of a grammatical mistake made was confusing effect for affect. I have to admit, the errors were hindering a bit my reading experience.
Other than that, it was a really good story, just needs some polishing.
I GIVE THIS STORY A RATING OF 2 OUT OF 4 STARS.
It’s not because it was bad, or I don’t recommend it, but because by Online Book Club’s standards, that is considered a “fair” reading. I do not recommend it yet, because I saw real potential in it and would prefer to wait until it’s a little more polished before showing it to others. It wouldn’t be fair to a good story that is ALMOST done for people to be disappointed by some grammatical errors or straightforward dialogue.
I wish the best of luck to the author, and may he continue developing stories like this one.
***
Buy "Cold Energy. Episode 2 of the Alex Cave adventure series" on Amazon
As the name suggests, this novel is the second in what appears to be a series about Alex Cave. I have not read the first part of the series, but the story develops normally, and you understand the plot without having to guess what happened before.
The Story
Cold Energy begins on the Seattle Federal Building, on the FEMA Regional Office. The United States are frantically looking for an explanation as to why a major earthquake hit Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands, and caused serious damage, but didn’t register as even a tremor with the USGS (United States Geological Service). Sharon, the USGS supervisor, decided to fly over the San Juan Islands to assess the damage. It was worse than she thought, and that worried her. Something must be radiating massive amounts of energy without the ground moving so much, and that is not a natural thing for geologists. They tried to reach Wesley Patterson, a volcanologist stationed near Mount Baker, State for an answer, Washington, but he did not answer.
Meanwhile, on the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS), in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Sonja Hanspevin was thinking that her GPS unit was malfunctioning. It showed data that the ice sheet north of Canada had just increased two hundred meters in elevation, in only three minutes. She went to check the new ice sheet by helicopter, and noticed a very peculiar sight: the ice made a sharp, vertical rise for two hundred meters, and extended two hundred more to the south. It could not be possible for this to happen. Worst of all, the ice was completely transparent: pure water. That was not a possible thing to happen at sea; at least, not naturally, of course. They landed on the ice to try to get another GPS receiver, but her shoe got stuck in the ice: it was extremely cold. The helicopter was also frozen in place, and they could not call for help, lest they get stuck, too.
On the Pacific Ocean, about 60 miles west of Vancouver Island, Canada, the Mystic, a research ship, just found a really strange slab of methane: it had elements only found on Earth’s atmosphere, not on the sea floor. They went down on a submarine to examine it, with a state-of-the-art ultrasound system. The moment the ultrasound is turned on, a brilliant blue light appears as if out of nowhere, and blinds everyone. The submarine is slammed to the sea floor, making it roll over and over, disorienting everyone.
On Mount Baker, Washington State, Wesley checks his seismic detectors near his sleeping volcano, and is slightly alarmed. Instead of normal seismic activity, the ground just seemed to jump. The needles jumped from the detectors. This extremely impossible event was starting to wake up the volcano.
In Montana University, on Bozeman, Montana, Alex Cave was just finishing up a class on geophysics, when he saw a message from the USGS, got a call from Sonja, and called Wesley Patterson. Apparently, this particular geology professor has more knowledge and contacts than the normal university staff.
There is more than meets the eye with this Alex Cave character, as his actions and decisions can prove to be most helpful in finding what is happening with the seismic activity, the ice sheet, the strange slab of methane and, on a bigger scale, the planet.
My Reaction
This was a very large story. It encompassed several points of view, many characters, and a bigger plot than I imagined. Many characters hid secrets, had secret identities or bigger purposes in life. All the points of view had a common connection, and that made it easier to follow as the story got deeper. It really has some potential.
However, I had some problems with it. Cold Energy, being such a big story, had to be more elaborate, in my opinion. It is already a fairly large novel (over 200 pages), but I felt that some more details were needed to make it more convincing. The dialogue was a little too fast? It seemed as if the author was trying to fit in a lot of thoughts in few sentences. Don’t get me wrong, the plot was good and it was not completely predictable, but if you’re going to make an elaborate novel, don’t be stingy with dialogues. The people that like it will stick to the end, no matter how long a story (I myself read the ~1500 page Lord of the Rings trilogy and loved it!).
Also, it needs to be revised for grammar. An example of a grammatical mistake made was confusing effect for affect. I have to admit, the errors were hindering a bit my reading experience.
Other than that, it was a really good story, just needs some polishing.
I GIVE THIS STORY A RATING OF 2 OUT OF 4 STARS.
It’s not because it was bad, or I don’t recommend it, but because by Online Book Club’s standards, that is considered a “fair” reading. I do not recommend it yet, because I saw real potential in it and would prefer to wait until it’s a little more polished before showing it to others. It wouldn’t be fair to a good story that is ALMOST done for people to be disappointed by some grammatical errors or straightforward dialogue.
I wish the best of luck to the author, and may he continue developing stories like this one.
***
Buy "Cold Energy. Episode 2 of the Alex Cave adventure series" on Amazon
Latest Review: "A Wounded World" by Crit Kincaid
