Prophet of Bones (edition 2013)

Prophet of Bones by Ted Kosmatka

I received a free copy of this book through the "early reviewers" program in exchange for an HONEST review.

PLEASE keep in mind, this review is written by my “taste in books”/my opinion. Check out my library ratings of other books to see if your tastes are the same as mine before judging this book by my review.

Despite being rather slow at times, the overall story did keep my interest. The plot was a variation of the "I'm doing something evil/bad and trying to hide it while you're trying to figure it out and expose me". So it doesn't get many points for originality in this area.

Another complaint I had was the constant use of complex scientific equations, etc. I like when a sci-fi/fantasy books goes into to detail...it creates believable and interesting stories...but this one just went overboard in MANY places describing formulas and processing that added very little if nothing to the overall story/plot (except slow it down).

The beginning chapters were extremely slow and I was tempted to quit reading many times until I hit somewhere around chapter 5. After that the pace picked up and things began to become interesting.

**SPOILER ALERT**

The general story is about a guy named Paul whose mother and father were scientists. Paul starts to do his own experiments on rats at a young age until his father finds out and destroys the cages telling him not to "play god". This somewhat long and SLOW trip through Paul's young life is followed by and slightly shorter trip through his college years, etc until he is a grown adult.

Paul gets mixed (unknowingly) with the same company that his father used to work for and gets caught up in trying to discover what "secrets" the company is hiding and expose them to the world.

Many things come full circle (so to speak) with Paul finding out that his father was a head scientist at the company when he was younger in addition to his father's work also being similar to "playing god".

I'm skipping around somewhat here just to give you an idea and not ruin the whole story...

Overall, I enjoyed the read but I won't read it again. I am not sure I would recommend it to anyone unless they LOVED scientific research or something along those lines. It really reminded me of Jurassic Park but with primates (think the missing link) and slightly more deviant and perverse (as far as genetics goes).

I rated this book 3.5 stars. ( )

This 'thriller' had no thrill!

I wouldn't recommend reading this book unless you already possess knowledge of DNA analysis and a basic grasp of early hominid types.

Check out my blog for my full review: http://tubchairtimes.blogspot.ca/2013/03/prophet-of-bones-ted-kosmatka.html ( )

Prophet of Bones is an exciting thriller set in an alternate world where Darwin was discredited and the belief that the earth is only a few thousand years old persists into the 21st century. This is a fascinating premise and Ted Kosmatka really delivers with his sophomore effort.

In a world where the best science believes the earth to only be a few thousand years old, a discovery that threatens that belief triggers a violent reaction that costs Paul Carlsson an eye and several other people their lives. Paul manages to smuggle out a genetic sample and some very powerful people want to make sure his discovery never sees the light of day.

Kosmatka does a great job of creating atmosphere. While the pages move by swiftly, there is a pervading sense of tension and dread that oozes from the book. Dangerous experiments that mess with the genetic code are truly terrifying in the wrong hands. By setting the book in a world where Darwin was wrong, Kosmatka effectively highlights not only the threat that new discovery poses to the status quo, but to religion, politics and belief systems.

Prophet of Bones is not a typical thriller. The hero is not a bull-in-the-china-shop type. He is physically imposing, but he is foremost a scientist and a man of conviction. Paul Carlsson is a very interesting character. He is layered and driven. I very much enjoyed Kosmatka’s first book, The Games, but Prophet of Bones is even better. The characters are more rounded and compelling, the monsters are just as terrifying, and the plotting is solid from beginning to end. This is a story that will entertain as well as make you think. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book. ( )

What if?

To me, those two words are one of the keys to good science fiction. The writer looks at a current state of affairs in politics, society or science (or all three), asks "What if?" and their imagination creates the foundation for a story. It certainly seems like that's the method Ted Kosmatka used with Prophet of Bones.

What if carbon-dating established that life the Earth was 5,800 years old? What if evolution is not only in the the scientific junk heap but considered fringe pseudoscience? What if intelligent design is the gold standard for the history of life on Earth?

Those are among the questions contributing to what Kosmatka calls "lab-opera," works involving scientists in trouble. Although Prophet of Bones takes the protagonist, Paul Carlsson, to an archaeological dig on an Indonesian island, much of the plot development occurs after he leaves the island and returns to his laboratory job analyzing fossils. Lab-opera, though, might be a bit too narrow. The book actually has elements of both hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi and easily can be slotted into the techno-thriller genre. The combination may not be surprising given that Kosmatka works as a writer for company that has made highly popular game software.

Prophet of Bones is hard sci-fi in the sense that Kosmatka not only explores the science of genetics but discusses various principles in the field. Given the terminology of modern genetics, he might have explained some of the terms a bit more for science-impaired readers like me. Of course, understanding the science isn't necessarily essential to the key sci-fi and techno-thriller readers.

The book is soft sci-fi to the extent that an underlying theme is the potential societal impact of DNA Carlsson extracted from fossils found on the dig. What kind of society would arise exist It is clear that the DNA is perceived as a potential threat to the scientific canon, leading to its theft and resolute efforts to keep it from Carlsson and others. Personally, I would have preferred a bit more on the ramifications of what Carlsson suspects but that could be another book in and of itself.

The techno-thriller aspect is almost a no-brainer. We have murky antagonists with inordinate interest in getting their hands on the DNA for some mysterious scheme. They take extreme measures to get the DNA and keep Carlsson from investigating it. Of course, these efforts put Carlsson in several life-threatening situations. Against all odds, the mild-mannered lab rat escapes death, often by physical confrontation with his adversaries. While this requires perhaps more suspension of belief than the balance of the tale, we all know the hero isn't going to die -- or if he does, it will only be once the answers are revealed.

There are also two characters who loom over the book, one more meaningful than the other. The book begins with the Prophet, although he seems more to be a mechanism of sorts and doesn't' really reappear in the tale. More often invoked is Carlsson's deceased father. A brilliant scientist, he had an explosive temper and no qualms about beating his wife. We suspect he has some relationship to a broad conspiracy but the denouement seems a bit too contrived, perhaps because his professional life and pursuits are left underdeveloped.

All in all, though, Prophet of Bones is a workmanlike blend of the various genres it invokes. It certainly is an engaging introduction to and explication of "lab-opera."

(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)

I wasn't too impressed with this book. Thankfully the romantic bits that authors seem to want to throw in no matter what the genre were kept to a bare minimum. I just thought this story would be way more interesting than it was. It was pretty slow going at first but then the story picked up and then it slowed down again and THEN it picked up again. I didn't care about the character as much as I thought I should. I was more annoyed with how the main character Paul didn't seem to think or care about the fact that maybe he was being monitored while he was trying to investigate things. Or was I supposed to suspend disbelief so much to think that there were no cameras in the lab areas? The character's thoughts don't seem to address that. I kept thinking to myself "why the hell did you get so many other people involved?" I think that's what really made me not care what happened to Paul. Sometimes the story read like a bad script for a B movie and the dialogue was stilted. I can't say much more for this book. ( )