04-10-2023, 10:50 AM
The setup is that a group of people is living in an underground silo, apparently after a nuclear war, and about in our time. There is conflict between the IT section and the mechanical engineering section, brought to a head with the appointment of a new sheriff from the latter group which is opposed by the former. It started strong, but lost steam before the halfway point. I just kept reading to find out what happened. Plus there's a deterministic plot point in the middle - this thing happens, therefore this other thing will certainly happen, and has happened before. That's weak. And the notion of a vertical shelter of many levels with only stairs (no mention of elevators ever)? That's just foolish. And the self-contained shelter wouldn't work anyway. Remember the Biosphere? And he builds up a big conflict just to sort of wave it away at the end. The thing is long, just over 500 pages. It's the first of a trilogy, so naturally there's no strong conclusion. Had I known it was a series, I would have skipped it. It's a big bestseller, but I can't recommend it. Although if it had been half as long, I might.
the hands that guide me are invisible