Review of So Long Earth
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Emma-Louise Hoban
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- Latest Review: So Long Earth by Michael Bienenstock
Review of So Long Earth
[Following is a volunteer review of "So Long Earth" by Michael Bienenstock.]
Global warming has taken its toll on planet Earth and the future of humanity is threatened, in short, Earth is dying, and environmental catastrophes are increasingly common. With nothing being done to tackle the crisis, and a president who is either unaware of the gravity of the situation or simply doesn't care, Dr Thomas Burns comes up with a solution. With help from friends, family and acquaintances he designs and builds four spaceships, which will each take 1000 people into space to search for, and hopefully find a new planet to inhabit. The journey may take hundreds of years so all eventualities must be considered and planned for.
What I liked about So Long Earth was the concept which I felt was interesting, original and topical; global warming is a real problem with no obvious solution at present. The book is certainly thought-provoking and in part educational, covering topics such as cloning, stem cell research and as aforementioned, environmentalism.
What I didn't like about the book was that it felt flat. There are a few exceptions, but the vast majority of characters are overly nice, and felt one sided, underdeveloped even. There is a lot of dialogue in the book but in my opinion, it felt stilted and unnatural. For example, the following quote from page 32: “I am glad you guys were around and acted so quickly. I have no idea how this would have turned out without your presence…” There were also parts where the book felt a little preachy on the global warming topic with the same ideas being repeated. In terms of plot, it was quite slow and by the end of the book I felt like not much had really happened.
On a practical note, I found a few spelling and grammar errors such as "World leaders world needed to do..." on page 27 and "Please do not leave the ship from now on in any circumstances or left behind," on page 317. I believe there to be a factual error on page 378 where the author states that Lviv is the capital of Ukraine: “…headed to various cities in the Ukraine and Estonia, including Lviv, and Tallinn, the capitols.”
This book would probably appeal to people interested in global warming and/or engineering due to the descriptions of rockets being built and the discussions about climate change. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to science fiction fans as that aspect only plays a small role.
I rate this book two out of four stars. Despite a handful of positive points, the book just didn't hang together well as a story. While Michael Bienenstock has clearly done his research and knows the topics well, it felt long winded and made for tedious reading.
******
So Long Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Global warming has taken its toll on planet Earth and the future of humanity is threatened, in short, Earth is dying, and environmental catastrophes are increasingly common. With nothing being done to tackle the crisis, and a president who is either unaware of the gravity of the situation or simply doesn't care, Dr Thomas Burns comes up with a solution. With help from friends, family and acquaintances he designs and builds four spaceships, which will each take 1000 people into space to search for, and hopefully find a new planet to inhabit. The journey may take hundreds of years so all eventualities must be considered and planned for.
What I liked about So Long Earth was the concept which I felt was interesting, original and topical; global warming is a real problem with no obvious solution at present. The book is certainly thought-provoking and in part educational, covering topics such as cloning, stem cell research and as aforementioned, environmentalism.
What I didn't like about the book was that it felt flat. There are a few exceptions, but the vast majority of characters are overly nice, and felt one sided, underdeveloped even. There is a lot of dialogue in the book but in my opinion, it felt stilted and unnatural. For example, the following quote from page 32: “I am glad you guys were around and acted so quickly. I have no idea how this would have turned out without your presence…” There were also parts where the book felt a little preachy on the global warming topic with the same ideas being repeated. In terms of plot, it was quite slow and by the end of the book I felt like not much had really happened.
On a practical note, I found a few spelling and grammar errors such as "World leaders world needed to do..." on page 27 and "Please do not leave the ship from now on in any circumstances or left behind," on page 317. I believe there to be a factual error on page 378 where the author states that Lviv is the capital of Ukraine: “…headed to various cities in the Ukraine and Estonia, including Lviv, and Tallinn, the capitols.”
This book would probably appeal to people interested in global warming and/or engineering due to the descriptions of rockets being built and the discussions about climate change. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to science fiction fans as that aspect only plays a small role.
I rate this book two out of four stars. Despite a handful of positive points, the book just didn't hang together well as a story. While Michael Bienenstock has clearly done his research and knows the topics well, it felt long winded and made for tedious reading.
******
So Long Earth
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: So Long Earth by Michael Bienenstock
